How to keep your shop selling when the internet drops

A queue at the counter and a spinning screen is the worst moment of the day. Cloud tills are convenient, but they need a plan for the minutes or hours when the connection disappears. This is how to think about it.

1. Choose a till that queues sales on the device

A good till keeps the sale on the device, prints the receipt, and sends it to the server when the internet returns. Ask a vendor to turn off the router during a demo and ring up three sales. If that works smoothly, you have a till you can trust.

2. Decide who is allowed to sell offline

Offline sales cannot be checked against live stock and prices at that moment. Sensible systems let only trusted people sell offline, and flag those sales for review when they sync, rather than silently accepting or refusing them.

3. Keep your counts honest with shifts

Open each cashier’s shift with a cash count and close it with another. The difference between what the till says and what is in the drawer is your over or short. Doing this daily makes problems small and visible.

4. Count the shelves regularly

Stock counts catch what sales records cannot: damage, theft, mistakes. Walk the shelves, type what is really there, and post the difference so the system and the shelf agree.

5. Do not forget the paperwork afterwards

Once a day, check that all sales have reached the books and nothing is stuck. A system that checks this for you saves an evening of guessing.

A quick test before you buy

• Can it sell with the internet off, on the same device?
• Does the receipt print without a connection?
• What happens to a sale that was rung up offline once the connection returns?
• Is there a cash count at shift open and close?

If the answers are clear, you can stop worrying about the router.