Offline-first POS & inventory PWA

Context

Small retailers often work with unreliable internet. When a cloud-only POS goes offline, checkout stops and inventory falls out of sync, which costs sales and trust.

The challenge

Checkout, stock levels and receipts all had to keep working with no connection, on modest hardware, and then reconcile safely with the server without duplicate or lost transactions.

Approach

1. 01

   Local-first data

   Products, sales and stock live in the browser's database, so every action is instant and works offline.

2. 02

   Safe background sync

   Queued changes sync automatically when the connection returns, with conflict handling for stock counts.

3. 03

   Installable app

   As a progressive web app it installs on tablets and desktops with no app-store friction.

Design

A touch-first checkout with large targets, fast product search and a persistent cart. A clear connection indicator tells staff whether they're online, offline or syncing.

Outcome

Stores can keep trading through outages, and inventory stays accurate across devices once they reconnect.