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 large, red, cotton). Each unique combination forms one variant product.
• 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, or composite products (covered in this article) 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 composite 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 and searching purposes. They can be used to define reporting on a certain group of products and set promotions. 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 for sale in-store. 
   • Check Sell online to make the product available for online selling with eCom (E-Series).

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 composite product type

Under Inventory, select Composite product.

Learn more about adding standard and variant products.

Adding SKU codes

The SKU is the unique identifier for a product's stock item. You can choose to Automatically generate a SKU when the product is saved or Enter a custom SKU.

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 doesn't sync with third-party ecommerce integrations.

Searching for products to add to composites

You can search for and add multiple products to create your composite product.

1. Under Products, use the Search for products to add box to find a product by name or SKU.

   

2. Click the product to add it to the list. You will be prompted to select a variant for products with variants.
3. Adjust the Quantity if you want more than one of the products in your composite product.
4. Repeat until all products have been added. You can use the trash icon to remove products if needed.

Inventory levels for composites are determined by the included products and how many of these products are available to make complete packs. After your composite product is created and you return to the Products page, you can see inventory at each location by clicking the arrow beside the composite product to expand the product details.

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 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.

Supply price

Supply 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.

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

The retail price is the price the product will be sold at in your store.

Composite product prices do not automatically total from the price of the included products. Consider the total supplier price, markup, margin, and retail prices of the included products and decide on the composite product price before saving.

The cost of goods sold (COGS) for composite products is determined by the supplier price of the component products, not the average cost of the items in the bundle. Component items sold individually do not affect the composite product cost of goods sold.

Loyalty

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

What's next?