How to switch from your old POS to a new one without closing the shop
Changing your POS feels daunting, and that is normal: it holds your products, your prices, your whole day. The good news is that, with a little preparation, the migration happens without pulling the shutters down and without losing a single sale. Here is the full step-by-step checklist.
The fear of switching POS (and why it should not stop you)
Most shops stay for years with a POS that no longer serves them for one reason alone: fear of change. "What if I lose my catalogue?", "what if I spend a day unable to take payment?", "what if the staff get lost?". These are fair questions, but every one of them has an answer, and none of them means closing the shop. A well-planned migration is not a leap into the dark: it is an orderly house move where you pack the boxes ahead of time and only move in once everything is ready.
The key is to separate two moments that people wrongly lump together: preparing the data (which you can do calmly over several days, with the shop running as normal on the old POS) and making the switch (a short window on a quiet day when you start taking payment on the new system). Get the first right and the second is almost a formality. Let us walk through the checklist.
Step 1: Export the catalogue from your old POS
The first job is to get everything out of your current POS. Almost every system lets you export the product catalogue to a file, usually as CSV or Excel. Look for the option in the products, inventory, or utilities menu; it is often called "export", "download list", or similar. If you cannot find it, your POS support team or the manual will point you to it.
What do you want in that file? At a minimum, one row per product with: name, barcode (EAN), PLU for weighed products, VAT rate, and selling price. If your POS also exports current stock and purchase cost, even better: it will save you work later. If you are unsure what an EAN is and how best to use it, we explain it in this guide to EAN barcodes.
Step 2: Prepare the CSV with the right columns
This is the step that decides between a calm migration and a headache, and let us be honest about it: Bipe's importer expects a CSV with specific columns. It is not magic, it is a format. At a minimum it needs these columns clearly identified:
- Name of the product, exactly as you want it to appear at the till and on the label.
- Barcode / EAN, the number the scanner reads. Essential if you sell with a scanner.
- PLU for weighed or quick-sale products (the short code you type in).
- VAT, the tax rate for each product (grocery shops mix several: 4%, 10%, 21%).
- Price, the selling price the customer pays.
From Agora, the export maps over almost directly. If you are coming from another POS, you will most likely have to rename or reorder columns so they match what Bipe expects. It is not hard: it takes a short while in a spreadsheet. But it is worth knowing in advance rather than discovering it on changeover day.
Work on a copy of the file in a spreadsheet (Excel, LibreOffice, or Google Sheets). Adjust the column headers to the ones Bipe asks for, check that the EANs have not turned into scientific notation (a classic Excel glitch with long numbers: format that column as text), make sure the prices use the right decimal separator, and delete empty rows or products you no longer sell. The cleaner the catalogue goes in, the fewer fixes you make afterwards.
Step 3: Import the catalogue into Bipe
With the CSV ready, importing is the easy part. You upload the file to Bipe's importer, it shows you a preview so you can confirm each column is in the right place (that the EAN is the EAN, that the price is the price), and if it all checks out, you import. In a few seconds your catalogue is loaded.
A safety tip: if your catalogue is very large, run a test import with 10 or 20 products first. Check that they display correctly at the till, that the scanner finds them by EAN, and that prices and VAT are right. Once the format is validated with that sample, import the rest with confidence.
Step 4: Check stock and prices before selling
An imported catalogue is not the same as a correct catalogue. Before you take real payments, spend a little time on a review. It is the step that prevents the most errors and the one people skip when they are in a hurry.
- Prices: go through a sample from each category and compare with the shelf label. A misplaced decimal or an old price shows up instantly at the till.
- VAT: confirm every product has the right rate. A wrong VAT throws off your accounts without ever showing on the receipt.
- Stock: if you imported stock from the old system, validate it; if not, take the chance to do a count. Having tidy inventory from day one is half the battle won. We help you in this guide to managing your shop inventory.
- Codes: scan a few random products and check the reader recognises them. It is the quickest check and the one that brings the most peace of mind.
Step 5: Train your staff before the switch
A new POS is no use if whoever is at the till does not know how to use it. Training does not have to be a course: as long as each person makes a few practice sales before changeover day, gets comfortable taking payment, applying discounts, doing a refund, and closing the till, that is enough. Bipe is deliberately simple, so the learning curve is short.
Spend half an hour with the team during a quiet moment. Have each person ring up a dummy receipt, find a product by name and by scanner, and close the till. When the real day comes, they will do it without thinking.
Step 6: Switch over on a quiet day
Do not change systems on a Saturday morning or in the middle of the Christmas rush. Pick the quietest day and hour of your week: a Monday morning, a slow afternoon. Start taking payment with Bipe, but keep the old POS switched on as a backup for the first few days. If any doubt comes up, the safety net is right there.
This is exactly why you do not need to close the shop: because the data was already prepared and checked, the transition is just "start using the new one", not setting everything up against the clock. The shutters stay up and the customers never notice.
What data is NOT migrated (and how to keep it)
Time to be honest about something important: in a migration the catalogue travels (products, prices, stock), but the history of past receipts and sales usually does not. And that history, even if you do not use it daily, matters: you need it for accounting and tax reasons, and sometimes to look up what you sold and to whom.
Do not delete or cancel your old POS on the first day. Before you say goodbye to it, export and save the sales history (to CSV or PDF) and any accounting reports you might need. Once it is out of the old system, getting it back can be impossible.
The sensible way to do it: export the sales history, the till closures, and the tax reports for whatever period your regulations require from your old POS, store them somewhere safe (with a backup copy), and only then retire the system. The new shop starts counting from zero on changeover day, and that is fine: the past stays archived, the present is recorded by Bipe.
How Bipe helps
Bipe is built to make switching POS easy, not epic. The CSV importer loads your full catalogue in minutes, with a preview so you can confirm every column is where it should be before anything happens. If you are coming from Agora, the export maps over directly; if you are coming from another POS, adapting the CSV is a short job in a spreadsheet, and from there it is all downhill.
From then on, Bipe keeps your products, prices, VAT, and stock in a simple system anyone learns in minutes, prints labels that match the till, and gives you stock control from day one. And if you want to go a step further in digitising the shop, you have the full route in this guide to digitising your shop step by step.
On electronic invoicing and Verifactu: this is a feature coming soon to Bipe; it is not available yet, but it is on the horizon so your shop will be ready.
Migrate your catalogue without closing the shop
Import your products by CSV, review them with a preview, and start taking payment with Bipe the same day. Try it free.
Try Bipe free →Frequently asked questions
Do I have to close the shop to change POS?
No. If you prepare the migration in advance, importing and checking your catalogue in the days before, the actual switch happens in a short window on a quiet day. The old till stays available as a backup until your team is comfortable on the new one, so you never miss a sale.
What columns does the CSV need to import a catalogue into Bipe?
Bipe's importer expects a CSV with specific columns: product name, barcode or EAN, PLU for weighed products, VAT rate, and selling price. From formats like Agora the export maps over directly; from other POS systems you will need to rename or reorder columns so they match before importing.
Is the sales history from the old POS migrated?
The history of past receipts and sales is usually not migrated: what travels is the catalogue (products, prices, stock). Preserve the history by exporting it to CSV or PDF from the old POS and storing it safely, mainly for accounting and tax reasons. The new shop starts recording sales from the changeover day.
How long does it take to migrate to Bipe?
It depends on the size of your catalogue and how clean the export is, but most small and medium shops prepare and import their catalogue in one or two afternoons. The trick is to do it calmly in the days before and keep changeover day for the transition itself, not for preparing data.