Feature classification
With Shopify POS 11.14, authorized store staff can view products in an identified customer's abandoned online checkout.
If the person is matched to the correct customer profile in the POS using their email address, Shopify displays a notification about the items in their online cart. Staff can open these products and, if requested, add them directly to the current POS cart.
Shopify does not display the entire browsing history. Only products from an eligible abandoned checkout are shown.
For omnichannel retailers, this creates a tangible bridge between online research and personalized in-store advice.
What the feature is and what it isn't
A connection point between online checkout and the store
The feature uses an abandoned online checkout as its starting point.
An example makes the difference clear.
A customer adds three pairs of sneakers to her online shopping cart, begins the checkout process, and enters her email address. However, she does not complete the order.
Two days later, she visits a store. An employee identifies her through her customer profile. Shopify POS can now display which products were in the abandoned checkout.
For example, the employee can ask
Would you like to review the models in your online shopping cart here?
If the customer agrees, the relevant products can be added to the POS shopping cart.
No access to browsing history
The sales staff cannot see which categories, product pages, or search results the customer previously visited.
Shopify explicitly clarifies that only products from the online shopping cart associated with the eligible abandoned checkout are visible. Browsing history is not displayed.
This is an important distinction.
The store receives purchase context, but not a complete overview of prior online behavior.
Not every shopping cart is automatically visible
Simply adding a product to the shopping cart is not enough.
Shopify requires an eligible abandoned checkout. According to the current documentation, a checkout is considered abandoned if the customer has entered their email address and the checkout then remains incomplete for more than ten minutes.
An anonymous visitor who adds products to their cart and leaves the store without starting the checkout process or providing their email address cannot be identified in the same way through this process.
No automatic customer identification upon entering the store
Shopify doesn't simply detect that a specific person has entered the store.
The person must be assigned to the correct customer profile in the POS. Their email address is particularly important for this. Shopify also requires location context for the POS session.
This feature therefore requires active customer identification during the sales conversation.
Do not automatically close the online checkout
This is an important practical limitation.
If the products from the online shopping cart are subsequently purchased in-store, Shopify does not automatically mark the original abandoned checkout as completed.
The abandoned checkout remains in place until it expires. As a result, the product notice may continue to be displayed after the purchase has been completed in the store.
The sales staff should be aware of this difference.
Requirements and data basis
Shopify POS 11.14
This feature was introduced with Shopify POS version 11.14. POS devices should therefore be running at least this version.
For larger retail organizations, it should be verified that all devices are centrally maintained at the required software version.
The customer needs an email address
For Shopify to associate the online checkout with the correct customer in the store, an email address must be provided.
The customer must be linked to the corresponding customer profile at the POS.
A customer profile containing only a name is not sufficient for this specific process. Shopify explicitly states that an email address is required.
A suitable abandoned checkout must exist
Shopify creates an abandoned checkout when someone enters their email address during the online checkout process and then does not complete the purchase within ten minutes.
This also means that not every online product interaction will later be visible in the store.
The feature is based on purchase intent during checkout, not on general browsing behavior.
The POS session requires location context
Shopify also specifies a location context for the POS session as a prerequisite.
For retail setups with many stores, it is therefore important to ensure that devices and POS sessions are assigned to the correct locations.
Employees need the appropriate permissions
Shopify deliberately controls access through POS roles.
According to the current documentation, employees need the following permissions for the complete workflow
- Create new customers
- View customer details
- View abandoned checkouts
The abandoned checkout permission allows you to view products in online shopping carts and add them to the POS cart.
Shopify also notes that POS roles are only available for locations using Shopify POS Pro. Businesses with other POS configurations should therefore check their specific availability before implementation.
How to enable and use the feature
Check permissions in the Shopify admin
The new permission is managed through POS roles in the Shopify admin.
The path described by Shopify goes through
Settings
→ Users
→ Roles
→ POS Roles
→ Customers
→ Show Abandoned Checkouts
The permission should not be automatically enabled for every role.
First, consider which employees actually need this customer context for their work.
Identify customers at the point of sale
During the sales consultation, the existing customer profile is added to the POS cart.
You can search by name or email address, for example. Shopify POS offers various search options for this purpose within customer management.
It is crucial to use the correct customer profile with the corresponding email address.
Open online shopping cart notice
If an eligible abandoned checkout exists, Shopify POS displays a notification about items in the online cart.
Shopify initially displays up to three products directly. Sales staff can open the complete curated product list via the full view.
Apply selected products
If the customer wishes to purchase one of the products, the desired items can be added to the current POS cart.
Not all products from the previous online shopping cart need to be carried over. Employees can select one or more items.
Complete the sale as usual in the POS
After that, the sale continues like a normal POS transaction.
The previously mentioned limitation remains important. Completing the purchase in the store does not automatically close the original abandoned online checkout.
Practical principles for effective in-store consultation
The online shopping cart is for reference only and does not constitute an order.
An abandoned checkout indicates that someone has shown fairly specific interest in certain products.
However, it does not prove that the person wants to continue buying these products.
Perhaps she changed her mind in the meantime. Perhaps one of the products was intended for someone else. Perhaps the order was abandoned because of the price.
Sales staff should therefore treat the information as a conversation starter rather than a sales directive.
A good way to phrase it is
I see that you've already saved a few products online. Would you like me to quickly show them to you here?
It would make less sense
You did want to buy these three products, didn't you?
Timeliness plays an important role
Shopify does not retain such online shopping carts indefinitely.
According to the current documentation, they expire within 90 days of creation or 30 days after the last update.
A shopping cart that is several weeks old should be interpreted differently from a checkout initiated the previous evening.
Purchasing in the store does not remove the notice immediately
This is probably the most important organizational feature.
Even after the customer has purchased her products in the store, the original online shopping cart may remain visible.
Store teams should therefore not assume that a visible shopping cart necessarily indicates an active intent to purchase.
Before providing advice, it is worth taking a quick look at the customer's order history and the current context of the conversation.
Product interest and local inventory are two different things
The fact that a product is displayed in the online shopping cart does not necessarily mean that it is available at the current store location.
A good omnichannel process should therefore anticipate the next step.
If size 42 is not available in the store, the sales staff should know whether
- another variant is available
- another store has it in stock
- the product can be shipped to the customer
- an alternative size or version makes sense
The online shopping cart provides context. The actual fulfillment decision remains separate from it.
Typical Practical Applications
Fashion and Shoes
A customer viewed three jackets online and took two of them all the way to checkout.
At the store, she really just wants to try on a particular size.
The sales staff can see the products and directly show suitable models or similar variants.
This offers a clear benefit, especially for products where fit and material play a major role.
Furniture and products requiring extensive consultation
A customer begins purchasing a higher-priced product online but wants to see it before placing the order.
In the store, the team can see which specific model was already in the checkout.
This does not mean that the consultation process starts over from scratch.
Instead of asking generally what the customer is looking for, you can discuss the specific product, its variants, and alternatives directly.
Consumer Electronics
A customer added a device and compatible accessories to their online checkout.
At the store, he asks about compatibility.
Sales staff can use the original shopping cart as context and review it together with the customer to determine which items are actually needed.
The value here comes less from closing quickly than from providing more thorough advice.
Research online and buy in store
Many omnichannel purchases do not follow a linear path.
A customer can
research online
→ start checkout
→ abandon purchase
→ visit the store
→ try the product
→ buy in-store
Shopify is now creating an additional handoff point specifically for flows like these.
Rules for Three Typical Customer Scenarios
Current Online Checkout
Rule
If the checkout is only a few hours or days old, sales staff can proactively offer the products as part of the consultation context.
A suitable wording is
You had already selected a few items online. Would you like me to quickly show you the models here?
The conversation remains open-ended, leaving it up to the customer to decide whether she wants to use the online context.
Purchase requiring extensive consultation
Rule
If a customer has questions about size, material, compatibility, or available options, the online shopping cart should be used as a starting point rather than as a final product recommendation.
The employee can first explain the selected product and then suggest suitable alternatives.
Older abandoned checkout
Rule
If the online shopping cart dates back some time, the information should be used more sparingly.
Instead of addressing the shopping cart directly, you can first ask about the customer's current needs.
An older checkout is a weaker signal of current purchase intent than a checkout from the same day.
Short sample conversations for the store
Product consultation
You’ve already looked at this model online. Would you like to try it out here?
Size guide
I see the jacket in your online shopping cart. I can show you the available sizes right away.
Alternative when out of stock
The requested option is currently unavailable here. I can help you check which alternative or shipping option would work for you.
These phrases should serve as guidance rather than as a rigid sales script.
The most important point remains that the information should help the customer without making them feel that they have been monitored online.
When the feature is useful and when it isn't
Useful for genuine omnichannel behavior
This feature is particularly useful when significant segments of the customer base shop both online and in physical stores.
A retailer with strong online traffic and multiple stores is therefore more likely to benefit than a business whose online and offline customers are almost entirely separate.
Useful for products that require extensive consultation
The more questions that arise before a purchase, the more helpful the preceding online context can be.
This applies, for example, to
- Fashion
- Shoes
- Electronics
- Furniture
- Sporting goods
- high-quality consumer goods
Useful when customers are consistently identified
The feature only works reliably if customer profiles are properly maintained and actually used in the store.
If POS orders are almost always completed anonymously, their practical value will be correspondingly limited.
Less useful for very fast transactions
For a business selling simple, inexpensive products with very short sales conversations, opening an online shopping cart can create more work than value.
Less useful without clearly defined roles
If every store employee is given access to customer data, even though only a few need this information to advise customers, this results in unnecessary data access.
The function should therefore be controlled through roles and tasks.
Mistakes to avoid
Automatically grant access to all employees
The permission should not be enabled by default.
Store managers, sales associates, and temporary staff may have different requirements.
The principle should be
Access only for roles that actually need the context to perform their work.
Confusing the online shopping cart with browser history
Shopify does not show the complete online history.
Employees should be aware that they will only see products from an eligible abandoned checkout.
Treat viewed products as current purchase intent
An abandoned checkout may be outdated or no longer relevant for other reasons.
The information should always be cross-checked against the current conversation.
Overlooked the checkout that was still open
According to Shopify, after a POS purchase, the original abandoned checkout remains until it expires.
As a result, a subsequent employee might see the same shopping cart again.
Store training should explicitly address this special case.
Use fake customer profiles
If employees accidentally select the wrong customer profile, the online context displayed may also be incorrect.
Therefore, especially when names are similar, the email address should be cross-checked.
Viewing data protection solely from a technical perspective
Authorization answers the technical question of who is allowed to access the data.
It does not automatically answer the organizational question of how employees should use this information in customer conversations.
A store team should therefore define both permissions and rules for communication.
Moving Primates Perspective
In omnichannel projects, the greatest value does not come from displaying as much customer data as possible at the checkout. What matters is whether the information genuinely helps staff advise the customer at the right moment. At the same time, additional customer context increases the need for clearly defined roles and training. A common mistake is to configure technical permissions without adapting the in-store process. It makes sense to establish clear rules for when an online shopping cart should be mentioned, how older checkouts should be handled, and which employees are allowed to access them. It is particularly important to note that a POS purchase does not currently close the abandoned online checkout automatically.
Technical Implications for Larger Stores
Customer identity becomes the point of connection
The connection between online and POS is established through the customer profile, particularly the email address.
For enterprise setups, this means that the quality and consistency of customer profiles are becoming more important.
Duplicate profiles, different email addresses, or incomplete customer data may prevent the expected online context from being visible.
The online shopping cart and POS cart remain separate objects
Products can be transferred from the online context to the POS shopping cart.
However, this does not mean that the original checkout is technically converted into a POS checkout.
Shopify confirms this by keeping the abandoned checkout in place after the POS purchase.
This separation is important for reporting and automation.
A POS purchase and an abandoned checkout that still exists can coexist.
Abandoned checkout automations should be reviewed
Shopify treats abandoned checkout recovery as a separate online process. The current documentation indicates that the relevant automations are intended for the Online Store and Buy Button and are not triggered by an abandoned POS transaction.
Since an online checkout can remain open after a POS purchase, larger merchants should check whether their existing recovery logic aligns with their omnichannel process.
A particularly relevant question is whether a customer might still receive a message about their previous online checkout after successfully making a purchase in-store.
The exact behavior depends on the automation being used and its conditions, and should be tested in your own setup.
Headless stores need to consider the checkout flow
For a headless store, the key consideration is where the identifiable checkout is created.
The current POS feature relies on a suitable abandoned Shopify checkout that includes an email address.
Therefore, a custom cart in a Hydrogen or Next.js storefront does not automatically become the visible POS cart.
For headless teams, the relevant question is
At what point is the customer identified in the Shopify checkout, and which line items are actually present in the checkout at that time?
This should be tested with realistic sessions before an omnichannel rollout.
Roles become part of the data architecture
The feature is more than just a POS interface.
It also affects the company's role model.
Larger retail organizations should, for example, distinguish between
- Store Manager
- Sales consulting
- seasonal employees
- Customer Service
- central Retail Operations Team
Not every role requires the same level of access.
For this purpose, Shopify provides the permission View abandoned checkouts or, in the German interface, Abgebrochene Checkouts anzeigen.
Location context should be tested
Shopify explicitly states that location context is a prerequisite for display.
For companies with many branches, testing should therefore be carried out at several actual POS locations rather than exclusively on a central test device.
Expiration rules must be taken into account in tests
Online shopping carts do not remain permanently available in POS.
Shopify states up to 90 days from creation or 30 days from the last update.
Test data created several weeks ago may therefore behave differently from new checkouts.
Relevant Test Cases
Before a broader rollout, at least the following scenarios should be tested
- Customer with a valid abandoned online checkout
- Customer without an abandoned checkout
- Customer profile without an email address
- incorrect customer profile
- Authorized employee
- Employee without authorization
- multiple products in the online shopping cart
- more than three products in the online shopping cart
- older online shopping cart
- Product no longer available locally after online checkout
- successful purchase of the products at the point of sale
- Follow-up call to the customer after the POS purchase
- different store locations
- existing abandoned checkout automations
- Headless storefront with Shopify Checkout
Pre-Go-Live Checklist
- Are the devices being used running Shopify POS 11.14 or later?
- Have the required POS roles and permissions been set up?
- Do only roles that actually require it have access to abandoned checkouts?
- Are employees aware that only products in the online shopping cart are visible, and not the browsing history?
- Are customer profiles in the store reliably identified using the correct email address?
- Was the process tested with multiple real abandoned checkouts?
- Is it known that a POS purchase does not automatically close the original checkout?
- Was it tested how existing abandoned checkout automations respond after an in-store purchase?
- Are rules defined for older online shopping carts that are no longer relevant?
- Are sales staff, Retail Operations, and data protection officers informed about the process?
Summary
- Since version 11.14, Shopify POS can display products from eligible abandoned online checkouts.
- The customer must be uniquely identified and have an email address.
- The online checkout must have remained incomplete for at least ten minutes to be considered abandoned.
- The POS session requires location context.
- Shopify only shows products from the online shopping cart and does not show browsing history.
- Staff members need the appropriate permissions for customer profiles and abandoned checkouts.
- Shopify initially displays up to three products and then provides access to the full list.
- One or more products can be added to the current POS cart.
- A purchase in the store does not currently automatically close the original abandoned online checkout.
- Online shopping carts expire after the time periods defined by Shopify.
- For larger merchants, roles, customer identity, and in-store processes are just as important as technical enablement.
- This feature is particularly useful for retailers with a true omnichannel approach and products that require extensive consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Shopify POS show from an abandoned online checkout?
Shopify POS displays the products associated with an eligible abandoned online checkout. Browsing history and other product pages visited are not displayed.
When does an online shopping cart appear in the POS?
The customer must be identified, have an email address, and have an eligible abandoned checkout. Additionally, the POS session requires location context.
When is a checkout considered abandoned?
Shopify considers a checkout abandoned if the customer has provided their email address and the checkout then remains incomplete for more than ten minutes.
What permissions do employees need?
For the complete process, Shopify lists the permissions Create new customers, View customer details, and View abandoned checkouts.
Will the online checkout be closed if the customer makes a purchase in the store?
No. Adding and purchasing the products at the POS does not automatically mark the original abandoned checkout as completed. It remains active until it expires.
Is this feature also relevant for headless shops?
Yes, if the online purchase process leads to a Shopify checkout where the customer is identified. The key is to create an eligible abandoned Shopify checkout that Shopify POS can access.
List of links
Shopify changelog for connecting the online shopping cart and POS
Permitted store staff can now see an identified customer's online cart in POS
The official announcement dated September 3, 2026, describes the new POS feature, version 11.14, and the basic requirements.
Shopify Help Center for retrieving online shopping carts in POS
Adding a customer's online cart items to the Shopify POS cart
The documentation explains the complete process, prerequisites, processing times, and what happens after a POS purchase.
Shopify Help Center on POS permissions
The page documents the abandoned checkout permission and the additional customer permissions.
Shopify Help Center on searching for customers in POS
Search for a customer profile in Shopify POS
The documentation explains how to find existing customer profiles in the POS and associate them with a shopping cart.
Shopify Help Center on abandoned checkouts
The page explains when Shopify considers a checkout abandoned.
Shopify Help Center on the new abandoned checkout automation
Opt in to the new abandoned checkout automation
The documentation describes the current automation for re-engaging customers who abandoned their online checkouts.
