Neighborhood Goods Supercharges its Store Checkout with Shopify POS Go

Since equipping its staff with POS Go, Neighborhood Goods sells on the floor and at the cash wrap, resulting in a checkout that’s nearly two times faster than it was.

Headquartered in Dallas, Neighborhood Goods is a modern department store that’s known for carrying a curated selection of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands you can’t find anywhere else–from specialty food and beverages to beauty products, home goods, pet supplies, and apparel. The brand now boasts an online store and expanding network of stores that now include locations in Plano and Austin, Texas, and Chelsea Market in New York.

The concept, explains Co-founder and CEO Matt Alexander, is for Neighborhood Goods to function as a brand partner and retail testing ground for DTC brands that aren’t otherwise selling in-person.

“Our core premise is to provide a curated space that allows brands to enter physical retail and accomplish a broad variety of goals–whether that’s customer acquisition, product testing, or generating sales–while learning what it takes to run their own space,” Matt explains.

Neighborhood Goods’ highly curated product selection and seamless customer experience quickly gained traction and, before long, its stores were bustling with activity. While a good problem to have, the surge in foot traffic brought a new set of issues–notably extended wait times for customers to be served and pay for their order.

To ensure its checkout was quick and each customer was served efficiently, Neighborhood Goods chose to upgrade its point-of-sale hardware to POS Go, Shopify’s all-new handheld POS system that enabled staff to sell anywhere on the sales floor and bust lineups at checkout. 

Since equipping its staff with POS Go, Neighborhood Goods has both a stationary cash wrap and can accept payments anywhere in the store. As a result, the brand has enjoyed: 

• Store checkout that’s nearly two times faster 
• Using one device to serve customers and transact
• Higher uptime thanks to its reliable Wi-Fi connectivity 

Challenge: High store traffic and bottlenecks at checkout 

Neighborhood Goods sees significant traffic at its stores, thanks to locations in high footfall areas like Chelsea Market in NYC and services like store pickup, which have surged in use since COVID-19. 

“Modern customers often use websites like ours to inform their store visits and see if we have the brands and products they’re looking for in advance,” Matt says. Because Neighborhood Goods shows product availability online, in-store pickup sales are higher than ever, resulting in more online shoppers visiting the stores to pick up their orders.  

Fulfilling store pickup orders, plus the surge in customers looking to be served in store, put strain on Neighborhood Goods staff. Bottlenecks at the cash wrap occurred and–if staff wanted to clear quick transactions to speed up the line–they had to use an iPad paired to both a barcode scanner and card reader. 

The experience of using an iPad and separate peripherals was clunky for staff and customers. Staff often had to reconnect disconnected Bluetooth hardware, while customers often were left waiting. 

Customers would get this great service, but transacting wouldn’t feel fluid and intentional. Checkout is our final touchpoint with a customer, and we didn’t feel like the experience was living up to our standard.

Andrew Velasquez, General Manager, Neighborhood Goods

Solution: Seamless on-the-floor selling with POS Go

Neighborhood Goods turned to POS Go, Shopify’s new all-in-one mobile device that enables merchants to sell anywhere on the sales floor using one device. 

Its built-in barcode scanner lets staff add items to a shopper’s order quickly, while POS Go’s integrated card reader enables them to accept any debit, credit, or mobile wallet payments. Rather than having to use three separate devices, Neighborhood Goods staff can now do everything with one device that fits comfortably in their hand.

Along with the clear benefits of POS Go’s all-in-one functionality and form factor is its Wi-Fi connectivity, which ensures its integrated card reader and barcode scanner work whenever staff need them. Staff can confidently serve customers and transact without having to worry about re-pairing disconnected Bluetooth peripherals to their iPad. 

Andrew also enjoys the efficiency POS Go booting to the Shopify POS app brings. “Staff don’t need to worry about being logged in to the correct app, or jumping from one app to another to access tools or information. From a workflow perspective, it helps that everything we need is in the same place.” 

The efficiency of POS Go’s integrated software, barcode scanner, and card reader makes for more flexible service. With our store organized into departments, we can engage wherever our customer is in the space and transact in a fraction of the time.

Andrew Velasquez, General Manager, Neighborhood Goods

Results: Serving customers and accepting payment from one device

After replacing their previous mobile selling setup with POS Go, Andrew estimates that checkout times at the Neighborhood Goods Austin store have been cut in half.

“POS Go is simply a more efficient checkout; you scan the product, add it to cart, transact, and send an email receipt all on the spot using one device,” he says. “And it’s so reliable, we haven’t had any downtime with the card reader or barcode scanner.”

Now staff members don’t have to juggle multiple devices while trying to transact or run back to the checkout counter to ring up customers. “Serving people where they are rather than having to migrate them to another part of the store makes the transaction feel like a more integrated part of the experience,” Matt says.

Using POS Go to transact on the sales floor along with having a stationery cash wrap ensures Neighborhood Goods’ service is flexible and can accommodate a variety of shopping experiences. “Shopify POS allows us to keep customers at the heart of our experience without running into limitations,” Matt says. “We think that flexibility will help us cater each experience to the shopper, which will build loyalty.”

Now, checkout at Neighborhood Goods is as flexible as it is efficient, whether it’s a quiet day or peak hours. Staff can serve customers and accept payments using one device that works when they need it. 

POS Go meaningfully improves the experience of both staff and our customers. The experience feels more polished and frictionless.

Matt Alexander, Co-Founder and CEO, Neighborhood Goods