How is inventory managed between Retail POS and eCom?

When you connect Lightspeed eCom to Retail POS, you need to connect one or several outlets with your online store for the stock to synchronize. You can do this by assigning outlets to the online register so all items from outlets are synced with your online store.

Inventory tracking is enabled by default and inventory levels will automatically update between Retail POS and eCom when a sale takes place on either platform.

POS Retail is the source of truth for your inventory. Once you make changes to your inventory level in POS Retail, it’s reflected in your online stock. Making manual stock updates in eCom is not supported.

When do orders synchronize from eCom to Retail POS?

Once integrated, eCom sales will automatically synchronize to Retail POS and appear on both the Sales history (Sell > Sales history) and Fulfillments (Inventory > Fulfillments) pages when placed. This includes fully paid and unpaid sales. Fulfillments for new eCom orders will have the New status on the Fulfillments page in Retail POS.

Sales processed in Retail POS do not sync to eCom.

Sales made on eCom using an integrated payment method like Lightspeed Payments will show the payment processor's name in Sales history and Payment reporting in Retail POS. This provides visibility and more efficiency when reconciling your sales.

Any payment recorded using an unintegrated method such as cash, cheque, or bank deposit that needs to be authenticated offline will come through as unpaid in Retail POS.

If a shipping method chosen for an eCom order is not associated with any outlet, the order will be assigned to outlets capable of fulfilling it in full where possible. If no outlet has all the products within an order in stock, the order will appear as splitted on the Fulfillments page and assigned to multiple outlets based on available stock.

You can process online orders in Retail POS or on the Orders page in your eCom (E-Series) Admin panel. The recommended option is to manage order processing in Retail POS as it is the system of record. For information on fulfilling online orders in Retail POS, refer to our Online order fulfillment in Retail POS (X-Series) guide.

How do I get notified about new eCom orders?

Notifications for all new eCom orders are immediately sent to the eCom section under the bell icon in the top right corner of the Retail POS dashboard. A notification for each order has a link to the fulfillment so staff can review the items and start picking them.

Notifications are visible based on user permissions, so a user only sees notifications for fulfillments in the outlets that they have access to.

To turn on or off eCom order notifications, go to Setup > Apps > Lightspeed eCom in Retail POS.

If you use the Lightspeed eCom mobile app for iOS or Android, you can get push notifications about new orders.

What customer data is synchronized between Retail POS and eCom?

Existing customers

When a sale is synced from eCom to Retail POS, email addresses will be matched to customer profiles in Retail POS, given that the customer uses the same email address in eCom.

If the email address matches an existing customer profile in Retail POS, but the names on the order and profile do not match, customers' details are not overwritten and the customer profile is assigned based on the email address.

New customers

For customers that do not have a customer profile in Retail POS, when an order syncs from eCom to Retail POS, a new customer profile will be created using the email address and the name attached to the order.

If no name is available, the email will be used as the customer name in Retail POS.

How do order status changes sync between Retail POS and eCom?

In general, eCom allows more flexibility when changing order statuses, but some of them may not sync (for example, if you update statuses in eCom after the sale is finalized in Retail POS). If you want your customers to get email notifications about eCom order status changes, make sure the corresponding notifications are enabled in Online > Webstore > Notifications in Retail POS.

• Fulfillment statuses for orders that require shipping or pickup sync both ways as described in the Online order fulfillment in Retail POS (X-Series) guide.

  If you mark an order as Out for delivery in eCom, the fulfillment will automatically be marked as Completed in Retail POS. Packed order status in Retail POS corresponds to Ready for Pickup in eCom and is synced for pickups only (not for shipments).

• Statuses for refunded orders sync as described in the Refunding an eCom (E-Series) order in Retail POS (X-Series) article.

• Payment status for unpaid orders marked as Paid in eCom syncs to the Retail POS. However, an unpaid online order must be paid through the Sell screen so that it’s synced as Paid from Retail POS to eCom.

• Fulfillment status Processing in eCom and the In progress status in Retail POS do not sync between the systems.

• Orders with the Canceled payment status in eCom are synced to Retail POS as Voided, and vice versa. Such orders automatically get the Delivery Canceled status in eCom and cannot be updated anymore.