I was surprised to learn from a recent survey of Australian newsagents that fewer than half used the reports available in their point-of-sale systems, potentially costing them revenue. Running a small retail business is hard. You face rising costs, online competition, and slim margins. To succeed today, retailers need to use data to make smart choices.

A good computer system used adequately for information is said to be worth to the business 1%; if you want to see what that translates to the business, check out these figures I did for a hairdresser in a previous post here.

The figures were based on an ATO benchmark study

Bottom line: This business could get a 25% increase in profit with just a 1% improvement. That is pretty impressive.

And with our POS Software, you have the tool to do this sort of analysis free. Now, why are not many of our clients not doing this?

Know what products sell and when

Do you know your top 10 sellers but unit sales and profit?

Do you know what sold last year about now in your shop?

Do you know your most profitable product lines?

The computer does, and if you ask it, it will tell you.

Inventory

Identify Dead Stock

Slow-moving products tie up money and space. Sales pinpoint your "dead stock" for examination.

Forecast Needs

Use our advanced AI models to estimate future demand based on past sales, events, promotions, and other factors. This helps ensure adequate stock levels without excess inventory reducing stockouts while maintaining lean inventories.

Focus on Top Suppliers

Use the computer to identify your most profitable suppliers. See what is working and what does not work. This maximizes sales and profits.

Know Your Customers Better

Today's retailers' computers do collect lots of customer data:

• Purchase history from POS systems

• If you run a loyalty program, profiles and shopping habits

These analytics help turn your customer data into valuable insights for better decisions. 

Harness the Power of Price

We have reports that can identify your price points. This allows you to find out what sort of items sell in your shop to make optimal price points to maximize revenue and margins.

Refine Promotions

You can study how previous promotions worked in your shop. This avoids margin-busting promotions.

Personalize Messages

Powerful analytics delivers individualized content across channels based on interests, preferences, and intent.

Improve Delivery Efficiency

The POS System has a very effective delivery system for faster and more accurate routing.

Strategically Grow Your Business with POS Solutions

Our point-of-sale (POS) system is a strategic solution for growing your business. It provides invaluable insights through powerful data analytics, robust inventory control, customer relationship-building capabilities, and integrated employee management tools.

Gain Valuable Business Insights
Real-time sales reports give visibility into top items, busiest times, and buyer habits. Use this data to make smart inventory, pricing, and marketing decisions that boost profits.

Manage Inventory with Ease
Track stock levels, set automatic reorders, and receive alerts about low items. Avoid stockouts and overstocking by keeping the right products in stock for customers.

Build Loyal Customer Relationships
Capture customer profiles, transaction histories, and preferences to deliver personalized service. Nurture loyalty through targeted campaigns that increase repeat visits.

Optimize Employee Performance
Schedule shifts, monitor hours worked, and evaluate sales performance with built-in tools. Right-size staffing and recognize top performers to maximize productivity.

Unify Online and In-Store Operations
Connect seamlessly to major e-commerce platforms for centralized inventory and order management across channels. Simplify operations and gain a cohesive view of multichannel sales.

The Data-Driven Path to Growth

Today's complex retail environment demands more than instinct and experience. Advanced analytics decodes market trends, optimizes operations, and maximizes results. With data providing timely, actionable insights, small retailers can make strategic decisions with confidence.

The possibilities are endless, but retailers should start by identifying key problem areas and challenges. Next, explore potential analytics solutions and build a business case. With executive support, implement a few targeted applications first, then expand over time.

A strong data foundation is crucial. Combining analytics experts with retail veterans enables impactful business insights. Continual innovation and openness to new techniques keep retailers ahead.

The right strategy and technology provide an enduring competitive advantage. Analytics unlocks scalable growth unbound by human limitations. When embedded across operations, small retailers can compete at the highest levels. The future of retail success is quantitative. Facts and data lead the way.

Please start your data-driven journey today.

We are always trying to improve things, so we are forever rearranging your existing space to improve. This can be an exciting but also challenging time. If you muck it up, you may need to call an engineer to fix it. That may cost you time and money.

Besides, your point of sale (POS) system is the heartbeat of your business operations, so moving it successfully is critical to avoiding disruptions while you do your POS system relocation.

Follow these tips to make sure your POS register and hardware transition smoothly to the new space:

Map Out Your New POS Setup

Before moving day, visit your new location and figure out exactly where you want your POS register and other hardware to be situated. Check your cables are long enough, and ensure you have enough space for all the devices, e.g. printers, cash draw, etc. The more you work out in advance, the better it will be.

Take a few photos

Do not be shy, take many photos. If something goes wrong, those photos will be really appreciated. 

Label Cables and Ports

As you’re disconnecting devices in your existing space, be sure to label each cable and note what port it was plugged into.

Clearly, labelling cables will help immensely when reconnecting everything in the new location. You want to avoid plugging devices into the wrong ports or having a tangled mess of cables without knowing what’s connected to what.

Some tips for labelling cables and ports:

• Use masking tape or printed labels that won’t come off quickly.
• Note the device name, port number/location, and what it was plugged into.

Back-Up Your POS System

Before moving equipment, do a full system backup of your POS software. It is good advice before doing anything to your hardware. Rarely have I seen anyone upset with having too many backups.

Treat your Hardware Safely

If you move them a fair distance, carefully pack them up to avoid damage in transit.

Schedule Vendor Support for Installation

Try not to do anything after hours or weekends. In an emergency, if you need help, if available, just in case. As a rule, I say do such tasks from Tuesday to Thursday.

Shut Down the POS Server and Devices Safely

This is important. Switch off everything before disconnecting and moving the devices from the power and data cables.

Test Connections at the New Location

At your new location, set up your POS register in stages:

• Get your POS server and networking hardware like routers and access points connected first.
• Slowly connect POS devices one at a time, testing after each.
• Verify connections by processing practice sales before going live.

Taking it slow helps isolate any connectivity issues or bad cables. Testing with practice transactions ensures your setup is operational before real customer use.

Conclusion for moving a POS System to a New Location

Moving your business can be hectic, but careful planning and preparation will ensure your POS system transitions smoothly without impacting operations.

Halloween is just around the corner, so unfortunately, much of this information that they sent me today has come too late for most of you to action. Sorry but trust me, it's not my fault. Still, it might help some of you to position your Halloween costumes if you sell them.

It will also give you some ideas of what the public is thinking. After analyzing 2023 predictions from major costume companies, here is a breakdown of the 27 hottest Halloween costume ideas for kids, adults, groups, couples, and pets.

Barbie Movie Costumes, and Video Games Dominate

Taking the #1 spot this year is Barbie! The iconic Mattel doll turned movie star is set to be the most popular costume for Halloween 2023. No doubt this is largely due to the hugely successful Barbie movie that was just released.

Interestingly besides Barbie, many of the other top costumes this year draw came from recent popular movies like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and others. Others from video games such as Princess Peach and Mortal Kombat ninjas. This confirms what people have told me pop culture has a massive influence on Halloween costume ideas.

The trouble with this sort of stuff is that yes, Barbie is good this year, but if you do not sell it soon, you will be stuck with items difficult to sell. 

Old Faithful Costume Ideas

While pop culture always adds fresh new costume ideas into the mix, you can’t go wrong with the classics. Occupying spots #4 through #11 in the rankings are costumes that are popular every Halloween:

• #4 Witch
• #5 Fairy
• #7 Dinosaur
• #8 Cowboy
• #10 Bunny
• #11 Rabbit

You cannot go wrong with these guys.

For people like us operating in a dynamic and competitive landscape, providing exceptional customer service and support is our key differentiator. So, our support team works hard to respond to client questions, troubleshoot issues, and ensure our point-of-sale (POS) software enables their success. So, when we heard about AI conversation bots that could potentially assist our support team, we were eager to test this emerging technology.

After developing our own AI chatbot prototype and trialling it on actual customer queries, we found there are indeed limitations with AI support today.

We feed it thousands of our customers' queries.

Depending on who accessed its answers, we got these disputed scores. I say disputed as some judges were much more negative than others. This is a consensus score, not an individual view.

- Approximately 23% of the chatbot responses were largely to wholly accurate. These tended to be the stuff that our support staff felt were things they knew well and would have little trouble doing without AI.

- 50% were partially correct but lacked vital details. 

- 15% were unclear due to poorly phrased customer questions. This is a common problem that those who ask questions in the real world to get accurate information need to know much. Rubbish in = Rubbish out.

- 10% were utterly wrong.

Our AI chatbot clearly has room for improvement before it goes live.

However, AI can still provide value when implemented correctly by augmenting our support team’s capabilities. 

Why AI struggles with complex support queries

Through our testing process, we gained insight into factors that limit AI chatbots’ capabilities for software support:

1. Insufficient training data

Like humans, AI systems require extensive ‘practice’ through training data to become highly skilled at specific tasks. Our prototype only had access to a thousand pre-recorded customer support calls from which to learn - this is far too little data to fully grasp the complexity and nuances of troubleshooting what is our system probably the most advanced POS software in Australia.

2. Incomplete understanding of context and ambiguity

Humans draw upon years of world knowledge and experience when interpreting language. AI chatbots currently lack this contextual awareness, so they struggle to clarify vague questions and handle ambiguities. Our clients have a range of English knowledge; some know plenty, we have clients with doctorates and some that barely speak English. So 15% of customer queries stumped our chatbot due to unclear wording that we could easily interpret.

3. Inability to grasp nuanced domain knowledge

POS software is feature-rich and built to handle intricate retailer needs. Most AI systems today would need explicit training to comprehend the industry-specific terminology, workflows, exceptions, integrations, and technical considerations involved. Without directly relevant domain training, the chatbot’s knowledge gaps led it to miss critical details in 50% of test cases.

Best practices for implementation

While the technology still has maturing to do, useful AI assistance is within reach by following guiding principles for implementation:

Ensure sufficient high-quality training data

For accurate learning, training datasets must cover each type of support scenario the AI may encounter. Data should be cleanly recorded without errors that could propagate misleading information. The problem here is that our information is real, and in the real world information with errors is common.

Provide ongoing human feedback.

Humans must continually verify and correct the AI’s responses, allowing its knowledge to evolve through feedback over months and years. This human-in-the-loop oversight is critical. This will take a lot of work.

The future role of AI in customer support

Though AI chatbots cannot wholly substitute for human support staff at this stage, we see bright possibilities for AI assistance going forward:

• Handling high volumes of repetitive queries - Freeing support staff to focus on higher-level, more complex problem-solving for customers.

• Providing 24/7 self-service - Enabling customers to access basic troubleshooting after hours when support staff are offline.

• Supporting human agents - Assisting our support staff with knowledge lookup, documentation, and tracing issues.

While AI support today is imperfect, we are excited by its prospects through careful implementation. Over the next several years, we aim to refine our chatbot to be an invaluable teammate for our human support staff - combining the best human and machine capabilities to deliver exceptional customer assistance. With a spirit of experimentation and patience, as this emerging technology matures, we know that AI promises to improve customer service.

Let me know if you are interested in learning more because this is really interesting stuff.

Right now, Australia's specialised chocolate industry is booming.

The Australian chocolate Market is anticipated to project robust growth during the forecast period on account of rising health awareness, rising disposable income, and rising demand for chocolates among children. .. Moreover, among the key factors influencing the growth of the chocolate market in Australia are consumer healthy choices and the rising demand for premium chocolates.

Here is a list of some advantages of considering these specialist chocolates in your shop, the big one, little discussed is positioning.

-Halloween is coming up, and so is Christmas, and what one product do they have in common: massive chocolate sales? Just about any marketing season or occasion has massive increases in chocolate sales in retail. People buy chocolates for birthdays, engagements, anniversaries, etc. Almost all holiday season provides significant opportunities for chocolate sales in retail

- Chocolate is an easy, profitable product to add for holidays with solid margins

- The product lines are relatively easy to handle. Your POS System can handle them now. For most suppliers, our systems can import directly the chocolate lines into your POS Software.

- Specialty/artisanal chocolates help small shops stand out from supermarkets as a retailer can pick a brand that the large retailers in their area do not handle. Carrying unique holiday chocolate varieties from local/niche makers delights and attracts customers

- Plenty of impulse purchases from customers not planning to buy chocolate

Positioning

Effective merchandising is vital to maximising sales and profits for retailers looking to add high-quality, artisanal chocolates to their product range. Unlike mass-market chocolate bars in every supermarket, high-specialty chocolates rely on careful positioning and promotion to capture their target audience. Here are some best practices for small shops to showcase unique chocolate offerings.

Place Specialty Chocolates in Secondary Locations

The most apparent, central areas of a store with the most foot traffic are best reserved for faster turnover essentials like snacks, beverages and impulse purchases. Specialty chocolates don’t necessarily need to occupy prime real estate since their buyers intentionally seek them out. They are tucking chocolate displays into a secondary nook that rewards those willing to explore. Discerning chocolate shoppers appreciate browsing interesting selections in a tucked-away section of the shop rather than crowded front shelves. They can use relatively dead areas in your shop.

Visual Appeal with Packaging

Part of chocolate’s appeal is visual. These chocolates come in beautiful packaging, glossy wrappers and box designs. You can arrange packaged chocolates of varying sizes and shapes for an abundance effect. 

Conclusion

With specialty chocolate, small details in presentation and positioning make a significant difference in sales outcomes. When introducing high-quality chocolate lines, consider optimal placement and creative promotion. The effort pays off in delighted customers and profitable returns.

As a businessman, we all face no shortage of tasks that demand our time and attention. Managing inventory, handling customer service, marketing your products, keeping the books - the list goes on and on. With so many responsibilities and only so many hours in the day, how do you decide what to focus on and when?

The most popular and best method I have found is prioritization, it is in your Pos Software now

Here I will discuss how it works and how it can benefit your retail operation.

Overview of the P0-P4 Framework

Tasks are listed; they can be on paper or in your diary, but nowadays, most people use some software. I find Google Calendar practical, which is free. However, now I will explain the concept like it used to be done on paper, as most of you can relate to that easily. 

Now you list your tasks and assign them for each event on the day you think you will work on them, so now you have a list for each day what your tasks are.  If a task will take a few days, you break it up into small tasks that can be done in a few hours or less. 

Now each of these tasks is assigned a number from 0 to 4 based on priority:

We use the following notation; I suggest you do, too, as it is the standard.

• P0. Your Mum is dying, the kids are in trouble, a guy just had a heart attack in the shop, and nothing else matters. This P0 block everything else and stops all thought of scheduling. 
• P1. The system is down and is needed now
• P2. Some important function needed now is not working, but we can operate
• P3. Some important function is required soon, but it can wait
• P4. A non-urgent question that can wait.

This is how it would look on paper: a person goes through the list, prioritises each task and ticks off what they have done.

The general rule is to complete P0 tasks first, then proceed sequentially to P4 tasks as time allows.

This creates an organised method for tackling your most crucial work first. Now, keep reading to see how P0-P4 can make order amid the chaos of retail management.

P0 - Crises Requiring Immediate Action

P0 designates emergency tasks that demand your urgent attention. In retail, P0 situations don't come up daily, but quick action is essential when they do.

Examples of potential P0 crises:

• Your point of sale system crashes during peak business hours
• A pipe bursts and floods your store
• Mum is sick, and you need to run to the hospital

These crises require you to stop everything and address the situation. You cannot waste a minute. 

Luckily, these events are rare.

P1 - High-Priority Goals 

These are important tasks that require your primary focus. Often, they are very important tasks or tasks that have a closing date that is near.

Daily P1 priorities for a retailer may include:

• Handling a customer now with an issue and complaint
• Last day to order stock for the holiday season
• Balancing the till at the end of the day
• Managing tomorrow's staff schedules

These P1 tasks keep your store operating smoothly. Make time for them before tackling less vital work. Use your point-of-sale system's inventory and reporting tools to stay on top of P1 retail tasks.

P2 - Important but Less Time-Sensitive Tasks

P2 tasks are still integral to your business but aren't as immediate as P1 items. You have some leeway in when you complete them.

Retail P2 tasks could include:

• Updating store displays and signage
• Planning for holidays or seasonal inventory
• Collecting stock for return to a supplier.

Focus on these P2 priorities after handling urgent P0 and P1 tasks. Use your POS system to collect data over time that aids P2 analysis and planning.

P3 - Tasks That Can Wait

P3 contains helpful and non-urgent tasks.

P3 retail tasks may include:

• Filing old inventory paperwork
• Rearranging the shelves
• Analysis POS reports 

Do these when you have time after higher-priority tasks. Avoid letting less important P3 work distract you from critical P0-P2 activities.

P4 - Nice Extras If You Have Time

P4 holds optional tasks that are beneficial but not truly necessary right now. Only tackle these if all other work is complete.

Retail examples include:

• Learning more about your computer system
• Cleaning the warehouse in the back
• Researching new products

These extras can wait until everything else is done. Don't let non-essential P4 work detract from important tasks.

Benefits of P0-P4 Prioritization

Consistently using P0-P4 classification to prioritize your retail workload offers many upsides:

Increased Focus - Provides structure so you know what requires attention now versus later. It prevents you from getting overwhelmed.

Higher Productivity - Helps ensure you complete urgent critical work first. It avoids wasting time on less relevant tasks.

Reduced Stress - Gives confidence that you're focusing where needed most. Minimizes anxiety. I find myself often worrying about remembering my tasks now; putting it in a systematic order calms me down.

Time Savings - Enables getting the right things done faster. I know what I have to do each day.

Orderly Operations - Keeps your business running smoothly by tackling the most pressing issues first. It avoids problems from neglected tasks piling up.

Better Decisions - Clarifies priorities so you can make intelligent choices on time allocation and task delegation. Enables data-driven analysis of what matters most.

The overall impact is optimizing your productivity and performance. Your business operates better when consistently completing P0-P2 tasks before less vital work.

Implementing P0-P4 Prioritization with paper

Putting P0-P4 into practice takes some upfront planning, but soon it becomes second nature. Follow these steps to apply it:

1. Review your tasks - Make a master list of your current to-do.

2. Classify using P0-P4 - Review each task and assign a priority level based on importance and urgency.

3. Schedule time - Allocate time on your calendar to match the prioritized order.

4. Execute and revisit - Work through tasks starting with P0 and adjust as needed if new urgent tasks emerge.

Don't let the labelling Classify using P0-P4 overwhelm you; it rarely matters if you muck it up in practice. Use a combination of urgent, work time and essential. It produces a p0-p8 category. Look at each task for today, and then set 

Urgent tasks: Are the tasks urgent, or can they wait? Urgent tasks cannot be pushed back. As a rule, if not done on time, you cannot do the task.

Important: If they are more important, I will do them first.

Where I disagree with many people, e.g. the Eisenhower matrix, is I believe that Urgent and Important are distinct 

For example

1) The news TV show is happening at 6 pm today. If you miss the deadline, no point switching on the TV at 6:20 pm.  Yet if you miss it, it's not the end of the world. You can always catch up on the news later. So I would mark this as Urgent and Unimportant. Catching up on the news is now a new task that is NOT Urgent (P8) and Unimportant. 

2) Picking up my kid from school at 3:30 pm today is Urgent and Important. If my kid has an after-school activity she is happy to do until I come, the task may NOT be Urgent (P8) but its still Important.

Workload/Duration: Will it take a lot of time? I give preference to those that I can do quickly. Ideally, I want to get as many tasks off my lists ASAP so Small gets preference. The other plus of doing the Small tasks is that it boosts your ego that you have done something today.

If I have only a little time spare, I will often go through the list for tomorrow, look at the small items, and do these tasks depending on how Urgent and Important they are.

This ordering works for me. 

The Drawbacks of Paper-Based Prioritization

Now, many retailers use a paper planner, notebook, or simple to-do list to organize their workload. While better than no system at all, this paper-based approach has problems:

This P0-P4 framework, which, as you have possibly noticed, is actually a p0-p8 system, provides an excellent structure for prioritizing your tasks and responsibilities. However, managing your master list on paper has some practical challenges.

Repetitive Tasks Are a Hassle

Around 40% of your tasks are typically recurring, like daily register balancing, weekly inventory checks, and monthly rental payments. Having to manually rewrite these repetitive tasks constantly is inefficient and risks forgetting tasks. It is easy to forget, hey, on the 15th I was supposed to send the rent money.

Tasks that cannot be done

Often you have to do a task and suddenly discover that a task cannot be done through no fault of your own eg you are waiting for someone else to do something. In which case how do you reschedule it?  It i now in limbo.

No Visibility of Outstanding Work

Paper lists only show one day at a time. What is going to happen on a future date is unknown. There is no way of telling that next Thursday for example you are going to be flat out.

Messy

With a paper system, tasks get crossed off, rescheduled and shuffled around. Besides obscuring what you need to focus on today, it makes your diary look unprofessional, which I do not like. 

No Progress Tracking

Paper alone cannot analyze time spent on tasks, spot workflow patterns, or identify recurring time-wasters. Missing this data limits your ability to improve your operations.

Pain to Share Priorities

A paper list in the back is useless for communicating priorities to others.

Paper gets lost or left at home.

It is all too typical to work everything out on paper, know precisely what has to be done and then suddenly discover you have lost or left that paper somewhere and you cannot access it when you need it.

This is why I recommend using software, but this post is getting too long for a blog. Stay tuned for my next post in a few days on how I recommend you handle and do this.

This computer is the most popular with our customers now for their POS System.

This upgrade to our new computers will solve many headaches for you.

Key Benefits of these computers

- Small Footprint: On the front counter, it takes up as much room as a monitor. 

-Big screen: These ones are 17 inches, which is excellent for those people who find it hard to read small writing on the screen.

-Customer display: A nice big customer display that is free with the unit

- Touch Screen Capability: It has a touch screen, yet costs the same as a regular monitor. When processing on the checkout, a touch is much faster and more natural.

- Looks modern: An outdated computer monitor sends a terrible message to your customers.

- This thing in the middle is a powerful computer that effectively takes no space on the counter. It's an i5 with plenty of RAM.

- Cost Savings: If you priced out a monitor, customer display, and computer separately, there would be substantial savings versus this all-in-one unit.  

- Durability for Shop Environments: The computer is designed to withstand the harsh, dusty, and dirty conditions typical of a shop environment.

Reliable Customer Support

Of course, getting value from your investment comes with great support.

• 24/7 technical support - We know this equipment, so we can often quickly troubleshoot any issues. In truth, we have had very few with them.

• Hardware warranty - 1 year warranty is included.

Our customer support team has your back so you can focus on running your business, not troubleshooting POS problems.

Let us know if you are interested in learning more here.

Provisional forecasts by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), in conjunction with Roy Morgan

These predict $66.8 billion will be spent in the November to December 24 Christmas trading period- broadly in line with last year (up slightly by 0.1% or $74,000). Here is the estimate by retail category

The full report is here.

So get Your Retail Business Holiday-Ready.

Here is an updated checklist to help you prepare for the coming holiday season. This holiday season is most of my clients' busiest time of the year. Many of you will do half of your trade in the next few months. To get the most out of it, you need planning.

This guide covers points you need to review and prepare your retail business for this holiday season.

Step 1: Get Your POS System Holiday-Ready

The point of sale (POS) system is the heart of your retail operation. A glitchy or overloaded POS can ruin the holiday shopping experience, lose your sales, and damage your reputation.

Here are tips to ensure your POS is ready for the holiday rush:

Test Backup Registers and other Hardware

• If you are bringing old POS computers out of storage, test these well in advance to confirm they work. Computers not used frequently have problems.

• Verify where these computers will have proper cabling, the network connections work, and it works with our POS system.

• Test these extra computers by processing a few sample transactions.

• Make sure you have adequate printer paper, receipt rolls, printer ink, and other POS consumables. I suggest shopping early.

Step 2: Review Your Finances

This proved to be a problem last year, so I decided to add this point this year. The coming holiday season strains finances as it requires increased inventory expenses and seasonal staffing. Here are some tips to keep your finances under control. Make sure you have enough. 

Step 3: Plan and Stock Products

Smart inventory planning prevents out-of-stock that can sink holiday sales.

Analyse Past Sales Trends

• Run sales reports from prior holiday seasons. Identify your top-selling products at this time of year.

• Look for trends on seasonal best-sellers, big-ticket items, and gift purchases.

Order Seasonal and Holiday Products

• Make sure to order enough holiday decorations, gift sets, appropriate greeting cards, etc.

• Make sure you have enough top-selling products and proven items. Shortages can be devastating.

Communicate Early with Suppliers

• It is a good idea now to discuss orders and delivery logistics with your suppliers.

Step 4: Prepare Your Team for the Holiday Rush

A great staff is crucial for executing a smooth and prosperous holiday season.

Start to schedule Staffing Levels

• I suggest reviewing last year to prepare.

• It is not too early to start to prepare a roster.

Step 5: Market and Advertise for the Holidays

Promotions, offers, and campaigns tailored for the holidays can drive significant traffic and sales.

• If you are into Social Media, I would recommend starting to tell your customers that you have some good things for them. 

• Even a simple sign can do wonders. Make sure you have it.

Holiday Preparation Checklist

Here is a checklist summarizing the key tasks for getting your retail store holiday-ready:

• [ ] Test and update POS software and hardware

• [ ] Review inventory levels and sales histories

• [ ] Order seasonal and holiday-specific merchandise

• [ ] Communicate expected order volumes with suppliers

• [ ] Check your shelves and plan where to put the holiday goods.

• [ ] Check your financing

• [ ] Review your coming staff roster

• [ ] Confirm staffing arrangements for store opening event

• [ ] Consider a holiday-themed marketing campaigns

• [ ] Make sure you have signs to decorate your shop

Conclusion

Your retail store can thrive this holiday season with proper planning across your POS systems, finances, inventory, staffing, and marketing. Leverage the checklist above and the recommendations in this guide as you prepare for a busy holiday sales season. Let us know if you need any assistance getting your retail business holiday-ready!

As a small business owner, it's insightful to analyze why the NO campaign overcame the YES campaign's advantages. The fact is that the recent public vote on whether to bring back The Voice, a proposed Indigenous advisory body, had a clear result - the NO campaign won with over 60% of the vote. Given the YES campaign's more significant resources, such as money and public profile, this outcome surprised many. In my area, for example, a heavily Asian migrant area, there was almost nothing from the NO campaign. All the local politicians campaigned for YES and yet NO won easily. 

There are essential marketing and messaging takeaways we can apply to promote our businesses effectively:

The NO Campaign Had a Simple, Consistent Message

The NO campaign focused on a clear message that the proposed Voice was divisive and unfair.

NO Campaign Phrase: "Same Rights for All"

See how they emphasised this notion of "unfairness." It is both simple and effective to Australians.

Key Takeaway:

Keep your messaging clear, consistent and repetitive. Find your message and stick to it.

The YES Campaign Had a More Complex Message

In contrast, the YES campaign had a more nuanced message about empowering Indigenous peoples and moving toward reconciliation.

YES Campaign Tagline: "A First Nations Voice Protected by The Constitution"

This is much more abstract, and the terms like "constitutional enshrinement", "Indigenous empowerment", and “reconciliation.” whose finer points would lose many of the audience's attention.

Key Takeaway:

Simplify your messaging as much as possible. Simple messages are more memorable and persuasive.

The NO Campaign Used Fear Messaging Effectively

The NO campaign emphasized fears about the Voice leading to separate Indigenous laws and inequality. Fear is a powerful motivator, particularly when it is not answered.

Key Takeaway:

Address customers' potential fears head-on. Promote how your product or service alleviates worries.

The YES Campaign Couldn't Provide Complete Answers

When questioned, the YES campaign couldn't fully answer how the Voice would work. Voters were told details would be decided later. What will your customers think of your product if you do not supply clear answers before purchase?

Key Takeaway:

Have all the details, including logistics, worked out before promoting a product? Customers need concrete information.

The YES Campaign painted its opponents as racist. 

The Yes proponents cast those who campaigned for No as racists, bastards, or ignorant. Often, they accused them of being dishonest, lying to the Australian people, and spreading misinformation—people who wanted to maintain the status quo of inequality and injustice.

Key Takeaway:

Well, we all knew people who intended to vote NO, who were no such thing. Your advertising has to be believable. Before I voted, I talked with the woman handing out the YES leaflets and the guy handing out NO leaflets at the polling office. Both struck me as good people.

Conclusions

Learning from the failed YES campaign, small business owners can craft more effective promotions. Simple, consistent, fear-alleviating messaging and believable is critical.

What lessons do you see from this historic vote? 

Update: I got requests, to provide a list of sources used for this blog post. However the majority of the information presented here is based on my personal observations and analysis. However, I recommend consulting the report linked here for those interested in further exploring the topic. One interesting finding from the report is that individuals who were more familiar with and understood the proposal were less likely to vote in favor of it. Conversely, those who had a poor understanding of the issue were more likely to vote for it.

I spoke briefly a few days ago of shrinkflation, the practice of suppliers today of hiding increases in retail prices by secretly reducing what you get. It generated some discussion, so I decided today to show examples of how it is done so you know the problem when your customers ask you about it.

What is shrinkflation, and how does it affect retailers?

Shrinkflation refers to the deceptive practice of companies secretly reducing the amount of a product while keeping the same price or even raising it. This allows suppliers to increase profits without customers realizing it's a price hike.

As a small retailer, shrinkflation can impact you and your customers in a few key ways:

Reduced trust. When customers notice items they regularly purchase have gotten smaller or contain less quantity, it erodes trust in brands. This could cause them to be hesitant to buy from your store in the future.

Higher costs. If your suppliers engage in shrinkflation, you pay the same or more for products containing less. This cuts into your margins without you even knowing.

Difficulty managing inventory. It's harder to accurately track inventory levels and order appropriate quantities when changing product sizes without notice. This can lead to stock-outs.

Disgruntled customers. People notice when their money isn't going as far at the grocery store or other retailers. Shrinkflation leads to complaints you have to field from customers who feel they are getting a raw deal.

It messes up your pricing. If you are not careful, your pricing can be wrong. I have seen examples of retailers reducing the price of the old product, which has more in it, as they think the new product is better. It is not it is just secretly smaller.

Some examples of shrinkflation

The older bottle had ten more pills, about a 9% price increase. What is interesting here is that the new bottle with less in it is a bigger bottle.

The new bottle has about 5% less product, and the packaging has been redesigned, too, as in the above example.

This one is quite tricky, see it you can pick it up.

The tube size of the older one is smaller than the hole of the newer one. It probably will look the same size, but there is less paper.

This is just a price rise by reducing the product supplied.

This one is actually a significant price rise of 25%.

My last example shows, over time, just how significant these secret changes can be 

Measured up, this is about an 80% price increase.

Conclusion

To protect your business and customers from the impacts of shrinkflation, you need to carefully monitor unit sizes and quantities of the products you re-order.

You can find many more examples if you want to investigate further here, were people are encouraged to report such practices.

Recent Microsoft updates have caused some issues with our POS software and some other software for a few customers. It is a known problem by Microsoft here. For some reason, it is now starting to appear.

If you are experiencing problems problems with your POS Software, don't panic! Here is some troubleshooting you can do to get your POS system back up and running smoothly.

Restarting Your Server

A simple restart is often all that is needed to clear up software issues caused by these updates. Follow these steps:

• Close any open programs on your system
• Shut down the server computer completely
• After 1 minute, restart the server and let it boot up fully
• Try using the POS software again - the issues may be resolved!

Restarting your server essentially clears any memory errors or software conflicts that the updates may have caused. It's a quick first step to try before investigating deeper issues.

Contact Our Support Team

If restarting your POS server doesn't fix the problems you've been experiencing, please reach out to our customer support team immediately.

Our support reps can troubleshoot further, analyse your system logs, and identify what precisely in the Microsoft updates is causing conflicts. We can then provide targeted solutions to get your POS software connecting correctly again.

Let us know if you have any other questions! We're here to help.

Here is the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) latest economic snapshot. I like it as it provides a simple view of the Australian economy. The full details are above, and supporting information here.

For us in retail, there are some concerning signs and a few positive takeaways in the report. Let's get into it.

Interest Rates on the Rise

As we're all painfully aware, interest rates have steadily climbed over the past year. Higher interest rates increase our loan repayments and cut into our profits. Most economists seem to think that one more rate rise is ahead, but who knows what the RBA will say. I doubt it can go up much more. 

Inflation Taking Its Toll

The snapshot shows inflation is high, only slightly down from a year ago. The government policy of allowing interest rates to go up to reduce inflation is not working well at all. 

Inflation is a worry as rapid inflation erodes consumer purchasing power. This puts pressure on retailers as consumers become more selective with their spending. I suspect more shrink inflation (when the product stays at the same price but gets smaller, have you noticed our burger size is sinking), and we need to source cheaper products?

Wage Growth Failing to Keep Pace

Wage growth is up, which is usually positive news. But with inflation running so high, we are falling behind even with the wage growth. This means Australians will have less actual purchasing power. Retailers, therefore, can't rely on rising wages to drive spending growth. 

The other problem is that wage growth is higher than our national growth. Businesses will have to increase salaries without the increase in revenue to pay for it. This is just pure inflationary and cannot be maintained without increasing unemployment. 

Household Savings Declining

The household saving ratio is meagre. We cannot count on people using their savings as before to maintain spending.

Strong Population Growth

Australia's annual population growth is up, a positive for retailers. More people means more potential customers and demand for consumer goods and services.

Conclusion

Overall, the snapshot presents a mixed view for Australian retailers. 

What's your perspective on what the RBA report means for retailers? I am keen to hear your insights!

A reliable, high-speed internet connection is no longer a luxury for small businesses today - it is an absolute necessity. It is the primary mechanism for most people in business to communicate today. 

1. Internet Speeds

For a modern business today, you do not want a download of anything less than 25 Mbps. However, faster speeds will allow your business to function much more efficiently. I find that 50-100 Mbps is adequate for most small businesses, that want to do some advanced functions like Zoom conferencing. 

2. Reliability 

This is the most important in business. 

A consistent, reliable connection is crucial. The best thing to do is ask locals, while in your shop, who you use and how you find them. When I moved into my office, I first contacted the people nearby and asked them about their experience with their internet supplier. They were all quite pleased to help me. 

I suggest that you look at their Google reviews online. They are only relevant if it has a few; one or two reviews tell you nothing. For rating, you want something about 4.2; anything much over that sounds suspiciously like they are buying good reviews. Pay particular attention to the recent reviews; you are not interested in ancient history. 

3. Data limits

Today, you can get unlimited for as much as plans with limited data. If you think you do not need much, you can get away with much less. Be careful, though many have been burnt with not buying enough and getting big bills from the internet provider when they exceeded the limit. I like the Optus plan here, as you do not get charged more if you go over. You just go slow.

4. Price and Fees

Well, we all have budgets. No one bank is unlimited. Buy what you think you can afford.

5. Customer Service

Find out if they offer telephone support, and if so, what are the hours. Most restrict the hours. Also, some only give telephone support if they cannot work it out with email or chat first.

6. Technical Support

Check what is covered in their technical support; some internet providers, for example, only support modems you purchased from them. This is no minor matter as a large percentage of support calls for the internet, in my experience, have to do with modems. 

7. Local availability

It is great if they have an office or shop near you. I had a client that had problems with his internet. The internet support team could not help them with their modem. As their internet supplier was an Optus reseller, we told them to go to the local Optus shop to check it out. The Optus team established it was a faulty modem, sold them a new modem and then checked their internet provider's SIM, and they were up and running almost immediately. 

8. Scalability

Your business requirements go up and down, so it is best to pick an internet provider with many plans. That way, you can change your plan as your business requirements change. I have a client who, over the school holiday whom I talked about above, whose son helps out over the holidays. When the son is there, he increases his plan.

9. Connection Type

I could write a whole blog post on the main two connection types used by my clients, the 5G network and the NBN (National Broadband Network). Both are two very different technologies. The 5G is wireless, while NBN mostly relies on fixed, wired connections. I suggest for reliability going for the NBN.

Note in some areas, NBN is also wireless, so check first.

10. Contract Terms

Beware of lengthy contracts. The problem is that some come with termination fees. A month-to-month or annual contract offers more flexibility.

11. Bundled Services

Many ISPs offer bundled deals with phone, TV, web hosting, email accounts, VoIP and other services. While not always necessary for business, bundles can save you significant costs if you need those services. One of my clients gets two free virtual phone numbers. He uses one to monitor how his advertising goes since the only time that number is used is when he advertises.

12. Compare online plans

One site I recommend you start looking for an internet provider is here. 

This will give you a good start.

Conclusion

The odds are the internet provider you will be using for a long time is more than just comparing speeds and prices; you need one that is right for you.

A reliable, high-speed internet is too important to avoid getting wrong!

In Victoria, our state government runs an electricity and gas comparison website here to help consumers find the cheapest deals, and it's marketed as a way to save money.

All well and good, but how reliable are the figures on these government comparison sites?

In my recent experience, the rates shown there do not match what suppliers quoted me when I went direct. Here is my story.

My Experience with the Victorian Energy Compare Website

What happened is that I went to the Victorian Energy Compare website looking to save money on my energy. The site recommended a new supplier that is cheaper than my existing provider, RED Energy.

However, when I checked online reviews for this recommended supplier, I found many poor reviews about their customer service. After reading many complaints, I got the message to stay away.

So, knowing the price, I called my supplier, RED Energy, directly to ask for a new quote. To my surprise, without even mentioning my quoted price, RED Energy gave me a quote over the phone that was significantly cheaper than what was shown on the government comparison website!

My thoughts: Don't Trust the Figures on Comparison Sites

This experience taught me an important lesson - don't take the rates shown on government comparison sites as gospel. The figures displayed for my existing supplier, RED Energy, did not match what they quoted. There is more to it than what is told to us. If I had listened to them, I would have a poorly rated electric supplier with a dearer price.

Has This Happened to You?

I'm curious whether other people have had similar experiences with this or similar government comparison websites did not show accurate rates compared to what you were quoted directly by suppliers.

The bottom line is that, based on my experience, it may be helpful as a guide, but you still need to contact these suppliers directly.

We are busy to help you get ready for the holiday rush. To help you prepare, many of your suppliers have sent us their latest Christmas catalogues electronically. We've compiled them into our system for you to import easily.

New Catalogues Added to Our Retailer Portal

We've recently added the following new catalogues this week in what we consider the most advanced catalogue format, CSZ format, a format specially designed for this function. 

• GNS Christmas Promo 2023
• Group News Suppliers Diary Promo 2024
• Waterlyn File Oct 23
• Henderson Greetings Oct 23
• Spirit Cards
• Simpsons Full Stock File Oct 2023

Browse 1000s of Catalogues

In addition to these latest catalogues, we have 1000s more available covering all categories - toys, apparel, electronics, decor, and more here.

Useful Browsing Features:

• Search by supplier
• Search for products

Get a Head Start on Holiday Orders

Let us know if you need help accessing or using our supplier catalogues. Happy browsing!

Skeletons emerge from closets, vampires rise from coffins, and ghosts roam the streets as Halloween creeps up in Australia as this largely American tradition, which has turned into a worldwide phenomenon, continues to gain popularity down under. We see that participation has risen steadily each year as Halloween gains mainstream acceptance. What was once seen as an American novelty has been embraced by Australians, young and old.

For Halloween, retailers need to be exact in their ordering. This type of stock can be tough to get rid of after Halloween. This is one of those holidays that interest the public in brief.

New research shows Australians are more eager than ever to participate in Halloween festivities this year. Total spending is forecast to reach new heights.

Millions of Aussies Catching Halloween Spirit

A spook-tacular 5.3 million Australians now celebrate Halloween, according to data from the Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan here. According to it, an extra 300,000 people compared to the 5 million that dressed up, carved pumpkins and went trick-or-treating last year. I have little reason to doubt it, as it was pretty accurate the previous year.

Halloween Spending to Hit $490 Million

Australia's total spending on Halloween is predicted to reach $490 million in 2023.

That's a bone-chilling increase of 8.1% compared to last year.

So where is all this money going? Aussies are splurging on:

• Costumes - 49% of participants purchase a new costume, spending an average of $31 each
• Candy - 39% stock up on lollies and chocolates to hand out on Halloween night, driving over $100 million in supermarket confectionary sales
• Decorations - over one third (36%) decorate their homes with fake cobwebs, skeletons and jack-o-lanterns
• Parties & Events - bars, restaurants, cinemas and more cash in on Halloween's popularity by hosting themed events

Aussie Adults Lead Halloween Growth

While children in creepy costumes may come to mind when you think of Halloween, Australian adults are actually driving this trend.

Australians aged 35-49 years old are the most avid Halloween participants:

• 40% of this age group plan to celebrate Halloween
• That's up 3% from last year.
• It equates to 1 million 35-49-year-old Aussies enjoying Halloween this year - a 190,000 increase.

Parents are helping boost Halloween's popularity by allowing and encouraging their children to join in the celebrations. Mothers and fathers enter the spirit by dressing up and decorating homes.

Beyond parents, young adults without children are embracing Halloween, too. It's becoming a popular date night and a chance to show off creative costumes.

If you want to know the sort of stuff the public is interested in now for Halloween, you should look at costumes, witches' hats, Halloween makeup, masks like Frankenstein and ghosts are popular nowadays, and as always, Harry Potter stuff. One of the pluses of Harry Potter stuff is that it sells well after Halloween.

If you want a quick and instant way of finding out what stock sold in your shop in previous years on Halloween.

Go to Register reports.

Now pick "Top N Stock Sales for a Given Period."

In the form, put in the following dates: 25/10/22 to 31/10/22. A report will come out with what sold over that week. 

As time is running out, could you do it now?

Why Is My Barcode Scanner Not Reading Correctly? Troubleshooting Tips

For retailers, a properly functioning barcode scanner is essential. When your scanner starts having issues reading barcodes, it can really frustrate everyone struggling to get labels to scan. In a worst-case scenario, you may revert to tedious manual price and inventory lookups.

But before you panic and call for a scanner replacement, you can take several easy troubleshooting steps to get your existing unit back up and running. In this post, we'll explore why barcode scanners suddenly struggle to read labels. And we'll provide actionable tips to diagnose and resolve your scanner woes.

Common Causes of Scanning Difficulties

When a previously reliable barcode scanner goes haywire, the problem typically boils down to one of several factors:

Dirty Scan Window

The #1 issue is usually a dirty scanner window filled with dust, fingerprints, or other debris. The scan window is the glass area where the beam shines when reading barcodes. Even a small amount of smudging or particulates on this glass can interfere with the scanning process.

Scan windows get dirty for a couple of key reasons:

• Touching: People touching the scanner window and inadvertently getting fingerprints on the glass.
• Dust and dirt accumulation: Gradual buildup of dust. This is a typical problem in our dusty store environments.

If this is the problem, then cleaning scanners is straightforward. 

First, inspect the scan window glass for any obstruction or damage:

• Does the window have smudges, fingerprints, dust, or debris that could interfere with barcode reading?
• Are there any cracks, scratches or impacts on the glass that could cause problems?

If the window needs cleaning, follow these steps:

• Unplug the scanner from the power and host device.
• Gently wipe down the window using a microfiber designed to clean optical glass surfaces.
• Avoid using liquids; dry dusting is usually sufficient to clean scan windows.
• Use a tiny amount of isopropyl alcohol on the cloth to help cut through oils only if really needed.
• Finish by using a dry microfiber.

A: Cleaning in 80% of the time fixes the problem.

Misaligned Window

Barcode scanners also rely on perfectly aligned scan windows to read labels. In shops today, scanners often get dropped. This drop can cause the barcode scanner window to be thrown off its proper alignment. What happens then is suddenly, your scanner has trouble sweeping across barcodes.

A: You must inspect your scanner to check for misalignment issues on the scan window. In some cases, you can do a realignment manually.

Failing Laser or Motor

Barcode scanners are mechanical devices; like any device, they eventually degrade over time. Components age, the scanner gets weaker, and sometimes the motor slows down. This hampers sweeping smooth and fast enough across barcodes.

Diagnosing weak lasers requires specialised scanner testing tools. If the problem is the motor, sometimes you can hear unusual noise. 

A: In my experience, these failures often mean replacing the scanner, as they are rarely worth fixing.

Damaged Cable Connections

Cable connections between the scanner and register can become damaged. This could be due to normal wear and tear, getting pulled too hard, or cable pinched or crimped. Bad connections cause scanning interruptions and error codes.

A: Carefully inspect cables and connections for any damage. Swap in new wires to isolate the problem. Damaged cables will need replacement, while loose connections just need to be pushed in.

Software Misconfiguration

Software settings related to barcode and scanner operation can also get misconfigured. Suddenly, the scanner may fail. 

A: Call us if you need to reset your scanner or review its settings.

Failing Commputer Connection

Scanners connect to POS registers, computers, or other host devices that relay barcode data. Sometimes the problem is in the computer ports.

A: I suggest you test the scanner on another computer.

Final Note:

Getting your barcode scanner back up and running can generally be resolved using the above troubleshooting techniques. The key is methodically going through the potential failure points above step by step. With a little diligence and patience, you'll likely have your scanner scanning again quickly. 

When the EFTPOS Goes Down: The Importance of Disaster Recovery Systems for Small Businesses

In your retail store, it's easy to take modern technology for granted. Tap-and-go payments, internet banking, EFTPOS; these staples of Australian commerce feel like they'll always be there, operating smoothly in the background. Please do not believe that they always work. But critical systems like EFTPOS fail unexpectedly, and the impact today can be huge for retailers.

Outages Happen More Often Than You'd Think

Events like the Woolworths trading debacle click here for details highlighting that even large retailers with sophisticated IT infrastructure and internet are still at risk today. No system is immune to technical failures. If I made a bet with you that one of my clients would have an EFTPOS problem this week, I am sure I would win.

A survey by the Australian Retailers Association in 2019 found that many retailers had experienced an internet or EFTPOS outage in that year. As Murphy Law would have it, most that reported problems said it occurred at the worst possible time.

A Hot Day Spells Trouble

A newsagent who makes a good trade with drinks and ice cream, on a hot day, EFTPOS stopped working. It took several hours to fix it. They felt that they lost half their trade over those few hours as they were unable to process any electronic payments whatsoever. 

Why Small Businesses Are Especially Vulnerable

Larger retailers often have better systems and can justify high costs to minimise outage disruptions. But for small businesses operating on tight budgets, often with the cheapest internet plans and no redundancy, it makes them much more vulnerable to unplanned network and hardware failures.

What can be done.

• Make sure your EFTPOS systems have local mode. 

• Make sure your EFTPOS can go both through the internet and mobile data.

• Keep an option to accept cash in your shop.

Conclusion

Hardware failures and internet outages are inevitable risks for small retailers relying on electronic payments. Events like the recent Woolworths outage show that you can be affected even if you have the best equipment and systems.

It's a public holiday here in Victoria tomorrow, so our interstate customer support team will take over tomorrow. Then, as on Monday, it is a public holiday in NSW, their interstate team will take over. The musical chairs we play in business. Our Victorian and interstate teams are outstanding, so we will provide the same excellent service our customers expect.

We understand some of you may need support today during the big game. While I recommend avoiding calling during peak times if possible, but if you need, we have staff ready to assist if you need us. We are doing our best under the challenging circumstances that public holidays inevitably bring. Please be patient and kind - we're all doing our best!

May the best team win tomorrow.

AFL Grand Final 2023 predictions and tips

It should be a good match; this AFL grand final between Collingwood and Brisbane is set to be an epic encounter. Both teams have shown stellar form and consistency and appear evenly matched. Collingwood and Brisbane finished first and second on the ladder with only one game between them, which is slightly in Collingwood favour. Both won their qualifying finals—the Pies did not do as well as Brisbane. The Lions have been recently winning more than Collingwood. The Lions' recent victory over the Pies is telling. Both teams have injury problems, of concern to Collingwood is that Moore's absence could really hurt Collingwood. Both have good finals experience but Collingwood is a bit more.

The Odds

Bookmakers have Collingwood as the clear favourite. That motivates me to go for Brisbane; I tend to go for underdogs. I have another reason for picking Brisbane; I am equal to the top on the NLNA NANA footy tipping on games but behind on points. I blame my team, Carlton's performance this year, for that situation. If I go for the favourite, I cannot win, but if Brisbane pulls an upset, then I have a chance.

The Verdict

It should be a really cracking contest. 

I am sure the best team will win!

Enjoy the big game; I know I will.