LightSpeed features an intuitive Point of Sale interface that streamlines and secures front counter retail checkout.
LightSpeed POS is the first Point of Sale interface that truly harnesses the power of Mac OS X and showcases its advanced graphics capabilities. It’s also the first POS on OS X to operate in the context of a full multi-user sales workflow, powered by a high-performance SQL database, and the only POS software to integrate Cover Flow technology, allowing you to browse Customers and Products by their images.
There are 2 different modes in the POS screen for finding and invoicing Products, Scan Mode and Button Mode. Each mode maximizes the POS for different retail environments, whether you have a high volume with a limited number of popular products, or carry a much larger set of items. Once your Invoice has been created using one of these modes, you enter the Payments screen to apply payment methods against the balance owing.
To enter the POS, click the POS icon at the top right of the Browser.
Scan Mode
Scan Mode is the preferred choice if you have many Product skus and are using a barcode scanner to create your Invoices.
In Scan Mode, your Products appear in list view, and are searched using text entry to produce a list of results from which you choose the Product to add to your Invoice.
Scan Mode in the POS screen is made up of several different areas. The very top section is dedicated to searches for Products, Customers, and Invoices. Click the icon that reflects the item you are looking for, and enter a search term to produce a list of results in the sales register.
The main POS sales register, in the middle section, serves several purposes, displaying Invoice information as well as the list views of Product info, Customers, and serial numbers. This main section can display Customers and Products in a graphical interface known as Cover Flow. Cover Flow allows you to browse images and add Products and Customers to the Invoice by clicking these images.
The left of the POS screen displays Customer information, the on-screen numeric keypad for numeric input, and transactions placed on hold. To the right, Product information is displayed, including price and availability, as well as Related Products that have been assigned to currently selected Product.
The color coded inventory statuses displayed for Products reflect the following states:
Button Mode
Button Mode displays Products graphically, allowing you to click buttons to drill down through categories to find and invoice Products.
Button Mode is a good choice for retail environments with a higher volume that require shorter transaction times, and where primarily a limited number of Products (approximately 10-100) are sold on a regular basis. For instance, a small cafe that sells a variety of coffees and pastries. Button Mode uses a series of nested categories that let you drill down to access popular Products quickly.
For a Product to appear in Button Mode, you must create POS Categories and assign them to Products in a nested fashion that allows you to drill down through Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels. For example, to sell a pair of capri pants, you might choose to create a path of Clothing (Primary) > Women’s (Secondary) > Pants (Tertiary).
Creating POS Categories
To create your POS Categories, go to Tools > Setup > POS Categories. Create your first Primary Category by clicking the + icon under the first column. Enter its name and click Save. Then, select the Primary Category you've just created, and click the + icon beneath the second column to create a Secondary Category. Name and save your Secondary Category, and again for the Tertiary Category.
Assigning POS Categories
To assign these categories to your Product, open the Product card and click the Options tab. Choose your Primary Category. Now, when you click the pop-up menu for the Secondary Category, you will only see the choices available for the Secondary Categories you had created within the Primary Category you've just chosen. Likewise for the Tertiary Category.
Payment Screen
After you have created an Invoice with Products and Customer information, and you click Check Out, you are taken to the Payments screen, where you may apply payments in various combinations to pay off the balance owing. Payment Methods are customizable, and can be categorized by types, which are used on the End of Day report.
If you are using a credit card processing gateway, selecting a Payment Method categorized with type "Credit Card" produces a payment window in which you may swipe or enter a credit card number that will result in the payment being processed over the internet.
There are two setup windows for establishing the settings for the POS screen - Station Setup and POS Setup.
Station Setup
Station Setup (File > Station Setup) is where an administrator will choose settings for a particular station’s POS hardware, printing configuration, and various defaults for the POS screen, including tax configuration, search settings, and customer type.
Defaults
POS Setup
Go to Tools > Setup > POS Setup, opening the window which allows you to add your logo to the POS screen, as well as configure other settings for POS features.
Sales Register
The central POS sales register has several functions, accessible with the icons located in the Search Bar located at the top.
Using the Search Bar, you can quickly locate info in your database, even if your database contains thousands of items.
Selecting the Product icon allows you to scan the UPC code of a product, calling it up from the Products database and entering it into the Invoice. You are also able to manually enter the Product Code or description of a Product, including partial strings, calling it up from the Products database and entering it into the Invoice. As you type in a search term, the list of results will automatically be filtered to reflect the appropriate matches to the entered text. When you find the Product you’re searching for, click it once to preview its availability info, or double-click it to add it to the Invoice. Clicking the All icon at the right (the circle containing 3 horizontal lines) will list all Products.
Customer
Selecting the Customer icon allows you to manually enter a customer’s name, address, or telephone number, including partial strings, calling it up from the Customers database. When you find the Customer, click it to enter it into the Invoice, displayed in detail to the left. Clicking the All icon at the right (the circle containing 3 horizontal lines) will list all Customers.
Invoice
Invoice allows you to scan or manually enter the reference number of an existing Invoice. Enter an Invoice ID to process a return of Products from that Invoice.
Double-clicking one of the items in the list view will add it to the appropriate part of the Invoice: if it is a Customer, the Invoice will be assigned to them; if it is a Product, it will be added to the Invoice as a line item.
In the Scan Mode’s line item (or Invoice) view, the headings include the Product Code, the Description, the Quantity, the Sell Price, any Discount, and the Total Sell price per item (ie extended price). Under the Description, you will also see any serial numbers attached to the Invoice under their Product’s description.
Choosing or Editing a Customer
To begin with, assign a Customer to the Invoice. If you don’t wish to track this Customer’s history, choose Walk In in the left area of the POS screen. This will not use a Customer ID and will disable the ability to add this Invoice to the Customer’s history. Enter as much or as little information about the Customer as you wish; this information will be searchable so you may find the Invoice in the future. Important: You will not be able to track a Customer’s purchase history, or their outstanding balances or credits, if they are a Walk-In.
If it is a new Customer whom you wish to add to the database, click New near the bottom of the Customer area. You can then add the information in the new Customer profile that appears, and once you click Save, you will be returned to the adjusted Invoice. If the Customer is already in the Customer database, you can simply type a few letters of the Customer name (or a few numbers from their telephone number or address ) into the search field of the POS window and choose it from the list of possible choices that will appear by clicking the name once, or click their image from the Cover Flow layout. If you need to edit the information, click the expansion indicator to display the contact info, then click the Edit icon, make your changes in the Customer window, and click Save to return to the POS screen. The modified information will appear on the Invoice.
To add a new Customer’s photo to their profile, click the Image button in the Customer card. Then, click the photo area in the Customer Detail area of the POS screen and it will automatically take their photo with your iSight camera. You can also drag an image to this area to store a photo. Click Save and the Customer info, along with their image, will appear on the Invoice.
Adding Products
To add a Product to your Invoice in Scan mode, click the Products icon, and scan its barcode. If it is in the Products database, it will be called up and added to your Invoice. Another way to find a Product is by typing a few letters from its Product Code or Description. You may also choose your Product from the list view by clicking the All icon when in Products mode.
Single-click a Product in list view to preview its availability information. Double-click its description or image to add it to your Invoice. If the Product you have chosen requires a serial number, you will be required to add the serial number(s) prior to clicking Check Out. You may then scan the serial number from the Product, or enter it manually. You may also add a Product to your Invoice by clicking Add at the bottom of the POS screen.
Single-clicking a Product in either list or Invoice view will call up its details in the Product detail section at the right, including its image, color-coded inventory statuses, and Related Products. Click any of these Related Products to add it to the Invoice.
Since the availability quantities displayed in LightSpeed should reflect what is actually in stock, it is unlikely that you will try to invoice a Product that isn’t showing as being available to sell. However, there may be exceptions, and these will appear with a red warning triangle on the Invoice, and before Checking Out, you will be asked to confirm whether or not you wish to continue.
To toggle between Invoice view and list view, click the small icon inside the search field at the top. (see images)
In Button mode, you add Products by clicking their image after drilling down through the POS Categories you had created and assigned to your Products. If an image has a black drawer covering it, it is a Category that contains either more Categories, or Products. Clicking a Product will add it to your Invoice. In Button mode, your Invoice items are displayed to the right side of the screen, rather than the middle.
Discounting
There are several ways to discount Products in the POS screen. Customer Categories (set up in the Browser) can be assigned to your Customers, and automatically apply a percentage discount or default to a specified Pricing Level - a method that discounts the entire Invoice.
A second way to apply a document-wide discount is to click the Discount icon found at the bottom of the POS screen, indicated by two circles with the % and $ characters. Discounts done in this way can be applied as a percentage or dollar discount. To apply a dollar discount, enter a value and click Return. To enter a percentage discount, enter a value followed by the % sign.
Finally, discounts may also be applied on a line-item basis by clicking in the Discount field of the line-item you wish to discount. Entering a number will discount the item by dollars; adding a percentage sign will adjust the discount to a percentage.
Methods of Payment
Once you have finished adding your Customer and Product information to your Invoice, click Check Out, and you will be taken to the Payments screen. There, you will see a button for every method of payment you have set up in the Setup Tool (Tools > Setup > Payment Methods). Pressing a button will bring up the details for that payment. The amount tendered will automatically show the balance owing on the Invoice, but this can be edited for partial payments.
LightSpeed integrates with several payment gateways for fast, simple, accurate online processing of credit card transactions. At time of purchase, you are able to enter the Customer’s credit card information, and click Process to send the encrypted information over the internet. If the transaction fails, you will be notified immediately. Likewise, if it is successful, a confirmation number will be logged in the Invoice, and the payment will be registered to the Invoice. LightSpeed will automatically access your credit card processor for any method of payment specified as Credit Card in the Tools > Setup > Payment Methods menu option. If you are not processing credit cards within LightSpeed, you may continue to use your external terminal, and simply enter your credit and debit card payments into LightSpeed manually.
If the Customer is using more than one method of payment, you are able to modify the amount tendered to reflect the division of payment. Save the payment and click another button for the next payment method. In some cases, the customer may choose to use the same method of payment, but from a different source – a different credit card, for example, even though they are both Visas. All of these different payment methods will be laid out separately on the printed Invoice and will be saved as separate payments.
Cash payments require the entry of two fields – Amount Tendered, and Payment Amount. Amount Tendered refers to how much cash the Customer is physically handing over before you return their change. Payment Amount refers to how much of that cash the Customer wants to apply to this Invoice. If the amount they want to apply is different than what is pre-populated, you must click in this field to change the amount being applied.
Pressing the Process button for a payment saves it to the Invoice and it is irreversible except by authorization by an Administrator.
If the Customer has a credit from a previous Invoice, and has a Customer profile, the credit can be applied as a method of payment. Pressing the Store Credit button will call up a list of all the Customer’s available credits. Choose one and specify how much of it you wish to apply. If a Customer has more than one credit you need to apply, you must choose each one separately and save it as its own method of payment. Click OK to return to the Payments view of the POS screen.
To create a credit for a Customer, make sure that the Invoice returning the Product has the Customer as an official Customer and not as a Walk-in. Return the Product(s) by clicking the Documents icon and entering the original Invoice ID, or by creating a standard Invoice and using negative quantities, leaving the prices as they are. Save the Invoice as you would normally, but do not apply any payments. This will leave a credit on the Customer’s account which can then be applied to another Invoice using the method described in the paragraph above. (For more info, see the article on Returns & Exchanges)
If a Customer requires a refund, complete the return Invoice as described above, and click the Payment Method button with which you’re reimbursing your Customer. Use a negative value for the dollar amount, and click Save. This will indicate that you have given the Customer money, rather than the other way around. (For more info, see the article on Returns & Exchanges)
If you are interrupted during your POS transaction before it is completed, you may put it on hold so that you may come back to it later without losing your work, even after other Invoices have been processed in the meantime.
To put a transaction on hold, click the Hold button in either Scan or Button Modes. Any Product or Customer information you have added to your incomplete Invoice will be captured and accessible in the future with a small market that appears in the Sales on Hold section of the POS. Click any of these markers to re-activate the transaction and complete the sale.
If you are in the middle of a transaction when a held sale is re-activated, you have the option to discard the current Invoice or to hold it, as well. If you leave the POS screen, held sales are discarded and must be re-entered.
At the bottom of the POS screen, there are three icons that allow you to set various attributes for the Invoice.
Salesperson - sets the salesperson(s) attached to the sale
There are several ways Users can be attached to a POS Invoice. If the Customer is a Walk-In, or a Customer with no Salesperson assigned in their Customer card, the sole User attached to the sale is the User processing the Invoice. If the Customer has a profile with another User assigned as their Salesperson, the User processing the sale can split the Invoice into a primary and assisting. This combination of Users is split out in Commission reports as its own User to simplify split-sale commissions.
Discounts - sets a document-wide discount
POS Invoices can be discounted here by a percentage or integer amount. To enter a percentage discount, enter the value followed by the % sign, discounting all Products by that percentage. Entering a whole value will discount all Product prices by that amount.
Taxes - sets the Invoice’s Tax Code
If you have multiple Tax Codes that are to be applied depending on the Customer, you may choose which Tax Code to apply by clicking the pull-down menu. Not clicking this menu will result in the default Tax Code being applied to the document.
If an Invoice has been initiated on LightSpeed Mobile, it can be paid by processing a credit card payment right from the handheld device, provided LightSpeed is configured to process credit card payments with a payment gateway. However, if the Customer is paying by an alternative payment method that requires access to the cash drawer, such as cash or cheque, or if the user is using an external transaction terminal, LightSpeed Mobile is able to relay or dispatch the Invoice to all LightSpeed sales stations logged into the POS screen.
Once the LightSpeed Mobile user choose "Use Other Payment Method", they will be given an Invoice ID, and a marker with this Invoice ID will appear in the "Hold" section of the POS screen, signified by an orange LightSpeed Mobile icon. To access this Invoice, click the marker, and continue to process the payment on the payment screen as you would any other POS invoice. Once the Invoice is activated from one station's POS screen, it will disappear from all others.
In sales environments there are often more than one sales person using the same POS station, and it is important to be able to track the sales representatives assigned to an Invoice for reasons of commissions, accountability, and coverage. When a sales person finishes an Invoice and leaves the POS station, they are able to log out quickly so that the next sales person is able to log in.
To log out, click the Action menu at the top right corner of the POS screen, and choose Log Out (Your User Name). Once you click OK, you will be taken to the login screen, and the POS will be ready for the next User to log in.
Information that had been on the POS screen will be lost when a User logs out.
The navigation buttons are laid out along the bottom of the POS screen, located underneath the Customer and Product Detail sections. These buttons change function between the Sales Register and the Payment screens.
Sales Register Screen
Payment Screen
When you are ready to print, you can select which types of receipts to print, including a gift receipt that lists all Products but does not show the prices. Click Finish.
At the top right of the printed Invoice, the Invoice number, as well as its barcode equivalent, will appear. Underneath you will find the date the Invoice was created, and the date any modifications were made. Any notes you have entered in the Printed Notes field will appear after the Products, and underneath that will be the details on Payment Methods. At the bottom left of the Invoice, you will see any terms or conditions you have set up in Tools > Setup > Company in the Invoices field.
Email Receipt
You can also choose to email the receipt to a Customer from the POS. Select Email Receipt, and enter their email address if it is not auto-populated from the Customer card. Your customer will receive an HTML-formatted copy of the receipt immediately.
To set up your Mail Server, go to Tools > Setup > Advanced > Mail Server. For information on what data to enter into each field, access the account information of your email server. For example, in OS X Mail, go to the Preferences panel and click "Accounts". Select the Account you wish to integrate with LightSpeed, and follow the steps outlined below to gather the necessary info.
The basic steps to configure the Mail Server setup panel are:
If you are unsure about whether you should enable your Transport Layer Security, or if you have any questions about these fields, contact your mail server administrator.
Action Menu
The top right corner of the POS screen features the POS Action menu, allowing you access to several extra features designed to give your salesperson and front counter staff extra tools.
