Offline POS allows your business to continue processing essential POS transactions when the internet connection is unavailable. It acts as an emergency feature so staff can continue serving customers while transaction data is stored locally.
In this video we give you an overview of the Offline POS feature. Offline POS is designed to allow you to continue to trade and process sales in times of an outage e.g. Internet outage.
Chapters
Timestamp | Chapter |
|---|
00:00 | Overview |
00:04 | What Is Offline POS? |
00:32 | Functions Available in Offline POS |
01:04 | Understanding the Offline Server Status |
01:52 | Installation Requirements |
02:09 | Entering Offline Mode |
02:39 | Saving and Synchronising Offline Data |
03:05 | Processing a Sale While Offline |
04:23 | Functions Unavailable While Offline |
04:56 | Returning Online |
05:22 | Identifying Offline Transactions |
06:08 | Summary |
Transcript
Offline POS is an emergency feature that allows a store to continue processing essential transactions when its internet connection is unavailable. Sales and other supported changes are stored locally and synchronised with the Retail Express cloud database after the connection returns.
What Is Offline POS?
Retail Express Offline POS is designed as an emergency feature.
It allows the business to continue trading and serving customers when the store loses its internet connection. From the customer’s perspective, the interruption may not be noticeable because staff can continue processing essential transactions.
Functions Available in Offline POS
While using Offline POS, staff can continue performing core POS tasks, including:
- Logging in to POS
- Processing standard Cash & Carry sales
- Searching for and selecting products
- Updating product quantities
- Applying discounts
- Creating new customers
- Updating existing customer details
- Looking up products
- Processing customer refunds
This means the essential functionality required to continue serving customers remains available during the outage.
Understanding the Offline Server Status
After Offline POS has been installed, the standard POS screen displays an offline-server status icon in the upper-right corner.
The icon works like a traffic-light indicator:
- Green: The offline server is operating normally.
- Amber: The server is operating, but it may not have synchronised the latest information.
- Red: The offline server is not operating correctly. Contact Retail Express Support for assistance.
When the store is online, the rest of the POS screen continues to operate and appear as normal.
Installation Requirements
Offline POS only needs to be installed on one Windows computer at each Outlet.
When the business has multiple Outlets, at least one computer at each location must have Offline POS installed.
The computer running Offline POS acts as the local offline server for that Outlet.
Entering Offline Mode
When the internet connection is lost, Retail Express displays a message advising that the cloud connection is unavailable.
Select the option to continue working offline.
A banner appears across the top of the POS screen to confirm that Offline POS is active.
Select What’s This? from the banner when additional information about offline mode is required.
Saving and Synchronising Offline Data
While Offline POS is active, supported information is saved to the local offline server.
This includes:
- Sales
- Refunds
- Changes to customer details
When the internet connection returns, the locally stored information is synchronised with the Retail Express database in the cloud.
After synchronisation, the store can continue trading online as normal.
Processing a Sale While Offline
Log in to POS as normal and begin a new transaction.
You can search for products, review their prices, add them to the sale and update their quantities.
Discounts can also be applied to products while offline.
From the Customers tab, you can search for an existing customer and edit their details. For example, you can update the customer’s mobile number.
Open the Payments tab and record the customer’s payment.
When the internet connection itself is unavailable, integrated EFTPOS may not operate. Other payment methods that do not depend on the connection, such as cash, can continue to be used.
After entering the payment, finalise and close the sale as normal.
Functions Unavailable While Offline
Some POS functions are unavailable while Offline POS is active.
You cannot:
- Process stock transfers
- Complete a cash up
The Money In and Money Out functions remain available while offline.
Wait until the connection has been restored and the offline data has synchronised before processing the cash up. Money In and Money Out activity recorded while offline will synchronise after Retail Express returns online.
Returning Online
When the internet connection returns and no sale is currently open, Retail Express displays a message confirming that the connection has been restored.
When the connection appears unstable, you can choose to remain offline temporarily.
When the connection is stable, select the option to return online immediately.
Full POS functionality becomes available again after Retail Express returns online.
Identifying Offline Transactions
After returning online, open the POS lookup feature and review the transactions processed during the day.
Transactions created through Offline POS use a different invoice-number format. This makes it easier to distinguish them from transactions processed while the store was connected normally.
After synchronisation, offline transactions remain available for normal Retail Express activities, including:
- Transaction lookup
- Sales reporting
- Income reporting
- Other transaction-based reports
Offline POS as a Business Safety Net
Offline POS provides a safety net that allows the store to continue serving customers during an internet outage.
Supported transactions are recorded on the local offline server and synchronised with the cloud database when connectivity returns, reducing the operational disruption caused by a temporary loss of internet access.