Retail store online: how to take your physical shop online

In short: you take a retail store online without replacing your till. The website sells from the same stock as the shelf, and customers can order online and pick up in your shop. Stock is kept in the store admin or comes from your POS or inventory software, from every 3 minutes to once a day depending on the system. EU consumer, VAT and data rules apply to the online side.

This guide is for shop owners across Europe with one or several locations who want to sell through a website as well. It is written by the team behind CloudCart, the ecommerce platform from Bulgaria, and shows how the move works in the CloudCart admin, with field names as they appear there. The EU rules were checked against EUR-Lex and Your Europe. It is not tax or legal advice: how each sale is recorded in your business is something your accountant confirms.

Taking a physical store online: what changes and what stays

Your products, your till, your inventory software and your shop all stay. Selling through a shop and a website with one stock count and one customer list is called omnichannel retail. What you add is a storefront that takes orders around the clock, delivery options (courier or pickup in your shop) and online payment. The key question is how the website knows how many units are on the shelf.

How you work today	Where the website gets its stock	When it fits
A till only, no inventory software	One number per product in the admin (Products → Inventory); online orders reduce it automatically	Up to a few hundred items and a modest number of counter sales a day
A till plus POS or inventory software	The system's app in the admin sends stock and prices, and online orders go back into the system	A large catalogue, busy counter sales, invoicing and accounting run from your software
Several shops or warehouses	Stock per shop (Local Pickup) or per warehouse linked to a geo zone (Store Locations)	A chain, a shop with a separate warehouse, locations in different cities or countries

Local Pickup, the app for physical shops, is included on every plan from Baby Pack to CC Master (see Pricing). The full picture for sellers with shops is on the page online store for your physical store.

One stock count for the till and the website

A shared stock count means the shelf, the admin and the storefront show the same number. Without it, an item sold at the counter still shows online, and a customer orders a unit that has already left the shop.

Without inventory software: one number in the admin

If you only have a till, you keep stock in the admin under Products → Inventory: every item in one table, where you set a new quantity or add to the existing one. An online order reduces the number automatically, and a cancelled or returned order puts the item back. A sale at the counter you correct by hand or record as an order from the admin.

With POS or inventory software: the system sets the pace

When stock comes from your software, the website learns about a counter sale as fast as the system sends data. Finale Inventory and R-Keeper are used internationally; Micro.bg, Microinvest, SelMatic, Barsy, PosMaster and Gensoft are business software from Bulgaria and South-East Europe, most useful if your shop is in that region.

System	How often stock arrives	Website orders
Finale Inventory	Every 8 hours, from one chosen warehouse	Sent on the chosen event, optionally reserving stock
R-Keeper	Catalogue every 8 hours, stock per location	Sent on the chosen event, with payment
Micro.bg	Every 3 minutes, together with prices	Sent to Micro.bg immediately
Microinvest	On change, or when you start the sync	Go to Microinvest; you choose which price group goes online
SelMatic	Every 4 hours	Sent by hand from the order
Barsy	Every 8 hours	On the chosen event: new, paid or shipped, completed
PosMaster	Once a day, through FTP files	On the chosen status: new, paid or shipped, completed
Gensoft	Every 4 hours	Go to Gensoft and change stock there

With a slow sync, keep a buffer: for items with 1 or 2 units, set a low stock threshold (the "product running out" email goes to the store's address), and for bestsellers consider a system with a shorter interval. Fields and product matching for each connector are covered in the guide to ERP and POS integration.

How to connect your POS or till software to the online store

POS and inventory software connects as an app from the admin, and the software in your shop stays as it is. Products are matched by barcode or SKU, so clean barcodes are half the work. If your products have no codes yet, see how to get EAN barcodes from GS1.

1. Check the codes. Every item in your software needs a unique barcode or SKU, the same one as in the online store. A duplicate or missing code creates a second product instead of updating the first.
2. Install your system's app. Apps → the system's name. Some systems need a licence module or an FTP server from their vendor.
3. Choose the match field and what may be overwritten. Pick the match field (barcode or SKU) and the fields the system may change: price, stock, name.
4. Choose the shop or warehouse and the order trigger. Select which location sends the stock and at which order status online orders go back to the system.
5. Sell a test item. Sell one unit at the till, wait for the system's interval and check the website. Then check that a test online order has reached your software.

If your system has no app, your developer or software vendor connects it through the CloudCart API. The ready connectors are listed on the page for POS and ERP integration. The difference between inventory software and a full ERP is explained in what an ERP system is.

Click and collect: order online, pick up in store

Click and collect (buy online, pick up in store) is a delivery option where the customer orders on the website and collects the order at your shop. In CloudCart it comes from the Local Pickup app (Apps → Local Pickup): it adds a "Local Pickup" shipping method next to the couriers, a "Pay on place" payment method and a public page with all your shops on a map. There is no limit on the number of locations.

The customer can pay online and collect later, or pay in the shop. "Pay online, collect in store" is simply Local Pickup combined with the online payment you already offer. With pay in store, no money passes through the platform: the order waits until you mark it as paid.

Stock for in-store pickup

Pickup at a shop can be selected only if the product is in stock there. If it is not, the customer picks another shop or a courier. On the storefront the customer sees whether a product is in stock; the check per shop happens at checkout.

Important: by default, stock goes down when an order becomes paid. With pay in store, the order stays pending until the customer arrives, and the unit still looks available on the website. If most of your orders are paid in store or cash on delivery, set stock to decrease on pending orders in the cart and order settings. The setting applies to the whole store, so cancel uncollected orders to put the stock back.

The process in the shop, step by step

1. The order lands in the shared list. Online orders, phone orders and counter orders (entered in the admin) sit in one list, with the customer in the same database.
2. Staff prepare the parcel. They take the goods off the shelf, put the order number on the parcel and change the status. If you want a separate "ready for pickup" status, create your own in the status settings; it does not move stock.
3. The customer is notified. When the status changes, the platform emails the customer if that notification is on. Include the shop address, opening hours and the pickup deadline.
4. The order is closed at pickup. If it was paid online, staff check the order number. If it is pay in store, they take payment at the till and mark the order as paid.
5. Uncollected orders are cancelled. Set a pickup deadline, state it in the notification and cancel the order once it passes. A cancelled order returns the goods to stock.

Several shops: stock per location and per warehouse

With more than one location, stock is kept separately for each. CloudCart has two tools with different jobs, and they can run together.

	Local Pickup	Store Locations
What it is for	Pickup at the shop and pay in store	Catalogue and delivery from the warehouse that serves the customer's address
Stock	Per shop, for a product or for each variant	Per warehouse, for each variant, linked to a geo zone
What the customer sees	Your shops at checkout; pickup only where the item is in stock	Only products in the warehouse for their zone, after entering an address
Price per location	No, one price	No, one price
What you need	Address, opening hours and stock for each shop	Geo zones and a Google Maps API key in the cart settings

In Local Pickup, the "Sum the quantities in the product" switch adds the shops' units into the main stock once, when you save; after a restock you run it again. In Store Locations the customer chooses the address (there is no detection by IP), and a product not stocked in their zone's warehouse is hidden. The online price is the same for all locations; if prices come from Microinvest, you choose which price group goes online, so the counter price and the website price can differ.

Opening a second country is a different step: a separate store per country, with its own language, currency, couriers and payment methods, sharing the catalogue. That setup is covered in the guide to multilingual and multi-currency stores.

Receipts, VAT and consumer rules for two channels

The shop and the website follow different rules. How a counter sale is recorded (fiscal till, certified cash register, receipt reporting) is set by each EU country. The online side adds EU-wide rules on consumer rights, cross-border VAT and access for customers from other member states.

Rule	What it means for a shop that sells online	Source
14-day right of withdrawal	A contract concluded on your website is a distance contract. For goods, the 14 days run from the day the customer takes physical possession, which for click and collect is the pickup day. You refund within 14 days of being told about the withdrawal.	Directive 2011/83/EU, Articles 2(7), 9 and 13, applied since 13 June 2014
Missing withdrawal information	If you did not inform the customer of the right, the period is extended by 12 months.	Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 10
Customers from other EU countries	If you offer pickup in your shop, a customer from another member state who agrees to collect there buys on the same conditions as a local one. You are not obliged to deliver to countries you do not serve.	Geo-blocking Regulation (EU) 2018/302, Article 4(1)(a), applied since 3 December 2018
VAT on cross-border sales	Below €10,000 a year of distance sales to consumers in other EU countries (current and previous calendar year), your home VAT applies. Above it, the customer's country rate applies, declared through the One Stop Shop.	OSS, applied since 1 July 2021

The withdrawal right is explained for consumers on Your Europe, and the legal text is the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU. The pickup rule for foreign customers is in the Geo-blocking Regulation (EU) 2018/302, and the VAT threshold is on the European Commission's One Stop Shop page. Returns in practice are covered in the guide to returns and consumer rights, and VAT across borders in the guide to OSS and EU VAT.

Important: where the website only reserves goods and the purchase itself happens at your counter, the sale may be treated as a shop sale. Ask your adviser how your national rules see a reservation versus an online order.

What CloudCart does with the documents

CloudCart is not a cash register and does not issue fiscal receipts. Counter sales stay with the till you already use. For online orders, invoices are issued from the order with your numbering and company details, and any order paid in store is marked as paid in the admin after the customer pays at your till.

If your shop is in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, Ordinance N-18 requires counter sales to be recorded with a fiscal receipt from a till registered with the NRA (Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency), and the online store to be registered with the NRA separately before its first sale (Ordinance N-18, Article 52m, in Bulgarian). A till registered for the shop does not cover the website. Card payments on the website can be reported under the alternative regime with a sales document instead of a receipt; pickup orders paid in the shop get a receipt from the till. The steps are in the guide to Ordinance N-18 for online stores.

Local SEO: a page for every shop

Every shop in Local Pickup gets its own page at /stores/<shop-url-handle>, with its own meta data that Google indexes separately. The page shows the address, opening hours by day, phone, email and a map from the GPS coordinates. That page is the most precise link for the "Website" field in the shop's Google Business Profile.

• Same name and address everywhere. On the shop page, in Google Business Profile and on your invoices.
• Holidays by hand. Opening hours have no separate holiday dates; for a holiday you change the day or mark it closed.

Creating and verifying the Google profile, choosing categories and collecting reviews is covered in the guide to Google Business Profile and local SEO.

A 30-day plan for taking your shop online

The safest order is stock first, then the storefront, then pickup, and advertising last.

1. Week 1: catalogue and codes. Import products from your software or a CSV file, with barcode or SKU, photos and descriptions. Check for duplicate codes.
2. Week 1: stock. Connect your system or enter quantities in Products → Inventory. Choose when stock decreases: on paid or on pending orders.
3. Week 2: payment and delivery. Switch on CloudCart Pay and your couriers (GLS, DHL, DHL Express or Sendcloud for shipping across Europe). Install Local Pickup and add your shops with opening hours.
4. Week 2: legal pages and tax. Publish terms with the 14-day withdrawal information, a privacy notice under GDPR and your returns process. Check with your accountant how online and in-store payments are recorded in your country.
5. Week 3: test with your team. Sell an item at the till and check the website. Place an online pickup order, prepare it, notify the customer and close it. A cancelled order must return the unit.
6. Week 4: bring shop customers online. Tell people at the counter that your range is online: a QR code to the website by the till and the link in your Google Business Profile.

Courier setup in detail is in the guide to shipping and couriers, and the cookie and privacy side in the guide to GDPR and cookies.

Mistakes when taking a retail store online

• Two separate stock counts. Someone copies numbers from the till into the website, and meanwhile a customer orders a unit that has already sold.
• The last unit on a slow sync. With a once-a-day update, a popular item with 1 unit stays online for hours after the sale. Keep a buffer or choose a shorter interval.
• Pay in store without reserving stock. With the default setting, a pending order does not reduce stock, and two customers "reserve" the same unit.
• Pickup arranged by phone. An agreement with no order in the system gets lost between the website, the phone and the shop.
• A percentage of online sales. A platform that takes a commission costs more the more your website sells. CloudCart takes 0% commission on sales.

The offer for sellers with shops, with every connected system, is on the page online store for your physical shop.

Frequently asked questions

Have a question about taking your shop online? Write to us at support@cloudcart.com.