Product details help you present your items to potential customers browsing your website. This includes images, product names, descriptions, variants, related products, and more. These details also support search engines and you can add meta tags and other SEO settings to improve your site’s visibility and drive organic traffic.

Products and their details are created in Retail POS and are automatically synced to Lightspeed eCom. You can edit certain product details in the eCom Admin to better tailor how your catalog appears online.

Depending on whether you're using eCom to showcase products or to sell online, the available product details may differ slightly.

Changes made in eCom don't sync back to Retail POS (X-Series). Learn more in Editing products linked to eCom (E-Series).

Adding images and videos

You can add both images and videos to your product gallery to give customers a better understanding of what you're selling.

Images help customers visualize your products. Consider showing different angles (front, side, underneath, and close-ups) to highlight details and build trust. Remember, the quality of your product images directly affects your ability to generate sales. Here are some tips:

• Each product image should be of uniform size and style across all products you sell.
• Use high-quality images, so customers can see any fine details.

Videos work best for showcasing your goods. You can show how to use a product, explain in details how it's manufactured, even record customer reviews. Shoppers tend to watch videos instead of just browsing static images. Products with videos are more likely to be purchased.

You can add images and videos to both the product gallery and description from the General tab of each product in eCom.

Images uploaded directly in the eCom Admin don't sync back to Retail POS. For consistency, it's best to upload product images in Retail POS.

Updating the product information

Adding a name and description

The product name is the title of your item. It should include key information that helps customers quickly understand what you're selling such as the brand, model, or key feature.

The product description provides more detail. Use this space to highlight the product’s features, benefits, and specifications. You can also include videos, images, or animated elements to make the description more engaging. Unique product descriptions are more likely to rank higher in search engine results.

Tips to improve your product descriptions:

• Keep it simple: Avoid long sentences and complex words. Imagine you're explaining the product to a 10-year-old.
• Show, don’t just tell: Include demo videos to show how the product works or looks in real life.
• Offer both short and long versions: Some customers skim, while others want detailed information, make sure your description caters to both.

Using videos in the product description

To better showcase your product, provide helpful instructions, or support customer decision-making, you can embed a YouTube or Vimeo video directly into the product description.

To add a video to your product description:

1. Upload your video file to YouTube or Vimeo.
2. Copy the video URL.
3. In Retail POS, navigate to Catalog > Products.
4. Create a new product or choose an existing one.

5. Click the video icon (Insert video) in the description editor menu.

   

6. Enter a video embed code or an external link.
7. Click Save.

Adding or editing SKUs

SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is the code that identifies the product within your business. You can use the product identification code provided by manufacturers or your own combinations of letters and numbers. You can make each SKU unique to track products.

SKUs are automatically synced from Retail POS to eCom. To add or edit a SKU:

1. Click Catalog > Products.
2. Open the product you want to edit.
3. Scroll down to the Inventory and SKU section.

Learn more about SKU formats and how to use them in your store.

Entering weight

Weight is the product's actual weight. You can leave this field empty (the weight will be set equal to 0) if you sell digital products or services or if you don’t ship this product. To calculate the correct automatic shipping rates for selling online, enter the exact product’s weight (with packaging). Weights are automatically synced from Retail POS to eCom.

If the product requires shipping, click Requires shipping or pickup box under the Weight field. If you don't ship physical products, uncheck this box.

Managing pricing options

Pricing is what you're charging for the product. You don't need to factor in shipping or delivery costs in the price that you input as they can be set separately. There is All prices include taxes or All prices do not include taxes text under the price you enter if you have taxes that apply to this product in your store.

This text is displayed according to the option you choose in the Settings section on the Taxes page in your eCom Admin. This way, you can enter prices with or without taxes.

If you sell differently taxed products or some of your products are tax-exempt, you can add product-specific tax rates and assign the rates to items in their Taxes tabs.

Clicking the Manage pricing options below the price, users can see the "Compare to" price, Bulk discount pricing, and Enable "Pay what you want" pricing settings:

• "Compare to" price is the original price for a product that is on sale. When you enter a compare to price, the product displays a sale price and savings.

  

• Bulk discount pricing is tiered pricing for each product based on quantity. Discounts are applied immediately as soon as the quantity added to the cart changes. If a product costs $44, but if a customer buys five items, the price will be $40 each.

  

• Enable "Pay what you want" pricing is a pricing option that allows customers to name their own prices for products in your store. If enabled, there will be an empty field on the product page where your customers can enter the price they want to pay. You can set a minimum price for your product and provide price suggestions if desired.

  

Understanding product availability and stock control

Manage the available quantity of a product in the Inventory section of your Retail POS. In eCom, you can setup low stock notifications, and choose the behavior for this product when it's out of stock.

Out of stock product visibility options include hiding the product from store front, showing the product on storefront, and accepting pre-orders.

Managing categories

Categories are groups or collections that products belong to. They help customers navigate your store, and find what they’re looking for. Each product must be assigned to at least one category, and a single product can belong to multiple categories.

All categories are managed in Retail POS. Learn more about managing categories and subcategories in eCom.

Adding product ribbons and product subtitles

Both product ribbons and product subtitles are a way to attract additional attention to a product on your storefront.

Product subtitles are short descriptions that you can provide for your products to give customers more information about product advantages or ingredients. You can choose to display subtitles on both the product list and on the product details page, or in one place only.

Product ribbons are colored labels that are displayed in your catalog above product images. It can help visually highlight certain products on your storefront. These tags contain your custom text. Examples include "Bestseller", "20% Off", "New", "Christmas deal" or "Free Shipping" depending on your case.

Setting up attributes

The Attributes tab lets you add product identifiers that may be useful for accounting, inventory management, or internal tracking. An example would be books may include attributes like ISBN, author, publisher, cover type, and language. Apparel may include brand, season, material, or collection.

Attributes can also store internal information that you don't want to display to customers such as the product's net cost.

UPC and brand attributes are synced automatically from Retail POS. All other custom attributes can be added or edited in eCom by clicking Manage Attributes.

Adding options, input fields, and variations

The Options tab is where you define product variations. If your product comes in different versions, you can list them under a single base product using options. When options are combined, like Size: L and Color: Yellow, they form a variation.

Variations can help you track the stock of individual product options as you can assign a unique SKU to each variation. You can also add images for specific variations so that customers have a better picture of what they are buying. Additionally, you can set individual weights, UPCs, and prices for your variations.

Product options are managed through Retail POS. After creating products with variants in Retail POS, they will appear in eCom.

Uploading digital files

The Files tab allows users to upload digital files that can be delivered to customers after purchase. This is ideal for selling downloadable products like e-books, videos, music, digital art, and other digital content. eCom securely delivers these files to buyers instantly upon purchase.

This feature can also be used to attach files to physical products or services which customers can download after checkout, like an an instruction manual, user guide, or bonus e-book.

Selecting shipping and pickup options

Using eCom to sell online, the Shipping and pickup tab on the product details page allows you to mark products as shippable, set product-specific shipping methods, and specify the product’s weight and dimensions.

This product requires shipping or pickup

Enable this setting if the product needs to be shipped or picked up. Disable it for digital products, services, or any item that doesn’t require delivery.

To enable, check the Requires shipping or pickup box in the General tab.

Weight and Dimensions

Enter the product’s actual weight and size (length, width, and height). This information is used to calculate accurate shipping rates, especially if you're using carrier-calculated shipping that supports dimensional weight. Product dimensions should be set in Retail POS.

Shipping Rates

If the product requires shipping, you can assign individual shipping rates specific to this product. Choose from four available options to define how shipping is calculated.

By default, your store’s shipping methods that you set on the Shipping and Pickup page in eCom are used. You can keep the first shipping rates option if the item is shipped like most of the products in your store.

Set special shipping rates for the product by adding a fee above your regular store's rates, choose individual shipping methods for this product, specify individual shipping price per each item ordered or offer free shipping for this product.

By default, your store uses the shipping methods set on the Shipping and Pickup page in eCom. You can leave the first option selected if the product is shipped like most others in your catalog.

Alternatively, you can set custom shipping rates for this specific product. Options include adding a fee on top of your regular shipping rates, selecting individual shipping methods for this product, charging a flat rate per item ordered, offering free shipping for this product.

Managing taxes

If automatic taxes are enabled, depending on your store’s country, you’ll be able to select either specific tax rates or a product type used to calculate the appropriate rate.

If manual taxes are enabled, this page allows you to enable or disable each individually configured tax rate.

In both cases, the settings apply only to one product and the individual tax rate will override the default tax settings for your store

If you're setting up custom tax settings for a product in eCom, you’ll also need to configure the same product in Retail POS to ensure taxes sync correctly between the platforms.

Learn more about setting up and enabling taxes.

Optimizing SEO

The SEO tab allows you to customize search engine–related information for your product page. When indexing a page, search engines use meta tags (including the page title and meta description) to understand the content, display it in search results, and determine its relevance.

By default, eCom automatically generates this metadata using your product’s name and description. However, since search engines display only a limited number of characters, you may want to edit these fields manually.

To improve visibility:

• Rewrite the page title and meta description using relevant keywords.
• Keep your text clear, concise, and aligned with what your customers are likely to search for.

Optimizing your metadata can help your product appear higher in search engine results and attract more clicks. Learn more about SEO.

Displaying related products

The Related Products tab allows you to display the You may also like section in your online store as well as to cross-sell products in the cart. You can manually select specific recommended products, show random products, or use a combination of these two options.

Embedding the Buy Now button

With the Buy Now button on the "Buy Now" Button tab, you can generate a product's individual integration code to add this specific product to an external website or blog without the need to add a whole store. For example, if you only sell a few items, want to create a landing page for a product, or need to supplement a blog post with the option to buy the product.

What's next?