Lightspeed Launches New iPad Technology for Interactive Cross-Selling in Retail Stores

The Canadian retail software company LightSpeed has launched a new retail technology for Apple iPads that enables interactive cross-selling in retail stores.

LightSpeed for iPad includes features such as a visual category search, where sales associates can use a new “button mode” to browse through categories of products with customers, enabling cross-selling of related items or accessories, similar to navigating an e-commerce website; customized cross-selling, where sales associates can show customers a list of “related” products that are linked for cross-selling while searching or adding products to the invoice without having to travel to different parts of the store; and iPad checkout, which allows retailers to use the iPad to scan product barcodes and check out items in order to help decrease long checkout lines, according to information provided by the Montreal-based company.

“Raised on Macs, iPhones and iPads, today’s i-generation consumers have become accustomed to shopping online from their couch, easily navigating through product selections and comparing prices across the Web,” said Dax Dasilva, founder and chief executive officer of LightSpeed. “Borrowing from the e-commerce playbook, we are introducing new features to LightSpeed for iPad to help retailers bring the access, value and speed of the online shopping experience into the store through engaging customer interactions.”

In addition to the potential to increase sales, the software also provides a more fluid customer experience where customers can preview all related product information in one place, according to a company statement.

LightSpeed scans inventory, details products not shown on the selling floor, and includes a “show-and-tell” feature, which enables sales associates to share expanded product details and enlarged images. It also has the ability to invoice products with a single touch, process credit card payments, accept signatures on-screen, and email or wirelessly print receipts.

LightSpeed for iPad app is available as a free download through the iTunes App Store, but it requires a LightSpeed server, as well as one available user license per iPad client.

The company has nearly 10,000 retailers in more than 30 countries that are using LightSpeed—including Adidas, Nike, Vespa and Nordstrom’s Treasure and Bond store—and it recently received $30 million in funding from Accel Partners, the Palo Alto, Calif.–based venture-capital firm behind Facebook, Groupon, Angry Birds and Spotify.—D.C.