The battle of Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS may be complicated. If you’re selecting a brand new level of sale system, each of those instruments have a whole lot of advantages to supply.

On the one hand, Shopify is among the best-known ecommerce platforms on this planet for ecommerce sellers, providing a variety of implausible options for enterprise leaders. Then again, Lightspeed affords an all-in-one resolution for every kind of corporations, whether or not you’re operating a retail retailer, restaurant, or perhaps a service enterprise.

Each of those ecosystems are constructed for the fashionable enterprise proprietor, providing entry to performance in an ever-changing and agile world. Right now, we’re going to check Lightspeed and Shopify POS, to provide you a greater perception into what every can do.

Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS: An Introduction

Each Shopify and Lightspeed POS have a whole lot of options in frequent. These instruments are each designed to ship extraordinarily versatile function units to corporations all through the gross sales panorama.

What’s Shopify POS?

With Shopify, you’re accessing level of sale know-how from one of many better-known manufacturers within the ecommerce world. Shopify is in style all through the globe for its dedication to delivering extremely versatile instruments to a variety of shops and companies, to allow them to promote conveniently on-line.

The Shopify POS atmosphere is simply as versatile because the ecommerce service, with a customized POS terminal, absolutely built-in {hardware}, and entry to countless instruments for reporting and analytics.

What’s Lightspeed POS?

Lightspeed POS is a widely known ePOS resolution, that means it focuses particularly on the software program aspect of the purpose of sale atmosphere. With Lightspeed, you possibly can handle a number of programs in a single atmosphere, and entry specialist options like “Lightspeed Supply” to hook up with platforms like Deliveroo and UberEats.

Shopify vs Lightspeed: Professionals and Cons

Whereas each Shopify and Lightspeed POS have their very own distinctive strengths, it’s vital to contemplate the professionals and cons of every platform earlier than making a call.

Shopify POS affords seamless integration with Shopify’s ecommerce platform, that means you possibly can handle every thing in a single place. It’s additionally extremely customizable, with a variety of add-ons out there. Nonetheless, it will not be the very best match for bigger companies that require superior stock administration.

Then again, Lightspeed POS affords strong options for stock administration and reporting. It’s additionally designed to fulfill the wants of varied industries, making it an ideal all-in-one resolution.

Each Shopify and Lightspeed POS supply dependable customer support, with 24/7 help out there to customers. Shopify offers help by means of e-mail, telephone and dwell chat, whereas Lightspeed affords related buyer help channels, plus entry to a group discussion board the place customers can ask and reply questions.

Finally, the selection between Shopify POS and Lightspeed POS is dependent upon what you are promoting wants and targets. Take a while to guage the professionals and cons of each choices earlier than making a call that most closely fits what you are promoting.

Retailer Administration Software program from Shopify and Lightspeed

There’s an honest quantity of overlap between the options of Shopify and Lightspeed POS. Each instruments can supply every thing from in-depth reporting and workers administration, to stock monitoring. Each of those options are additionally extra targeted on the digital world.

Omnichannel promoting

Shopify POS permits enterprise homeowners to take their Shopify retailer into the actual world with a number of helpful options. The versatile retail POS can combine with a variety of highly effective {hardware} choices, together with easy and transportable Shopify card readers.

With Lightspeed POS, you possibly can handle a number of programs remotely and on-the-move, with an intuitive vary of contemporary software program instruments. Nonetheless, the Lightspeed atmosphere particularly focuses on just a few set industries, whereas Shopify is extra versatile.

With each Lightspeed and Shopify, you get entry to a strong POS terminal. Shopify means that you can personalize your level of sale in accordance with what you are promoting wants, with entry to your whole most-used apps, reductions, and merchandise in a single place.

With Lightspeed, you possibly can entry your whole options remotely from an iPad or cellular system, to maintain observe of efficiency wherever you go.

With Shopify, you possibly can handle and fulfil pickup orders immediately, purchase in retailer and ship to buyer, purchase on-line, trade and return in retailer, and entry native supply options. You’ll be able to ship carts to prospects to allow them to purchase merchandise on-line, and there’s even the choice to connect QR codes to merchandise.

Lightspeed affords specialist instruments like Lightspeed ecom that will help you attain extra prospects on-line, whereas Lightspeed supply connects you to numerous on-line supply platforms like UberEats, JustEat, and Deliveroo.

Stock and workers administration

From a listing administration perspective, Shopify ensures you possibly can create buy orders for suppliers and distributors, and entry demand forecasting based mostly on seasonality and efficiency. You’ll be able to request transfers from different POS places, maintain observe low inventory, and uncover sale merchandise options too.

Shopify’s ecosystem comes with in-depth stock evaluation, inventory changes, stock counts, and stock receiving counts. Detailed stock experiences additionally mean you can observe traits and confidently plan for the longer term.

With Lightspeed, you get a sensible stock administration monitoring system the place you possibly can import inventory from each location and arrange shipments from an ecommerce again workplace. There’s additionally the choice to sync stock throughout all places, and centralize buying with built-in buy orders.

For workers administration, Shopify has quite a bit to supply too. Workers administration instruments embody supervisor approvals, limitless POS workers, and entry to numerous roles and permissions. You’ll be able to attribute gross sales to workers members, give workers POS PINs, and observe worker efficiency.

With Lightspeed POS, you possibly can handle a number of programs from an all-in-one atmosphere, and maintain observe of staff wherever they’re.

Buyer administration

From a buyer administration perspective, each instruments enable entry to a variety of options designed to show your prospects into lifelong followers.

With Shopify, you possibly can create complete buyer profiles, which you’ll be able to entry when prospects are trying out on-line or offline. The wealthy buyer profiles enable you to to trace contact data, buy historical past, lifetime spending habits, and extra. You’ll even have entry to instruments for reaching out to your prospects by means of your level of sale.

You’ll be able to reward loyalty on-line or in-store, and arrange advertising and marketing campaigns to enhance your probabilities of repeat purchases.

Whereas Lightspeed doesn’t have the identical lead nurturing options as Shopify, it nonetheless means that you can observe buyer data, and arrange loyalty methods, with customized present playing cards. You may also separate prospects into totally different segments to create extra personalised gross sales campaigns.

Cost Processing

On the subject of fee processing, each Shopify POS and Lightspeed POS supply safe and dependable bank card fee choices for what you are promoting.

Shopify affords its personal fee gateway, Shopify Funds, which has aggressive charges and integrates seamlessly with the platform.

Lightspeed POS additionally affords a variety of fee processing choices, together with integrations with in style gateways like Stripe and PayPal.

By way of transaction charges, Shopify expenses a flat fee per transaction whereas Lightspeed expenses a proportion price based mostly on the transaction quantity. Nonetheless, Lightspeed does supply decrease charges for prime quantity companies.

On the subject of selecting between Shopify POS and Lightspeed POS, one issue to contemplate is the cardboard reader. Shopify affords a faucet & chip card reader for $49, together with different equipment like a dock and retail stand. Lightspeed additionally features a card reader of their pricing plans. Relying on what you are promoting wants, the price of further registers could differ for each platforms. It’s vital to weigh the professionals and cons of every system earlier than making a call on which one to go together with.

Each Shopify and Lightspeed POS supply nice options for managing your in-store and on-line gross sales. Nonetheless, Shopify stands out for its excellent ecommerce and on-line gross sales options, making it an ideal selection for companies that closely depend on on-line gross sales. Then again, Lightspeed is understood for its sturdy stock administration instruments and buyer help. Finally, the suitable selection is dependent upon the particular wants of what you are promoting.

Checkout and Reporting

For checkout and reporting, each Shopify and Lightspeed have loads of nice options.

On the Shopify Checkout web page, you possibly can trade previous purchases from any on-line or retail places, and save and retrieve carts for purchasers. You’ll be able to customized print receipts together with your web site URL, promotions, retailer hours, and insurance policies too.

With the Checkout service, you possibly can take your smartphone or pill to your buyer, entry customizable good grids to ship cues to workers, and supply low cost codes. Taxes are robotically calculated in accordance with your retailer’s location, and you’ll document order notes too.

Shopify helps offline money transactions, returns, customized reductions, and barcode scanning.

Lightspeed affords contactless, straightforward funds to go well with a variety of retail and restaurant places. The fully-integrated system helps to guard companies from fraud and human error, and there’s entry to paperless receipts immediately delivered to your e-mail deal with.

Lightspeed retail’s ecosystem is absolutely PCI compliant, and filled with options to strengthen your connection together with your prospects, together with present playing cards and voucher codes.

From a reporting perspective, Lightspeed means that you can verify on gross sales, traits, and income with immersive income experiences. You’ll be able to observe prices and margins throughout a number of places without delay, entry templates for stock experiences, and verify worker efficiency on elements like models per sale, and work orders. There’s additionally “Lightspeed analytics” for extra customized reporting.

With Shopify, there’s entry to each day gross sales experiences, so you can also make extra knowledgeable selections about your digital panorama, with insights into merchandise, gross sales, and workers efficiency, all compiled in a each day report generated immediately from the POS.

Shopify affords customized dashboard overviews, retail gross sales experiences, money monitoring, and complete money stream experiences. You may get insights into which merchandise are promoting greatest, leverage low cost and stock experiences, and generate in-depth insights into your funds too.

{Hardware}

Each Shopify and Lightspeed are extra targeted on the software program aspect of promoting than the {hardware} you’d sometimes use for an offline level of sale. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t entry {hardware} instruments from each distributors.

Lightspeed’s primary resolution for {hardware} is the iPad {hardware} package, which comes with a money drawer, LAN receipt printer, iPad stand, Bluetooth scanner, and receipt paper. This lets you merely use your iPad as the first system for managing your level of sale.

In order for you one thing slightly extra conventional, the desktop {hardware} package comes with a USB receipt printer, money drawer, and USB scanner. Alternatively, you possibly can entry third-party instruments as equipment, just like the Zebra label printer, Bluetooth barcode scanners, and extra.

Shopify’s {hardware} additionally covers a variety of choices. There’s a Shopify retail bundle with every thing you might want to settle for faucet and chip funds instantly. In order for you one thing slightly easier, the WisePad 3 reader means that you can settle for funds shortly and simply anyplace.

Shopify’s ironmongery store additionally affords entry to a variety of equipment, together with barcode scanners, receipt printers, and instruments for utilizing your iPad as your main level of sale. You’ll be able to attain out to each corporations for a complete perception into pricing.

Pricing

Pricing is at all times a major consideration or any enterprise investing in new know-how. With Shopify and Lightspeed, there are just a few totally different choices relying on what you want.

Shopify POS Pricing

Beginning with Shopify, to entry the POS system, you’ll want a Shopify ecommerce plan. Often, choices begin with Shopify Lite, which lets you add a retailer to an current website with a button. Nonetheless, you’ll want a minimum of the Primary plan from Shopify to begin utilizing Shopify options. Your choices embody:

• Primary Shopify: The Primary plan is $25 per thirty days with entry to help for limitless merchandise, a number of gross sales channels, and transaction charges beginning at 1.7%.
• Shopify: The usual Shopify plan is $69 per thirty days for all of the Primary options, plus native fee strategies, commonplace experiences, and 5 stock places. Right here, transaction charges begin at 1.6% as an alternative.
• Shopify Superior: The Superior Shopify service is $259 per thirty days for all of the options of the usual plan, plus ecommerce automations, third-party delivery charges and superior experiences. You’ll have entry to fifteen workers accounts and eight places, and transaction charges beginning at 1.5%.

Shopify Plus, which is the superior enterprise bundle, comes with entry to Shopify POS Professional. The remainder of the packages include free POS Lite. The Professional bundle is accessible with all packages outdoors of Plus for $89 per thirty days with entry to extra stock administration instruments, workflows and workers permissions.

Lightspeed POS Pricing

Lightspeed pricing is dependent upon whether or not you’re purchasing for Lightspeed “Retail”, or “Lightspeed Restaurant.”. Each choices supply entry to particular instruments, both for retail or meals service promoting. Within the retail class, choices embody:

• Primary: £69 per thirty days for the fundamental retail ecommerce POS with stock and commonplace reporting instruments.
• Customary: £99 per thirty days for the retail ePOS, and ecommerce performance.
• Superior: £129 per thirty days for all of the options of Customary, plus Loyalty capabilities.
• Professional: £199 per thirty days for all of the options of Superior, plus in-depth analytics.

Restaurant POS options begin at £39 per thirty days for the necessities, together with a menu supervisor, cellular entry, takeaway, reporting and analytics. You’ll be able to entry this function as an add-on to your current level of sale resolution.

Apparently, Lightspeed additionally has a devoted “Golf” bundle, the place you possibly can entry occasion administration, a Tee-sheet, enterprise intelligence, and on-line reserving, amongst different options. This service is obtainable with a personalized quote.

FAQs

Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS: Verdict

Finally, for those who’re searching for a strong option to promote to prospects each offline and on-line, it’s onerous to go improper with both Shopify or Lightspeed POS.

Shopify is an unbelievable device for constructing immersive on-line retailer experiences. The versatile ecosystem is nice for offline promoting too, with tons of options that will help you strengthen your relationship with prospects. Shopify empowers implausible omnichannel gross sales and advertising and marketing methods, with tons of of integrations out there to your favourite instruments.

Lightspeed additionally affords implausible omnichannel methods for gross sales, however the firm focuses extra on particular sorts of firm. The retail resolution from Lightspeed is great, but it surely significantly shines in the case of providing customized restaurant options. Lightspeed can be one of many few POS options in the marketplace that has it’s personal {golfing} options.

Finally, whether or not Shopify or Lightspeed is best for you will rely upon the form of prospects you most wish to join with.

Begin your free trial with Shopify.