Preparing Your Store

Recommended Hardware for Shopfront

Nick Clark
Updated

Shopfront is a cloud based point-of-sale system for use in fast moving consumer goods retail environments, as part of this, we support and recommend a number of hardware options for you to use along with Shopfront.

All hardware is available to be purchased directly from Shopfront, or you can source your own.

{note}If sourcing your own hardware, Shopfront is unable to provide support for hardware related issues and may charge a setup fee if you require Shopfront's assistance with setting up Shopfront to work with the device.{/note}

Computer

Shopfront has been designed to work on a wide-range of devices including computers, tablets and phones. Shopfront runs purely in the browser and doesn't have a locally installed app (however, it does have an optional helper application for Windows PCs called Hardware Connect).

For your main selling device, we recommend a Windows computer with the following minimum specifications:

  • i5 (7th Gen) processor
  • 8GB RAM
  • SSD or M.2
  • Windows 10 or 11

Shopfront will work on other operating systems, but computers with Shopfront are typically used for more than just selling so staff are more likely to be familiar with Windows compared to other operating systems.

Shopfront may work on computers with lesser specifications, but aren't guaranteed to be supported.

Monitors (including the Customer Facing Display)

Shopfront recommends using a 24-inch monitor to provide the best comfort for staff when selling and performing back office tasks, Shopfront supports most screen sizes and a number of stores are running 15-inch monitors when there is not much room for a device.

We recommend installing a customer facing display to display prices to the customer and run promotional advertising. We typically install a 21.5-inch monitor and mount both the main monitor and customer facing display on a pole mount for the nicest look.

Receipt Printer

A receipt printer is optional, but highly recommended (especially if you're using a cash drawer as they plug in via a receipt printer by default). Shopfront can work with any receipt printer which is able to print images (not generic / text-only receipt printers).

We officially only support the EPSON TM range (we typically supply EPSON TM-T82III), but can assist with the setup of any brand of receipt printer.

Cash Drawer

Any cash drawer which communicates via RJ12 is supported by Shopfront. If you're not using a receipt printer you can purchase a cash drawer kick trigger, however Shopfront is unable to provide any official support for the trigger. 

Barcode Scanner

Any barcode scanner which you can connect to your device and sends scanned items as text (the same as how a keyboard works) will work with Shopfront.

We recommend the Zebra LI2208 if you want a wired barcode scanner and the Zebra LI4278 if you want a wireless barcode scanner.

We also support scanners that can connect to your mobile device such as the Socket Scanner S800 which are useful for stocktaking your store.

EFTPOS

EFTPOS terminals are typically supplied by your bank or a payment provider, you can use non-integrated EFTPOS with Shopfront, but we recommend integrating through either Tyro or Linkly.

Tyro is an independent payment provider who develop and supply their own terminals.

Linkly is a middleware application typically used by banks to communicate between Shopfront and the EFTPOS terminal. We currently only support connections to Linkly via TCP/IP (not Linkly Cloud).