Common Issues When You Integrate Clover POS with Shopify (And How to Fix Them)

 

Clover POS and Shopify working together can drive exceptional growth potential through; optimizing inventory, synchronized sales information, and enhanced customer experiences. Like all tech integrations, Clover-Shopify comes with unique challenges, and this guide aims to address some of the most common ones that businesses face, as well as actionable remedies for making it work for you.

Why Clover-Shopify Integration Matters

The evolution toward omnichannel retailing means that integrated POS and ecommerce systems are necessary components of a modern business. A well-functioning Clover-Shopify integration delivers massive wins to deliver on their retail promise.

Unified Inventory Management facilitates automatic adjustment of inventory levels in real-time across all of your channels. This means you're less likely to oversell an item and can maintain accurate stock levels. For example, when a customer pays for a product in-store, your store’s inventory instantly reflects the change online ensuring seamless synchronization when you integrate Clover POS with Shopify.

Streamlined Workflows eliminates the need for duplicative entries of the same data while reducing the risk of human error. So, instead of manually updating your inventory levels, online orders, and your customer's information in two places and having to worry about accuracy, that burden is lifted.

Improved Customer Experience provides consistent pricing, applicable stock levels, and customer profiles seamlessly across all touchpoints of the customer journey. It means your customers can shop with confidence, knowing that if they buy a t-shirt online and then return or purchase in-store, it is all part of their account.

Rich Analytics gives you the best view possible of your business, since you are adequately tracking sales data in the online store alongside your in-store sales data. Your reports can give you accurate analytics, better decision making, and actionable insights that are properly reflective of your whole business unit.

8 Common Integration Problems And Solutions

1. Inventory Sync Issues

The Problem: Inventory counts don’t match Clover and Shopify. Items are out-of-stock on one system but in-stock on the other.
Why It Happens: Inventory sync delays, SKUs don’t match, and inventory changes are made manually which may or may not sync.
Solutions:

·        Audit & Match SKUs before you integrate systems - make sure every product has identical SKUs across the two systems

·        Add buffer stock levels so your sales team can’t sell down to zero inventory while the sync is still processing

·        Use a third party middleware tool like Zapier, Syncio or OneSaas for an easier, but less reliable method to integrate.

·        Set up an inventory reset every night so your workplace can have accurate inventory in each system.

2. Duplicate Orders or Unrecorded Sales

The Problem: Orders placed in one system don’t show up in the other system, or the the same order gets counted twice and causes confusion and lost revenue as a result.

Why It Happens: Unreliable webhooks, API timeouts, or each system has their own processes for POS vs. online orders.

Solutions:

·        Setup de-duplication logic in the middleware to check timestamps, and log order ids

·        If using an un-subscribed tiered an integration in the middleware, frequently check task logs to verify status of failed transactions, this allows you to fix sync issues quickly.

·        It is better to use batch processing as opposed to real-time sync, as batch processing will allow for more reliable sync during high volume and still retain a near reality.

·        Test every order process, in a staging environment, before going live.

3. Payment Processing Discrepancies

The Challenge: Payments processing through Clover do not always match the Shopify destination accurately, and pending transactions may not be recorded, nor does the sale show up.

The Cause: Payments can move through multiple gateways, the refund process may not match the sales process, and currency conversions are sometimes not accurately recorded thereby creating processing discrepancies.

The Path Forward:

·        Select one payment processor for accepting payments between Clover or Shopify.

·        Map out exactly how refunds will be processed to ensure that there is proper sync of any refunds by using a tool that allows tracking of sales transactions and refunds through transaction IDs.

·        Daily reconciliation can be achieved by using the export feature on both systems to allow payment batch reconciliation.

·        Use caution when processing payments in multiple currencies and have a single conversion rate and rounding rules.

4. Customer Data Fragmentation

The Challenge: Customer data is fragmented across systems therefore are hard to track customer lifetime value, and/or customer behavior patterns.
The Cause: Guest check outs, different file formats, and/or how privacy regulations disable the completion of customer profiles.

The Path Forward:

·        Encourage customers to create accounts and promote ongoing account engagement over guest check outs in order for your to build complete customer profiles.

·        Leverage a middleware software to help identify duplicates and match customers by either email or phone number.

·        Map your custom fields to Shopify metafields, or use Clover's custom fields features.

·        Schedule at least a monthly clean up to support the merge of customer duplicates and to validate customer information.

5. Inconsistent Tax Configuration

The Problem: There are instances when tax charges were processed differently on the two systems resulting in either overtaxed or undertaxed transactions, or relying on erroneous results.

Why This Occurs: There is a multitude of factors such as different tax rules for regional considerations, inconsistent product categorization, and rounding discrepancies that can play a role in tax rate differences.
Solutions:

·        Get all tax rules documented and cartesian by region and product type

·        Get all products tax settings aligned if a product via its catalog is considered taxable or non-taxable

·        Test against the relevant jurisdictions with sample orders.

This can include trying different tax rate scenarios Establish a tax logic layer via middleware to supersede system specific tax calculations

6. App Compatibility

The Problem: Third party apps installed on one or either platform interfered with integration methods which created sync and/or data conflicts.
Why This Occurs: There are a lot of unique conditions like - webhook conflicts, inventory overrides, and inconsistent uses for promotional cart handling that can contribute to app interference.
Solutions:

·        Get a handle on all apps connected and the consequences by which these apps receive and send data.

·        Use integration management platforms to route and throttle events accordingly

·        Do a formal testing of new apps in staging and not in production

·        Schedule maintenance windows for app upgrades and integration testing.

Conclusion

When you integrate clover POS with shopify having issues are typical but can be effectively managed with thorough advanced planning, proper tools, and ongoing maintenance. The most important part is having an understanding of what might happen beforehand and working to build solid solutions from the start.

If you implement the solutions and best practices mentioned in this guide, you will be well on your way to a solid integration that improves operations, enhances the customer experience, and grows your business. Just keep in mind that successful integration, like any process, will require the ability to adapt and keep things updated as your business changes and grows.

Be clear about your strategy, spend the time on proper testing, and if middleware is the approach you decide to take, don't hesitate to use it. If you clearly point in the right direction with Clover-Shopify integration, you will be on your way to a true asset for your omnichannel retail success.