Real-life robbers might not be impressed by the business software used to run a major retail chain, but a preroll ad from Lightspeed POS suggests it would be a crime not to invest in it.
The 40-second preroll spot, which began running on YouTube earlier this month, starts with what looks like a very serious, dramatic moment where thieves wearing balaclavas and panyhose over their heads burst into a clothing outlet. As is common in such crimes, they yell at customers to get down on the ground while demanding the hapless retail clerk to hand over money. That’s when they get a surprise “testimonial” of sorts — one so compelling it leads to their arrest.
Describing itself as a vendor for “small to medium-sized businesses with big ambitions,” Montreal-based Lightspeed offers applications for both retailers as well as those in the restaurant sectors. Besides payments and accounting features, the firm also says it offers inventory tracking tools, analytics and e-commerce capabilities for firms to set up online shopping carts.
Lightspeed went public last month after raising some $300 million, and according to a story on VentureBeat is competing with the likes of Shopify, Square and other more traditional POS vendors such as Toast and TouchBistro.
