Shopify vs. Lightspeed eCom

Compare how Shopify and Lightspeed eCom differ to learn which ecommerce platform is better suited for your online store.

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In the world of online retail, choosing the right ecommerce platform is crucial for the success of your business. This guide will help you compare Shopify and Lightspeed eCom, focusing on the essentials that will impact the performance and scalability of your online store. Discover which platform offers the simplicity, functionalities, and pricing best suited to your ecommerce goals.

Identify Your Ecommerce Needs

Before diving into the specifics of Shopify and Lightspeed eCom, it's important to outline your ecommerce requirements. Are you just looking for a minimalistic platform to quickly launch your online store, or do you need a comprehensive solution that can handle a variety of areas such as inventory management, taxing, and selling subscriptions? Understanding your objectives will guide you in determining which features are critical for your business.

Each ecommerce platform, whether Shopify or Lightspeed eCom, comes with its unique set of capabilities. Knowing exactly what you need will save you time and resources to ensure you're not paying for unnecessary features or lacking critical functionality.

To help you not miss out on any key considerations, we've compiled a list of the most important aspects to evaluate when choosing an ecommerce platform for your unique requirements.

Key Areas to Evaluate and Consider

  • Features: Most ecommerce platforms offer similar basic features. However, if you go one step further and look at more comprehensive core functions in online retail, you will quickly notice significant differences. Ask yourself how important functionalities such as inventory and returns management are, how many products you want to sell in the long term, and how many people need access to your online store.
  • Technical Specifications: If you want to launch your online store as quickly as possible with minimal technical effort, pay attention to what is included. Not all platforms come with hosting and an integrated CDN. However, if you want to control these things yourself, you may want to look for a platform that doesn’t include these.
  • International Selling: For the case that you’re planning to sell your products outside of your country, consider the availability of offering different currencies and creating different language versions of your store. Also, evaluate the importance of automated localization and taxation. It ensures that customers land on the correct version for their country and that taxes are automatically calculated according to their country of origin.
  • Pricing: It’s not all about the monthly or annual subscription costs, but also about what’s included in the price (features, hosting, etc.), which additional fees come with it such as for transactions, and costs for third-party apps or extensions. You must understand the total cost of ownership and how it scales with your business growth. As for growth, remember that the more sales you make, the more important lower transaction costs become.
  • Ease of Use: The platform's overall user experience can significantly impact your ability to manage your online store efficiently. If it is important to you to find a simple solution, look at the ease of use score we give at the top as a reference for the learning curve you can expect. Keep in mind that some providers can have a lower score due to a larger range of functionalities which naturally makes them more complex.
  • Security: Online security is paramount, not only for protecting your business data but also for safeguarding your customers' information. Check which security precautions a provider should have out of the box and which you can take care of yourself or do without.
  • Integrations: The ability to integrate with other software and services can extend the functionality of your ecommerce platform and streamline your business processes. Check for integrations with your primary social media channels, email marketing software, marketplaces, and apps that can greatly simplify your work.
  • Support: The level and quality of customer support provided by a platform can make a big difference, especially when you encounter issues or have questions. As a reference for the scope and quality of the providers' support, you can find their support score at the top.

Before you start comparing in detail, take a moment to rank these areas according to their importance to you. Ideally, also write down which specific functionalities you absolutely need. It will help you to make an informed decision without being subjectively influenced.

Making Your Decision

Weigh the pros and cons of Shopify and Lightspeed eCom against your ecommerce requirements. The right choice should not only offer a competitive price but also align with your needs by providing the necessary features and tools to deliver a great shopping experience and make it easy to manage your online store.

If you're still undecided after the comparison, consider taking advantage of any free plans and trials. Experiencing the platforms firsthand can offer valuable insights into which platform is more intuitive and better suited to your ecommerce needs.

For more options to consider, explore our Best Picks for Ecommerce Platforms to see the top-rated solutions across the market.

You prefer a personalized recommendation based on your specific situation? Then head over to our Finder Tool, which will help you identify the right ecommerce platform for your needs.

FAQs

Is there a Lightspeed Shopify integration?

Yes, Lightspeed integrates with Shopify. It offers a robust two-way sync between your in-store point-of-sale and your Shopify online store. Best of all, you can connect your stores without writing any code. With this integration, you can:

  • Manage products, variants, and stock in one place (Lightspeed), and have everything sync automatically to Shopify.
  • Get real-time inventory updates. Adjustments in store or online are reflected every ~30 minutes or instantly when a sale occurs.
  • Sync customers and orders. Online orders appear in Lightspeed as POS orders, updating customer records automatically.
  • Centralize reporting, with sales data, customer behavior, and inventory metrics from all channels rolling up into Lightspeed reports.

This integration is available for Pro, Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, Core, and Plus plans. Just link your Shopify store via an app and select your syncing preferences. There are official Lightspeed integrations within Lightspeed, as well as other middleware and sync tools available.

Lightspeed will remain your main system, so make all changes there, not in Shopify. This keeps your data clean and prevents sync problems.

Can I migrate from Lightspeed to Shopify?

Yes, you can move your entire business from Lightspeed to Shopify. Many businesses have successfully made the switch.

The core data that powers your business transfers over, including:

  • Product listings with all details
  • Customer list with purchase history
  • Order and sales history
  • Product categories and organizational structure

Website design, custom features, and certain specific settings do not transfer. These will need to be rebuilt in Shopify.

To make the move, you’ll need to:

  1. Set up your Shopify store by choosing a plan and customizing your theme and basic settings.
  2. Export data from Lightspeed. You can do this using Shopify’s Store Importer App, which supports direct imports from Lightspeed. Larger stores may prefer using paid tools that offer one-click migration, like LitExtension or Matrixify. You could also manually export a CSV of your products and customers and upload them to Shopify.
  3. Reconnect any services or apps you were using to run your Shopify store, such as payment gateways and tax settings.

Pro tip: Run both systems in parallel for a month. This safety net ensures nothing falls through the cracks during the switch.

What's the difference between Lightspeed vs. Shopify as a POS?

Both Shopify and Lightspeed offer powerful point-of-sale (POS) systems, but they serve different business types and needs.

Lightspeed POS is designed for complex retail and hospitality businesses. It’s ideal for multi-location operations, with features like advanced inventory management, vendor tracking, purchase order creation, table/kitchen management (for restaurants), and deep analytics. It’s especially strong in high-volume, brick-and-mortar environments.

Shopify POS, on the other hand, is built for omnichannel sellers who want to manage both in-store and online sales from one system. It’s easier to use, faster to set up, and comes included with any Shopify plan. Products, customers, and reports sync seamlessly between online and in-person channels.

Shopify also excels at international ecommerce, offering multi-currency (150+ currencies) and multi-language support for storefronts. While Lightspeed supports multiple currencies and languages as well, Shopify’s ecommerce-first foundation gives it the edge for global selling.

In short, choose Lightspeed for advanced retail or restaurant operations. Go with Shopify POS for an easy-to-use, integrated solution for online and offline sales, especially if you're selling across borders.