Retail brands spend heavily on digital marketing, then lose sight of the customer when they walk into a store. The register knows what sold; the ad platforms know who clicked. In-store attribution connects them.
The key: an identity at the register
A POS sale becomes attributable when it carries something you also saw online. The most common is an email address, captured through:
- Digital receipts ("Email me my receipt")
- Loyalty program sign-ups
- Buy online, pick up in store orders
- Event and appointment bookings
When the same email was captured online, for example at a newsletter sign-up or a podcast promo-code redemption, the sale matches exactly.
Sending POS sales
Export transactions from Square or your POS system and upload them as CSV, or post them to the sales API with platform=retail_pos. Include the receipt or loyalty email when you have it. Trakinit hashes emails before matching and never stores them raw.
Which channels show up in store
Once POS sales are in the same place as your touchpoints, you'll see:
- Email and SMS that bring loyalty members back to a store
- Podcasts whose listeners redeem a code at the counter
- Local paid social that drives store visits
- Events whose attendees buy later
Read podcast attribution and email and SMS attribution for channel-specific tips.
Privacy at the register
Shoppers expect their receipts to stay private. Hashing emails twice, once at capture and again with a server-side secret, means the raw address never sits in your attribution database. See hashed email matching.
Start small
Pick one store or region, send a month of POS sales with emails, and compare matched revenue by channel. Most teams find their email program and local campaigns drive more store revenue than they assumed.
Common mistakes to avoid
- No email capture at the register. Without a receipt or loyalty email, most POS sales can't be matched exactly.
- Uploading totals instead of transactions. Attribution needs individual sales with times, not daily totals.
- Relying only on store Wi-Fi. Network matching in stores is weak; email is the key that works.
Frequently asked questions
Which POS systems work with Trakinit?
Any system that can export transactions as CSV or post them to an API, including Square. Include the order ID, time, amount and, when available, the customer's email.
Can I attribute in-store sales to paid social?
Yes, when the shopper also identified online, for example by signing up for the newsletter after an ad click. The sale then matches through their hashed email.
How do I compare stores or regions?
Send each sale with its platform set to retail_pos and use the campaign or store field your POS exports. Read hashed email matching for the privacy side.
Start a free trial and upload your first POS export.