Using Shopify ID as POS Member Number

About This Article

To link online and offline customers, we adopted the idea of using Shopify's customer ID as the POS member number. This article explains the background of this design decision and implementation method.

Challenge and Solution

Challenges Faced

Solution: Shopify ID as Member Number

Why We Chose This Approach

Comparison with Other Options

Reasons for Choosing Method 3

• Simplicity: No additional systems or databases required
• Reliability: IDs issued by Shopify are guaranteed unique
• Ease of operation: No mapping table maintenance
• Fault tolerance: Simple mechanism has fewer failure points

Shopify Customer ID Structure

GraphQL Format ID

Shopify customer IDs are returned in the following format via GraphQL API.

Format: gid://shopify/Customer/8840734670934

Extracting Numeric Part

Point: This number becomes the POS member number

Registering Member Number to POS

Registration Timing

POS Data Structure

Point: Member number field is used as "storage for Shopify ID". Using POS standard functionality minimizes additional development

Processing During Matching

Flow When Retrieving Points

Benefits of This Design

Development Perspective

Operations Perspective

Considerations

Member Number Digit Count

Pre-verification points:

• How many digits does POS member number support?
• Numbers only? Alphanumeric also?
• How are leading zeros handled?
• Verify POS field specifications to ensure Shopify ID fits

Handling Existing POS Members

Note: Consider saving old member number in separate field as history

Benefits of This Mechanism

As System Design

• Achieve linking without introducing additional complexity
• Consistent data management with Shopify as master
• Easy to accommodate future expansion (other system integrations)

As Business

• Foundation for omnichannel experience established
• Recognized as same customer across all channels
• Unified customer data analysis possible