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AI and automation for retailers with shops

AI for retailers, as we build it, works on the systems your shops already run: the EPOS, the rota, the accounts and the supplier paperwork. Our retail software development joins them, so a delivery, a transfer or a shift change is entered once and every branch sees it. AI reads, sorts and drafts; a named person checks.

Most retail sales are still not made online: the ONS put online at 28.8% of retail sales in Great Britain in September 2026. This page is for independent and multi-site retailers with tills, stockrooms, shop floors and staff on shifts.

Start a projectWhat we would build

Where the time goes

  • Stock that matches the shelf

    Loss, damage and keying errors pull the EPOS figure away from the shelf, and Square's documentation says a physical count overrides the computed one. Between branches, a Lightspeed transfer goes from open to sent to received, each step a job for someone in a shop.

  • Buying and goods in

    Lightspeed's stock API names the jobs: supplier orders, transfers between outlets, returns to suppliers and stocktakes. Then each delivery's packing slip or invoice is entered line by line, the step Lightspeed's AI receiving tool, launched in beta in March 2026, turns into a draft purchase order.

  • Rotas and shift changes

    Since 6 April 2026, statutory sick pay has had no waiting period, so a sick call changes payroll as well as the rota. For zero-hours and similar contracts, the Employment Rights Act 2025 adds rights to reasonable notice of shifts and pay for short-notice changes, with dates set after the 2026 consultation.

  • Returns at the till

    Goods not of satisfactory quality, unfit for purpose or not as described can be rejected within 30 days under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, with the refund due within 14 days of agreeing it. In the shop, a change-of-mind return is your own policy, and staff need to know which is which.

  • Loss, incidents and CCTV

    The BRC's 2026 crime report estimates 5.45 million customer theft incidents in the year to August 2025, and over 1,600 incidents of violence and abuse a day. Each report needs the footage found, the items counted and the crime reference kept.

The systems you already run

  • Lightspeed Retail (X-Series)

    A documented API for stock by outlet, supplier orders, transfers and stocktakes. Personal tokens for a custom app need the Plus plan. Lightspeed advises polling, not webhooks alone, to keep systems in sync.

  • Square

    The Inventory API tracks stock per location and by state, such as in stock, sold or waste, and a webhook fires, naming the location, whenever a count changes.

  • Shopify POS

    The GraphQL Admin API keeps one inventory level per item per location. In POS, staff prepare online orders for pickup from a Pickup all items tile, notify the customer and mark them picked up.

  • Epos Now

    Its API, used through a back-office API device, handles stock by location, transfers and purchase orders, but cannot create locations. Its webhooks are in beta, with a few events.

  • Deputy and other rota tools

    Deputy documents webhooks for published rosters, open shifts, timesheets and leave, so a rota change can reach payroll and the shops.

What we would build

  • One stock picture, every branch

    Counts from your EPOS by location in one view, with computed and counted stock compared per branch. Before reordering, it suggests transfers from shops holding too much, for the buyer to approve.

  • Reorders and goods in

    Draft purchase orders per supplier from sales, stock and open orders. When the delivery comes, its packing slip is matched to the order, and short or wrong lines go to the buyer before stock is booked in.

  • Returns and incident records

    A returns screen that records the reason, checks the 30 days from the sale and refunds to the original payment method. Incidents logged with time, items, footage and police reference, and footage held when a request covers it.

  • Rotas and shelf-edge labels

    Rota drafts from sales by hour and staff availability, with each change and its notice recorded. Each price change queues a shelf-edge label for every branch that stocks the item, with its unit price and any loyalty price.

Where AI helps

AI should not refuse a refund, make an age check, publish a rota or accuse anyone of theft. Facial recognition involves biometric data and, in most cases the ICO has seen, special category data. The ICO expects a DPIA for every deployment and a way to record false match rates. A named manager decides.

  • Reading packing slips and invoices into a draft receipt against the purchase order, with goods-in staff checking the count.
  • Drafting weekly reorders and transfers by branch, with the buyer approving each one. Lightspeed's AI does this in beta inside Lightspeed; we build it where stock sits across systems.

How we would start

We would start with buying for one supplier group across your branches. We map how orders are decided today and connect your EPOS API to read sales, stock and open orders by location. The first version drafts weekly reorders and transfers per branch for your buyer to edit and approve, then posts them back to the EPOS.

That first stage, the design and a written scope, typically takes one to three weeks. Like every stage, its price is fixed and agreed before it starts, and you can stop after it. How a project runs

Rules we build around

The software keeps the records these ask for. The duties stay with you.

  • Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 19, 20 and 22

    Faulty, unfit or misdescribed goods can be rejected within 30 days, or less for perishables. The refund is due within 14 days of the trader agreeing it, by the same means of payment unless the customer agrees otherwise, with no fee.

  • Price Marking Order 2004, as amended from 6 April 2026

    In Great Britain, prices clearly legible, in a clear font of reasonable size, close to the product. A product with a loyalty or other second price shows each selling price and unit price, with the conditions. Shops with up to 280 square metres of sales floor need no unit price on constant-quantity prepacks.

  • Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026; Licensing Act 2003 conditions

    Since 29 October 2026, all vapes and nicotine products are for people aged 18 or over. From 1 January 2027, tobacco, herbal smoking products and cigarette papers cannot be sold to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. In England and Wales, alcohol needs an age verification policy, which may accept registered digital ID since 15 September 2026.

  • UK GDPR and the ICO's video surveillance guidance

    A request for footage is answered within one month, with other people redacted, and the ICO advises pausing routine deletion of footage it covers. The guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act.

Questions

Will you replace our EPOS?

Usually not. Lightspeed, Square, Shopify and Epos Now all document APIs for stock by location, and we build on those. Where your EPOS already does a job well, we use it and build only the joins it lacks.

Should we buy an AI tool instead?

Often, yes. Some AI in retail now comes inside the EPOS: Square AI is available to UK sellers and answers questions about your sales, and Lightspeed AI, in beta, prepares purchase orders and transfers for approval. Inventory Planner forecasts demand by product across stores. We build when your data sits in several systems.

How will the Employment Rights Act change our rotas?

For zero-hours and similar contracts, it brings rights to reasonable notice of shifts and to pay when a shift is cancelled, cut short or moved at short notice. Details and dates will follow a consultation that closed on 25 August 2026. A rota that records when each shift was offered and changed is ready either way.

Will our tills cope with the new tobacco rule?

From 1 January 2027 the check is whether a date of birth falls before 1 January 2009, not an age, and GOV.UK says retailers need not calculate one. We would set the till prompt to ask exactly that and record refusals. Regulations on verification steps outside Scotland are still to come.

Related

Other industries: Online retailers, Hotels and restaurants, Logistics and haulage.

Sources

Every rule, date and figure on this page comes from the sources below, checked on 31 October 2026. Rules change: check anything that matters with the source or your adviser.

The 30 sources

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