Lightspeed Commerce, a global one-stop commerce platform for merchants, has launched a Unified Payments and POS offering, reducing complexity for retailers by streamlining support, simplifying bookkeeping and providing deeper insights through reporting.
JD St-Martin, President at Lightspeed, said the company is making an important step towards building its leading commerce platform by unifying its software offering with its payments offering.
“This approach will allow us to unlock a ton of value for our customers,” he said.
“The world has changed and digital adoption and technology have played a part in that change. Looking to the future and what we’ve seen in the context of the pandemic and its aftermath, we truly believe that technology can be the opportunity to level the playing field between small and medium-sized businesses and big box retail or restaurant chains.”
“At Lightspeed, our vision is to build a commerce platform that powers all the technology and financial service needs of our customers and in that context unlock all the benefits that this vision provides, we need to build our solutions as one unit, really one platform working in symbiosis together.”
With the payments industry evolving so rapidly, Lightspeed’s unified platform reduces complexity for customers by streamlining support, simplifying bookkeeping and providing deeper insights through reporting.
Lightspeed is investing in features that will help merchants scale their business, save them time, and give them peace of mind, providing performance-boosting Insights, Tap to Pay on Apple, next day, built-in tipping and easier reconciliation.
This also means merchants will have streamlined bookkeeping and support. No more multiple bills and multiple numbers to call for help. They benefit from streamlined operations and white glove support with their POS, hardware and payments needs covered under one roof.
Hassle-free reporting saves merchants time and reduces manual errors. Now, they will have one integrated reporting sheet in their hands, saving them hours of reconciliation per week. It’ll also reduce the risk of errors, giving them more precise reporting and staff less manual tasks to complete.
Ultimately, unified Payments & POS means more time for merchants to concentrate on their customers, which improves their experience too.
St-Martin said it’s a seamless experience that feeds off each other and eliminates friction points for retailers and their customers.
“Time is money and it has a huge impact at the end of the day. It’s ultimately putting more money back in our customers’ pocket,” he said. “To carry on in that direction and to continue to unlock more value for our customers, the next step in that journey is to now offer both solutions combined as one offering.”
St-Martin said Lightspeed customers are already using the platform and seeing much success:
- Fairways Golf Group in Ohio experienced a cost reduction of 60% compared to their previous processor and Lightspeed has also allowed the company to offer a fast and contactless transactions at all their golf, retail and restaurant facilities;
- Nicetys in Oakville, Ontario has seen the platform as a way to eliminate errors and long lineups at the till so they can focus on providing an amazing customer experience on the floor;
- Silo and Crate Brewery in London, UK, saw a 10% increase in revenue by adopting Lightspeed Payments and have reduced the overall transaction time in their busiest moments by 15 seconds per transaction. Bookkeeping and accounting has become a breeze because it’s shaved off three hours per week on the reporting side;
- South Bark Dog Wash in San Diego witnessed increased tipping by 11% as customers began tipping on normal retail purchases and not just grooming services.
“Our customers are business owners who wear multiple hats. Any tangible efficiency gains that we can provide them has a direct impact on their bottom line,” said St-Martin.
“From a quality and technology perspective this is a game changer. We want to equip our merchants with ultimately the same tools that big box retail and large hospitality chains benefit from but here at a fraction of the cost. So unifying payments with software is allowing us today to do just that – to really offer a new, unique experience for our customers and offer unique features that would not be possible if each of these solutions siloed from one another.”
Lightspeed initiated a pilot for Unified Payments in late March and is now implementing a phased rollout to its North American customers. Longer term, Lightspeed plans to roll this out around the world.
Lightspeed is:
- Offering highly competitive processing rates. It says it beats the competitor’s rates 70%of the time*
- Providing free payment terminals for each merchants’ registers
- Providing contract buyouts to help cover early termination fees from an existing processor
- Providing free on-site installation to minimize disruption to merchants’ business
St-Martin said that Lightspeed will continue to support businesses with the company’s ongoing product development as it grows its offerings.
For more information on Lightspeed Commerce, visit: https://www.lightspeedhq.com/
*Comparison in each case based solely on processing rates of the prior provider of the potential customer from January 2021 to February 2023 in the United States and Canada. Comparisons were performed internally and are limited to certain products offered by Lightspeed and its affiliates and where comparison data is available. Rates can vary depending on the individual circumstances of a customer, geography and a variety of other factors, and past rates may not be indicative of future rates offered.
*Partner content. To work with Retail Insider, email craig@retail-insider.com
