2023 Lightspeed POS Review for Retailers
This article is part of a larger series on POS Systems.
Lightspeed is a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system provider that offers systems specific to retail, restaurants, and golf businesses. In this Lightspeed review, we will focus on the retail POS system solution.
In our evaluation of the best POS systems, Lightspeed came in third overall with a score of 4.47 out of 5. Lightspeed comes equipped with an in-house ecommerce platform solution, integrated payments, great register features, and advanced reporting and management tools. However, what makes Lightspeed’s POS stand out is its granular inventory controls and best-in-class analytics platform.
If you still want to explore other POS options, you can check out our guide to the best POS systems for small businesses.
In our review of Lightspeed Retail POS, we found Lightspeed’s standout feature is its robust and granular inventory management tools. It makes it easy to manage large quantities of merchandise and stay on top of your incoming and outgoing goods, making Lightspeed suitable for medium to large businesses that manage large or complex inventories.
Lightspeed Retail POS does an excellent job of providing inventory reports that not only provide you with great data but also offer key takeaways, suggestions, graphics, tips, and instructions on how to interpret the data. There is also the ability to make custom reports to analyze specific product sectors.
In addition to being a top POS software company, Lightspeed offers a comprehensive ecommerce platform that rivals standalone ecommerce solutions like Shopify and BigCommerce. It even comes included in Lightspeed Retail POS’s higher-tier plans. Additionally, all Lightspeed POS systems include Lightspeed payments for your payment processing needs, but you can integrate your system with a third-party processor for a higher monthly rate.
Lightspeed is a cloud-based POS system, so it can run on any internet-enabled device. It has a companion iPad app and mobile card reader for ringing up products on the sales floor or processing orders curbside. We still don’t consider it a great option for mobile sellers, however, as it does not have a mobile terminal device, other than the iPad app option. Consider Square for a POS provider that is suited better for mobile sales.
While Lightspeed Retail POS is a great platform for retailers with larger inventories and budgets, the POS system also tends to have more tools (and fees) than are necessary for smaller operations.
Lightspeed POS appears in lots of our expert reviews for its great features, including:
- Best Bike Shop POS for Small Businesses
- Best iPad Restaurant POS Systems
- Best Mobile POS Apps
- Best Multichannel POS Systems
- Best Point-of-Sale Systems & Software
- Best Restaurants Inventory Management Systems
- Best Inventory Management Software for Small Businesses
- Best POS Inventory Systems
- Best Retail POS Systems
Lightspeed Retail POS has three plans with monthly fees that vary based on features, payment processor, and payment cadence. It earned points because each of its plans offers unlimited products and transactions, along with built-in payments. Not only that, but the higher plans also offer additional features to support you as you grow, such as an ecommerce store, advanced reporting, and accounting tools.
Lightspeed Retail POS lost points, however, for not offering a free plan, as we see with Square, the generally high price point of its plans, and the limited features in the base plan. It does offer a 14-day free trial, though.
The prices below are for one register—additional registers are $29 each per month. Every plan also comes with a free payment terminal. Enterprise-level and high-volume customers can negotiate custom packages.
Lightspeed earned a 3.75 out of 5 in our evaluation of its checkout screen, mainly losing points for its lack of interface customization options, such as you find with Square or Vend POS systems. Lightspeed does, however, feature an easy-to-use checkout process with both mobile app and desktop checkout options. The system prompts you through each transaction, making it nearly impossible for you or your staff to make errors. There is also a convenient spot on every transaction to leave notes and add customer information.
Lightspeed makes the checkout process easy with its user-friendly interface. (Source: Lightspeed)
Easy Product Lookup
Lightspeed has both barcode scanning and a product search function right on the checkout screen. You can not only search products by name and product code but also by keyword, making it easy to track down anything you need. When starting a transaction, the cursor will default to the item field, so if you start scanning or typing in items, the products will be added to the sale automatically, which is not the case with all legacy POS systems.
Park & Save Transactions
Another great Lightspeed checkout feature is that you can exit the transaction to explore other parts of your POS system, whether that be your inventory log or customer list, and then pull it back up to complete the sale at any time.
Accepted Payment Types
You have a variety of tender options with Lightspeed’s checkout process, including gift cards, layaway, on-hold, cash, check, credit and debit cards, and near-field communication (NFC) mobile wallet payments.
Since our last update:
Lightspeed introduced a buy-now-pay-later integration with Klarna for its online stores. There is no Klarna POS integration, however, for in-person sales. If you want a POS system that offers buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments for in-person sales, consider Square.
Detailed Customer Profiles
Lightspeed gives you the option to attach a customer to the sale, create customer profiles, and add custom notes to each transaction as you make your sales. You can also view customer profiles during a transaction, so you can view purchase histories, loyalty status and points, contact information, and other shopper notes.
Controlled Discounts & Promotions
When checking out, you can add discounts and promos to individual items and your entire sales, but only those preprogrammed into your POS by someone with discounting permissions. By limiting the applicable discounts, you ensure that your employees only add valid discounts and make no promotional errors. Available discounts include:
- Percent discount
- Buy one, get one free
- Seasonal sales
- VIP discounts
- Giveaways
- Donations
- Free shipping
Customize the appearance of your Lightspeed checkout screen and ring up sales with lots of visual references. (Source: Dakis)
In addition to a feature-rich checkout, Lightspeed has tons of backend tools to help you better understand and manage your business, earning it an impressive 4.75 out of 5 in our scoring. Not only that, but Lightspeed also includes a preintegrated ecommerce website platform, Lightspeed Ecommerce, in its Standard and Advanced plans and a fully integrated loyalty program for Advanced subscribers.
Where Lightspeed stands out in the management category and the POS market overall is in its inventory management tools, making it ideal for businesses with large or complex inventories.
Robust Inventory Management
- Customizable matrix inventory
- Built-in purchase ordering
- More than 3,000 preloaded vendor catalogs
- Serial number and stock keeping unit (SKU) tracking
- Real-time low-stock alerts
- Bulk import, edit, and download tools
- Track assembled products
- Work order management
- Track unit costs
- Change pricing and price rules in bulk
- Granular variant control
- Automated return management
- Vendor returns
- Multilocation syncing
- Integrated supplier network catalog (more than 3,000 vendors)
- Mobile access
- Bulk pricing
While Lightspeed’s price tag is slightly higher than its competition, the POS system’s robust inventory features are included with every plan—even the Basic package. Of everything that Lightspeed has to offer, what sets it apart from other POS systems is its advanced inventory controls and reporting capabilities. Unlike competitors Square or Shopify, Lightspeed is made to organize and track large quantities of inventory and help you manage high sales and order volumes.
Its software covers all the inventory tracking basics—real-time stock counts based on transactions across sales channels, low stock alerts with customizable reorder points, detailed inventory catalogs with rich product descriptions, and options to organize products with tags and categories.
You can also create and track serial numbers and/or SKUs and manage bundled or kitted products to monitor joint performances. All information about your inventory is broken down on the analytics page, where Lightspeed will also provide you with tips and key takeaways.
Do you want to try out Lightspeed’s inventory management with its 14-day trial? Upload our downloadable inventory list to Lightspeed’s inventory so that you can experiment with all the tools that the platform has to offer.
Lightspeed lets you set reorder points, categorize products, and filter your inventory catalog by a variety of metrics. (Source: Lightspeed)
Lightspeed’s standout features come into play with larger inventory quantities and its order management features. With the POS system, you can manage products purchased in bulk yet sold individually, such as water bottles or build-your-own six-packs. You can also manage your inventory orders with its built-in purchase order forms, order tracking, and integrated supplier network catalog.
Essentially, Lightspeed lets you discover vendors, purchase their products, and then organize and track those products all from one dashboard―without involving any third parties.
To learn more about how to use Lightspeed’s inventory tools, read our how-to guide on managing inventory with Lightspeed Retail.
Best-in-Class Reporting & Analytics
Reporting | Analytics |
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Although Lightspeed’s advanced analytics platform, which we highly recommend for businesses looking to scale, is only available to Advanced subscribers, Lightspeed Reporting is included with every plan and is a very comprehensive reporting tool for most retailers. Overall, Lightspeed, making it ideal for people looking to incorporate more data-driven decisions into their business model.
What sets Lightspeed’s reporting tools apart is that they not only show you how your store is performing but also anticipate shopping trends and alert you to projected stock outages. This makes keeping the right items in stock at the right time simple.
Powerful Native Ecommerce Platform
- 50-plus mobile-friendly, customizable themes
- Industry-specific website templates
- Syncs with in-store POS
- Centralized product, data, and customer management
- Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS)
- Customers can leave product reviews
- Shipment tracking codes
- Order tracking
- Conversion reports
- Google Pay and Apple Pay one-click checkout
- Built-in SEO tools
- Facebook and Instagram integration
- Monitor marketing campaigns
- Shopper profiles for returns and wish lists
- 14 languages, multiple currencies, and international shipping options
- Integrated shipping carriers
- Real-time product counts across in-store and online orders so you can’t oversell items
Although Lightspeed’s ecommerce platform did not make the list for the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses, it offers a powerful online selling solution and comes included with Standard and Advanced Lightspeed POS accounts.
When designing your site, you can use tons of tools to enhance your site. You can add descriptions and keywords to your product pages, incorporate page headers and product categories, upload high-definition (HD) photos, and optimize your product listings for SEO. You can also incorporate extra features like a blog, testimonials, size guides, and embedded videos.
Once live, all activities in your ecommerce store will be fully integrated into your POS. You can view reports about your online store, analyze its performance, manage your orders, and watch as your customer database grows across your sales channels—all from a single platform. Inventory will also be synced.
Loyalty, Customer Management & Marketing
- Customer database
- Points-based omnichannel loyalty program
- Auto-segment customers based on purchases
- Drag-and-drop email builder
- Short message service (SMS) and email promotions
- Sell products on Facebook and Instagram
- Built-in blogging tools
- Promotions and coupons
- Automated birthday coupons
- Track customer habits
Every one of Lightspeed’s plans includes a customer database where you can store customer information and view their purchase histories. If you move up to the Standard plan, however, you will also get online marketing tools like email marketing, blogging, and customer behavior tracking.
Additionally, with the Advanced plan, you get access to an omnichannel points-based loyalty program that rewards customers for purchases at any store location or through your online store. It also offers categorized rewards, automated smart customer groupings, and one-time rewards, such as for birthdays or VIP customers.
- 24/7 support
- One-on-one guided onboarding and setup
- Bulk product upload and data editing
- Additional free training
- Compatible with any computer or iPad
- Library of guides and videos
- Busy interface
- Dedicated account manager
- Branded POS dashboard
Lightspeed earned a perfect score for its customer support and ease of use. Unique to Lightspeed, every POS subscriber gets a dedicated account manager to help you learn how to use the system and answer any questions you may have. It also earned points for its pre-integrated payments and ecommerce store—making setup easy and allowing you to start taking sales as soon as you sign up.
While Lightspeed does have a lot to offer, it is feature-rich, and all those tools create a much busier interface than some of the other POS systems available to small businesses. It can take some time to learn the ins and outs of Lightspeed and configure everything to your liking, and it also has fewer dashboard customization options than software like Square or Shopify.
Are you looking for a more streamlined POS interface? We love Square for Retail and Shopify POS.
Lightspeed earned a 4.5 out of 5 in our expert score category. We love it for the incredible amount of control that it allows you to take over your inventory and performance metrics. The ecommerce platform is also strong, the online support is great, and the overall bank of features is rich.
However, all these features come at a cost, and Lightspeed is at the top end for POS subscription fees. The user interface can also be a bit challenging to get the hang of, mainly because it has to accommodate so many options and information.
What Users Say in Lightspeed POS Reviews
Users agree with our assessment of Lightspeed Retail being a top POS choice for inventory management. At the time of publication, it earned the following scores on popular user review sites:
When reading through Lightspeed POS reviews, we noticed some of these trends:
PROS | CONS |
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Speedy and helpful customer service | Pricey |
Comprehensive system | No features to manage rentals |
Detailed inventory management | Busy interface |
Easy implementation with lots of training | No functionality without internet connection |
Ability to handle bulk order and inventory | Integrates only with Lightspeed online stores |
How We Evaluated Lightspeed Retail
In our Lightspeed review and all of our POS reviews, we start by looking for affordability and basic POS functions like check and order management, the ability to process multiple forms of payment, and inventory tracking.
We test every POS ourselves, including Lightspeed, to determine ease of use, quality of features, any standout functionality, and limitations. Finally, we consider user reviews, the feedback we’ve received from talking to business owners, and our personal experience using the software.
Lightspeed POS FAQs
Click through the questions below to get answers to some of your most-asked questions about Lightspeed.
What is Lightspeed?
Lightspeed is a software provider that offers POS systems for retail, restaurants, and golf businesses. It also offers ecommerce and payment solutions that you can integrate with a Lightspeed POS system or third-party POS systems.
Who should use Lightspeed POS?
We recommend Lightspeed to brick-and-mortar or omnichannel sellers with large inventories or those looking for a high level of inventory control. Almost all of Lightspeed’s standout features revolve around its inventory management, with granular controls, custom reports, and in-account purchase ordering and vendor management—there isn’t a better option for retailers whose focus is controlling and maximizing their inventory.
When should I use a Lightspeed alternative?
While Lightspeed is a great option for many retailers, if you are in search of a free POS option, or your focus is mobile sales, you might want to look to Square. Its basic plan is full of great POS features and is completely free to use for one location. It is also designed to be mobile, with card readers and an app, ideal for on-the-go sellers.
What is Vend by Lightspeed?
In 2021, Lightspeed acquired Vend, another retail POS competitor product. All Vend users can still use their accounts and, other than improved integration with Lightspeed products like payments and ecommerce, no features and pricing options will change.
Currently, Vend’s new name is Vend by Lightspeed, but Lightspeed is working on transitioning Vend over to an in-house product called Lightspeed Series X in the coming months. The transition is incomplete, so you will see the product referred to both Vend by Lightspeed and Lightspeed X Series in the interim.
How can I get a better rate on my Lightspeed subscription?
We know that Lightspeed is on the pricey side when it comes to POS software. However, there are several ways to lower your monthly rate, including paying annually and opting for Lightspeed Payments, which is included free with every account.
Monthly Pricing (Without Lightspeed Payments) | Monthly Pricing (With Lightspeed Payments) | Annual Pricing (Without Lightspeed Payments) | Annual Pricing (With Lightspeed Payments) | |
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Lean | $139 | $89 | $119 | $69 |
Standard | $199 | $149 | $169 | $119 |
Advanced | $319 | $269 | $249 | $199 |
Bottom Line
Lightspeed Retail offers incredibly robust inventory management ideal for almost any independent retailer. Plus, its user-friendly analytics platform provides insights to keep your business profitable, and its top-of-the-line ecommerce tools help your shop compete with the chain stores in your neighborhood.
Although Lightspeed is pricier than other options and has a more cluttered interface due to all the features, it offers a great overall value for retailers, especially if you are serious about growing your business. Begin its 14-day trial today―with no credit card required.