The use of this forecasting tool is at the user’s own risk. Lightspeed cannot guarantee the accuracy and reliability of the insights generated. Actual results may differ. This tool is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. Users are encouraged to exercise caution before making business decisions based on this tool’s output.

Lightspeed AI is a smart assistant built into Retail POS. From any page, you can open a chat and ask questions about sales, inventory, and customers. You can also make requests using plain language, like “Create a new product in the Footwear category.”

The smart assistant will analyze your store data and offer insights and opportunities you can act on, including draft updates to your inventory or product catalog. You can then confirm that you want to move forward with the change, continue the chat to request modifications, or reject the suggested update.

Understanding Lightspeed AI

Once you’ve enabled Lightspeed AI, you can open a chat and ask the smart assistant questions to:

• Compare sales data from different periods to identify trends and opportunities.
• Gain insights into brand and product performance.
• Analyze inventory data for specific products or groups of products.
• Create draft purchase orders and transfers between locations.
• Analyze customer and customer group purchasing trends.
• Understand staff performance.

You can also ask Lightspeed AI to take action in your account. Before any action is taken, a preview of the change and a list of suggested actions will be shared in the chat. No changes will be implemented unless the user clicks Confirm. All approved changes, as well the user who approved each update, will be recorded on the associated product or inventory page.

You are responsible for any approved changes made in your account, so it’s important to carefully review any suggested changes before confirming.

Click the Lightspeed AI icon in the top right corner of any page to start a new chat by topic, view your chat history, or continue a previous chat. In chat conversations, the smart assistant may:

• Ask follow-up questions to clarify a question or request.
• Shorten large reports, lists, or tables. You can ask it to show more details or expand on the information as needed.

Lightspeed AI will automatically name each conversation based on the content of the discussion. Conversations will be listed chronologically in the chat history, starting with the most recently created or continued chat.

Lightspeed AI is available in English, French, Dutch, and other supported languages.

Lightspeed AI user permissions

Access to Lightspeed AI is limited to certain users in your account:

• Account owners and Admin users can enable Lightspeed AI.
• Once Lightspeed AI is enabled, Manager users can also use the smart assistant from their account.
• Cashier users and other users don’t have access to Lightspeed AI.

Lightspeed AI inherits the permissions of the user operating it. In other words, it can only read and write data that the user has access to in their account. Each user’s conversations are private and cannot be seen by other users.

Enabling Lightspeed AI

If you’re using the Insights reporting feature, Lightspeed AI will already be enabled in your Retail POS account.

To enable Lightspeed AI in your account:

1. From any page in Retail POS, click the Lightspeed AI icon in the top right corner.

   

2. Review the terms and conditions, then click Join Lightspeed AI beta.

   This action will accept the terms and conditions on behalf of all eligible Admin and Manager users across the merchant account.

Lightspeed AI will now be available to use from any page in Retail POS.

Using Lightspeed AI

Available to Account owners, Admin users, and Manager users.

To open a new conversation with Lightspeed AI:

1. From any page in Retail POS, click the Lightspeed AI icon in the top right corner.

2. In the chat window, click a suggested prompt. Alternatively, you can type a question about sales, inventory, or customers in the chat field. You can also request an update to your catalog or inventory.

   

3. Press Enter on your keyboard to submit the prompt.
4. If further details are needed to complete the request, Lightspeed AI will ask follow-up questions. Enter your answers in the text field to continue the conversation.

5. If a report was generated, click View report details > View report.

   

   If an update was suggested, review the change, then click Approve or Reject. If needed, you can request updates to the suggestion before confirming a change.

   

   You are responsible for any approved changes made in your account, so it’s important to carefully review any suggested changes before confirming. All approved changes, as well as the user who approved each update, will be recorded on the associated product or inventory page.

   Bulk updates may take some time to complete. Once an update is complete, you’ll be notified in the chat, and the smart assistant will provide a link you can click to view the product or inventory update.

   

Lightspeed AI example prompts

You can ask Lightspeed AI questions like:

• “What were my top-selling products this month?”
• “Which products haven’t sold in the last 90 days?”
• “Which hours of the day are busiest for sales?”
• “How much inventory do I have across my locations?”
• “Which products need to be reordered based on forecasted sales?”
• “Who are my top customers by average cart value?”
• “Find all products from (supplier).”
• “Which products are missing images?”

You can also request actions like:

• “Create a purchase order from (supplier) for 5 units of (product).”
• “Move 2 units of (product) from (outlet name) to (outlet name).”

• “Request stock from (other outlet).”

  The manager at the other location will still need to approve the transfer request.

• “Reduce the price of every product in the (category name) category by 20%.”
• “Make sure every product from (supplier) has at least a 40% margin.”
• “Tag my slow-moving products as ‘Clearance’.”

Lightspeed AI limitations

There are some actions that Lightspeed AI is unable to complete. Currently, the smart assistant cannot:

• Delete anything, including products, purchase orders, and transfers.
• Change sales, promotions, or reorder points.
• Update purchase orders or transfers after they’ve been created.
• Update customers, like changing customer details or adding customers to a group.

As this tool is developed further, limitations may change.

To view a list of available actions, ask “What can Lightspeed AI help with?” in the chat window.

Continuing a previous chat

To view or continue a previous chat:

1. From any page in Retail POS, click the Lightspeed AI icon in the top right corner.

2. In the chat window, click the reverse arrow icon (View history).

   

3. Click a previous conversation to reopen it.

Viewing Lightspeed AI changes and approvals

All approved changes, as well the user who approved each update, will be recorded on the associated product or inventory page. You can also find links to changes you’ve approved in your chat history.

Viewing your own changes

To view a change you’ve approved from your account:

1. From any page in Retail POS, click the Lightspeed AI icon in the top right corner.
2. In the chat window, click the reverse arrow icon (View history).
3. Click a previous conversation where a change was made.

4. Click the View (product name), View (purchase order), or View (transfer) link.

   

Viewing product changes made by any user

To view changes made to a product:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. Locate the product and click the row to expand it.
3. Click the History tab.

4. In the Action column, product updates made through Lightspeed AI will be labeled as Created (via API) or Edited (via API). The Made by column lists the user who approved the change. Click the action row to expand it and view more details.

   

   To view inventory transfers for the product and associated user, click View inventory movements.

Viewing inventory changes made by any user

To view inventory changes:

1. Navigate to Inventory > Stock control.

2. On the Stock control page, click:

   • The Orders tab > click the Order number to view the order’s creation date, the user who approved it (Created by), and other details.
   • The Requests tab > click the request row to expand it > click the History tab.
   • The Transfers or Returns tab > click the Reference number to view the transfer or return’s creation date, the user who approved it (Created by), and other details.

   

What’s next?