#1 most frequent
United States of America
72.4%76 installations of 105
What is Lightspeed Retail?
Lightspeed Retail is a retail PoS system from Lightspeed headquartered in Quebec. Core retail POS features are expanded on higher service tiers with ecommerce option and payments gateway, an accounting system, and a customer loyalty program.
Categories & Use Cases
Videos
Who Buys & Uses Lightspeed Retail
#2 most frequent
Canada
16.2%17 installations of 105
#3 most frequent
Australia
4.8%5 installations of 105
Lightspeed saves us time and money!
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We were looking for a more simpler and modern POS system to use in our campus bookstore - and Lightspeed has definitely delivered on both of those things. There are less of working in our store than ever before, so we needed something that wasn’t going to make our jobs harder.
Pros
- Streamlined and easy to use
- Sleek and modern
- Easy to correspond between in store
- And online portions of the retail
- Business
Cons
- Support isn’t always the best
- We’ve had some history of dips in the system working
- Communication about updates is lacking
Most Important Features
- Retail and Ecom interconnectedness
- Strong online store customization
- Ease of use at checkout
Return on Investment
- I have to spend a lot less time training my employees because Lightspeed is so easy to use!
- Keeping track of our inventory is as simple as clicking a few buttons.
- Our online sales have grown tremendously since changing to Lightspeed
Alternatives Considered
MBS POS
Other Software Used
Paylocity, Sling, Canva
Lightspeed POS
Pros
- Robust matrix system
- 24/7 support
Cons
- They have not had major updates to their system in years. The inventory system is stagnant. Although their inventory system is robust, it is outdated.
- They do have 24-hour support, however, wait times are excessive and representatives have challenges understanding your issues.
- Trying to get issues resolved can take months or never at all. Management is non-existent. Trying to reach a supervisor is impossible.
- They have a culture of telling you what you want to hear but have no intentions of actually following through.
- Lightspeed is a great solution if you are a small business just getting started. But if you are intending to grow and expand, Lightspeed will become detrimental to your growth.
- The reporting/analytics is basic at best. They do offer paid options that are very expensive, but it is very robust. The basic reporting is very minimal.
Most Important Features
- Inventory control
Return on Investment
- In the beginning, they were great! But as we grew they did not.
- They have become a hinderance to our growth.
Alternatives Considered
Vend, Shopify, ERPLY and Square POS
Other Software Used
Shopify
Great POS software for any small business
Pros
- Inventory control
- Analytics
- Ease of use
Cons
- Some equipment is expensive
- “Lightspeed payments” needs a lot of work
- Wish they had a few mor plug ins
Return on Investment
- Less shrinkage
- More efficient ordering
- Less spoilage
Usability
Other Software Used
Jolt, BambooHR, GoToMeeting
It's good enough.
Pros
- Inventory management: it's not great but it's the best in class. Think "the least bad option."
- Sales: it works well here, but don't use their payments system. It's overpriced and doesn't offer chip/pin.
- Reporting: if you buy the advanced reporting package, it can work well, but is still limited, as all canned reports are.
Cons
- Special orders are poorly organized.
- SQL connectivity is non-existent if you just want to dump to a SQL instance somewhere to do your own reporting.
- Open connectivity to e-commerce platforms: they want to force you to use their e-com platform, which is awful and non-standard.
Return on Investment
- It does the job and lets us sell things.
Alternatives Considered
Vend and Square POS
Other Software Used
Shopify Plus, TradeGecko
Has made our retail life much more easy and efficient!
Pros
- Extremely good customer service.
- Constant cloud-based improvements.
- Easy to integrate other programs.
- Great online sales integration.
Cons
- Would love to be able to offer our gift cards in LS Ecom.
Return on Investment
- Reports give us quick and useful info.
- Amazing efficiency of inventory tracking.
- Sales checkout process is much quicker.
Other Software Used
Mailchimp All-in-One Marketing Suite, Thirdshelf, Homebase
