When a customer chooses an item on your website, asks for details in a message and collects it in your store, your staff need to work from one order. That requires shared product codes, checked stock, a recorded reservation and an employee responsible for the order. Start with this scenario and review it over the course of a week.
This is omnichannel retail: the store connects different ways of buying into one consistent process. Customers do not have to repeat what they agreed with every salesperson, and staff can see what their colleagues have already done and what needs to happen next.
One order, from the website to pickup
Here is a hypothetical example: a customer finds a blue shirt in size M on the website. She messages the store to ask about the sleeve length and asks you to hold the shirt until evening. The salesperson finds that exact size and color, checks availability, records the reservation and tells her when and where she can pick up the purchase.
A different salesperson is working that evening. Using the order number, they can see the shirt, the agreed price, how long the reservation lasts and the payment status. They find the prepared package, check the payment and record the handover. The message conversation helped clarify the purchase, while staff linked every subsequent step to the same order.
A message saying “please hold it for me” does not, by itself, create a reservation in the records. The employee must record it or check that the configured website integration has already done so. The accounting database also does not automatically collect every conversation with customers: the salesperson must add important agreements to the order record.
Match products and order details
The owner and a salesperson check whether each item can be identified unambiguously. A blue shirt in size M and the same shirt in size L need different codes. Each variant’s code must identify the same product on the website and in the store. The developer checks this mapping when configuring the integration.
The name “blue shirt” is not enough: a salesperson could hold the wrong size. Choose a few items in different colors and sizes, then compare their codes, attributes and units of measure. Pay particular attention to items sold both individually and in packs.
Keep a single record for each order, accessible to the staff handling it. It should include:
- Order number, date and source of the inquiry — website or messages.
- Customer’s name and contact details for agreed order-related communication.
- Product code, name, size, color, quantity and unit of measure.
- Agreed price, order total and payment status.
- Pickup location, reservation period and agreed pickup time.
- Current order status, responsible salesperson and next action.
If a customer messages you after placing an order on the website, the salesperson updates the existing record. Before creating a new order, they check whether an order with that number already exists. They also record any change to the size, price or pickup time there, so a colleague can see the latest agreement.
Check stock and confirm the reservation
Before promising to hold an item, the salesperson checks the physical stock and existing reservations. For in-store pickup, they need to find the specific item at the right store, confirm its size and color, inspect it and place it in the designated order area.
Hypothetical calculation: the store physically has 5 blue shirts in size M, 2 of which are already reserved. If the physical count still includes those reservations, 5 − 2 = 3 units are available for new orders. All the figures here refer to one product, one storage location and one unit of measure.
If the system already shows available stock of 3 units, there is no need to subtract the 2 reserved shirts again. The owner should find out what the figure means in that particular system and explain it to the sales staff. Otherwise, employees may calculate the available quantity differently.
The owner sets the reservation period, and the salesperson agrees it with the customer. For example: “Your shirt is ready. You can pick it up today by 19:00 at… Order number… If you can’t make it, please message us before then.” This is an example of an agreement between the store and the customer.
The salesperson sends a ready-for-pickup message only after checking the item and recording the reservation. When the agreed period expires, the responsible employee checks the arrangement, releases the reservation according to the store’s procedure and records the reason. That way, the next shift knows why the item is available again.
Hand orders over between shifts and keep their history
The owner assigns an employee to handle orders on each shift. Before finishing, the salesperson hands over any unfinished orders to a colleague: what has been prepared, where the item is, whether payment has been confirmed and when to contact the customer. The colleague checks the records and takes responsibility for those orders.
At pickup, the salesperson finds the order by its number and checks the item. If the payment has already been entered in the records, they do not enter it again. If the customer pays at pickup, they record the new payment. They also record the item handover once under that order to avoid creating a second sale.
If the customer cancels the order, the salesperson records the reason and releases the reservation. If the customer returns an item after collecting it, the employee links the return to the original sale and records the movement of the item and money separately. The order history is retained. Before making the item available in stock again, the employee checks its condition.
Inventory records and online store synchronization in Torgsoft
Torgsoft can support the inventory side of this process: it can keep inventory records, send product, price and stock data to the website, and receive website orders for processing as invoices. This requires the separate paid “Online Store Synchronization” option and an Ultra or Terminal license. The website developer must prepare a handler to receive and generate exchange files. Test an order to confirm that the code from the website identifies the correct product in the software.
For file-based exchange, set up a schedule. According to the Torgsoft instructions, the interval must be at least 10 minutes. Automatic exchange works when the software is running on the designated computer under the specified user. Transferring and processing files takes time, so the stock shown on the website may lag behind changes in the store. For the last unit, the salesperson should check stock before confirming availability to the customer.
The synchronization setup guide describes the “Reserve invoice items” setting on the “Accounting Centers” tab. When this setting is enabled, the software uses the reservation date from the order; if there is none, it uses the number of days specified in the settings. Align these values with the terms you give customers. Check the reservation after processing a test order: a message in a messaging app does not create one. Other channels require separate checks of their capabilities and settings.
Test one scenario over a week
At the start of the week, the owner chooses the “website → messages → reservation → pickup” scenario, assigns responsibilities and agrees on reservation rules. The salesperson checks test products, prepares order records and sets aside an area for packages. The developer checks product codes, data exchange and how the website behaves when stock changes.
The team then takes a test order through the entire process, including handing it over to another shift. They separately check the last unit: what the customer sees on the website if it is reserved or sold in the store before the next exchange. Two more tests cover cancellation of a reservation and a return after pickup. Check stock, payment, handover and return records, and confirm that the history is retained.
At the end of the week, the owner reviews any errors found and decides who will fix them. To assess results over time, you can track the share of orders declined because an item was unavailable. Hypothetically, 8 declines out of 100 orders is 8%; in the next comparable period, 3 out of 100 is 3%. The difference is 5 percentage points. This shows a change in the result, but does not prove that a particular setting caused it: also check for changes in assortment, demand and staff performance.
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