For retailers with both a Shopify online store and one or more physical locations, “can I return this in-store if I bought it online?” is one of the most common customer questions, and one of the most common sources of friction if the answer is “technically yes, but our systems don’t actually talk to each other.” Customers increasingly expect buy-online-return-in-store (BORIS, sometimes written BOL/BIS) as a baseline convenience, not a bonus feature, and getting it wrong shows up fast in frustrated staff and inconsistent stock records.
The good news is that Shopify’s POS and Locations architecture is genuinely built to support this, provided it’s configured properly. The common failure point isn’t Shopify’s capability, it’s retailers running online and in-store as two loosely connected systems instead of one unified setup, which causes stock discrepancies, refund confusion, and staff who don’t know how to process an online return at the counter.
This post walks through how Shopify Locations and POS actually support in-store returns for online orders, the configuration steps to get it working properly, and the operational gotchas Australian multi-location retailers commonly hit.
Why BOL/BIS Matters More Than It Used To
Offering in-store returns for online purchases isn’t just a convenience add-on, for a lot of retailers it directly affects conversion. Customers who know they can return an online purchase to a physical store nearby are more willing to buy online in the first place, particularly for categories like apparel and footwear where fit uncertainty drives a meaningful share of returns. It also brings a customer physically into your store, which is a genuine opportunity for an exchange or an additional in-store purchase rather than a straight refund and lost sale.
The operational risk if it’s not set up properly is real too: staff manually trying to process a website order refund through a POS system that doesn’t recognise it, inventory not reconciling between the online store and physical stock counts, and a customer experience that undermines the “buy online, return in-store” promise you’ve made.
How Shopify Locations and POS Support This
Shopify’s core mechanism for omnichannel retail is Locations, found under Settings > Locations in your admin. Each physical store, warehouse, or fulfilment point is set up as a distinct location, each with its own inventory levels tracked separately but visible centrally. Shopify POS, when installed on in-store hardware, is tied to a specific location and can access the same order and customer database as your online store, because it’s the same Shopify backend, not a separate system bolted on.
This shared backend is what makes BOL/BIS genuinely workable, as opposed to retailers on separate ecommerce and POS platforms who have to build custom sync integrations. In Shopify:
- An order placed online is visible to staff at any connected POS location, searchable by order number, customer name or email.
- A return or exchange processed at a physical location through Shopify POS’s Returns and Exchanges functionality can be linked directly back to the original online order.
- Inventory adjustments from an in-store return update centrally, so stock levels reflect reality across every location and the online store, rather than requiring a manual reconciliation later.
Step-by-Step: Setting Up In-Store Returns for Online Orders
- Set up each physical store as its own Location under Settings > Locations, with accurate inventory tracked at that location rather than lumped into a single generic warehouse entry.
- Install and configure Shopify POS at each physical location, ensuring staff devices are correctly assigned to their location, this is what allows POS to pull in the right online orders and inventory context.
- Enable Shopify POS’s Returns and Exchanges feature, which allows staff to search for an order (including online orders) directly within POS and process a return, refund or exchange against it.
- Decide your refund method policy, whether online-order returns processed in-store are refunded to the original payment method (standard, and what most customers expect) or issued as store credit/gift card, and configure this consistently across locations so staff aren’t making inconsistent calls.
- Set stock routing rules for returned items. Decide whether returned stock from an online order goes back into that store’s sellable inventory, gets flagged for quality check first, or routes back to a central warehouse, and make sure staff know the process, since this is where a lot of “it worked in Shopify but not in practice” issues actually originate.
- Train staff on the actual POS workflow, not just the policy. The technical capability existing in Shopify doesn’t help if the person at the counter doesn’t know how to search for an online order or process the return correctly under time pressure with a customer waiting.
- Test the full loop yourself, place a test online order, then process the return at each physical location, checking that inventory, refund status and order history all update correctly.
Common Gotchas for Australian Multi-Location Retailers
A few issues come up repeatedly for retailers rolling this out:
- Inventory double-counting or gaps when a store was previously tracking stock outside Shopify (spreadsheets, a separate POS system) and hasn’t been fully migrated onto Shopify’s Locations model. BOL/BIS only works reliably once inventory truth lives in one place.
- Refund method inconsistency between locations, particularly in multi-store or franchise-style setups where different managers make different calls on store credit versus refund-to-card. This needs to be a documented policy, not left to individual discretion.
- Exchanges being harder than returns. A straight refund is simple; an exchange for a different size or colour needs the new item to actually be in stock at that location, which is where inventory visibility across locations (not just at the one location) becomes genuinely useful, staff should be able to see stock at nearby locations, not just their own.
- International or interstate online orders returned to a store that wasn’t the fulfilling location. This is fine functionally in Shopify since it’s all centrally tracked, but it’s worth having a clear policy on whether all locations accept all online returns, or only orders that shipped from a nearby fulfilment point.
- POS staff permissions not matching what’s needed. Returns and refund processing usually needs specific staff permission levels set correctly under Shopify’s staff account settings, and it’s easy to have this misconfigured so staff can see the order but can’t actually action the return.
Measuring Whether Your BOL/BIS Setup Is Actually Working
Once the technical configuration is live, it’s worth tracking whether it’s genuinely functioning as intended rather than assuming it is because no one has complained. A few practical signals to monitor:
- Time-to-resolution for in-store online returns, compared to online-only returns processed through a mail-back process. If in-store returns are consistently slower or require staff to escalate to a manager, that’s usually a sign the POS workflow or staff training needs revisiting, not that the customer is being difficult.
- Inventory discrepancy rate between what Shopify shows as available at a location and what a physical stocktake finds, specifically for locations handling a high volume of online returns. A widening gap here usually traces back to inconsistent stock routing decisions (sellable versus quality-check versus write-off) not being followed consistently.
- Exchange completion rate versus straight refunds. If most in-store “returns” of online orders end up as refunds rather than exchanges, it’s worth checking whether staff have visibility into stock at other locations to offer a genuine exchange, or whether the process defaults to refund because that’s simply easier to process.
- Customer feedback specifically about the in-store return experience, gathered through post-purchase surveys or direct feedback at the counter, separate from general store feedback, this is often the fastest way to catch a process breakdown before it shows up in return volume data.
Treating BOL/BIS as a system to monitor and refine, rather than a one-off configuration task, is usually what separates retailers where it becomes a genuine competitive advantage from those where it quietly becomes a source of ongoing friction.
Beyond Returns: The Bigger Omnichannel Picture
BOL/BIS is usually the first omnichannel feature retailers tackle because it’s the most visible to customers, but it sits within a broader set of decisions, unified customer profiles across online and in-store purchases, click-and-collect, staff-assisted online ordering from the shop floor, and consistent promotions across channels. Getting the Locations and inventory foundation right for returns tends to make all of these easier to layer on afterwards, because the underlying data model is already unified rather than needing to be retrofitted later.
If your store already has (or is planning) multiple physical locations alongside Shopify online, this is worth thinking through as a single omnichannel strategy rather than solving returns in isolation, which is exactly the kind of setup our omnichannel retail work focuses on, connecting POS, locations and inventory so the customer experience is consistent whichever channel they use.
When to Bring In Specialist Help
Basic BOL/BIS configuration is something most retail teams can set up themselves, particularly for a single or small number of locations. It gets genuinely more complex once you’re dealing with several locations with different stock profiles, a mix of company-owned and franchise stores, existing inventory data that needs cleaning up before it can be trusted in Shopify’s Locations model, or integration with a separate ERP or inventory management system. In those cases, a proper omnichannel setup project, done once, correctly, is worth more than months of staff working around a half-configured system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can customers return an online order at any of my physical store locations, or just one?
This is a policy decision you set, not a Shopify limitation, Shopify’s centralised order data means any connected POS location can technically look up and process a return for an online order, so it’s up to you whether to allow returns at all locations or restrict it to certain stores.
Does Shopify automatically update inventory when I process an in-store return for an online order?
Yes, when set up correctly with Locations and POS Returns and Exchanges, inventory adjustments from an in-store return update centrally, reflecting across the online store and all locations rather than needing manual reconciliation.
What’s the difference between Shopify Locations and Shopify POS for this purpose?
Locations is the underlying data structure representing each physical (or fulfilment) point and its inventory; POS is the point-of-sale software installed at a location that staff use to process sales and returns. You need both configured correctly and linked for BOL/BIS to work smoothly.
Can staff issue store credit instead of a refund for an online return processed in-store?
Yes, this is generally configurable, but it should be a consistent, documented policy across all your locations rather than left to individual staff discretion, to avoid inconsistent customer experiences.
Do I need Shopify POS hardware to accept in-store returns for online orders?
You need Shopify POS software running at the location (on supported hardware, which ranges from a basic tablet setup to dedicated POS terminals) to process returns properly through the system. Without it, staff would be trying to manage online-order returns manually, which defeats the purpose of a unified setup.
Next Steps
If you’re planning to introduce or improve buy-online-return-in-store across your physical locations, it’s worth getting the Locations, POS and inventory foundation set up properly from the start rather than fixing it after staff have been working around it for months. Book a call to talk through your specific store setup, or start with a Shopify audit to see how your current configuration measures up.
