Because Lightspeed OnSite and Lightspeed Retail are distinct programs, they will not always accomplish the same business needs in the same way. Sometimes this is due to the differences in the anatomy of a product in OnSite compared to the anatomy of an item in Retail. Sometimes it is due to differences in the features available for each program. We've compiled a few examples below to show how, with a few adjustments, you can continue to accomplish your goals with Lightspeed Retail.
Products/items
What OnSite calls products, Retail calls items. Either way, the stock that makes up your inventory is the lifeblood of your business, so it's important to understand how OnSite products and Retail items differ.
Custom fields
Custom fields can be created in Lightspeed Retail, but you cannot import directly into a custom field and they cannot be searched for or reported on. You can, however, import your custom fields from OnSite as Tags on the corresponding items in Retail, which can be searched and reported on.
Non-default costs
Items in Lightspeed Retail can only have one default cost. The default cost will be the assumed unit cost when stock quantity is added into inventory, but that value can be changed on a case by case basis to account for fluctuating unit costs. Because only one default cost field exists, however, non-default costs cannot be migrated into Lightspeed Retail.
Pricing levels and price rules
Pricing levels and price rules exist in Lightspeed Retail, but if you wish to import any pricing levels or price rules into Lightspeed Retail, they must be manually created in your Retail account first. Once they exist, price values can be imported into pricing levels and affected items can be imported into price rules.
Customers
The anatomy of a customer profile in Lightspeed Retail is a little different than in Lightspeed OnSite.
Shipping and billing addresses
Retail only supports one address per customer. If you need to record both a billing and shipping address for a given customer, you can create multiple copies of that customer, for example, Jane Doe (shipping) and Jane Doe (billing).
Custom fields, credit terms, customer groups
As with items, custom fields can be created in Lightspeed Retail for customers, but you cannot import directly into a custom field and they cannot be searched for or reported on. You can, however, import your custom fields from OnSite as Tags on the corresponding customers in Retail, which can be searched and reported on. Alternately, you could use the Title or Company fields (both searchable fields) to store different information.
Credit terms and customer groups are not fields that exist in Lightspeed Retail. Similar solutions to the one outlined above may be possible, depending on how you use that information.
Suppliers
Suppliers are known as Vendors in Lightspeed Retail, and some have integrated vendor catalogs which allow you to import items quickly and easily. As with customers, Lightspeed Retail supports only one address per vendor. If you need to store both a shipping and billing address for a given vendor, you can create multiple copies of that vendor, for example, Vendor (shipping) and Vendor (billing).
Purchase Orders
Purchase orders are the main way to replenish stock in Lightspeed Retail, but they do work differently than in OnSite. You can still leverage reorder points and desired inventory levels to assist with replenishing low-stock items, but you can also pull inventory into a purchase order directly from a vendor catalog.
Product labels
Lightspeed Retail uses a different label printer, and as such you should expect your labels to be quite different when printed from Retail. Retail labels include the following information by default:
- Item description
- Price
- Barcode
You can customize your labels by changing the values of certain flags in the label print template, or by coding your own custom label print template. Note that should you have your own custom template created, Lightspeed Support teams will not be able to assist you in troubleshooting your label printing.
With the use of Zebra Browser Print, configuring your label printing makes creating labels quick, easy, and reliable.
Printing receipts
Lightspeed Retail's sales receipt will print on the same Star Micronics receipt printer you were using with OnSite, thought the receipt layout itself may be a little different. As with printing labels, you can customize the print template for your sales receipts, however should you have your own custom template created from scratch, Lightspeed Support teams will not be able to assist you in troubleshooting your receipt printing.
Reporting
The reports that are available in Lightspeed Retail are not necessarily identical to the reports available in OnSite, but they are comprehensive and every report can be exported to a spreadsheet for further number crunching. You also have the option of investing in Lightspeed Analytics, which includes many more reports and empowers you to create your own custom reports to best meet your business needs.
Gift cards
Only our partner DOOSYNC™ can migrate your OnSite gift card data into Lightspeed Retail. Otherwise, you can manually recreate the gift cards one by one.
To avoid compatibility issues for use with Lightspeed Retail, gift card barcodes must be produced using either the EAN-13 or UPC-A standard. This means that your OnSite gift card barcodes must be converted into a format compatible with Retail. DOOSYNC™ does this for you and provides you with a document illustrating how the values were converted.