Shopify launched a rebuilt point-of-sale system worldwide on May 4, 2020, giving shop owners more control over what individual staff members could see and do at checkout. Its new staff roles and permissions addressed a practical constraint: letting employees use the sales system without giving everyone the same access to financial information and customer data. The company also introduced a home screen that puts frequently used apps and workflows closer to hand. [S1][S2]

Shopify’s partner guide says owners can choose which information and workflows particular staff members can access, rather than reserve the whole point-of-sale system for a smaller group of workers. A manager can give someone a checkout role without treating that as a reason to open up every part of the system. The owner still has to decide what each role needs; the guide does not spell out every available permission. [S2]

On the checkout screen, Shopify’s smart grid puts often-used apps, discounts and workflows within reach, with tiles that adapt to activity in the cart. Its revised search can find products, customers and orders across locations and online. Shortcuts help staff reach familiar tools; search helps them find a particular record. Neither replaces the owner’s access choices, and Shopify supplies no measured time saving for these changes. [S1][S2]

Shopify said POS was included with all its plans, with POS Pro offering advanced tools for physical stores. Pro would be free until October 31, 2020. Merchants evaluating the staff controls therefore had a temporary offer to consider, not a promise of permanently free advanced tools; the announcements do not give a complete breakdown of staff features by plan. [S1][S2]

Existing merchants still had a device-by-device rollout to carry out. Shopify’s instructions first require updating the POS app to the latest version on the iOS device. The user then logs in, opens the Store tab and selects the upgrade option. The guide tells merchants to repeat the process on every device that uses Shopify POS. [S2]

Source documents

  1. Shopify launches all-new POS globally to help merchants adapt for the future of retailhttps://www.shopify.com/news/shopify-launches-all-new-pos-globally-to-help-merchants-adapt-for-the-future-of-retail
  2. Announcing the All-New Shopify POS: A Better Retail Solution for Omnichannel Merchantshttps://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/shopify-pos