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Lightspeed eCom Review 2023
Lightspeed is known for its competitive point of sale system, but its eCommerce platform helps all small business owners sell products online with ease. Is it right for you?
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Expert Analyst & Reviewer
UPDATED
Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.
Lightspeed eCom
| Total Rating | 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Excellent |
| Features | Good |
| Customer Service | Good |
| Integrations & Add-Ons | Good |
| Reviews | Good |
Lightspeed eCom At A Glance
- Fully hosted, cloud-based platform
- Works with existing websites built on popular platforms
- Free plan requires no credit card and lets you test the software
Pros
- Free plan
- Connects to existing websites on many platforms
- Digital sales supported
- Strong POS integration
- Includes advanced features
Cons
- Limited features on lower plans
- Limited payment gateway integrations
Table of Contents
- What Is Lightspeed eCom?
- Lightspeed eCom Pricing
- Lightspeed eCom Features
- Lightspeed eCom Themes
- Types Of Payment Accepted With Lightspeed eCom
- Selling On Multiple Sales Channels With Lightspeed eCom
- Does Lightspeed eCom Offer Buy Buttons?
- Selling Internationally
- Lightspeed eCom Marketing Features
- Lightspeed Product Limits
- Inventory Management With Lightspeed eCom
- Lightspeed eCom Shipping Tools
- Lightspeed SEO Tools
- Blogging
- Lightspeed eCom Discounts & Coupons
- Developer Tools
- In-Person Selling Tools
- Lightspeed eCom Reports
- Is Lightspeed eCom Easy To Use?
- Lightspeed eCom Customer Service & Technical Support
- Lightspeed eCom Integrations & Add-Ons
- Lightspeed eCom Reviews
- Final Verdict Of Lightspeed eCommerce
- Lightspeed eCom FAQs
What Is Lightspeed eCom?
Lightspeed eCom is a fully hosted platform for online sales that’s designed to fit seamlessly within the Lightspeed system. Best known for its point of sale system, Lightspeed’s eCommerce option is designed to appeal to businesses with both online and in-person sales as part of their business plan.
Lightspeed Retail POS is highly rated. Will Lightspeed’s eCom component stand up to the competition? How does Lightspeed eCom’s Instant Site compare to other platforms?
This complete and unbiased Lightspeed eCom review will uncover all the details you need to know about this platform. We’ll look at pricing, ease of use, web design, unincentivized user reviews, and more, so you can decide if it’s the right online sales option for your business.
One thing to keep in mind: Lightspeed offers a couple of different avenues for sellers looking for an online presence. Lightspeed eCom is one that emphasizes online sales over in-person though both are supported.
If you’re looking for a Lightspeed solution that has a greater emphasis on in-person selling, while still supporting online sales, you might prefer Lightspeed Retail. It comes with a higher price tag ($69-269/month) and delivers more robust features for businesses with significant sales online and in person.
Lightspeed eCom Pricing
| Lightspeed eCom Plans | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month | If you want a limited ree online store or to add eCommerce to an existing website |
| Venture | $19/month ($14.08/month if paid annually) | If you want to list up to 100 products and unlock more features |
| Business | $39/month ($29.08/month if billed annually) | If you want to list up to 2,500 products and access advanced features |
| Unlimited | $99/month ($82.50/month if billed annually) | If you want unlimited products and access to POS for in-person sales |
Lightspeed eCom offers four subscription tiers, including a free plan, with more features and capacity at each subsequent level. Pricing shown below is for customers making payments monthly; you can save money by paying annually instead.
All Lightspeed eCom plans include unlimited bandwidth and an Instant Site builder tool. On all plans, you can sell simultaneously on multiple sites, and you can add a store to an existing website.
Lightspeed does not offer refunds. So don’t hesitate to sign up for the free plan if you’d like to test the software. It’s easy to upgrade to the next plan once you’re ready or whenever you outgrow your current Lightspeed eCom plan.
Lightspeed eCom Free Plan
Lightspeed eCom offers a completely free plan that costs $0/month. Not surprisingly, it comes with some limitations. That includes a limit of just five products. However, it may be suitable for smaller businesses or for those just starting out. And the free plan is a great way to test the software without committing to a paid plan. You won’t even need a credit card to sign up.
The free plan includes:
- Online store (Instant Site)
- Mobile responsive shopping cart
- Online advertising (Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok)
- Limited number of products
- Facebook pixel
- One-tap checkout via Apple Pay (powered by Stripe)
- GDPR Compliance
- Tax invoices
- Email support
Lightspeed eCom Venture Plan
Lightspeed eCom’s lowest-tier paid plan costs $19/month and includes everything in the free plan, plus some useful new features. Key additions include social media integrations, digital products, tax calculations, coupons, customized checkout, and a mobile POS.
Here’s what the Venture plan delivers:
- Up to 100 products
- Sell on Instagram and Facebook
- Sell digital products
- App for multiple store management
- Automated taxes
- Google Shopping
- Access to App Market
- Automatic tax calculations
- Coupons, discounts, and gift cards
- Customized checkout
- Facebook shop and Instagram store
- Mobile POS
- Your own branded store management app (for Android and iOS)
- Pre-orders
- Inventory tracking
- Advanced SEO tools
- Connect your own domain
- Pay what you want option
- Live chat support
Lightspeed eCom Business Plan
Lightspeed eCom’s Business plan costs $39/month and includes everything on the Venture plan. Key additions include a higher product limit, Amazon and eBay integrations, staff accounts, multilingual functionality, and manual order creation.
Here’s what the Business plan delivers:
- Up to 2,500 products
- Sell on Amazon and eBay
- Subscription sales
- 2 staff accounts
- Automated abandoned cart tools
- Multi-lingual store
- Product filters and variations
- Inventory Tracking Plus (variations/types)
- Abandoned cart emails
- Wholesale pricing groups
- Manual order creation
- Dimensional shipping rates
- Multilingual catalog
- Phone support
Lightspeed eCom Unlimited Plan
Lightspeed’s Unlimited plan costs $99/month and includes everything on the Business plan, plus these additional features:
- Unlimited products
- In-person selling via POS integration
- Automated email marketing
- Scheduled order pickup
- Unlimited staff accounts
- Priority support
- Free customization
Lightspeed eCom Features
| Lightspeed eCom Features | Availability |
|---|---|
| Retail Equipment Available | |
| International Sales | |
| Currency Conversion | |
| Shoppable Social Posts | |
| Gift Cards | |
| Customer Loyalty | |
| Marketing Tools | |
| Hosted Platform | |
| Reports | |
| Staff Accounts | |
| Buy Buttons | |
| Multi-Platform Integrations | |
| Shipping Tools | |
| Shipping Discounts | |
| Free Themes | |
| Unlimited Products | Only on Unlimited plan |
Lightspeed eCommerce comes with enough features to fit the needs of most merchants. As is often the case, if you want to unlock all these features, you may need to subscribe to a higher-priced plan than you were hoping for.
Overall, however, I find Lightspeed eCom’s pricing tiers to be competitive in the eCommerce field. And I’m confident you’ll find a nice array of features compared to competitors’ similarly priced plan.
Let’s take a look at what you’ll find with Lightspeed eCommerce. Remember that not all features are available at all plan levels.
Lightspeed eCom Themes
You can choose among 100+ professionally designed, mobile responsive themes to build your Lightspeed eCom Instant Site. You won’t need any technical skill or design experience to add products and customize your online store. Instead, you’ll use 50+ content blocks to build your eCommerce site.
You’ll be able to upload logos and make changes to your site’s colors, fonts, banners, and more. Updating is very simple to do. If you want to make changes on a deeper level, you can do so by accessing Lightspeed eCom’s API.
Screenshot of Lightspeed eCom webpage, captured 4/27/2023
Is Lightspeed eCom Easy To Use?
It’s easy to get a feel for Lightspeed. Enter some basic contact information, and you’ll gain access to a full demo of the software.
Or, do as I did, and sign up for the free plan. Although you’ll be limited to adding only five products, you can take the opportunity to test-drive the software.
I started by noodling around with the basic look of my new store. It was easy to change the headers and stock photos, and text to personalize it. Choose a template to start, and then you’ll see all your design options listed on the left side of your screen. You won’t be able to perform deep customization here, but I found it easy enough to add my own words, colors, and images.
Screenshot of Lightspeed eCom webpage, captured 4/28/2023
Next, I tried adding a product, which I found to be similarly straightforward. Just enter basic information about the product, then add images, set pricing, enable product availability/in-stock notification, add an SKU, product weight, a description, and so on.
Screenshot of Lightspeed eCom webpage, captured 4/28/2023
Everything you need to list a product is listed on separate tabs you can toggle between: Attributes, options, shipping, SEO, related products, and even a Buy Now button that you can embed on your blog or anywhere else you want to create a buying option.
All in all, Lightspeed eCommerce offers an intuitive, easy-to-learn dashboard that would work just fine even for merchants with no previous online selling experience.
Lightspeed eCom Customer Service & Technical Support
| Lightspeed eCom Support | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | On Business plan and above |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | On Venture plan and above |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Lightspeed eCom offers both personalized customer support and self-help resources to their merchants. However, your level of support will depend on your subscription level. On the free plan, you’ll be able to use email support only. Sign up at the Unlimited level, and you’ll receive priority support and even receive free customization help.
Here are the types of support that Lightspeed provides:
- Phone Support: On the Business and Unlimited plans only
- Live Chat: Available on all paid plans
- Community Forum: Access the help center online
- Support Ticket: Submit n online request for support.
- Social Media
- Videos: Visit Lightspeed’s YouTube channel
Lightspeed eCom Integrations & Add-Ons
Lightspeed eCom offers dozens of integrations. To gain access to the app store, you’ll need to sign up at the Venture or Business level.
Here’s a brief list of a few categories of integrations you can browse:
- Shipping
- Loyalty
- Payment processing
- Fulfillment
- Taxes
Lightspeed eCom Reviews
Lightspeed eCom has solid but not overwhelming reviews. Across a variety of websites, users rate this software around 3.5/5 stars. We do notice that a lot of user-reviewers commented on Lightspeed eCom pages but referenced different Lightspeed products, like Lightspeed Restaurant or Lightspeed Retail.
Still, it’s worth taking a look at what users have to say, being careful to sort out the eCom reviews from those referring to other Lightspeed products.
Negatives Lightspeed eCom Reviews & Complaints
Here are some of the most common complaints from Lightspeed eCom users:
- Payment Limitations: Although they say the processing rates are comparable to other processors, not everyone likes being locked into Lightspeed for payment processing.
- Expensive: If you want access to advanced features, you may need to sign on for a plan that’s more pricey than you were hoping for.
- Limited Features On Some Plans: Lightspeed steers users toward more expensive plans by making some advanced features available only on higher-priced plans. Advanced inventory and SEO tools are two examples.
- Bugs: Customers often mention glitches and bugs in the software.
Positive Lightspeed eCom Reviews & Testimonials
We were also able to find a few positive reviews from current users. Here’s what they frequently mention:
- Ease Of Use: Users like that it’s easy to start setting up your online store. You’ll be able to find features and add products with no trouble.
- Integrates With Lightspeed POS: If you’re running both an online and offline store, you can easily sync your inventory and sales stats with Lightspeed’s POS solution.
- Scalable: Lightspeed can handle mid-size to larger businesses. Customizable templates let you make changes to the look and feel of your site.
- Good Support: Some merchants have had good experiences with Lightspeed eCom’s support team.
Final Verdict Of Lightspeed eCommerce
| Lightspeed eCom Review Summary | |
|---|---|
| Pricing | $0-$99/month |
| Choose If You Need |
|
We think Lightspeed could be a good fit for mid-size to larger businesses. The pricing for a basic plan may be a bit steep for start-ups and smaller businesses, especially since a lot of features are only available on higher plans.
Lightspeed eCom offers a good range of features, they provide decent web design options, and Lightspeed’s POS is solid. However, I am a bit leery of a couple of things. In order to receive all of the features most eCommerce businesses need, you’ll have to spring for the Unlimited plan at $99/month. And although I understand the business rationale behind it, I don’t like when eCommerce platforms completely remove users’ choice of payment processors.
On the other hand, if you currently run a brick-and-mortar business and are using Lightspeed for your POS system, Lightspeed eCom makes a lot of sense. Lightspeed eCom integrates easily with your POS to make inventory management a whole lot easier, on- and offline.
Here’s the bottom line: if you’re a current Lightspeed POS customer (or are considering becoming one), you would do well to take a look at Lightspeed eCom’s free trial. Keep in mind that Lightspeed eCom works with existing websites, too. If you’re currently selling on a site built by WordPress, Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and more, connecting to Lightspeed eCom might be easier than you think.
And, if you’re not convinced that Lightspeed eCom is for you, take a look at some of our other favorites. We’ve gathered together a list of what we think are the best eCommerce platforms available to help you find a great match.
| Restaurant | Retail |
|---|---|
Lightspeed Restaurant | Lightspeed Retail |
|
|
Premium Restaurant POS | Premium Retail POS |
$59/month | $69/month |
No commitment | No commitment |
No credit card required | No credit card required |
Lightspeed eCom FAQs
Kate Hoots
Expert Analyst & Reviewer at Merchant Maverick
Kate started writing on business topics in 1996, working for groundbreaking B2B newsletters Communication Briefings and The Competitive Advantage. She joined Merchant Maverick in 2020 and is an expert in business banking, insurance, and eCommerce. She has been featured on NBC TODAY, Yahoo News, GoBankingRates, Scripps News Syndicate, and CBS Radio. She has a bachelor's degree in English literature from Lewis & Clark College and lives in Canby, Oregon.
View Kate Hoots's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
| Lightspeed eCom
|
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Lightspeed eCom for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
| Lightspeed eCom
|
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Lightspeed eCom for yourself.
Organization Name: A-Best Sew & Vac
The Best eCom/POS I Have Found!Lightspeed is very in depth and detailed. There are so many functions and fields for data entry, recording, and tracking. It’s in the cloud! No backups! Clean and simple, yet so powerful! Technical support is AAA+++! They’re the bomb! Can’t believe we tried anything else first.Lightspeed came to the rescue when our antiquated, old, no-longer-supported and dying POS system was on the fritz and costing us dearly. We also wanted an integrated eCom system. They worked with us on implementation and migrating to the new system. They worked with us on payments so that the sticker shock hurt a little less. And when I say they worked with us, I mean they worked with possibly the highest maintenance customer they have ever had. We’re an old company that moves slowly and tends to be extremely “cautious” of new technology. Lightspeed was patient. They never pushed, got frustrated, or stopped calling to check on how we were coming. They did several product demos, training sessions, and have spent countless hours on the phone with us helping us get the software and hardware setup and working. They have been with us every step of the way and we now have the eCom and POS system of our dreams!To be honest, setup is a bit involved. Some looking for a system on the cheap may consider it “expensive.” All I have to say is that you get what you pay for. Other eCom/POS I have researched have two or three times the cons I found with Lightspeed. And for every con, Lightspeed has a workaround that worked for us. And yes, I get the distinct feeling that Lightspeed actually believes they are only in business because they are providing, not just a product, but valuable customer service. They want you to succeed!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: ANGEL BOUTIQUE
When my wife chose to integrate Lightspeed Retail, which we were using for 5 years, with Lightspeed Ecommerce to launch our new clothing website. I was really scared about how to do it. I really got lost at the beginning and decided to hire an outside company to do some needed customization. After 6 months with not much progress I’ve decided to finish it myself, and for my surprise Lightspeeed now had a great customer support, where I could talk to a real person, who would join my screen and show me what to do and how to proceed. Now I thank my wife for her choice because Lightspeed deserve all the growth and success they’re having. Congratulations to all Lightspeed Team!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Solon Bicycle
We love Lightspeed for both POS and Ecommerce. Every system has it’s flaws, but let’s focus on the great things about it. The price is extremely competitive. It’s way simple to use. You can work from anywhere. It integrates easily with tons of apps. Best of all, it’s incredibly professional looking and easy to personalize!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Bargain Box & Bunks
We have been very pleased with Lightspeed POS and E-Com so far. We started the first 6 months with only the retail portion to get our staff acquainted with the program. Prior to Lightspeed, we did everything via paper….lots of handwritten paperwork. Now, I can check sales and projects in cue anytime without having to physically be near a receipt book. It’s cut my time “doing numbers” at the end of the week considerably. There are other programs that offer more, but also come with the pricetag. No one likes paying a fee monthly for a service, but Lightspeed service has made that worth the money. Tech support via virtual tickets has literally fixed some of our problems during the night while I got to sleep. Now, that’s cool!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: THE CALVARY CHAPEL BOOKSTORE
Liz thank you so much for the information in this review it was so helpful
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Whiskey Bent BBQ Supply
I’m stepping into this project about half way through so I’m playing a bit of catch up on the learning curve. I had not heard of Lightspeed prior to this (as a Professional Photographer, I don’t do a lot with POS online systems) but I was amazed at how easy to use this platform is. The instructional videos are great and make walking through specific functions super easy to pick up. I’ve loved working with both Noor and Bryn, they have been extremely helpful, accommodating and professional! I will certainly recommend this platform to others and I look forward to learning more about it and ‘getting my hands dirty’ as it were!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Oyster Belle
This software is absolutely amazing. Shoutout to Jameela, who made the transition effortless, fun, and intriguing. You rock!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: DARBY JONES
We are extremely pleased with the wonderful, completely thorough, knowledgeable, professional and super friendly one-on-one support Bryn (eCommerce Product Specialist) has provided during our eCommerce on-boarding / set-up. We’re pumped to complete set-up and go live with Lightspeed eComm in the coming weeks especially since we can breathe with ease knowing our in-store inventory will be fully integrated with our eCommerce site! From day one we’ve found Lightspeed Sales, Customer Service and Product Specialist Support to be fantastic. Super prompt response (at any hour) and much appreciated methodical guidance along the way for each step of set-up or working through a task we have stumbled on. Special thanks to Bryn for sharing her expertise (and offering future help as the need arises) and to all at Lightspeed! We researched at great length, spoke with numerous POS companies and Retailers from various states across the country, prior to making our decision to go with Lightspeed POS and eCommerce. We are confident we made the right choice in what we consider to be one of the most vital investments to the future success of our business.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Poundsign Media
They don’t have poor customer service, they have no customer service. I’m still waiting on callbacks from late November, and it’s March 1 as I write this.They will not help you, have no idea how to run their own products, can’t tell you basic features (such as optimized logo sizes for different templates) and if you want to change ANYTHING on your ecommerce site, it resets THE WHOLE SITE and you have to start from scratch.It won’t let me give zero stars, though they do earn the one. If you can actually manage to get a site or POS up and running, the interface is great. Everything else about the company is awful, and I wouldn’t only steer clear, I WOULD RUN.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Le Coin Badminton
While Lightspeed eCom lists a bunch of interesting features, it is still a very immature platform that is not worth the price for now.Many of its features are bugged or incomplete, and the rest are hidden behind monthly pay walls. Want a good theme ? It’s 25$ / month. Want to sync your newsletter subscribers with Mailchimp ? It’s 7.50$ per month. Want to limit coupon uses for certain products, categories or customers ? That’s 140$-200$ per month (seriously!!). These things are all free with every other platform on the market.Customer support, while fairly accessible even though they removed the live chat, just assumes that their platform is flawless. It gets frustrating quickly when trying to report bugs (which happens almost every time I log on).I could not recommend Lightspeed eCom to anyone. It is poor value for the (premium) price I am paying.I posted a review last year, and things were even worse (literally a 0/5 star). Over the last year, some bugs have been fixed and some other improvements have been made. eCom has gone from Completely Unusable to Somewhat Usable. Problem is, everyone is still paying 100% of the price for 10% of a solution.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Happily Ever Etched
EXTREMELY POOR ECOMMERCE SYSTEM!We used LS Retail for about 2 years before making the jump to join Ecom last year. No complaints on the retail side. It did just what we needed it to do for our small boutique. We thought Ecom would be an easy and seamless way to get our shop online and managing inventory would be easy since the two systems are connected. After only a few months of launching our site, we are now learning that many of the functions/integrations are not up to par or even comparable to their competitors (like Shopify). Ecom is very expensive and not worth it at all! Stay away. Support is not helpful. Everything we’ve called in about ends up as the issue is not something that is fully integrated OR you need to upgrade to be able to make certain changes. The support people don’t really listen to the issue but more just read off from a manual it seems. Basic editing capabilities and navigation on the back end are very confusing and unorganized. Shipping profiles and Shipstation integration is a nightmare (it is not fully integrated). Payment solutions are not fully integrated– customers are able to submit orders without a successful payment. This makes no sense!! Refunds to your customer must be made by going through the payment solutions website. Monthly charges for themes is an absolute rip off. When I mentioned that this seemed expensive in comparison to Shopify, their sales team said that these fees go directly to the developer… and that was it. They have no control over them apparently. As a small business owner, my time is already limited as is and having to take out hours of my day to call support every other day is extremely frustrating and only to find out that my issue is not able to be resolved or I need to find a work around basically. I made the mistake of pre-paying for the service in order to get 40% off their rates so at this point complaining is probably going to do nothing for me. They’ve already taken my money and a lot of it! Very disappointed with Ecom. Feels like there are many holes in the development of the system. It is no where near as advanced as Shopify. We will taking our business off Lightspeed and would never recommend them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.