One of the main things in any online business is inventory, how to control it, track it and take charge of it. If your business has an Offline presence, for instance, say it is a proper brick and mortar store, then you need to take inventory as well as accounts information from your sales person. The biggest problem in this area is to make a decision to invest in more software.

Separate software exists with you, perhaps, one that takes sales from counter into account and other software to track your online sales. Now you may be unwilling to spend more money on software. So what does a person do? You have both online and offline software, so you could try to integrate them together. It may not be easy and in some cases it may not be possible either. The best solution is a website that processes all your online offline purchases. This is easily done with a bit of technical know- how and handy USB Tools.

For this you need a few things in place. Your first concern should be a reliable internet connection. If your internet connection is not fail proof, your shop is subject to a lot of problems. Thankfully technical developments have brought us mobile broad-band connections that are affordable, do not rely on cable connections and can function anywhere. You could integrate it with your lap top, even charge credit cards. This should be your prime area to invest in for your online offline business.

Now you need to capability to process an offline order at your brick and mortar store online. If you are not a technical person, consult your webmaster as most e-commerce websites have the capability for creating orders at the back end, simply add a USB type of credit card swiper and you can process the purchase. Customers are interested only in the product and the bill so will not be concerned about how it is processed. Any printer, a standard one or a USB one can print the receipt. It just requires a bit of customization for making a standardized bill receipt that works for both kinds of sales, online and offline.

The barcode scanning may present difficulties online, but if you search the net, you will find expert software developers who could create some customized software which can contain your product’s bar code value, then have it enabled to add other bar codes too. This can work for you.

You can expand your business by running your existing offline store and adding on an online presence. This can also be done in reverse. It requires the help of your webmaster, a bit of technical know how and ingenuity. Consider this, your brick and mortar business serves a purpose, it sells products to the community and neighbourhood. However, with an online presence you have a world wide reach. This is infinitely an expansion, which is a step in the right direction. You can have that, thanks to the internet, at the fraction of the cost you would have to invest in running a chain of stores, and this is very possible.