Lightspeed Review

December 19, 2022 admin 0 Comments Customer Management, E-commerce, Lightspeed-review, Why Lightspeed Is Best for Retailers

Because of its many industry-specific features, Lightspeed was selected as the top POS system for retail establishments.
All sizes of companies can afford Lightspeed’s rates.
Lightspeed is a solid choice for brick-and-mortar merchants wishing to add an e-commerce alternative thanks to its purchase of ShopKeep.
This study is intended for company owners that manage retail locations and are searching for a POS system like Lightspeed’s that has features tailored to the retail industry.

Leading point-of-sale (POS) system supplier Lightspeed caters to the retail and restaurant sectors. Its iPad-based cloud-based POS system is a suitable choice for companies of all sizes. Due to the software’s extensive feature set for the sector, we determined that Lightspeed is the finest POS system for retail businesses. Additionally, Lightspeed provides a broad range of pricing options, subscriptions, and sophisticated capabilities for managing customer loyalty and inventories. Additionally, the business offers tools that make it simpler for conventional merchants to launch online sales.

Lightspeed Editor’s Score: 94/100

Cost	90
Features	100
Hardware	90
Usability	95
Customer service	95

Why Lightspeed Is Best for Retailers

The hardware and software solutions that shops need to operate their operations are offered through the cloud-based POS system known as Lightspeed. Business owners that wish to manage goods across numerous sites may find the extensive inventory management tools useful. For those who manage a bar, café, or full-service restaurant, Lightspeed Restaurant, a variant of the Lightspeed POS software, is a particularly excellent choice.

Additionally, more than 1,200 golf courses across the globe utilise the programme. An intuitive tee sheet, pro shop retail management tools, and client preference data are all part of its golf management package. Additionally, you may view your data from anywhere since the programme is cloud-based.

Pros

You can monitor inventory across several retail locations with Lightspeed.
The platform allows you to interface with more than 250 applications to build a completely unique solution for your company.
Additionally beneficial for restaurants and golf courses, this POS system.

Cons

To get Lightspeed’s most affordable rates, you must sign a yearly commitment.
Lightspeed could be too expensive for newly opened retail establishments.

Usability

Lightspeed includes a lot of retail-specific capabilities since it was created with retail enterprises in mind. The POS system features a user-friendly interface, customization possibilities, and works for companies of all sizes. You can access all of your information even on the road since the programme is mobile friendly.

Utilizing Lightspeed’s third-party connectors will allow you to increase its capabilities. Hundreds of well-known third-party applications that you may use to manage your company are integrated with the programme. Additionally, the business offers personalised onboarding, a dedicated account manager, and round-the-clock client assistance. Knowing that you can always get in touch with someone to have your questions addressed is consoling.

Lightspeed Features

Inventory management	Lightspeed makes it easy to track your inventory, create product variations and bundle items.
Customer management	You can use Lightspeed to create customer profiles.
Loyalty programs	You can create custom loyalty programs for online and offline sales.
Employee management	The POS system makes it easier to monitor the number of hours your employees work and run performance reports.
E-commerce tools	You can use the company’s e-commerce tools to build an online store and set up online ordering.
Reporting	Lightspeed can run more than 50 types of reports and track all sales data in real time.
Integrations	You can integrate Lightspeed with more than 250 apps.

Because it offers more than just POS features, Lightspeed is our choice for the finest POS system for stores. The POS system may be used to manage your inventory, generate reports, and create an online store. Let’s examine all of the things that Lightspeed has to offer.

Inventory Management

Running a retail business requires effective inventory management, which Lightspeed makes simple. The programme may be used to keep track of your inventory, design product variants, and group products together. Additionally, you may manage suppliers, make purchase orders, and monitor inventories across many locations.

Customer Management

You may establish customer profiles, make comments about their preferences, and run reports on their sales using Lightspeed’s integrated CRM features for its POS system.

In addition to seeing purchase histories and designating specific clients as VIPs, the firm also provides prizes and promotions.

As an alternative, you may look at the top CRM software offered by non-POS businesses.

Loyalty Programs

Shop owners may deliver tailored offers and promotions by integrating customer sales data with loyalty systems using Lightspeed. With this capability, you may do a number of significant tasks:

Create initiatives for customer loyalty for both online and offline commerce.
VIP clients should get awards and discounts on their birthdays.
Create email promos using drag-and-drop applications and premade templates.

Employee Management

When limiting user access, Lightspeed’s personnel management solutions allow you freedom. Both role-based control and individually tailored permissions are options. With the latter, you choose the tasks and information that each user or group of users depending on their roles should have access to.

Additionally, this POS system provides an integrated time clock, reporting features, and tools for analysing staff performance, including sales, earnings, and tips.

[Learn how to choose the ideal time clock for your company.]

E-commerce

Since the pandemic, e-commerce has grown in popularity, and many physical shops have either moved their operations online or added an online component to their operations.

This is why we like how Lightspeed enables you to do so much:

Create a web shop.

More than 50 professional themes are available.

Proudly display your goods in high quality.

Choose from a variety of customisable and mobile-responsive layouts.

Let your clients shop whenever they want.

both online and in-person pickup are available.

Additionally, the firm is a fantastic option for brick and mortar retailers wishing to expand their business with an e-commerce solution thanks to its recent purchase of ShopKeep.

Reporting

You can run more than 50 built-in POS reports with Lightspeed’s retail POS, and you can keep track of everything in real time. Some of Lightspeed’s reporting possibilities are listed below:

Sales, trend, and profit reports are provided.
Costs, margins, transfers, and negative inventory reports for inventory
Sales, vacancies, and performance reports for employees

You may add Lightspeed Analytics, which offers sophisticated insights of stock, customer experience, and employee performance, for an additional charge.

Integrations

Through its app store, Lightspeed has more than 250 connectors that enable you to build a solution specifically for your company.

High-end credit card processors, leading accounting software, analytics tools, marketing services, and more may all be integrated with the POS system.

Additionally, applications for social networking and chat programmes as well as e-commerce features are available.

While Lightspeed provides an API for its retail software, only Lightspeed partners have access to the restaurant API.

Lightspeed Cost

The cost for the POS hardware is not disclosed on the Lightspeed website, while being upfront about its monthly and yearly plans.

You must get in touch with the vendor for an unique estimate if you require a customised package or own a bigger company with a high sales volume.

POS Plans

One benefit of selecting Lightspeed for your POS system is the availability of monthly or yearly subscriptions.

Any anyone who wants to test out the programme should consider the monthly subscription.

However, if you choose the yearly bundle, you’ll receive the greatest price.

It’s also crucial to bear in mind that Lightspeed’s website only lists prices for companies with a single location.

You must contact a sales representative for a personalised estimate if your company has many retail locations.

The firm provides rates for both its yearly and monthly subscriptions, and Lightspeed offers four different pricing tiers for its software.

Each design has an integrated payment system and a single register.

Lean: The Lean plan is $79 per month when you join up for Lightspeed Retail.

The price for Lightspeed Restaurant is $39 a month.

There are no e-commerce, accounting, loyalty, or analytics tools included.

Standard: For Lightspeed Retail, the Standard package costs $139 per month, while Lightspeed Restaurant charges $119.

This programme allows you to link your accounting programme to your point-of-sale system.

You may launch your business online thanks to the e-commerce module that is also included.

Advanced: The monthly cost of the Advanced package for Lightspeed Retail is $239 and for Lightspeed Restaurant is $289.

To get deeper insights into your sales data and reward customers appropriately, this package contains a loyalty module and an analytics module.

Enterprise: The Enterprise plan has individualised estimates and is a customizable choice.

For big businesses and high-volume retailers, it works best.

For a personalised quotation if you own a golf company, you must get in touch with Lightspeed.

Payment Processing

You may choose either the Lightspeed Retail or Lightspeed Restaurant software when you become a Lightspeed client.

You will have access to Lightspeed Payments, the company’s payment processing service, regardless of the solution you choose.

Another factor that led us to choose it as the finest POS system for retail enterprises is that it features flat rates with no extra costs.

The cost for transactions involving credit cards that are accepted in person is 2.6% + $0.10, while the price for transactions involving cards that are not present is 2.6% + $0.30.

Additionally, customers may utilise one of Lightspeed’s partners for payment processing, including Cayan, Worldpay, Vantiv Express, and Mercury Payment Services.

Setup

You may get individualised onboarding and setup help as a Lightspeed client.

Although the setup procedure is pretty simple, assistance from a customer support person is always accessible.

You may schedule a free onboarding meeting with a Lightspeed staff member after signing up.

You will learn how to install the software and utilise the POS processes during this hour-long class.

A wrap-up email with links to useful videos and articles will be sent to you when the training is over.

Customer Service

Lightspeed provides personalised onboarding as well as round-the-clock customer service.

The business also offers a variety of beneficial resources, such as customer forums, manuals, videos, and tools tailored specifically to the sector.

Even though the Better Business Bureau does not accredit Lightspeed, it does have a B+ rating.

Drawbacks

The price information for Lightspeed’s software is readily available on its website, but no POS hardware cost is given.

This makes determining the system’s true cost and determining if all of the components really fit inside your budget more difficult.

But the POS system works with gear from other parties, including things you may already possess.

To help you compare prices, the manufacturer publishes a complete list of compatible models online.

The platform’s restricted selection of payment processing choices is another possible flaw.

If your chosen payment processor is incompatible with Lightspeed’s POS system, you may have to abandon it.

Methodology

We contrasted Lightspeed with a dozen different POS systems in order to evaluate it.

This helped us understand the product’s advantages and disadvantages.

While Lightspeed is a solid option for both retail enterprises and restaurants, if you’re looking for a POS system that’s primarily designed for restaurants, check out our reviews of TouchBistro and Toast.