POS customer records

Decide why each detail is needed. Find an existing profile before creating another. Keep marketing permission separate from service contact. Control who can view or export records.

Collect for a clear purpose

A delivery may need an address and contact number. A routine counter sale may need no named customer. Choose fields for the task rather than asking every shopper for the same details. Keep payment card numbers, health information and casual judgements out of customer notes.

Where the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) apply, collection of ordinary personal information must be reasonably necessary for the organisation's functions or activities.

An email address collected for a digital receipt does not, by itself, establish permission for promotional messages. Keep evidence of the customer's choice separate from service contact details and consult the ACMA's guidance on avoiding spam.

In Square, manually entering an email address into a profile can automatically opt the customer into email marketing. Check the permission record against the customer's choice before sending a campaign.

Sensitive information has a stricter collection test for APP entities: collection must be reasonably necessary for the entity's functions or activities, and the individual must consent unless an exception applies.

Personal information must be collected by lawful and fair means and generally from the individual concerned, unless that is unreasonable or impracticable.

Square's directory can hold visit history, preferences, frequently purchased items, loyalty points and personalised notes alongside contact information.

Changes to a profile, including updates and deletions, appear in both Square Dashboard and the point of sale app, so staff can work from the same current record.

Pros and cons of collecting email addresses at checkout

Keep checkout moving

Give staff a short reason for asking, such as attaching a purchase to an existing profile for a warranty enquiry. Search first, confirm the match without disclosing another person's details, and collect only what the current task needs. If the request is optional and the customer declines, complete the sale through an available checkout path.

Square allows staff to add a customer during or after a sale. Check whether customer details are optional or required before making a routine profile request part of every sale.

Choose checkout fields deliberately

Shopify POS can be configured to request a first name, last name, phone number, email address, or combinations of contact details.

Its settings distinguish between details that are not required, recommended but skippable, and required. A required setting prevents checkout if a customer does not provide the information.

Required vs recommended vs optional checkout fields in Shopify POS

Maintain accurate profiles

Duplicate records can divide purchase history and leave conflicting contact or marketing details.

A shared name, phone number or email address is a reason to review two profiles, not proof that they belong to one person.

Square flags possible duplicates sharing an email address or phone number. Square warns that a completed profile merge cannot be reversed. Confirm identity and current preferences before an authorised person merges records.

Some Square records are created without a staff member entering a profile during checkout: customers are automatically added when they book through Square Appointments, enrol in Square Loyalty or are charged through Square Invoices. Account for these entry points when reviewing why a profile exists and whether its details remain current.

For Square customer email imports, the status column can be set to Subscribed, Unsubscribed or Unknown. Square describes Subscribed addresses as available for Square Marketing communications; an Unknown status is distinct from a recorded subscription and should not be treated as evidence of consent.

Key data points from Australian privacy and platform guidance

Control access and plan an exit

Check separately who may attach a customer to a sale, open details, edit a profile, merge records and download a list. Review admin and connected-app access as well as the till.

A customer CSV is another copy of personal information. Restrict its storage and decide when working copies can be removed.

Before changing providers, inspect a sample export for identifiers, contact details, notes, custom fields and marketing status. Ask separately how loyalty balances and stored payment arrangements would move. For transaction history, see the supporting article on transaction-history migration.

Keep a short operating record of collection purposes, identity checks, marketing choices, merge authority, access and export ownership. Revisit it when checkout settings, staff roles or providers change.

Explain access and correction

For an organisation covered by the Australian Privacy Principles, its privacy policy must explain how a person can access personal information held about them and seek its correction.

It must also describe the kinds of information collected, how it is collected and held, and the purposes for which it is used or disclosed.

The policy must also explain how a person can complain about an APP breach and how the organisation will handle the complaint.

If the organisation is likely to disclose personal information to overseas recipients, the policy must say so and, where practicable, identify the countries involved.