The Pocket POS
Building a modern POS from a shopper’s perspective.
📱 We set out to just build an app to skip the line.
☁️ To bring it life, we built databases, integrations, SDKs, and APIs. A commerce ecosystem in the cloud.
🖥️ An entire point-of-sale and then some.
How it started
You’re stuck in line – with only 2 items in your hands.
Staring at the back of someone’s head – 5 people ahead of them.
Your phone buzzes – a few notifications pop up.
– Your Amazon order was just dropped off.
– Your bank notified you of a deposit.
– Your boarding pass is ready for tomorrow’s flight.
You look up… still 5 people ahead of you.
💭 …💡
Can’t you just pay for this on your phone and be on your way?
🤳 Scan & Go by GoSkip.
What came next
⚡️ Our focus was to kill the friction.
🛒 Simplify everything for the shopper first.
🏪 1,200+ stores & a dozen product launches later – we disrupted a stale industry, set the trend, and validated the next 10 years in brick & mortar retail.
Today, much of what we did is simply expected. At the time, almost nobody else was doing it. And absolutely nobody was making it easy for us to do it.
There was no shortage of problems, speed bumps, or road blocks. There was also no shortage of willpower or excitement. The beauty of a startup is mostly in the optimism & naiveté of the founders & early employees.
Product timeline
Rapid prototype – test – improve . Solve the next point of friction.
A constant cycle of founder intuition, market research, customer feedback, & app analytics – distilled into design iterations & new releases.
Most of these products live-on today & continue to accomplish their original goal with plenty of added features since initial release. Some were replaced or sunset.
That phone in your pocket?
It’s now your personal self checkout machine, as you shop.
Scan – Pay – Go.
Exit thru the Skip Lane.
Clerks can see every Scan & Go shopper in their store, including the contents of their basket in real-time.
Assist shoppers when & where needed.
Established the base platform for many on-the-go cashiering needs.
> Audits, Line Buster, BOPIS
Custom Arduino program to convert digital scale output to scannable barcode.
Reduce manual steps & keep shoppers in their flow – Point & Scan!
Manual weight entry is allowed, but increases audit chances.
A quick review of a shopper’s cart by the Cashier using the Clerk app.
• Randomly scan items in the shopper’s cart
• Resolve anomalies
Missed items can be easily added or edited by the cashier, and anomalies are automatically noted on their profile for future purposes.
Average audit lasts 5 seconds
Similar to the receipt review when exiting Costco & Sam’s Club, but digital.
From sign-up to their 1st, 5th, or 50th shopping trip – shoppers leave breadcrumbs that create a reputation.
95% of the reputation inputs generated automatically from our a user’s actions & behaviors on the platform.
The other 5% coming thru manual feedback from in-store cashiers.
Think of it like the rating system for Uber drivers & riders – on steroids.
Your reputation score determines your audit frequency & depth.
Retailers could also control access to experiences based on the SRS.
We solved the headache of “parking lot sales” with a new module within the Clerk App.
Grocers could now run an entire outdoor sale with no power, ethernet, or printers.
Next we brought it indoors & empowered cashiers to meet shoppers throughout the store.
Also affectionately called “Satellite checkout”, “Farmers market checkout”, and “Roaming cashier”.
Cashiers in our smaller convenience store retailers often had other duties to accomplish throughout the store.
Having a large screen, visible throughout the store, allowed us to communicate visually & audibly , from a distance, to busy cashiers & shoppers.
It bridged an awareness gap for cashiers, shoppers, & others in the store.
We also captured key images of shoppers as they paid & exited the store.
These media are linked in real-time with transactions in the web portal for review & reputation feedback, when necessary.
With increased trust in the system from retailers, employees, & shoppers, it was time to reward frequent high reputation shoppers with FAST PASS!
Just flash your pass on the way out.
No audit needed.
Like TSA PreCheck, there may still be a random audit occasionally.
A centralized place to scan your Fast Pass receipt.
Visual & audible confirmation in an otherwise discreet user experience.
• Shoppers felt less anxious about just walking out.
• Cashiers got more clarity & consistency.
• Created attention & awareness for fellow shoppers not using the app.
• Introduced a new platform for future extensions;
> check-in for pick-up orders
> check-in/out for autonomous shopping
Extended the pocket POS experience from in-store to anywhere.
Buy Online, Pickup In Store
Buy On-your-couch, Pickup In Store
Buy On-your-way-home, Pickup In Store
With multiple configurable pickup options, based on site capabilities
• Curbside
• Counter
• Locker
• Drive Thru
Minimal footprint. Maximum impact.
Full featured self checkout for 1/2 the cost & in 1/4 the space.
Built to integrate with existing & future shopping experiences.
And plenty more
Additional products I built include;
> Custom Food Ordering Kiosk
> Multi Purpose Kiosk
> Traditional Register
> 360° Admin Portal
> Handsfree Remote Support
> Magic Coupons