WooCommerce Points and Rewards For OpenPOS

A points programme that does not work at the counter does not work

It is what kills most loyalty programmes in shops with premises within three months, and it has nothing to do with the programme's design.

You build the points in the online shop, they work well, and then the customer arrives at the counter. The assistant has to look them up in another system, or ask for their email, or open the WordPress admin in another tab, with three people queueing behind. By the third time they stop doing it, and the programme ceases to exist for half your customers.

This add-on connects the WooCommerce points and rewards system with OpenPOS, so points accumulate and get redeemed on the till screen itself.

What it solves

• Earning points on a counter sale, exactly as in the online shop.
• Redeeming them at payment, without leaving the point of sale screen.
• A single points balance for the premises and the website.
• Integration with the WooCommerce points system, which is where the rules live.

The real test is the stopwatch, not the feature list

At a point of sale everything gets measured in seconds, because the operation repeats two hundred times a day and there is always a queue.

Before pronouncing the programme good, time the complete sale with the customer identified: looking them up, adding the points, offering the redemption and taking payment. If that adds more than a few seconds over a normal sale, the assistant will skip it when things are busy, which is precisely when there are most customers.

And one design decision that saves half the problem: identifying the customer by phone number is usually the fastest. Emails get spelled wrong, the physical card gets left at home, and everybody knows their phone number by heart.

Points or balance: they are not the same, and this matters

Worth being clear about because it decides which product you genuinely need.

Points are your reward. You invent them, you decide what they are worth, you can change the rules and you can set expiry with a good deal of freedom. They are not the customer's money.

Wallet balance is money the customer paid. It is an outstanding obligation in your books, you cannot reduce it at will and setting a short expiry can be considered unfair depending on the country.

Which is why, for loyalty, points are the tool with fewest strings. A wallet makes sense when you genuinely need prepayment or refunds as balance, not for rewarding purchases.

Requirements

It needs WordPress, WooCommerce, OpenPOS and the WooCommerce points and rewards system. It is a connecting piece: without both sides it does nothing on its own.

Alternatives in the catalogue

If your loyalty is online only and you have no counter, WPLoyalty is more complete: points, rewards, tiers and a referral programme, without depending on the point of sale.

If what you need is balance rather than points, the OpenPOS and TeraWallet integration takes the wallet to the counter, and Wallet System for WooCommerce solves it in the online shop only.

And if the aim is acquiring new customers rather than retaining the ones you have, that is something else: PW Gift Cards, because a gift card is paid for by one of your customers and used by somebody who was not.

On the point of sale side, the base is OpenPOS, and the catalogue's other options are Vitepos Pro and MultiPOS.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work on its own?
No. It needs OpenPOS and the WooCommerce points system; it is the piece joining them.

Are the shop and website points the same?
Yes, that is its purpose: a single points balance across both channels.

Are they redeemed from the till screen?
Yes, and that is the add-on's whole reason for existing.

How do I identify the customer quickly?
By phone number is usually fastest. Emails get spelled wrong and cards get left behind.

Can points expire?
With points there is a good deal of room, more than with real balance. Even so, say it clearly in the terms.

Points or wallet?
Points for rewarding; a wallet when you need prepayment or refunds as balance.