How to Run Your Offline Store OnlineOne of the key features of any e-commerce solution is inventory tracking. But what if you have an offline (i.e. brick and mortar) business as well and need to take into account changes in inventory from in-person sales or maybe you simply don't want to spend the money on both offline and online software? You can try to integrate your offline and online software (not possible in some circumstances and not easy in most) or simply use your website to process all purchases. This takes a bit of customization and some handy USB tools to get the job done right.Before we get into the details of how to achieve this, we'll need to address a fundamental concern which is internet access reliability. What happens if your internet connection goes down? Since an internet connection is critical to your store's operation, you'll need a fail-safe internet connection in addition to your main line. Consider today's mobile broadband solutions as they are very affordable and do not rely on cable connections to work. You will also have the added capacity to charge credit cards on the road by bringing your laptop and your mobile broadband connection with you. So how exactly do you process an offline order online? Most e-commerce solutions have a way for you to create an order on the backend of your website that is faster than having to navigate through your site on the frontend. By using this feature and adding in a USB credit card swiper, you can process a purchase through your website without your customers being able to tell the difference. When it comes to printing out a receipt, you can use a standard printer or you can use a USB receipt printer for a more typical receipt. In either case, you will probably need to customize the default receipt format that comes with your e-commerce solution. If you require barcode scanning, it will not be as fast as your average offline solution, however, it is possible. Have your software provider create a custom product attribute that holds your product's barcode value, then have it enabled as a searchable field on your product selection screen. Then, when a customer brings you their products, you scan the barcode value into the search field to find the product in your hand. Add that product to the order and continue on until all items are processed. | 
