From Whakatane to the World: Tomorrow’s First Steps with Lightspeed

Tomorrow is an emerging force for women’s fashion in Whakatane in New Zealand’s Bay Of Plenty.

They needed a POS platform that could meet the needs of where they wanted the business to go, while having tech that was accessible enough so as the learning curve wasn’t so steep as to hinder their aspirations.

That’s why Tomorrow chose Lightspeed.

We sat down with Erika Scholtens, Owner of Tomorrow to talk about their Lightspeed experience.

“They said they use Lightspeed and they love it.”

When Erika opened Tomorrow, she knew that the right POS platform would play a crucial role in their operations, and from the off, Lightspeed provided the human touch that she was looking for.

“My friend owns the surf store in Whakatane, and I went and asked the girls that work there what point of sale they use and if they recommend it. They said they use Lightspeed and they love it.”

Erika was pleasantly surprised by how easy the onboarding process was, which made her feel confident in her choice right from the start.

“The onboarding was really great. The people were really human about it, not going, ‘You need to buy this, I’ll give you this deal, I’ll do this.’ They just answered my questions because I had so many things that I needed the platform to do.”

“You don’t have to do days of training.”

For Erika, one of the biggest advantages of choosing Lightspeed is how easy it is to train new staff, no matter their level of experience. From day one, the system’s simplicity helped her and her team get up and running quickly, without the need for any tedious training sessions.

“You don’t have to do days of training to try and make someone learn how to use the point of sale system,” Erika said. “It’s just so straightforward.”

The user-friendly design of Lightspeed also meant that even casual staff members could jump in and manage operations without missing a beat.

“I just think it’s so user-friendly. You can bring in casual staff and they’ll know how to use it straight away, especially like young people. They could work it out by themselves if they wanted to.”

“It’s doing everything I need it to do.”

Starting a new business meant watching every penny, and for Erika, Lightspeed’s free website builder was a game-changer. It allowed her to get the online store up and running without adding extra costs during those crucial early months.

“So (the website) is free, and that was really a selling point for me because it’s doing everything I need it to do, so that was a really good thing for me to be able to cut costs, especially the first year,” Erika explained.

As Tomorrow’s operations grew, Erika also appreciated how seamlessly the online and in-store systems worked together, ensuring accurate stock management across both channels.

“Well, the handy thing is, online and in-store talk to each other, so when something sells online, it takes it out of stock and I can’t miss the email.”

“It just makes you feel a little bit special.”

For Erika, connecting Lightspeed with Marsello was essential in building Tomorrow’s loyalty program. This integration helped her engage with non-local customers and encourage them to continue shopping online, keeping that long-term relationship with a wider audience intact.

“It integrated with Marsello really easily. That was great because we really need that to hold our out-of-towner consumer to keep buying online,” Erika said.

Erika also designed the loyalty program to feel truly rewarding to the customers that deserved it most, adopting a structure that made customers feel more valued as they spent more.

“I just wanted to be mine to be a bit more of a tier system and feel like you're winning when you spend more. You're like, if I spend that, I'll get this. It just makes you feel a little bit special.”