Lightspeed Retail Erfahrungen

Vorteile

The best feature of LIghtspeed is the analytics package. As a senior manager you can spend a lot of time calculating your performance manually in excel. But the Analytics package takes care of all of that. It's easy to see the performance of your inventory, employees and marketing at any time. There are also a lot of apps that work with Lightspeed that make it the most functional POS system I've used. The fact that the ecommerce is integrated as well makes it a great fully integrated system. You could pay a lot more to piece together all the of the systems you need. Or you could spend a huge amount of money creating a custom system.

Nachteile

There are some small idiosyncrasies like not adjusting sync times for your local time zone. So, yesterday is never accurate you have to wait for the next days sync to get have accurate information. I would also like to be able to have our time management app sync employee time to Lightspeed so we don't have to enter it manually. I've given up on tracking employee hourly performance for this reason. Or if they offered a better time clock management natively that would help. I'd also like them to include the previous year comparisons in their dashboard. And, I'd like to look at seasonal performance rather than just month to month and week to week.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Clover und Vend

Warum Lightspeed Retail gewählt wurde

I wanted a cloud based integrated system

Zuvor genutzte Software

Clover und Vend

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

I looked at a couple of others too that I can't remember. A lot of them had great features, but none of them had all of the features to have a fully integrated system for our customers to shop online or in person. And, none of them had the analytics tools that Lightspeed has.

Vorteile

It is easy to use as you can search for the individual items and put items in categories. It also enable us to put in modifier on each item with additional price too

Nachteile

Very expensive compared to other POS. Only if the report format can be modified to be a little bit more simpler

Vorteile

nothing but time waste and I dont think you will like it for sure

Nachteile

Please save your time and not to invest your time and efforts

Vorteile

I appreciate the ability to customize the platform to fit my specific needs. Whether I'm managing inventory, processing payments, or analyzing sales data.

Nachteile

The customer support team is generally quite helpful, there have been times when I've had difficulty getting in touch with them. It would be great if the support team was more easily accessible, especially during peak business hours.

Vorteile

Love its ease of use. Cloud based makes taking it on the road to do mobile events a breeze for payment processing and inventory management.

Nachteile

Could have used a little more help importing our inventory but after I figured it out it was easy to do.

Vorteile

The System was very use friendly and I am sad to say I will have to go with another company because the customer service was so poor.

Nachteile

Customer service is worse than anything we have experienced with more than 20 years in running a business.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

GoDaddy Website Builder

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

Functionality and features. Retail and E-com in one package.

Vorteile

nothing at all, i do not like this software

Nachteile

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

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale

Warum Lightspeed Retail gewählt wurde

I wanted a more user friendly POS, smaller, more easily accessible

Zuvor genutzte Software

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

Because the other ones would not take CBD sales

Vorteile

The POS itself works great. Easy to add payment options and has optional fields for many aspects of the system.

Nachteile

Cannot use it for delivery management. The "Service" option seems like it was designed for car dealership maintenance services and requires workarounds to be created for delivery services. It is mainly a retail "Take With" system.

Vorteile

Simplicity and very user friendly! Best product for 1 store or mulit store operation!

Nachteile

No Comment. Its the best! I would recommend to anyone in Retail business!

Vorteile

The user interface and integration with e-commerce and payments makes it a one stop shop for all your pos needs.

Nachteile

The e-commerce web design is the most challenging part, but with time it becomes easier.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale und Clover

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

The integration of all services and simple billing.

Vorteile

I can change the background? There isn't much to love about this system.

Nachteile

THe fact that they told me they specialize in using the Ipad, but everytime I call with an issue or question, customer service is surprised im using an ipad.
Also, customer charges and accounts are extremely confusing and difficult to use. You have to acces them through the "Manager mode" which is the least user friendly program I have ever encountered.
The worst part is customer service. When I need to speak to someone I am on hold for at least 15 minutes. Then to speak to a manager is 24-48 hours for a call back, if they even call back at all.

Vorteile

This software is designed for RETAIL, makes doing business in our Realtor Store simple. Ringing up customer is a breeze. Easy and fast to create a purchase order and receive products to inventory. This software is intuitive and simple to learn. We keep track of our inventory and sales reports, with accuracy.
Love the scanners and printed product label option.

Nachteile

The only negative is the long wait by phone, when we need to speak to support. Definitely worth the wait! All customer service people are polite. They always help us work through our issue with professionalism and follow-up email.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale und Vend

Warum Lightspeed Retail gewählt wurde

RAMCO was not designed for RETAIL or On-line Store

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

Even thought it wasn't the least expensive, Lightspeed seemed to provide everything we needed to meet our needs. We also had a great sales person, who explained the software to us and helped us along the way. His name was [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN].

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale

Warum Lightspeed Retail gewählt wurde

KeyStroke did not offer the support or the inventory features we were in need of.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

Mainly because of the reporting and inventory features in addition the support team offered. I can’t speak highly enough about their customer service. It is unlike any support I’ve ever experienced. They not only have the incredible chat feature, but their personable phone support team works with you with such patience and understanding of your issue and walks you through the solution. Then the follow through is unparalleled!

Vorteile

The system allows vision into your business clearly and quite simply. From the day to day sales to the back office reports, the system is easy to use. In ALL cases where something is not exactly as you envision it, the customer support team is there to help; they are PHENOMENAL and coming from retail, I do use those words quite carefully. We launched our business with Light Speed Onsite and have since upgraded to Retail. Each and every step of the way, the support team has helped with and gone and above and beyond getting me operating thru, from the simplest to the complex. We have no other point of reference of other POS providers, but many times other they are present at tradeshows. From a personal perspective, hearing the sales pitch (what we assume is the best of the best), LightSpeed provides services and abilities well above the others.

Nachteile

Unfortunately, price does come in to play. The cost, now knowing the system, is well worth it. However, there are other features that we feel should be included (as commonly seen elsewhere) that must be a "add-on" application from outside providers. Interpretation: add on = added costs. Being a small business, the cost of the POS system is significant enough, add on's are almost impossible to also incur.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

Services provided. Easiness of use. Clean appearance.

Vorteile

Being able to track profit margins and sales. Knowing what products to keep around and which ones to remove from inventory.

Nachteile

There are 2 different sales screens and each has their pros and cons…. but this is probably the most confusing thing in the system.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale und Clover

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

The setup and Cloudbase of inventory. I can check sells, products, etc. from anywhere.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale

Zuvor genutzte Software

Square Point of Sale

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

The free trial helped me make up my mind. I had two colleagues using Lightspeed and in speaking to them both are very happy with the product.

Vorteile

Really like the cloud based flexibility. Also love the syncing ability with most of my main vendors for importing purchase orders.

Nachteile

Only con is the fear of web being down or my local internet service not working and if that is the case not being able to run my store. This is has never been and actual issue though.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Point of Sale

Warum Lightspeed Retail gewählt wurde

We needed something easy to use, something cloud based, and the ability to completely integrate with our website. Lightspeed made this possible for us overnight.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

Shopify seems to be build for a website instead of a retail brick and mortar shop with a website. Lightspeed is perfect for a retailer who wants to take their business online and grow.

Vorteile

The user interface was my first draw to Lightspeed. Ease of use and mostly easy workflows pulled me in. We also like the numerous integratabtle add ons available. The multi-store feature works well.

Nachteile

It did not believe in negative numbers but that is changing. We do not like that custom fields don't save the same way as other standard fields.

Vorteile

It's very convenient that it's cloud based, allowing me to access my POS from anywhere. The payment processing is very quick. For commission based employees, it's nice to be able to assign employee credit to different line items on a single sale. The inventory matrix tool is very convenient when it comes to editing wholesale and retail pricing. That's about where the positives end for me in regards to this POS system.

Nachteile

*Individual customers can only have a single sale/layaway/special order at a time. I hope you don't deal with commercial accounts that send their orders to you using separate POs. There's no way to separate different orders from a customer. It all gets put on the same sale/layaway/special order.
*If I send a purchase order to a vendor for 10 items, but that vendor is only able to ship me 5 of those items immediately, and will ship the other 5 once available, I have to delete the 5 backordered items off of that PO in order for the "finished" PO to match the invoice sent by the vendor for the 5 items that did ship immediately. Once the PO is "finished" in retail, I'm unable to edit it or add the backordered items back to it. *So I need to make a completely new PO with those backordered items and reference the original PO in the notes so I can trace it when those backordered items do finally ship.
*There's no easy way to view all customer layaways/special orders and the information/notes within each one.
*The "Company Name" field of a customer account doesn't show up on the customer lists.
*Trying to print labels is a really goofy process.
*I'm unable to change the "ship to" address on purchase orders if I need a product shipped to different locations, example: drop shipping directly to customer.
*There's no way to print a customer packing slip for deliveries or shipments.
*Discounts are applied to total quantity cost of line items, instead of each item individually.

Vorteile

it's pretty easy, the inventory entering is easy, sales are easy. Reports are good, although none of them integrate, you have to pull 3-4 reports to get what you need unless you upgrade to way more $

Nachteile

This is an app based program, so there are definite issues using this with an iPad, which is how we run our retail store. The gift card has been a problem from day one which we have reported many time and have an open ongoing unresolved case. We purchased the gift card from the company they recommended and they both point fingers at each other, meanwhile it is a nightmare for our customers who have to sit & wait while we figure out how to make their return or issue a gift card. Still not resolved. The cache fills up and you have to delete the app and reload it or certain functions do not work, like getting a new customers name in the system. The last thing you want to deal with is deleting an ap and reloading it. Customer service on management level is incredibly slow to respond if they ever do. The day to day service is very responsive.
The rep also over sold us the program and sold us 2 registers and so we over paid $1,000 a year for 3 years until we caught it. Never heard back from upper management regarding a credit or a few free months.
They are very responsive when you are up for review though! ALSO beware of their own integrative payment processing that they tell you will save you a lot of $, not really true.Get it in writing. First of all they will take their fee right off the top daily, so forget trying to reconcile your statement with your daily reports. You will get paid for Wed, Thur & friday the following Tuesday...so your cash flow is delayed. Way slow!!!!!!

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Clover

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Lightspeed Retail

5 years ago it was the best option.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

The check-out system is nice and easy.
For multi-locations it is helpful to see sales and inventory in one place.

Nachteile

-there is no flexibility in the system. The way Lightspeed wants you to see and retrieve your data is the ONLY way you can get your data. And their way 90% of the time is not relevant to the basic needs of a retailer to analyze and evaluate their business.
-Customer Service is not responsive. The company does not seem willing to listen to complaints or provide work arounds to the rigidity of the system.
- The eCom site is FULL of problems that they do not have a handle on. There are many limitations with the way you have to present information on the site.
-It's very expensive for what you get. I was willing to pay a premium for a system I was told would exceed our needs and expectations. For the 2 things it does well, there are 98 headaches.
-They do not offer refunds or a way out of your contract if you are unhappy.

Vorteile

I think it makes accepting online sales easy but that's about it for me.

Nachteile

I didn't realize how much I LOVED Lightspeed On-Site until we switched to Retail.
We were recommended to move to Lightspeed Retail because On-Site is old technology, however this program is way inferior for small businesses. Once we were contacted to move to Retail coincidentally our On-Site started having issues like our subscription wasn't renewed and our e-Com store was turned off randomly. Not really knowing what was going on... it made sense to change to the cloud based program they were really encouraging us to move to. Now that we have gone live I realize this program is not as complex regarding small businesses, and offers very little customizations for our personal style. I was told the Analytics feature for $1000 would give me the options I need to customize the program to our business such as implementing sales targets our staff could see and a customizable dashboard.... don't think it can. It really just gives you more reports than a one brick & mortar plus online store needs. It's not relevant. Also....we thought moving to retail with our physical and eCom store would run smoother and that gift cards would work between both platforms. Again... not the case. Gift cards are not available online nor can in store cards be used online without a lot of effort in making that happen. I think if you owned multiple stores that just reordered the same inventory and didn't care about labels or gift cards this would be the perfect system for you!

Vorteile

I have always like the way the system is produced from the Service personnel's prospective & The way CDK tries to customize the product for each of the specific user's or Locations.

Nachteile

I think this system could be improved by having the ability to communicate with & Be programed with available patches to adapt the system to communicate and share info with all other outside vendor's and the coinciding systems that they use.
Every company will have separate systems all that are needed for what type of Service it provides. - IE.
*( Scheduling a Boat's launch for Valet Service or for Spring launch of boats for pickups ect. )
*( A customer Text communications program for Receiving, Sending or Monitoring text conversations ect.)
Each will always require some type of outside applications like those for that specific company to operate and function more efficiently over what is offered in any DMS System. I believe this to be true for all software DMS company's on the market & this is including light speed EVO.
Is it impossible to Make an Automotive or Marine type DMS system that all Info could be shared across to and back from any of The other software system types that are used externally?
I believe that would be a great benefit for any and all company's that need a DMS Fixed operations type Repair or Maintience operating systems.