Shophand · Text to order

SMS ordering for retail stores

Customers text your store's number. Shophand texts back a menu built from your live inventory. They reply with what they want, and a pickup order lands on your dashboard. No app, no login — just the text thread everyone already knows how to use.

Call Front Desk now · (702) 760-7515

That number is Shophand's Front Desk, live right now. Ask what's in stock, or ask what Batchly does. It's the same AI that would answer your store's phone.

Online ordering usually means a website, a cart, an account, and a password reset. For a shop where twenty core items drive most of the volume, that's a lot of machinery between "I want my usual" and a sale. Texting skips all of it. Your customers already text; SMS ordering just makes the store answer.

How it works

1. They text the store. A customer sends anything — "menu," "got any cold brew?" — to your store's number.
2. Shophand texts back a menu. Built from your live inventory, so it never offers something that sold out this morning.
3. They reply, the order lands. One reply places the pickup order. It shows up on your dashboard, and the customer gets a confirmation text with the total.

What the thread looks like

That's the whole flow. The same thread handles questions along the way — hours, prices, whether something's in stock — because it's the same Shophand agent that runs Front Desk on your phone line.

The Usual: SMS replenishment

Text ordering waits for the customer to start the conversation. SMS replenishment is the other direction: the store texts the customer before the customer thinks to text the store. Shophand's version is called The Usual.

The Usual learns each regular's rhythm from their own purchase history — every three weeks, the same two items — and texts them when their usual is due. One reply confirms the order, and it's waiting at the counter. To be clear about what this is: it's customer replenishment, nudging your regulars before they run out. It is not stock reordering — restock suggestions live in Batchly's inventory tools, and a human approves those.

Customers opt in before any text goes out, and every message honors STOP. The texts come from your store's number, in your store's name.

Built into the register, not bolted on

Because SMS ordering runs on the same system as your register, there's nothing to sync and nothing to double-enter:

• The menu is your inventory. Sell out of an item at the counter and it drops off the text menu at the same moment.
• Orders land where you work. Pickup orders appear on the Batchly dashboard next to your sales, with the full text transcript attached.
• Payment happens at pickup. The customer pays at the register the way they always do — cash or card, both prices side by side under dual pricing. The card fee is 3.5% + $0.20, and you choose per sale who covers it.

It fits the shops we build for: a smoke shop whose regulars rebuy the same coils, a liquor store taking case orders by text, a coffee shop selling beans to the neighborhood. Different shelves, same thread.

What it costs

SMS ordering is part of Shophand, the AI-staff bundle: a flat $49.96 per month on top of the $99 per month Batchly platform. The bundle also includes Front Desk answering your phone 24/7, The Usual, and Mornings. Compare that to what standalone answering services publish — typically $200–$2,000 a month — in our breakdown of what an AI receptionist costs, and see the full picture on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

What is SMS ordering (text to order)?

SMS ordering means a customer texts your store's number, gets a menu back built from your live inventory, and replies with what they want. The order lands on your dashboard as a pickup order and the customer gets a confirmation text. No app to install and no account to create.

What is SMS replenishment?

SMS replenishment is the store texting the customer before the customer thinks to text the store. Shophand's version is called The Usual: it learns each regular's rhythm from their purchase history and texts them when their usual is due. One reply confirms the order. It is customer replenishment, not stock reordering.

How do customers pay for a text order?

At pickup, at the register. The order is waiting when they walk in, and they pay the way they always do — cash or card, with both prices shown side by side under Batchly's dual pricing. The card fee is 3.5% plus $0.20, and the merchant chooses per sale who covers it.

What does SMS ordering cost?

It is part of Shophand, a flat $49.96 per month on top of the $99 per month Batchly platform. The bundle also includes Front Desk, the AI agent that answers your store phone 24/7, plus The Usual and Mornings, your numbers written before you open. Batchly starts with a 21-day free trial.

Can I hear it before I sign up?

Yes. Call (702) 760-7515. That line is Shophand's Front Desk, live, answering from the demo store's live inventory. Ask what's in stock or what Batchly does; it is the same AI that would answer your store's phone.