Lightspeed vs. Shopify POS

POS (point-of-sale) systems are sets of devices, software, and payment services that business owners use for actual sales. These systems do many things, such as managing customer purchases, accepting payments, and giving receipts. A POS is the place where retail transactions occur between merchants and customers.

To choose the best POS system or solution for your business, you must consider inventory management, sales processing, integration capabilities, offline functionality, pricing, and more.  POS systems are essential to any business and assist the purchasing process so that it flows conveniently and easily.

Any in-person and online business requires a POS system to run smoothly, and the following review covers two of the leading POS platforms on the market.

The following is a comprehensive comparison between 2 leading POS (point-of-sale) platforms in the business commerce industry. These two leading platforms are Lightspeed and Shopify.

Lightspeed

Lightspeed hit the market back in 2005. Its founder is Dax Dasilva, a Canadian technology entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. It was created to offer point-of-sale and e-commerce software services to businesses dealing with retail. In 2014, it opened its doors to the hospitality industry.

Lightspeed serves over 300 thousand retail and hospitality companies and operates in over one hundred countries worldwide. The primary industries using Lightspeed today are retail, eCommerce, and hospitality. Well-known customers include Apple, Inc., and Vocado.

Shopify

Shopify was created in 2006 by Canadians Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake. In 2013, it introduced a POS system that could use iPads. Shopify POS deals with multiple businesses, such as sporting equipment, luxury gifts and accessories, and apparel. This POS system also works well for restaurants.

Many countries use Shopify, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Japan, and more. Shopify has 28% of the eCommerce market in the United States.

Overview of Each Software

Let's look at Lightspeed and Shopify and compare them to see which suits you best. We will cover essential features like inventory management, sales processing, integration capabilities, offline functionality, pricing, and reporting and analytics just to name a few.

Lightspeed Features

Inventory Management

With Lightspeed, you can manage inventory easily across all channels. You can track inventory levels and SKUs no matter where you are located. You can also order from Lightspeed Retail with built-in purchase orders and use Lightspeed's product import tool to upload fresh products instantly. There are many more options available to you regarding inventory management that make using Lightspeed a breeze.

Sales Processing

There are specific steps regarding payment processing. These are getting your payment processing POS credentials, integrating your Lightspeed Retail with your payment processor, testing your payment processing, and viewing your payment details, including payment summary, transaction details, customer signature, and gateway response.

If you choose Lightspeed, you will pay 2.6% + $0.10 for every CP (card-present transaction) or 2.6% + 0.30 for CNP (card-not-present) transactions. No matter what plan you choose, these charges apply.

Integration Capabilities

Lightspeed can integrate with Accounting, CMR, eCommerce, ERP, and Marketplace platforms. Connecting both platforms makes your Lightspeed POS more efficient and saves time.

Offline Functionality

Lightspeed is designed to work both online and offline. Any offline sales will be cached on the register and sent to the cloud when online. Therefore, there is no need to worry about this.

Reporting and Analytics

Lightspeed offers comprehensive data on your business any time you want the information. It brings customers, reports, and products into a singular database, giving you an eagle-eye view of your business operations. As your business grows, so will Lightspeed's reporting offer data on your added places of operation.

Shopify Features

Inventory Management

Shopify offers excellent inventory tracking, and you can centralize your inventory management. With Shopify, there will be less manual work. Shopify's POS inventory system provides real-time visibility over stock levels concerning channels, warehouses, and retail locations.

Sales Processing

When processing sales in Shopify's POS, you can lock the iPad screen, add items to the cart, add a custom sale item to the cart, add a custom fee, apply a cart discount, apply a line-item discount, and even remove the tax on an item. You can also reprint a receipt, print a gift receipt for a completed sale, email cart details to a customer, and view product recommendations.

You will be charged 2.4% + 30c for each credit card purchase, 2.4% for person-to-person purchases, and 0.5% for every sale using a third-party payment provider.

Integration Capabilities

Shopify POS integrates well on both iOS and Android devices. It syncs well with Shopify's eCommerce platform, which integrates with existing ERPs, CRMs, APIs, and SDKs.

Offline Functionality

Shopify POS's offline functionality is great, especially for pop-up shops or locations that experience unreliable internet connections. The system stores transaction data locally and syncs itself with online stores as soon as connectivity is restored.

Reporting and Analytics

Shopify POS analytics is only available to users using Shopify POS Pro. The Analytics feature on Shopify POS lets you look at your store's Daily Sales report and shows your net sales, average order value, and items per order. You can compare a single day's sales to those made the same day the previous week via the Daily Sales report.

Pricing Comparison

Lightspeed

Lightspeed's annual pricing model costs $119/m for their "Lean" plan, covering your essential business needs, $169/m for their "Standard" plan, covering omnichannel businesses, and $249/m for their "Advanced" plan. An "Enterprise" plan is available for high-volume merchants and large businesses. Lightspeed offers a free trial for 14 days, which requires no credit card and no commitments.

Shopify

Shopify POS offers a different kind of pricing model. To begin with, they charge $1 per month for the first three months. The "Starter" plan for casual sellers charges $5/month, including 1 POS Lite location, and $79/m, including 1 POS Pro location for retail businesses based on an annual plan.

For businesses with a large online presence, each POS Pro Location will cost an added $89/m. The pricing is $39/m for their "Basic" individual sellers plan, $105/m for their "Shopify" plan for small retailers, and $399/m for their "Advanced" plan for medium to large businesses.  A 3-day free trial comes with Shopify and costs $1 monthly for the first three months.

Customer Support Comparison

One of the most essential features to consider when deciding which POS system to choose is customer support. You want to know that any problems will be fixed promptly by a company that cares.

Lightspeed Customer Support 

Lightspeed offers a Help Center containing many articles on popular questions. There is also a chatbot and a Live Chat window to speak to a customer support team member. Lightspeed's support is available 24/7 from Monday through Friday and closes on Saturday at 7 am EST. However, they also have extended weekend hours available from 10 am EST to 6 pm EST on Saturdays, 12 am EST to 8 am EST on Sundays, and from 11 am EST onwards.

Shopify Customer Support

Shopify's customer support includes "Request a Call," where you can ask a customer sales representative to help you if your annual revenue is over $250K. You can also contact sales directly at 1-844-230-0603 Mon-Fri, 9 am - 5 pm ET. There is also the option to chat live with the sales team Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm ET, or even schedule a time to chat.

Pros and Cons

Lightspeed

Pros

• Great Customer Service 24/7
• Simplicity
• Payments, POS, and eCommerce in one central place
• Customization is easy due to broad hardware compatibility

Cons

• There are many extra costs for both add-ons and certain features
• Lightspeed can be problematic for businesses with extensive inventories

Shopify

Pros

• Integrates with many other apps
• Shopify online store plan included
• Offline availability for money transactions
• $1/month for the first three months

Cons

• Customer Support is not available 24/7
• The trial period is only three days

Final Verdict 

After covering Lightspeed's and Shopify's inventory management, sales processing, integration capabilities, offline functionality, pricing, and more, it is easy to see why so many people use these POS systems that deserve respect in their industries. No matter what small or big business you have, the Lightspeed or Shopify POS system you choose will help streamline your business purchasing process.

However, specific Lightspeed or Spotify POS system features are better when compared to one another; therefore, you should choose the one that suits your business best!