Your Retail POS catalog can include different types of products:

• Standard product: Single SKU with its own inventory, like socks that come in one size and color.
• Variant product: A group of similar products with different attributes like size or color, like a jacket that comes in multiple sizes and two colors. Each variant is a unique SKU with its own inventory, housed under a parent product. Each product with variants can have up to 3 attributes and up to 200 unique combinations in total (like small, red, cotton). Each unique combination forms one variant product, for example T-Shirt - Small, Red, Cotton.
• Composite product: A bundle created from one or more existing standard products or products with variants, like a bundle of one jacket in any size or color and one pair of socks. Composite products have a single SKU and use the inventory of the products in it.

To build out your catalog, you can:

• Manually create standard products (covered in this article), products with variants, or composite products on the Products page.
• Add products in bulk using a spreadsheet.
• Create new products or import existing products from the Lightspeed Wholesale Catalog.

Adding a new product

1. In Retail POS, navigate to Catalog > Products.

2. Click Add product. You can also Import products in bulk.

   

3. Enter the product name. This name will appear in your reports, inventory management, and on the Sell screen.

4. Select a Brand from the dropdown. If the brand hasn’t been created in your store yet, use the Search all brands box to name the brand and click + Add as a new brand.

   

5. Add a Description of your product. If you have an eCom integration, the description will be customer-facing and should describe the product in detail.
6. Assign Tags (lower-level categories) for filtering, searching, grouping products for reporting, and setting promotion purposes. If you have an eCom integration, tags are useful for online searching.

7. Select Product categories (high-level categories) from the dropdown or select Add as a new category to create a new product category. You can also add Level 2 and Level 3 categories, if required.

   

8. Select where to sell the product:
   • Check Sell on point-of-sale to make the product available for selling in-store.
   • Check Sell online to make the product available for online selling with Lightspeed eCom.

9. Upload images by dragging and dropping or click browse to search on your computer.

   1. Click Choose images.
   2. Check the checkbox to select images.
   3. Click Apply image to add the images to the product.

   

Selecting the standard product type

Under Inventory, select standard product.

Learn more about adding variant and composite products to your catalog.

Adding SKU codes

The SKU is the unique identifier for a product's stock item. It can be a code you create yourself or an existing product code, like a barcode.

1. In the SKU code type dropdown, select:

   • Auto-generated to auto-generate a SKU code.
   • UPC, EAN, ISBN, ITF, JAN for existing SKU codes of that type.
   • Custom code to create your own SKU code.

   

2. Enter the existing SKU code or a custom code in the SKU code field.
3. For multiple codes, click + Add another code and enter the SKU code type and SKU code details.

Adding supplier information

1. In the Supplier dropdown, select an existing supplier from the list or add a new one by entering the supplier name in the search box and clicking + Add as a new supplier.

   

2. If the supplier requires a code to identify the product for purchase orders, enter it in the Supplier code box.

3. In the Supplier price box, enter the price you pay for each unit.

   It’s highly recommended to add the correct supplier price before adding inventory to your product so cost of goods sold (COGS) can be accurately calculated.

4. If you order the product from multiple suppliers, click + Add another supplier and add supplier details. This will allow you to capture supplier codes and prices from more than one supplier when completing a stock order.

Tracking inventory levels

Enabled by default, tracking inventory allows you to input and maintain inventory levels and product locations for your products.

If you don't want to track inventory for this product, for example on a service fee item, uncheck the Track inventory for this product box. The product will display an infinite inventory level.

It’s recommended to leave Current inventory levels blank when adding a product, as inventory should be added through purchase orders for accurate reporting.

Choose a replenishment method, and set reorder points/quantity or min/max quantity and a location for the product for each outlet.

Adding weight and dimensions

If you sell online with eCom (E-Series), you can add weight and dimensions to your product to calculate shipping costs. Weight and dimension information doesn't sync with third-party ecommerce integrations.

Adding product packaging relationships

You can set up product packaging relationships by linking the product to other SKUs. This helps manage inventory levels across products that come in different packaging sizes, for example a case of soda that you also sell as single cans. This can be done with standard products but it's recommended to use variants to set product packaging relationships.

Applying a tax rate

Retail POS will automatically apply your store's default tax rate for non-delivery sales. If you need to apply a product-specific tax, select it from the Tax dropdown for each outlet.

For delivery sales, choose a tax category from the Tax dropdown. Otherwise, the default destination tax rate will apply for delivery sales.

Adding pricing and loyalty

Price point

Your General Price Book (All Products) price point will be added by default. You can also add customer-specific or location-specific price points by clicking + Add another price point and selecting from the dropdown.

Supplier price

Supplier price is how much you paid for the product, per unit. You can specify the exact supplier price for each order when completing a new purchase order.

For example, you buy a jacket at a supplier price of $20.00/unit.

Landed cost

Landed cost is a reporting value calculated based on all costs entered when receiving a purchase order. Landed cost is calculated using the Supplier price, Shipping cost, and Import duty, entered when receiving a purchase order. Landed cost cannot be entered on the Add product page.

Markup

Markup is the amount added to supplier price to determine the retail price of an item. On the Product page, it’s represented as a percentage so you can ensure you’re generating enough revenue on each item to cover your supplier price and hit your profitability targets.

Markup is automatically calculated when a Retail price is entered, or you can adjust your markup to help you set a retail price that brings in a sufficient level of revenue for the item. Adjusting the markup will also automatically adjust the Margin percentage.

For example, the supplier price for a jacket is $20 and it retails for $50.00 ($57.50 with tax), a markup of 150% on the supplier price ($20 x 150%).

Margin

Margin is the profit you make on each item after deducting Landed costs. On the Product page, it’s represented as a percentage of the retail price and helps you determine the profitability of each sale.

Margin is automatically calculated when a Retail price is entered, or you can adjust your margin to help you set a retail price that aligns with your desired profit margin on the item. Adjusting the margin will also automatically adjust the Markup percentage.

For example, a jacket retails for $50.00 ($57.50 with tax), minus the supplier price of $20.00, giving you a 60% profit margin ($30.00 out of $50.00).

Retail price

Retail price is the price the product will be sold at in your store, including tax.

Retail price is automatically calculated when a Margin or Markup percentage is entered, or you can adjust your retail price to set a profit margin and amount of markup that aligns with your pricing strategy.

Loyalty

If you have Loyalty enabled in your store, you can select whether the product will Earn default loyalty or Earn custom loyalty.

Adding online customer input fields

If you sell products online, click + Add an input field to add customer input fields that display on the product page online.

You can't add input fields to composite products.

What's next?