Pain point 01
Two screens, two payments, one frustrated customer.
You take the appointment in Square Appointments. The customer pays at a separate Square Register. The two don't share state until end-of-day.
Service Providers
Appointments and checkout, finally on the same data.
When the appointment ends, the check is already half-built. Ring the customer up from the chair via the handheld surface — no walking them to a stationary terminal. Work-order custom fields capture vehicle VIN / license plate / pet name without bolt-on tools.
The problem
What this industry actually struggles with.
Pain point 02
Service performer attribution is a payroll headache.
Three stylists worked the appointment. Today's commission tracking lives on a spreadsheet your manager fills out at end-of-week. Track who-did-what via custom fields on every line — formal commission-engine wiring lands in a future Commerce OS phase.
Pain point 03
Work orders live on paper or sticky notes.
Vehicle make / model / VIN. Pet name + breed + behavior notes. Customer preferences. Today they're hand-written on the back of a receipt.
The platform
What Commerce OS gives you for this industry.
Every feature below ships with every plan. No add-on per-vertical SKU, no separate license, no integration tax.
- Appointment-linked checkout (book → arrive → check auto-builds)
- Handheld ring-from-the-chair — no walking the customer to a stationary terminal
- Custom fields on customers, orders, and order lines (Shopify-metafield-style) — track service performer + commission % per line
- Work-order terminology overrides ("Work Order" instead of "Order", "Client" instead of "Customer")
- Service-duration tracking baked into every appointment + service product
- Customer history + recurring appointments + lifetime-value reporting
“We're collecting real merchant testimonials during pilot. We'd rather earn the quote than fabricate it.”
vs. the competition
How Commerce OS compares.
Industry-specific capabilities side-by-side with the category leaders. Notes describe the structure of each gap, not point-in-time pricing.
| Capability | Commerce OS | Toast | Square | Lightspeed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appointment-linked checkout (book → check auto-builds) | ✓ | — | ▲Square Appointments + Register (separate apps) | ▲Lightspeed Restaurant only |
| Handheld ring-from-the-chair (no walking to a terminal) | ✓ | ▲Restaurant handheld only | ▲Square Reader works but no service-provider UX | ▲Lightspeed Restaurant handheld only |
| Custom fields on customers + orders + lines | ✓ | — | — | ▲Customer fields only |
| Per-vertical terminology ("Work Order", "Client") | ✓Configurable per-org | — | — | — |
Appointment-linked checkout (book → check auto-builds)
- Commerce OS
- ✓Included
- Toast
- —Not offered
- Square
- ▲Square Appointments + Register (separate apps)
- Lightspeed
- ▲Lightspeed Restaurant only
Handheld ring-from-the-chair (no walking to a terminal)
- Commerce OS
- ✓Included
- Toast
- ▲Restaurant handheld only
- Square
- ▲Square Reader works but no service-provider UX
- Lightspeed
- ▲Lightspeed Restaurant handheld only
Custom fields on customers + orders + lines
- Commerce OS
- ✓Included
- Toast
- —Not offered
- Square
- —Not offered
- Lightspeed
- ▲Customer fields only
Per-vertical terminology ("Work Order", "Client")
- Commerce OS
- ✓Configurable per-org
- Toast
- —Not offered
- Square
- —Not offered
- Lightspeed
- —Not offered
Comparison reflects publicly-documented capabilities as of May 2026. Vendor pricing + add-on names change frequently — we describe the structural gap rather than dollar figures so the comparison stays honest as competitors evolve. Have a spec correction? Tell us.
Stop running your service business on three screens.
Talk to our team about a pilot. We'll help map your current booking flow into Commerce OS without losing Saturday's schedule.