Lightspeed Retail Reviews

Review for Lightspeed Retail

Pros:

Easy to keep track of the inventory, editing from the back end was easy as well.

Cons:

Interface could be better, sometimes the photo won't load properly and it lags sometimes

Best software for inventory management!

Comments: I personally like lightspeed for inventory management. It is one of the most complete software out there and it is still growing. I would like to see them growing in other areas as well.

Pros:

I have been using Lightspeed Retail for 2 years, and the overall experience has been great. We chose this software over others because of its great inventory system. Lightspeed is one of the best out there in terms of inventory management. It has many options to play with, making it easy to integrate your business. They have exceptional customer service (live chat available every day).

Cons:

Lightspeed is still growing. We could compare it to a startup with a great community behind it, but it is still implementing changes daily to become a better software. The POS system could have a better interface when using a tablet. The interface is simple but differs greatly when used on a computer. I would enjoy a more visual interface for its POS system. The barcode system works great, but I highly recommend spending a reasonable amount of money on the scanner to avoid many issues. We also use lightspeed e-commerce. Connecting retail and e-commerce together is easy, but it gets tricky if you need help from third parties apps. Lightspeed is not the best when connecting to a third party yet (they don't offer many options).

Do not use Lightspeed for easy use

Comments: I really dislike Lightspeed, but most other companies do not want to take on the risk of CBD, so Im stuck with Lightspeed

Pros:

nothing at all, i do not like this software

Cons:

Loyalty program, discounts are hard long and aggravating to set up, customer service takes a long time to respond,

Great for Retail

Pros:

We have been using Lightspeed for our retail firearm business and this has been very helpful for us in monitoring our sales and inventory. This is great for small businesses like us and priced reasonably.

Cons:

None that i can think of. Lightspeed has been great for our business.

Lightspeed Retail. Easy to use

Comments: Overall, operating Lightspeed in multiple locations has made processing retail transactions and managing those transactions easy. Would definitely recommend.

Pros:

Super easy to use and teach to new team members. Lots of features, including easy, returns, and refunds.

Cons:

We have had some slower customer support especially during busy retail times.

They over promise and under deliver

Comments: Couldn’t get off the ground after 1 year of getting tossed around the company to make sure we had everything set up properly. The onboarding process is painful and they take no accountability for their own issues. Spent $3k and tons of time and just cancelled it was so bad. Started billing me before we received are POS equipment. All they said is it was part of the contract. Salesman told me we could integrate old gift cards and they would help walk us through the transition. No help at all and ended up telling me they don’t do that. Tried to cancel as they didn’t hold up their end of the deal. Said we had to be through the account manager who wouldn’t get back to us. Come to find out he was let go. This is after 6 months of trying to get a hold of him as that was the only way to cancel. To find out that account manager was let go from the company and they didn’t bother to assign us a new one. The company organization is flat out horrible. Customer success is horrible and not good at communicating. I would look to somewhere else.

Pros:

The features is most everything you need. The support is the problem.

Cons:

The support is horrible. They think they know and understand issues better then the customers. They don’t listen and will treat you like you don’t even matter.

Great POS Software for small boutique retail stores

Comments: Works how we need it to, for what we use it for. Is easy for all employees to learn, use and reconcile.

Pros:

Ease of use for all levels of users. Easy to reconcile the cashouts, data is formatted nicely

Cons:

Might not be the best software for a larger retailer with a ton of inventory.

Very good software that I recommend to all .

Comments: This software solves a lot of difficulties and makes a lot of things easier. It can be very profitable.

Pros:

For me it is a good software in all aspects

Cons:

For me if possible make it affordable and improve all conditions.

Well connected and easy to use for our restaurant

Comments: I have never been using anything other retail app before but the overall experience with Lightspeed Retail is not bad at all.

Pros:

Straight forward and easy to use for restaurant

Cons:

the customer support took a bit of time to contact

Lightspeed Retail Management Made Easy

Pros:

Keeps track of everything needed to successfully run a company big or small

Cons:

Had to manually input UPC codes when barcode scanner had issues

Good Product

Comments: The overall experience has been excellent. I am most impressed with the support I have received from Lightspeed. Phone in wait times have been very reasonable at this point. When I have spoken to a tech they have been excellent in understanding my question and providing a solution.... at times working outside the box to create the best result with the conditions present.

Pros:

The start up process was easy to follow along. Great tutorial videos and resources to answer the basic questions. Was easy to set up the codes, pricing and inventory organization.

Cons:

There was some frustration using matrix's and understanding assemblies. Each business is different obviously... the use of matrix was great at the start but becomes limiting later on for integration to the webstore. Assemblies are cumbersome for automatic ordering.

Best value & functionaility point of sale. Period.

Comments: Overall it's been wonderful. Certainly has made my slow business growth possible.

Pros:

Absolutely the BEST thing about Lightspeed is the quick access to knowledgeable support. Also, Lightspeed meets the needs of my business's work flow. The interface is clean and easy to navigate.

Cons:

That a default option is not available for adding a drop ship address to PO.

Hands down the best retail software out there!

Comments: The LightSpeed team made our switchover to them and setup happen with such ease. Their system is cost friendly, reliable and aesthetically pleasing. Training new staff on the system is a breeze. The reporting options are so helpful for close out financials, ordering, staff hours, etc.

Pros:

We most liked the back of house features it offered. The inventory piece, reporting and ease of use was instrumental in our decision to switch to LightSpeed. We loved the cloud based feature and it allows our staff to work from anywhere on reports, watch sales, reorder inventory, etc.

Cons:

There really hasn't been anything about the software that we've found was difficult or wished was different.

Best decision we ever made

Comments: The experience has been fantastic. The support staff and sales team have been great. The ease of use is something very special compared to their competition. It has allowed our business to prosper in these uncertain times.

Pros:

Being able to always be connected to our point of sale via my phone or computer, no matter where I am has been crucial. With Lightspeed being cloud based, I can work from anywhere I want. I am able to ring up customers on my phone if needed, create purchase orders from trade shows, and stay connected to customers at all times.

Cons:

There aren't any real issues that we have had with Lightspeed. They are continuing to improve the workflow with Lightspeed eCom which will only make the overall package even better.

Best POS System in the Business

Comments: We had two separate Retail POS systems in our organization. One was so antiquated it had to be replaced and the second one was experiencing issues everyday and the support was lousy. We purchased LightSpeed. I had the Retail Operators go through the setup videos and make decisions on how they wanted to setup the system based on the videos. Then, when the Operators completed their training, I had them configure LightSpeed themselves based on what they learned and the decisions they made. We then entered the inventory and the rest is history. I would recommend LightSpeed to anyone looking for a retail POS no matter what size.

Pros:

I have installed numerous POS systems in my 30+ years of experience. LightSpeed is by far the most comprehensive system, yet easiest system to implement and use. There support mechanism is second to none. If you look your question up in help, there will be documentation to answer your question, and chances are there is a video that walks you step by step through the solution. If you feel like you want to get live help, there chat mechanism is one of the best, better yet, the support people on the chat are the most patient and knowledgeable support people in the business. Simply the best.

Cons:

I don't have any comments for this section

Great Product with Great Customer Service

Comments: Lightspeed is very responsive, not just in sales but in the IT service. They are quick to respond and have always worked patiently with us to resolve any problems, which usually are down to user error. I believe the cost/benefit ratio is optimal and have no plans to seek another POS/ECommerce at this time.

Pros:

I really appreciate the seamless integration between the POS and the eCommerce. I also really like that this is all web-based, so that a computer can be used for the interface rather than a cash register that will only serve one function. When there is a problem, Lightspeed is usually ahead of me in giving notice that there is one and gives the approximate timing for the fix. Also, if you have both components and the payment processor is down (like at Christmas), you can easily set up the purchase online and your customer can process their goods and walk out of the shop a happy customer.

Cons:

It feels like the frameworks for the eCommerce should be a little easier to use, but I've had much less robust platforms. Also, I'm still trying to find a better solution for shipping for the kind of shop that I have, but don't actually blame Lightspeed. It would be great if there were a more integrated and less expensive phone app add-on for shopping.

Lightspeed can take your retail store to the next level...with some work!

Pros:

3rd Party integrations, 1st party ecom integrations, Cayan payment integration, and the robust special order system that is rooted in the entire platform. These are the big ones but there is many more small things.

Cons:

No POS is perfect so there are definitely things that could be fixed. I would say being able to redeem gift cards online is a big one. They know this though and are working on it. Also, being able to see Matrix inventory in regular retail vs just in Analytics but again very small things.

After Two Years - Lightspeed Remains The Best In All Categories

Comments: Lightspeed has literally saved us 20-30 hours per week. It connects and communicates well with all of our other systems; including accounting and loyalty platforms.
Their customer and technical support have been extraordinary and have exceeded our expectations. In fact, I think their technical support is the best not just in the point of sale industry but any industry. I find myself wishing other vendors I work with had the same level of support and professionalism.
Lightspeed also listens to their customers; this is evident by requests made in their support area. They actually respond to every request.
As a small business owner, we worry about many things. Lightspeed is not one of them!

Pros:

After two other point of sale systems; and after two years using Lightspeed, it is by far the best in all categories. We had two previous POS systems that fell short in comparison to Lightspeed. Part of our success with Lightspeed is that after two previous point of sale systems; we knew what we really needed and the right questions to ask during the sales process. We submitted specific questions in writing. All of our questions we answered in detail in less than 24-Hours. The sales team knows their products and knew my industry. In fact, most of our distributors catalogs are already pre-loaded into their system. The transition from our other popular POS was relatively easy, especially in comparison to our previous transition. The Lightspeed team was always there to help and even anticipated needs before I knew them. The inventory system and purchase order system work well.

Cons:

The only limitation we have with Lightspeed in related to the fact that we sell a lot of items by weight. This does not create a significant problem for us; but having bulk items accounted for in inventory would be a nice to have. We would love an integrated scale capability. The Lightspeed team was more than willing to help us set up our system to sell bulk items; it works better than another other POS we looked at.

Excellent software for growing businesses.

Comments: Overall the software is amazing and the good outweighs the bad and a tested about 10 different PoS softwares when I was shopping around and none of them encompass everything I have mentioned so i know my expectations are very high....which is why I state again...if they added in these features it would make them industry leaders and really a phenomenal PoS system. (its 90% of the way there for me...just a few more features and if would be the best)

Pros:

The integration with xero accounting has been a true time saver for my business. It transfers all sales data at the end of the day seamlessly so I don't have to. The ability to use the front end off site has been super helpful as well as it doesn't tie me down to the store and I can do a lot of my work on the go. Creating products, invoicing clients, setting up the main screen custom to what I want is extremely simple once you run through it once.

Cons:

Theres a few simple features that are missing from the PoS software which I would like to see integrated and would make it hands down the best in the industry for small businesses. 1) Getting an integrated payment terminal that accepts chip, pay pass and swipe options would avoid any mistakes between manually punching in the amounts on the debit/credit machine and would avoid any back end work after the day closes to be able to balance the day 2) Allowing me to enter the details of the invoices (supplier name, invoice number, total amount being paid, gst, pst, etc.) that are being paid out on a daily basis and having that information transferred to xero would alleviate tons of paper work after the close of the day. 3) There is no way to pull out a month end statement for corporate clients that pay their account once a month. Checks have to be cross referenced manually with the bills that have been put on tab. You should be able to at the very least select which tab invoices are being paid from the list of invoices on the clients account. This would show which ones are outstanding at a glance rather than having to refer back to the paper invoices that the system creates. 4) A front facing screen to display pricing of items being charged, advertisements, and other information is something I have been asking for since day 1 (3 years now). And I would love to see this feature incorporated. 5) Having the ability to offer a discount for a bulk purchase is something that should be automatic.

Lightspeed ROCKS!!!

Comments: AMAZING

Pros:

We operate 4 Cannonball Cafés in Jamaica. This is our second year of using Lightspeed. When we bought the business in 2016, we installed another company's system which, after a few months use, revealed it's weakness for use in a multi-unit business. We plodded along for awhile under the "Better to stay with the Devil you know..." philosophy until a sharp eyed customer got very upset because she noticed the price of one of our specialty coffees at one location was vastly different from another location... we had made a late night keystroke mistake entering the updated prices! What caught our eye with Lightspeed was the powerful Back-of-House infrastructure that allows us to make REMOTE CHANGES to our menus, our controls etc IN AN INSTANT on our phones, tablets or computers: last year on a trip to China, we got a text from one of our managers requesting a menu addition - somewhere over the Pacific at 40,000 feet, my wife added the item and went back to sleep!!!! The level of detail that supports our business goes far beyond what we could imagine - while a lot of detail & thought has to go into setting up Lightspeed initially, that effort pays dividends when using the system. Finally, the support we get from the Technical Support team is amazing - the Techs are all very well trained, are extremely knowledgeable and can resolve problems that are outside their Lightspeed purview: in September, a store was having a weird connectivity problem that was traced by [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] in Te

Cons:

Have not found anything to dislike about it.

Think beyond initial implementation

Comments: We are aware that every system has something to complain about. Overall we are happy with performance and support from LightSpeed. It's reliable and with the small amount of problems we have we are pleased.

Pros:

It's a relatively easy system to navigate. Permission settings are acceptable. Reporting is decent but all very basic unless you purchase Analytics. We use the software for multiple locations but keep separate inventories at each location. We can easily see inventory at other locations, transfer inventory from store to store effortlessly. Creating inventory items is easy as well as setting up pricing rules. Able to customize receipts, labels, and transfer paperwork with some HTML knowledge. Sales are smooth as well. Split payments are pretty easy and relatively intuitive.

Cons:

No really good way to do rentals. We are a tennis shop and rent/demo racquets. We had to come up with our own solution. B2C eCom is great - and can use the existing inventory; we have it set up as a separate location so we can see all inventory across eCom and retail - until you want to add B2B. It's difficult and expensive to add B2B and have it work the same as eCom. We learned, much later, that we need to have a separate website, a separate database of inventory and we would not have visibility into this inventory from our retail or eCom side. Huge disappointment. The eCom module is not native to LS. They purchased the product and have integrated it into LS - so their APIs won't even allow you to have that visibility. Support is good for the most part. Simple things, but, holy smokes the printing!!! First, you have to use Firefox to get the printing to work at all. But Firefox constantly loses the printer default settings. So swithching printers throughout the day between labels, transfers, receipts...causes Firefox to throw up allover the printer settings. This happens daily, sometimes several times during the day. It's ridiculous. Support doesn't give a good answer - they tell us to follow the documentation. But that doesn't fix anything. Many times during the day we have to go back into the Firefox configuration and reset the default printer. Painful.

Lightspeed Retail review from retailer

Pros:

We have used Lightspeed Retail for over 2 years now for our seasonal retail business as well as a small wholesale operations that includes manufacturing/production. While small scale compared with many POS users, we have unique and demanding needs and have struggled to find a good software interface. Lightspeed has been a solid performer and worked well for us. We have a wide range of part time employees with various levels of tech savvy and expertise. Lightspeed is intuitive and user-friendly in basic procedure – checkout, returns, applying discounts, holding or suspending sales and adding customers. Lightspeed was on time with EMV-certified terminal support by the October 2015 deadline and has worked well with Cayan. Adding products is straightforward. We only use the most basic features of purchase orders and inventory management – we do not rely on Lightspeed to generate orders based on stock but those look like useful features for larger operations. Reporting is comprehensive and makes it easy to track sales and trends and reports are easily exported to Excel. Customer service has been prompt and when there are long wait times, you have the option to leave your number and receive a return call. Follow through on issues has been good and while there have been challenges, problems are resolved in a timely manner. For the products we produce, the “build” function works well to create the pieces from parts in inventory.

Cons:

The main unresolved issue I have had with Lightspeed is that it rounds the cost of items to two decimal places. We deal in 100s of pieces that are fractions of a cent and therefore simply cannot track costs. All of these items show as have no cost which is extremely problematic and exponentially so when a piece is created from several “no cost” items. I was told almost two years ago that a fix had been requested by many customers and indeed it was listed several times in the “Lightspeed Ideas” but to my knowledge nothing has been done. If this could be fixed, Lightspeed would be an almost perfect POS solution for us! Also it is spendy. But I guess you get what you pay for.

Definitely worth your time to try!

Pros:

We love how easy this was to set up. It does not require buying $20,000 worth of equipment like our first POS system did back in 2008. In fact it can easily be used with just an iPad! We are not computer savvy at all and this system has never confused us or new employees. We love everything about this system! So much that if we ever strike up a conversation with a fellow business owner that mentions they are thinking about a new system you better believe they are going to hear all about this one! You can read all about the features and I could tell you everything that we love or you can just be smart like we were and just try it. If you do want to talk to an actual person that is using the system you can certainly get in touch with one by calling one of the helpful reps at Lightspeed. They will connect you with a business owner that will tell you everything you want to know about their daily experience. It helped us make the decision to pull the trigger and get the ball rolling!

Cons:

The only aggravation that I can think of right now happens on the iPad. If I am searching for a specific vendor’s PO. I can’t quickly type the vendor name in. You choose the first letter of the vendor and then you have to arrow down. Pretty dumb to complain about this, I know. It takes seconds really. It also could be me not knowing how to use my computer - I did mention how bad I am.

Lightspeed Retail POS

Comments: With Lightspeed's eCom we found the solution we were searching for. Real time updates and the ease to upload inventory is just amazing. We also needed an interface with Quickbooks accounting software. With the Quickbooks interface, we reduced daily accounting hours by almost 60%!

Pros:

I like the flexibility of the POS software. As the General Manager and the one who chose the software, I was often contacted by an employee that needed help. As a cloud based software, I can log in with my Ipad, Laptop, or my phone to help them. Their 24/7 helpline is amazing...Other software companies, especially those on the east coast that aren't 24/7 are a real pain to deal with on the west coast.

Cons:

My only wish is that Lightspeed had a "Trade-In" tab to make trade-ins easier.

Fan of Lightspeed

Comments: I have been happy with Lightspeed since day one. Customer service is terrific, and they will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of a problem. I appreciated that customer service is available on the weekends, which is most helpful for a retailer.

Pros:

I have been using Lightspeed for several years, and it has been smooth sailing all along. I came from using an old school cash register, so it was a bit of a leap. And I am of a "certain age", so there was a learning curve there too! The learning curve proved to be pretty simple, and the nice folks in customer service have been helpful and patient every step of the way... and continue to be, years later.

Cons:

The only difficulty for me is that Lightspeed no longer interfaces directly with my website platform, which means I pay for a gateway so I can manage information between the two. Added expense.