Lightspeed POS Review for Retailers

Lightspeed’s inventory management tools are advanced and comprehensive, including features like:

• 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 subscription plan. 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.

Lightspeed has also developed a services module, which allows you to create and schedule service offerings from the POS itself as well as include back-ordered items. This module is a useful tool for businesses that sell items but also include service components—think bicycle, sporting goods, and jewelry shops.

Although Lightspeed’s advanced analytics platform—which we highly recommend for businesses looking to scale—is only available to higher-tier subscribers, Lightspeed Reporting is included with every plan and is a very comprehensive reporting tool for most retailers.

Reporting

• Included in every plan
• 50-plus built-in reports
• Sales tracking
• Multilocation management
• Employee performance tracking
• Graphs to view information easily
• Print and export reports
• Filter data
• Segmented inventory reports
• Identify best and worst performing products
• Identify peak and low traffic periods

Analytics

• Create custom reports (only available in Plus plan at $289 per month on monthly billing)
• Automated data visualizations
• Three separate dashboards for inventory, employees, and customers/marketing
• Guides for how to use reports
• Data analysis and suggestions
• Schedule custom report emails
• Set and measure company and individual goals
• A/B testing
• Automated detection of indexing errors

What sets Lightspeed’s reporting tools apart is that they not only show you how your store is performing but also anticipate shopping trends, collect and present valuable shopper data, reveal outstanding and underperforming employees, and alert you to projected stock outages—on either your in-store POS system or your mobile device.

This makes it simple to stay on top of crucial functions such as keeping the right items in stock at the right time, coaching employees who need additional training, and keeping customers engaged and loyal. Overall, Lightspeed’s reporting capabilities make it ideal for people looking to incorporate basic demand forecasting or more data-driven decisions into their business model.

Lightspeed’s analytics give you at-a-glance information on crucial markers such as customer demand, store performance, sales per employee, and average transaction value. (Source: Lightspeed)

Although Lightspeed’s ecommerce platform, Lightspeed eCom, did not make the list for the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses, it offers a powerful online selling solution and comes included with Core and Plus Lightspeed POS accounts.

• 30-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, Instagram, and TikTok integrations
• 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
• Integrations with Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Google Shopping

When designing your site, you can use tons of tools to enhance its appearance and functionality. 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. If you have an existing WordPress, Wix, or Weebly website, you can connect Lightspeed to it instantly.

Lightspeed offers a huge library of themes that you can filter by industry. (Source: Lightspeed)

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.

You can also temporarily reserve stock when it is in someone’s cart on your ecommerce site, but it will unreserve and inventory levels will update if the reserved item is sold in-store. This should improve discrepancies between your Retail and eCom inventory totals.

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 Core plan, however, you will also get online marketing tools like email marketing, blogging, and customer behavior tracking.

Lightspeed’s loyalty, CRM, and marketing tools include:

• 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
• Gift cards with customizable fields
• Employee permissions for subscriptions

Additionally, with the Core 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.

Lightspeed’s gift card loyalty program also includes customizable fields. Cards can now be customized with the names of the giver and receiver, plus a message for the recipient. This makes gift cards more personalized, resulting in a more pleasant experience for customers. You can even present customers with options for images that they can attach to the cards, which is good for both your marketing and customer satisfaction.

Finally, Lightspeed has added a safety and privacy feature for customers with subscriptions: the software now has new permission requirements for employees in order to restrict access to customer data (such as credit card information) to only employees with the necessary credentials.

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.

Lightspeed Retail has granular inventory management tools, in-house payment processing, reporting, customer management tools, a native ecommerce platform, a loyalty program, purchase order tools, integrated vendor catalogs, and staff management tools.

Compared to many other POS systems, Lightspeed is pricey. You’ll be paying anywhere from $89–$289 per month, depending on which subscription tier you choose, and whether you want to pay monthly or annually. There is no free plan available.

Lightspeed Retail and Shopify are two great POS systems for retailers. However, Shopify is better suited for retailers that operate primarily online, while Lightspeed is great for brick-and-mortar retailers with complex inventories and reporting needs.

Again, this depends on what kind of business you are running, and what your budget is. Lightspeed Retail is great for in-person selling and managing complex inventories, as well as generating high-level reports. Square is a better pick if you want a free POS plan, or if you’re operating a service business like a salon or gym.