Lightspeed Commerce is launching a software interface to help brick-and-mortar retailers better understand how their online advertisements on Facebook and Instagram are driving in-store purchases.
The Canada-based point of sale and software company said in a recent statement that it is launching what it calls Lightspeed with Meta Conversions API, which stands for application programming interface.
Founded in 2005, Lightspeed powers businesses in retail, golf and hospitality in over 100 countries. Its apparel retail clients include luxury menswear brand Todd Snyder New York and lifestyle brand Cynthia Rowley.
Lightspeed said many physical retailers recognize the influence of digital marketing on in-store traffic, but it is difficult to quantify. Often, companies would gauge this impact through clicks or site visits, but not necessarily in-store purchases.
“Retailers have always known that online ads influence what happens inside their stores, but they didn’t necessarily have a clear way to measure it,” said Dax Dasilva, founder and chief executive officer of Lightspeed, in a statement. “With this integration, we’re finally closing that gap.”
“We’re giving brick-and-mortar merchants access to attribution and advertising intelligence that was once reserved for large e-commerce players. This integration shows exactly how digital engagement can drive physical results and empower retailers to grow with confidence in an increasingly complex landscape,” he added.
With the new interface, retail merchants can connect their stores directly to Meta, automatically sync their in-store product catalog, and securely send point-of-sale transactions into Meta Conversions API.
This would help them run smarter and more targeted campaigns to gain a picture of their return on ad spend. No online store or complex setup required, Lightspeed said. The company said this is one of the first solutions designed specifically to give brick-and-mortar retailers a direct connection between physical store data and Meta advertising.
According to its official website, connecting a store’s point-of-sale system to Meta allows the ads to learn from real in-store activity, making them more targeted to both existing and new customers who may be similar to the in-store buyers.
The integration also reduces the manual work many retailers previously faced. Instead of exporting and formatting spreadsheets, this automatically syncs product catalogs and transaction data.
While this is especially helpful for retailers without any e-commerce site, this can also be beneficial for omnichannel merchants that already advertise on Meta.
Physical-store-only retailers will be able to use Facebook and Instagram to promote in-stock items, retarget local audiences, and measure how many in-store sales are generated by their ads.
On the other hand, omnichannel merchants with existing advertisements on Meta will still benefit from getting a better view of a store’s performance. With in-store transactions flowing directly to the API, campaign reporting becomes more accurate and AI from Meta can optimize ads based on cross-channel revenue, Lightspeed said.
