In 2024, 11% of point-of-sale transactions in the US were made in cash, and this is expected to drop to just 9% by 2030.
With this in mind, many businesses, from retail stores to restaurants and hotels, are opting to overhaul their payment technology to offer their customers a better experience while reaping several benefits for their business.
Enter Lightspeed’s unified point of sale (POS) and payments platform.
Lightspeed provides businesses with all the tools they need to run and grow their business from one fast, flexible platform. Plus, with payments seamlessly embedded into the POS, it’s easy for businesses to boost efficiency, eliminate manual entry, save time on reconciliations and save money that can be reinvested back into the business.
To understand exactly how Lightspeed has helped businesses across the world, we sat down with a range of owners and managers to discuss how Lightspeed’s platform has enabled them to scale and grow.
Let’s dive in.
8 benefits of Lightspeed Payments from our customers
- Smart workflows increase tips
- Seamless payments elevate the customer experience
- Easy reconciliation saves time
- Quick payouts enhance cash flow
- Faster payments to serve more customers
- Five-minute set-up to get selling quickly
- User-friendly platform makes it easy for staff
- Reliable payments keep things running smoothly
Searching for the best POS solution for your business?
We have the tools you need to pick the right POS for your business.
1. Smart workflows increase tips
Max Hartfiel, Founder and Owner of OOH Cookies! in Berlin, loves how Lightspeed Payments makes it easy for customers to tip, which has led to an increase in customer tips.
“At both stores, 90 percent of payments are made by card. The Lightspeed feature that allows guests to leave tips via the payment terminal has really motivated our staff and significantly increased the amount of tips we receive.”
“An exciting feature for us is that Lightspeed allows us to set the tip suggestions ourselves in the back office. This allowed us to try out different amounts and see how guests responded. We were cautious at first, but now we’ve found a good balance that keeps both customers and staff happy.”
Lisa Vella, President at South Bark Dog Wash in California, echoes this sentiment as the business was able to increase tips by 11% with Lightspeed Payments.
“As a small business, a lot of people tip us on retail purchases. So with tipping through Lightspeed Payments, tips have gone up about 11% with people tipping on retail purchases, not just grooming.”
2. Seamless payments elevate the customer experience
Brandon Weimer, Owner of Brandini Toffee in California, values how Lightspeed Payments supports meaningful interactions with customers by removing friction at checkout, enhancing the overall customer experience.
“The seamless integration from Lightspeed Payments with our point of sale allows us to focus on the customer experience. We don’t want there to be a prolonged processing or transaction of payment, and so it allows us to have more human connection, talk about their travels, their visit, our product, our story and so on.”
Tanda Jarest, Owner of Opulence of Southern Pines in North Carolina, has seen a similar impact. With fewer barriers to payment, her team has more time to engage with customers and deliver a more personalized in-store experience.
“Business has grown since using Lightspeed, because Lightspeed has allowed my sales teams to spend more time on the sales floor, giving customers that personal attention to offer a better experience in the store.”
3. Easy reconciliation saves time
Emily Ciappara, Accounts Manager at Active Baby Co., which operates several stores across Australia, loves how Lightspeed’s embedded POS and Payments platform ensures all their sales data is kept within one system—making reconciliations faster, easier and more accurate.
“The payments have been much easier; everything’s all in one,” explains Emily. “At the end of the day, you don’t have to settle a machine and then make sure it balances; it’s just always going to be right.”
“Everything tends to be pretty simple…When I balance the three stores at the end of the month… It’s all within Lightspeed, which is really helpful.”
Owner of Opulence of Southern Pines, Tanda Jarest, has experienced similar time-saving benefits—along with a complete elimination of reconciliation errors.
“Lightspeed Payments reduced errors by 100%. Before Lightspeed Payments, I had four terminals and I had four statements that had to be reconciled every month. It was a whole entire day process. Now it takes ten minutes to reconcile everything.”
Harriet Cleverly, Founder of Cleverly Wrapped in the United Kingdom, is also impressed with the difference Lightspeed makes, especially when compared to more traditional setups.
“It’s been a massive time saver because before we had old-fashioned machines where you had to print everything out, put them on a spike and then reconcile them at the end of the day. Whereas now, you don’t have to do anything.”
4. Quick payouts enhance cash flow
One of the most significant benefits called out by several business owners was how quickly Lightspeed Payments pays out to the business.
“Lightspeed pays the next day, for businesses, that would really be a lifesaver. Wake up the next day, and you’ve got your money in the bank, and you can keep trading,” comments Brad Fudge, Owner of Guthega Inn in NSW, Australia.
“Lightspeed Payments has been really good. And they pay out fast. The money is in our account quickly,” explains Tony Morabes, Owner of Eat Lebanese in Sydney.
“We process the sale, the machine takes the payment and then the money comes through at the end of the day. We get paid every day, and we can keep moving on with sales and growing the business,” comments Emily Ciappara, Accounts Manager at Active Baby Co.
5. Faster payments to serve more customers
As a busy cafe in Sydney, Australia, St Judes needs to process transactions quickly to keep queues short and minimise customer wait times. With their old payment system, the team was spending unnecessary time manually punching in the price of each order into their payment terminal.
With Lightspeed’s embedded payment system, St. Judes has overcome these issues.
“It’s saved us double the time because you only input into Lightspeed, and boom, the payments are there for the customer. It’s all integrated through the POS system properly now,” said Adam Celestino, owner of St. Judes.
Wendel Wray, Global Retail Manager at Lighthouse Immersive, and Andy Linn, Co-Founder of City Bird, both had a similar experience when they adopted Lightspeed Payments.
“Now our transactions, start to finish, [take] less than seven seconds, which is incredible. We’re saving time left, right and center, which I love. I am all about the efficiencies,” explained Wendel Wray.
“There was a time when our checkout might have taken five minutes per customer, and now it’s one minute a customer for the actual processing of the sales, scanning, taking the credit card,” commented Andy Linn.
6. Five-minute set-up to get selling quickly
The team at Mezi, a jewellery retailer with five stores in Australia, loved how quick and easy it was to set up and start selling with Lightspeed Payments.
“It’s streamlined. It was just very simple to connect everything when it came to staff connecting the new store,” explains Lilianne Minehan, Head of Operations at Mezi.
“Setting up the EFTPOS machine was so easy… It was very, very simple, very easy for us to set up. No hiccups.”
Dayvid Clark, Venue Manager & Buyer at Beermash, a specialty Australian craft beer store and bar, also loved how quick and easy it was to set up Lightspeed Payments.
“It took like 5 minutes. I literally had zero drama whatsoever. It was completely seamless.”
7. User-friendly platform makes it easy for staff
Another element that many business owners agreed on is how easy and reliable Lightspeed Payments is to use, making life so much easier for their staff.
“It’s very intuitive for all staff to use as needed, and it works well. We’ve also found in the past, sometimes, other processors have downtime or a lot of bugs and a lot of issues, and we really haven’t seen that with Lightspeed Payments,” explains Andy Linn, Founder of City Bird in the US.
Lilianne Minehan, Head of Operations at Mezi, echoes this sentiment.
“We found it very easy to use.”
“I was in the store a few weeks ago. I found it very easy to use, very quick, efficient… We’ve had no issues, to be honest with you.”
8. Reliable payments keep things running smoothly
Before using Lightspeed Payments, GWS Giants, an Australian rules football team, used bank terminals, but connectivity issues with hardware delayed accepting payments during peak customer times.
Switching to Lightspeed’s unified POS and Payments allowed Mitchell’s team to increase revenue thanks to the speed of service.
“On game days, I haven’t had to reconnect the system, which is very common in the retail space. Even walking outside with your EFTPOS terminal to put it in direct daylight to see if it connects to a signal,” explains Mitchell Dale, Head of Customer Acquisition.
“On Lightspeed Payments, we’re able to increase our revenue because of the speed of service.”
How can Lightspeed’s unified platform help your business grow?
From retail stores to restaurants, Lightspeed’s unified POS and payments platform offers a range of benefits that help businesses boost efficiency and improve their bottom line.
Thanks to Lightspeed’s unified platform, businesses can save time on day-to-day tasks, ensure quick and accurate reconciliation and provide a seamless payment experience for customers. Plus, with all the POS and payment information in one place, businesses can access comprehensive sales reporting to simplify their financial operations.
With Lightspeed’s embedded payments, it’s now easier than ever to streamline your processes, enhance the customer experience, and focus on sustainable growth.
News you care about. Tips you can use.
Everything your business needs to grow, delivered straight to your inbox.
