POS system

A POS system—POS stands for point of sale—is a suite of software and hardware that gives businesses the ability to sell products and services, manage inventory, track sales performance, build customer relationships and much more. Most POS systems seen in businesses today are actually ePOS systems, or electronic points of sale, as they operate online and store information in the cloud.

The simplest way to understand a POS system is to think of it as a more modern cash register that can do so much more than just ring up customers.

Let’s break it down into the two main components of a POS system, POS hardware and POS software.

POS hardware is a blanket term for the physical components of your POS system. There will be some differences in the types of hardware your business needs depending on whether you run a retail or a hospitality business. However, there will be some commonalities regardless of your industry.

Selecting the best POS system for your small business can be a difficult choice—the only thing you know for sure is that yes, you do need a POS system for your business. There are many POS vendors, with each offering an overlapping feature set. So, how does a business owner go about identifying the best POS system for small business?

The simplest approach is to take stock of the challenges you face and the business needs you’d like your POS system to satisfy. You’ll also want to consider future needs. It’s a savvy move to pick a system that you can grow on for years to come.

Once you understand your current and future needs, it’s a matter of comparison shopping until you find the system that offers the best combination of functionality and price. This ensures you’re getting what you need at a price that will work for you long term. With that in mind, it’s our opinion that Lightspeed Retail and Lightspeed Restaurant offer a powerful combination of functionality and value that will meet the needs of any business, whether established or a new venture.

How do I choose a retail POS system?
If you’re a retailer, Lightspeed’s retail POS system offers the following key features that can help you manage and grow your business.

A point of sale system is used to track and manage your inventory and ring up sales. A payment processor handles the actual transaction during sales.

Payment processors transmit payment information between relevant parties to complete transactions—information will be sent between your business' bank account and the paying customer’s bank, for example, or between your acquiring bank and the customer’s credit card issuer.

A point of sale system facilitates the transaction in question—if a payment processor connects to your bank, your POS system powers your till. POS systems like Lightspeed can integrate with payment processors to automatically transit information between your inventory system and card reader. In addition, Lightspeed includes tools for inventory management, CRM and data analysis, and we have even developed our own payment processing system: Lightspeed Payments.

Generally, yes, a cloud-based POS system needs the internet at least some of the time for various functions, such as processing credit card transactions, updating inventory in real time and syncing sales data to other systems for analytics and reporting.

An internet-connected POS system is generally a better choice than a server-based POS, because it offers more reliability in transaction handling, allows for seamless updates and integrations with other cloud-based services and provides access to real-time data from any location without extra costs of hosting your servers yourself.

Lightspeed Payments users receive one free payments terminal to use in their retail store. No other plans include hardware. Lightspeed Payments is currently only available for Lightspeed Retail users in the US.

Lightspeed's POS system works with many platforms. While the apps are built exclusively for Apple iPads, the POS system can be run in a web browser on any device, including Mac, PC, Apple or Android. You may be able to use all or most of your existing hardware when you add Lightspeed to your business—speak to your sales rep for more information.

Lightspeed does not lease hardware. However, you can buy hardware directly from Lightspeed.

Lightspeed Payments is now included in all POS system subscription options for Lightspeed Retail users in the US and Canada. However, you are not required to use Lightspeed Payments as your payments processor. Credit card processing rates through Lightspeed Payments are set at a predictable fee for all card types, including American Express: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction (2.9% + $0.30 card-not-present).

Lightspeed Retail POS system users outside of the US, as well as Lightspeed Restaurant POS users around the world, do not currently have access to Lightspeed Payments. While we work hard to make our payments solution available to users around the world, Lightspeed users currently have access to a number of payment processing partners through the POS system.

All new Lightspeed users are entitled to a free one-on-one onboarding session. A product expert will walk you through the POS system's major features and answer any and all of your business questions relevant to your business. After you've completed your onboarding session, we offer free phone support, available 24/7 in English.

Lightspeed users also have access to chat support in English, and phone support in Dutch and French, during specific business hours. You can find more information on how to contact Lightspeed support here.

Lightspeed also maintains a database of Help Center articles to aid POS system users. Lightspeed users can also consult the Lightspeed Community to discuss their POS system with other retailers, restaurateurs and Lightspeed experts.

Lightspeed Payments is now included in all POS system subscription options for Lightspeed Retail users in the US and Canada. Credit card processing rates through Lightspeed Payments are set at a predictable fee for all card types, including American Express: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction (2.9% + $0.30 card-not-present).

Yes, Lightspeed offers both in-house tools and specialized partner services to help retailers and restaurants migrate data when switching.