Lightspeed Glossary

Use this glossary to learn about Lightspeed-specific terms, and click the associated links for more information.

To learn about terminology used in business reporting, visit our Reporting and Analytics Glossary.

Table of Contents

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   XYZ

A

Activate

To link a new Lightspeed Retail register to your account.

Adjust Inventory
A legacy feature that allows eligible BackOffice users to add to, remove from, or replace the quantity on hand of inventory items. Adjustments can be viewed on the Quantity History Report.

Android
Google’s operating system software that powers a variety of mobile phones and tablets.

API Token
A unique string of letters and numbers used to link a Lightspeed Retail account to SHOGO.

App Version
The current version of the Retail POS (S-Series) app, Lightspeed Pocket, or Lightspeed Pay app.

Apple Pay
A mobile payment technology that allows customers to pay using a compatible Apple device, such as an iPhone. Apple Pay can be accepted in the Retail POS (S-Series) app, on Pay by Link sales, and for invoices.

Assemblies
Inventory items with raw goods attached to them.

Assigned Cost
A column on the Stock Items export and Bulk Management spreadsheets that represents the cost of a basic inventory item when inventory tracking is disabled.

Auto Signout
A feature that automatically signs staff out of the register after a period of time, after completing a transaction, or after saving a sale (Android only).

B

BackOffice
The online portal used to add stock items, check sales, and manage your Lightspeed Retail account.

BackOffice Manager
An employee with access to most, but not all, areas of BackOffice.

Basic Item
An item sold individually without variants.

Beta
A version of the Retail POS (S-Series) app in the final stages of development.

BigCommerce
A legacy eCommerce platform Lightspeed Retail integrates with that allows you to sell inventory items online. Merchants enabling eCommerce integration for the first time now use Lightspeed eCom (E) instead of BigCommerce integration.

Billing Activity
A section in BackOffice that allows the Business Owner and employees with the ‘Manage Account’ permission to view the Lightspeed Retail account’s billing records from the last 120 days, get copies of billing invoices, and retry unsuccessful bill payments.

Bulk Edit (Item List)
A feature of the Item List that allows you to make changes to multiple inventory items at the same time.

Bulk Management
Create, update, or delete inventory items or customers using spreadsheet templates.

Business Owner
The principal user whose email address is linked to the Lightspeed Retail account. Also known as the Account Owner.

C

Card Payments (BackOffice)
A section in BackOffice where you can set up online and mobile credit card processing.

Card Signature Threshold
The amount a credit card sale must exceed before a customer signature is required.

Cashier
An employee with access to cashier functions at the register. Track and compare sales performance between cashiers with the Sales by Employee report.

Category
A subgroup within a Department used for item organization, ticket printing, and reporting.

Clock In or Clock Out
When staff record a time clock punch at the beginning or end of their shift. This information can be viewed in the BackOffice Time Clock report.

Closing Amount
The amount of cash left in the drawer at the end of a register shift.

Cost
How much the business pays to acquire an item. Cost helps determine inventory value, cost of goods sold, margins, and markups.

CSV
Comma Separated Values. The spreadsheet file format used for Bulk Management, Bulk Customer Management, and all BackOffice exports.

Custom Business Day
A feature that allows businesses open past midnight to view reports based on their operating hours.

Customer List
An area of BackOffice and the Retail POS (S-Series) app that stores customer names, contact information, and other details. Use the Sales by Customer report to identify the top customers on your Customer List and view their purchase histories.

D

Dashboard
A BackOffice report that gives a broad overview of register activity for a date range. Much of the data on the Dashboard is also available in a daily Sales Summary email.

Deactivate
To unlink a register from your Lightspeed Retail account.

Default Home Screen
A feature of the Retail POS (S-Series) app for iOS that allows you to control which screen appears by default when employees sign into the register: New Sale, Saved Sales, or Tables.

Deleted or Discarded Item (Register)
An item that is removed from an unsaved sale in the Retail POS (S-Series) app. Deleted items are tracked in void reporting.

Department
A grouping of items used for organization, reporting, and ticket printing.

Deposit (Tender)
A liability tender used to accept refundable and non-refundable prepayments and down payments.

E

Email Receipt
A receipt sent by email that can be customized to include social media links and marketing info. Use the Marketing Dashboard to track how customers interact with email receipts.

Email Settings
BackOffice area where Sales Summary emails can be turned on and off.

EMV
Europay, Mastercard, and Visa. Refers to the standard created by those companies for processing smart payment “chip cards”.

Export Center
An area of BackOffice that stores exported reports from the past 7 days.

F

Fallback Printer
A secondary kitchen ticket printer that prints tickets if the primary ticket printer fails.

Force Get Updates
A feature that pushes data from BackOffice to the register if a normal Get Updates fails to sync.

G

Get Updates from BackOffice
An option on the register’s Main Menu that syncs changes made in BackOffice to the register.

Gift Cards
Prepaid cards customers purchase and later redeem in store.

Gift Receipt
A sales receipt containing no prices.

Gratuity
Tips left by customers. Gratuity from sales paid for with a credit or gift card and from Lightspeed eCom (E) orders is tracked in reporting.

Guest Count
A feature that allows cashiers to record the number of guests per sale at the register.

H

I

In-App Subscription
A Lightspeed Retail subscription plan purchased through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Inventory
The full roster of items the business sells and has added to BackOffice.

Inventory Value
A measure of what on-hand inventory is worth. This is each item’s cost multiplied by the quantity in stock.

Invoice
A bill for goods or services that can be printed or emailed to a customer for payment at a later time. Invoices can be created in BackOffice and paid online or in person.

iOS
Apple’s operating system software that powers iPads and iPhones.

Item
What the business sells. Items make up a store’s inventory.

Item List
An area of BackOffice that shows every item currently in inventory with each item’s cost, price, margin, markup, quantity on hand, and total value.

Item with Variants
An item sold in multiple configurations (e.g. a single shirt sold in different colors and sizes).

J

K

Kits
The amount of a raw good tied to tracked inventory items multiplied by the quantity on hand of those items.

L

Labor Tracking Report
A BackOffice report that shows employee overtime, double time, and total hours worked.

Last Cost
A cost calculation method that updates an item’s cost to its most recent per-unit receiving cost.

Liability
An item the business sells that customers can redeem, such as a gift card.

Location
A physical storefront. Link multiple Lightspeed Retail stores to view multi-location reporting, easily switch between each store’s BackOffice, create and delete items in all linked locations, and copy one item shortcuts layout to all locations.

Location Code
A unique 6-digit code used to identify your account when contacting Customer Care.

M

Mailchimp
An email marketing service that integrates with Lightspeed Retail.

Merge (Saved Sales)
To combine items from multiple saved sales into a single new saved sale.

N

Name
What an item is called. This appears in the Register app, receipts, and reporting.

Named Discounts
Custom discounts set up in BackOffice for use at the register. The Sales by Discount report displays details on discount usage.

Net Sales
Total pre-tax sales, minus returns, and minus discounts.

No Sale
Appears on the screen of the register after using the ‘Open the Cash Drawer’ option on the Main Menu (iOS) or register menu (Android) to open the cash drawer without performing a sale.

Non-Cash Gratuity
Gratuity left by customers on sales paid for with a credit or gift card. Register Managers perform payouts to remove this money from the drawer.

Non-Taxable Sales
Sales where no tax was charged.

O

Offline Credit Payments
A feature that allows Clover devices to run credit card sales in cases of brief internet connection loss.

Online Ordering
A feature that allows you to set up a custom website from Lightspeed eCom (E) for customers to place pickup or delivery orders.

Open Priced Item
An item with no set price that allows a cashier to enter its sale price at the register.

Opening Amount
The total amount of cash in the drawer at the beginning of a register shift.

Operation Type
A term on the Transactions Report that indicates if a transaction is a sale or a return.

Other (Tender)
A tender used to accept payment when a customer pays with something other than cash, credit, or another active tender.
Lightspeed eCom (E) orders paid online and processed at the register and supported orders marked ‘Paid’ in the eCommerce Dashboard will appear in reporting as being tendered to ‘Other’ if the ‘eCommerce’ tender is not enabled. If invoice reporting is enabled, paid invoices will appear in reporting as being paid with ‘Other’.

Overtime Settings
BackOffice area where the overtime and double time rules that affect the Labor Tracking Report are set up.

P

Pay by Link
A feature that allows customers to pay for sales tendered in the Retail POS (S-Series) app by scanning a QR code or visiting a payment, even if they are not near the register.

Pay In
A register function that lets you track cash added to the drawer during a register shift.

Payout (Register)
A register function that lets you track cash removed from the drawer during a register shift.

Payout (ShopKeep Payments by Lightspeed)
A batch of all online and mobile payments processed on a specific day.

PCI Compliance
The act of obeying the payment card industry’s standards for keeping credit card data secure. ShopKeep Payments by Lightspeed merchants can complete a self-assessment to ensure each location is compliant.

Pending Queue
Part of the Diagnostics screen that shows if there is register data that has not synced to BackOffice. If there is a queue, visit our troubleshooting guide for help resolving the error.

Price Type or Priced
This setting determines how an item’s price is set: in BackOffice, in store at the register, or by unit.

Printer Group
A set of items assigned to print to one or more kitchen ticket printers.

Q

QuickBooks
An accounting service that integrates with Lightspeed Retail.

R

Raw Goods
Sub-items used to track components of basic inventory items (e.g. coffee cups and lids).

Realm ID
A unique code used to identify a QuickBooks Payments account when contacting Intuit support.

Receipt
A customer’s printed or emailed record of the items they purchased or returned. Cashiers can reprint receipts or resend them via email (iOS only) from the ‘Sales History’ screen on the Lightspeed Retail POS.

Receipt Notes
Information entered by the cashier that appears on a receipt. Receipt notes are also available from the BackOffice Transactions Report on the downloaded copy of the receipt.

Receipt Number
A unique 19-digit code found on receipts and transaction exports used to return sales from previous register shifts. Also known as the Transaction #.

Receive Inventory User
An employee with access to only the ‘Add/receive inventory’ function of the Update Inventory feature in BackOffice.

Recommended Order
The quantity of an item on hand when it is fully stocked. This appears on the Inventory Reorder Report.

Register
A device running the Retail POS (S-Series) app.

Register Code
A unique 4-digit number that each staff member uses to clock in/out and sign into the register.

Register License
The mechanism that ties a register to an account. The number of licenses determines how many registers an account can activate.

Register List
An area of the register Main Menu that shows all registers connected via Serverless Sync™.

Register Manager
An employee with access to manager controls on the register.

Register Settings
An area of the Main Menu that contains the settings for toggling Saved Sales Sync and online order printing off or on.

Register Shift
The time during which transactions can be processed at the register. Open a register shift at the start of a business day and close it at the end.

Register Shift Report
A summary of register activity during a shift that can be viewed at the register or printed to a connected receipt printer. Another name for X and Z Reports.

Register Status (Item)
An inventory setting used to make items active or inactive on the register.

Register Type
A setting used to customize available BackOffice and register features based on business type.

Reorder Trigger
A low-quantity limit that, when reached, causes an item to appear on the Inventory Reorder Report.

Reports
The section of BackOffice that contains sales, register activity, and inventory reporting.

Return
A type of transaction used to refund payment to a customer.

S

Safe Drop
A type of payout used to track cash deposits made from the till into a safe or bank.

Sale
A type of transaction used to process a purchase made by a customer.

Sales Channel
A term on the Transactions Report that shows where a transaction was performed or closed: ‘In Store’ (in the Retail POS (S-Series) or Lightspeed Pay (S) app, or via Pay by Link), ‘eCommerce’ (received via Lightspeed eCom (E)), ‘Invoicing’ (via an invoice), or ‘Other’ (in the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app).

Sales Restrictions
Age or quantity-based limits that allow a business to regulate the sale of specific items at the register (e.g. alcohol, vape products, etc).

Sales Summary
An email summarizing the previous day of sales that is sent to the Business Owner early each morning.

Saved Sales
Customer orders that have been saved but not yet closed.

Saved Sales Sync
A feature that allows registers activated on the same Lightspeed Retail store to share saved sales in real time. Saved Sales Sync also securely backs up saved sales (even if using a single device), enables BackOffice reporting on saved sales, and allows saved sales to be closed from the Lightspeed Pay (S) mobile app.

Serverless Sync™
A legacy feature for the Retail POS (S-Series) app for iOS that allows registers on the same network to share saved sales in real time.

Settings (BackOffice)
A section in BackOffice where you can manage your account, store, and register settings.

Settings (iPad)
An iPad app containing recommended settings that help the Retail POS (S-Series) app (for iOS) run effectively, optional settings that customize how the app functions, and iPad system settings.

Setup Checklist
An area of BackOffice that contains a list of the basic tasks necessary to get a Lightspeed Retail account ready to process transactions.

Shift (Register)
The time during which transactions can be processed at the register. Open a register shift at the start of a business day and close it at the end. Also known as a register shift.

Shift (Time Clock)
The time between when an employee clocks in and when they clock out. Also known as a work shift.

ShopKeep Capital by Lightspeed
A service that allows eligible merchants to request a cash advance that can be used toward a variety of business needs.

Lightspeed eCom (E)
A feature that allows you to sell Lightspeed Retail inventory items online.

Lightspeed Label Printing
A feature that allows you to print barcode labels for inventory items, individually or in bulk, from a computer.

Lightspeed Loyalty
A feature that allows you to create a points-based rewards program where customers earn in-store discounts.

Lightspeed Pay (S)
A mobile app for iPhones used to tender and close saved sales started in the Retail POS (S-Series) app and Lightspeed eCom (E) online orders while away from the register, and to process new sales by entering a total amount.

ShopKeep Payments by Lightspeed™
Lightspeed Retail’s integrated payment processor.

Lightspeed Pocket (S)™
A mobile app for iOS and Android devices used to view sales totals, individual sales and returns, and employee clock punches in real time. Merchants who signed up for Lightspeed Retail before February 8, 2021 can also run basic cash and credit sales.

Lightspeed Spotlight
A feature that allows you to manage your business’s online visibility and update information across multiple platforms, such as Facebook and Yelp.

Shortcut
Refers to the button for an inventory item on the shortcuts panel that is used to quickly ring up sales without having to scan or search for the item.

Shortcuts Panel
Refers to the collection of item shortcuts on the register and the BackOffice page used to manage these buttons.

Sign In
To access the register with a register code.

Sign Out
Sign out to lock the register or to sign in as a different user.

SKU
Stock Keeping Unit. A unique identifier automatically created for each item and used to generate barcodes for Lightspeed Label Printing.

Split (Saved Sales)
To separate items from one saved sale into multiple new saved sales.

Split Tender
A feature that enables cashiers to accept multiple payments for a single sale (e.g. half cash and half credit).

Staff
Lightspeed Retail’s term for employees. Track and compare sales performance between staff members with the Sales by Employee report.

Store Code
Another name for SKU, the unique item identifier used for label printing.

Store Name
Lightspeed Retail account name, with no spaces or punctuation.

Suggested Tips
Custom gratuity amounts or percentages appearing on the register or printed receipts.

Supplier
The vendor from whom the business obtains an item. This appears on the Sales by Supplier and Inventory Reorder reports.

Supplier Code or Supplier ID
Any reorder code associated with an item. This appears on the Inventory Reorder report.

System Diagnostics
A section of the Retail POS (S-Series) app containing status information, such as the register’s IP address.

T

Table Layout
A feature that allows you to create a floor plan of your restaurant or bar, view open and seated tables, and start new orders by tapping a table.

Table Layout Sync
A feature that allows registers activated on the same Lightspeed Retail store to share the same table layout. Table Layout Sync also securely backs up the table layout (even if using a single device) and allows the layout to be managed from any register.

Tax Group
A set of multiple tax rates that can be assigned to one or more items.

Tax Rate
Percentage of tax charged on an inventory item. Multiple tax rates can be combined into a tax group which can then be assigned to an item. The Sales by Tax Rate report displays a breakdown of estimated taxes by tax rate over any time period.

Taxable Sales
Sales where tax was charged.

Tender
A customer’s payment method. Also refers to the act of finalizing a transaction at the register.

Ticket or Kitchen Ticket
A paper slip containing items to be prepared for an order that typically prints to a kitchen or bar. Tickets print automatically when a cashier saves or tenders a sale containing items assigned to a ticket printer and can be reprinted if needed.

Ticket Notes
Information entered by the cashier that prints on a ticket.

Time Clock
Area of BackOffice that shows staff clock punch times and total hours worked.

Tip Later
A feature that allows a cashier to authorize a credit card and return to the order at a later time to enter the gratuity left by a customer.

Tips and Signature
The settings that control where customers sign for credit sales (on the register’s screen or on a paper receipt) and if they are prompted to leave a tip.

Track Inventory or Track Quantity on Hand
An inventory setting that determines if BackOffice keeps track of an item’s quantity.

Transaction
A sale or return performed in a Lightspeed Retail app.

Transaction #
A unique 19-digit code found on receipts and transaction exports used to return sales from previous register shifts. Also known as the Receipt Number.

Transaction ID
A unique code on transaction exports that identifies a transaction within the Lightspeed Retail database.

Transactions Report
A BackOffice report listing all sales and returns completed over a date range, all sales currently saved on the Saved Sales screen of registers with Saved Sales Sync enabled, and all open and past due invoices.

Transfer (Saved Sales)
To change which employee has ownership of a saved sale.

U

Unit Priced Item
An item whose final sale price depends on the amount a customer wants. The cashier enters the number of units (lb, oz, ft, etc.) at the register or weighs the item on an integrated scale to automatically enter its weight (Android only).

Update
To install the latest version of an app. Check the latest supported version of the Retail POS (S-Series) app, Lightspeed Pocket (S), and Lightspeed Pay (S) apps here to see if you need to update.

Update Inventory
A feature that allows eligible BackOffice users to add to, remove from, or replace the quantity on hand of inventory items. Adjustments made via Update Inventory can be viewed on the Quantity History Report.

V

Variant
A single SKU within an item with variants.

Void
To remove an item from a saved sale, completely discard a saved sale, or cancel a payment on a split tender sale. Voids from saved sales are tracked in void reporting.

W

Walk-In
The default customer tagged to a transaction if no other customer is selected.

Weighted Average Cost
The default cost calculation method that updates the cost of an item to a weighted average of its current cost and its receiving cost when receiving the item.

Work Shift
The time between when an employee clocks in and when they clock out.

XYZ

X Report
A mid-day summary of register activity printed while the register shift is still open.

Z Report
An end of day summary of register activity printed after the register shift is closed.