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, products with variants (covered in this article), 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 with variants

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 and 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 (first-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 to sell 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 variant product type

Under Inventory, select Variant product.

Learn more about adding standard and composite products.

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 do not wish 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.

Set a replenishment method for the product.

Applying a product-specific 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 can't 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 product variants

You can add up to three variable attributes for a product with variants.

1. Select an Attribute from the dropdown or use the Search all variant attributes box to name your variant attribute and + Add as a new variant attribute.

   

2. Under Value, start typing an attribute value and press enter on your keyboard when complete. Repeat for additional values.

3. To add additional variant attributes, click + Add another attribute and repeat the above steps. You may be prompted to Choose a variant attribute to add based on the attribute values combinations.

   

4. (Optional) Click and drag variant names in the Value section to automatically change their order of appearance in the list of variants as well as on the Stock control, Products, and Promotions pages. Rearranging variants in this way does not sync across eCom.

   

5. Click the SKU, Supplier Code, Supplier price and Retail Price fields to update information at an individual variant level. You can also toggle a variant on or off with the Enabled toggle or use the trash icon to delete.

   

6. To manage additional product information per variant, click the arrow next to the Variant name to expand and click into the tabs to add or update variant-specific:

   • Inventory tab: Update SKUs, replenishment reorder points or min/max quantities, and product locations.
   • Packaging tab: Set packaging relationships.
   • Tax tab: Update tax types.
   • Pricing and loyalty tab: Set pricing and loyalty options.

   • Images tab > Choose Variant Image: Add images or update images you uploaded earlier.

     

   • eCom only: Weight and dimension in the Weight and dimension tab to calculate shipping costs.

   What's next?

   Importing products in bulk

   Use a spreadsheet to import many products at once.

   Learn more

   Editing products

   Edit existing products in Retail POS.

   Learn more