Taking a long-term view of our businesses can be very productive for making strategic decisions. Here I will show you how your point-of-sale (POS) software allows retailers like you to easily visualize sales data and gain valuable insights.

The fact is that industry trends are often misleading for individual businesses, so what you need is your information. Here is how you can do it in an instant.

Visualizing Your Own Sales History

To better understand trends in your businesses, we have written graphs that can generate images from your information. These take seconds to produce. This information can be used to help you see changes over time in your operations.

How to optimise your POS system for better sales performance

What we advise people to do is to examine their sales trends over 2 and 5 years. This timescale balances daily variations with long-term movement. Conceptualising this information in monthly periods also aligns with typical business planning, as most industry standards are for these periods.

Generating Graphs From POS Software

To make such a graph, you just need to go to Cash register reports > Sales > Sales dissection monthly sales trend.

Now select by department e.g. “Newspapers”,

The first time run a graph with five years. This gives you a long-term view. Examine this graph.

Now, much has happened in the last five years, much of dubious relevance to today's retail eg COVID.

Most businesses work in the last two years

Put in the last 24 months and click on “Generate”. You will get a graph. 

The great advantage of doing that is examining this year and last year for the same month. This gets you over much of the seasonality problems.

This picture is worth a thousand words.

Gaining Strategic Insights From the Long View

Taking just a few minutes here to view trends can yield hours of strategic thinking. The long-term analysis provides an invaluable perspective on areas like profitable products and the impact of external factors. Retailers can also benchmark their performance against industry reports. With POS software, informed long-term decisions become more straightforward.

In summary, our POS system equips retailers with an effortless method to audit sales histories and evaluate patterns extending decades into the past. This long view grants keen foresight into optimizing strategy amid fluctuating conditions.

I have seen firsthand how a strong online presence can transform a company's reach and reputation and increase its bottom line. Social media provides invaluable marketing opportunities for small businesses. Since the pandemic, where almost everyone went online, social media is now deeply embedded in many people's routines; it has taken over as the leading advertising today.

The Rising Importance of Social Media

Social media has become a dominant force in marketing. Here are some compelling statistics:

• 6 in 10 Australians use Facebook
• 1 in 2 Australians uses Facebook daily
• 1 in 2 Australians use YouTube
• 1 in 3 Australians use Instagram
• 1 in 4 Australians use Snapchat

The average person will be on Facebook today in Australia for 2 hours.

Social Media Marketing Success Stories

The point is that it is often FREE!

Many my clients eg newsagents have implemented a social media strategy focused on the products they market. This boosted their brand awareness and engagement tremendously. It has driven traffic to their shop by connecting with their customers.

Tips to Promote Your Small Business on Social Media

Here are some best practices I recommend for utilising social media as part of your overall marketing strategy:

Create shareworthy content. Post photos, videos, Stories, Reels, and live videos that capture attention and interest. Entertain and educate your customers

Engage with your audience. Respond to comments, questions, and feedback. Show customers you care.

Promte your shop online. Social platforms provide many detailed targeting options. Promote posts and products to your ideal demographics.

Analyse your posts. Use analytics to see which content and strategies are most effective. Double down on what drives engagement and conversions.

Be consistent. Post regularly to stay top of mind. But focus on quality over quantity in your content.

Highlight your purpose. Showcase how your business positively impacts the community. Consumers align with brands that reflect their values.

My Social Media Marketing Webinar for Small Business

If enough are interested, I am happy to run another Webinar on showing you the potential of social media marketing?

• How to set up and optimize social media profiles
• Types of content that fuel engagement
• How to get images and news to post
• Using analytics to guide your approach
• Building engagement and community
• Driving sales through social platform

Let me know if you are interested.

Your point-of-sale (POS) system can give you crucial information that can help you drive your retail productivity, accuracy and profits. To do that it needs accurate information. Are you getting good information? One key retail metric (KPI) often overlooked to reveal how efficiently your POS system operates is the scan rate percentage %Scan.

Luckily, your POS Software can give you this and show you how to improve this.

Why the Scan Rate Matters

The POS scan rate (%Scan) shows the percentage of products scanned compared to the manually keyed-in at the cash register. A high scan rate translates directly into faster transactions, shorter checkout lines, and happier customers. It also results in fewer errors and less waste that hurt profits. Manually entering product codes is slower, more demanding on staff over a shift, and inevitably leads to mistakes. The industry standard is that cashiers make around one error for every 300 characters typed daily.

In contrast, scanning barcodes with a POS scanner takes just a fraction of a second and is a million times more accurate! The higher your scan rate, the more transactions you can process, lower errors, and provide better customer service. Better product information captured during scans also gives you valuable data for purchasing, promos, inventory and more.

Checking Your Scan Rate

Finding your current scan rate percentage is easy using your POS reporting. Go to the cash register reports, open the Sales section, and select "Dissection Sales/Profitability for a Given Period".

Go to the cash register reports.

Then go to sales.

Once there select

Dissection Sales / Profitability for a Given Period.

Now run the report with a year of data.

You will see a column with %Scan; the higher, the better. Looking through this list, the problem department is marked with a green arrow.

Run it for at least the past 12 months to see trends. The %Scan column reveals your overall rate across products and departments. Ideally, you want to see your scan rate consistently above 90% for maximum efficiency. Look for low percentages that stand out. While the overall rate matters, drill down into individual departments and product categories in the report. This allows you to pinpoint sections of your inventory that need scan rate improvements.

How to Boost a Low Scan Rate

If your scan rate is low, identify underperforming departments or products lagging in scanning. Then, focus on addressing the root causes:

• Missing barcodes - Confirm all inventory has scannable barcodes printed and attached. For any products without barcodes, quickly print and add barcode labels.
• Faulty scanners - Your barcode scanners may be aging or defective. The industry standard is that a scanner is built to last about three years, and then you have a bonus.
• Staff training - Cashiers may need refreshers on scanning techniques and procedures. Observe them on the POS and provide feedback to build good habits.
• Product database - Check your POS system to ensure the product database matches all items to the correct barcodes. Add any new products that are missing.
• Check items - Sometimes the barcodes are not clear, if so notify the supplier and consider using inhouse barcodes until this can be fixed.

Scanning Drives Retail Success

Improving your POS scan rates pays for your bottom line. It reduces wasted time and costly errors while increasing transaction speed and customer satisfaction. Make it a priority to monitor scan rates, identify underperforming areas, and address gaps. Turn your POS system into a competitive advantage!

Woolworths, one of Australia's largest supermarket chains, has recently introduced member-only pricing in their stores. I'm quite interested in this new strategy, how it may impact my clients' businesses and if it provides any good ideas for them. Our POS System can handle it so it is relevant to our clients.

How the Member Pricing Works

The member prices seem to be based on Woolworths' standard shelf prices. The member prices are marked with special shelf tickets or symbols on the Woolworths website.  Only some products are given a discounted price that only members of the Woolworth Rewards can use. So their customers need to join the supermarket's Everyday Rewards program which is free and then scan their registered loyalty card at checkout to get that discount.

This Strategy Isn't New 

Woolworth did it about a year ago and then gave up on the idea, so I am curious why they are doing it now particularly as none of the other supermarket chains copied it. Having said that this type of loyalty program is used by other major retailers in Australia such as Dan Murphy, which has a 90% usage of their customers using their loyalty program.

The Potential Benefits for Woolworths

Here are some benefits that I can see with Woolworths trying this member-only pricing:

• It provides a real need to their customers who want that product as using it those people get a discount.

• The offers are open to a small percentage of shoppers (37%) that shop at Woolworths, so it's hard for other retailers to compete on those specific products as the majority 63% do not shop at Woolworths.

• The discounted products keep changing rather than being permanently reduced, so the products on offer are hard to track.

• Woolworths wants more customer data. Industry-standard claims this data can be worth around 1% extra revenue.

How It Compares to Loyalty Points Programs

There are some key differences between member pricing and points-based loyalty programs:

Points Programs

• It feels more rewarding psychologically as points accumulate. Studies show most Australians want points.

• Much of the cost of the points never happens, as many points are not redeemed

• Points can work on the total sales, not just on selected items. 

Pricing Discounts

• Provide clear savings upfront on purchases which customers can relate to as they are real discounts

• Only items that can be discounted are discounted. With points, it is hard to justify to customers why these items are given points and these items are not.

• Customers will only scan their loyalty card if an item is discounted to members.

The Bottom Line

Loyalty programs are said to be worth 1% to 2%, my studies suggest closer to 1%, but your shop might be different.

If you are considering selective member discounts in your own business, well your POS software can handle it.

If you do so the primary purpose of a loyalty program is to get you more customers and get them to spend more. Is it? So you do not just have to check the sales totals but also the basket size, profitability, etc. We have a whole section in our software that helps you do that.

Pre-membership vs. post-membership spending

What do you need to know that it is working?

The figures can be found here.

​Use data!

Monitoring profit margins is crucial for any retail business's financial health and performance. It's easy for margins to erode over time as costs fluctuate if you don't keep close tabs. Leveraging point-of-sale (POS) data and reporting provides valuable insights into margins so you can take targeted actions to improve retail metrics and profitability. It is easy to take a product for whatever reason and market it, then keep handling it. The price, discounts and costs over time change and soon your shop is handling an item that has a marginal margin and you do not know it as its hiding in thousands of products. These low margins are almost always a waste of time and space.

Regularly Run Margin Reports

Finding these items

This is a report that I suggest you run "Quantity On Hand and Price Check".

It will show you your margins and the quantities on hand so you can instantly start to plan. So, it is a great place to start.

So here it is:

I suggest running this report monthly, as your margins require continuous monitoring and management control.

Make target-specific margin thresholds, like aiming for at least 30% across most product categories. Food should be around 50% margin, exceptions will often have to be made for high-volume staples.

Pay close attention to the margin changes over time, not just the absolute margin level but trends down indicate issues.

Take Action on Low Margin Items

When you spot low margins in reports, take steps like:

• Reprice the item if viable to get to your target.
• Discontinue the product if other actions don't make sense. Free up space for better options.
• Negotiating with vendors and being blunt with your supply can often help. Just tell the truth at these prices, I cannot handle these products.

Continuously monitor and Improve

This is not a set-and-forget exercise. You need to:

• Review margins frequently as the market changes. Promotions, competition and costs fluctuate.
• Leverage data to constantly test and iterate on retail profit improvement strategies.

Conclusion

Careful monitoring of product margins through POS reporting and analytics is vital for optimizing profitability in retail. But turning those insights into action is the crucial next step. Avoid over-indexing on margin alone, and embrace a comprehensive approach for profitable growth.

Recommendation 

If you don't already, I recommend retailers now run these margin reports to uncover low performers. It will take you less than a minute.

Promotions are often used today to retain top staff. However, new research indicates that promotions may increase employee turnover, at least in the short term. Something that I think many of you will find interesting and give you something to think about. Check it out here.

The fact is that promoted Employees More Likely to Quit

According to a recent study, employees who are promoted are 29% more likely to quit their jobs in the first month after the promotion compared to if they had not been promoted (18% quit rate). The increase in turnover is even higher for low-skilled workers after being promoted.

Why Promotions Lead to More Turnover

There are a few key reasons why promotions can increase turnover:

Increased Visibility

• A promotion comes with a new job title and responsibilities, which makes workers more visible and attractive to other potential employers. A card manager in a shop is more desirable to another retailer.

Transition Difficulties

• Moving into a management role requires a different skill set than individual work. This transition can be challenging and, if expectations aren't met, can cause frustration and prompt employees to look elsewhere.

Newness Wears Off

• At first, a promotion is exciting. But as the novelty wears off, some workers realize the new role isn't the right fit. This disappointment can motivate them to quit.

Long-Term Benefits of Promotions

However, promotions aren't all bad in terms of retention. After an initial spike, turnover rates for promoted employees decrease.

• Once settled into their new roles, promoted workers become more committed to the organization long-term.

• You can reap the benefits of upskilling and promoting top talent with proper support during transitions.

Key Takeaways

• Promotions lead to increased turnover in the short-term as workers may be given the job and only later when they settle in the title. 
• Transition support is crucial to curb turnover and boost long-term commitment.
• You should weigh potential retention risks before promoting.

Conclusion

While promotions have traditionally been seen as a reward and retention strategy, companies need to be aware of potential unintended turnover consequences. With preparation for transitions and honest conversations about expectations, organisations can still leverage promotions to engage employees and develop skills.

The Debtors Outstanding report is one of the most critical reports in a business. As a rule, it should be run at least once every month. What it does is print an outstanding balance for all your debtors.

This determines how your business is handling its debt collection. This is why banks and financial institutions commonly request this report.

Looking at the image above, I think you will find it great that you can select any date (I chose a date in 2017, seven years ago, to show how flexible our POS System is) and display numbers for this date. This feature is handy.

This report is located in Registry Report > Client Trial Balance.

This is one of the most critical reports in a business. As a rule, it should be run at least once every month. What it does is print an outstanding balance for all your debtors.

This determines how your business is handling its debt collection. This is why banks and financial institutions commonly request this report.

Looking at the image above, I think you will find it great is that you can select any date (I chose four years ago) and display numbers for this date. This feature is handy.

This report is located in Registry Report> Client Trial Balance.

You also get the date range you want the breakup among the other options. In general, most people use months, but some prefer weeks. Others use a 4-week cycle because it gives an extra month in a year. It's up to you to decide. If you need more options, click the More Criteria tab.

In the standard report, you will get something like

The name is drawn out here, but if you look at it, you'll initially see that almost everything is within 90 days. It would be a red flag if it's actual data, not many years ago.

What I find very useful is to look at it twice a month. This lets me stay on top of debt collection and spot any issues early. Monitoring the debt levels regularly is crucial for any business.

I highly recommend adding the Debtors Outstanding report to your regular reporting schedule. It can help avoid cash flow issues and keep your business financially healthy. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Our point-of-sale (POS) system can provide you with valuable insights to help track your business performance. Here are some key metrics that a POS system allows you to monitor:

Sales

Knowing what products are popular and seeing sales trends over time allows you to understand your customers better and optimise ordering. One newsagent said, "seeing monthly sales reports on my POS helped me know when to restock best-sellers."

Inventory

The POS automatically tracks stock levels, so you always know what inventory you have on hand.

Customers

Gain an understanding of customer buying habits and preferences.

Finances

Track profits in real time so you can make informed financial decisions.

With accurate data over an extended period, a POS enables analysis of important metrics like top products or peak trading times. This type of business intelligence can help take your operations to the next level.

Ensure Data Quality Before Analysis

Is your data accurate?

Accuracy means data is error-free. Check for mistakes in entry, scanning or importing.

Is your data complete?

Completeness means all relevant aspects are captured. Scan all items; record all customer and transaction details.

Is your data up-to-date?

Information should reflect the current business situation. Update stock, pricing and supplier info regularly.

Is your data consistent?

Adjustments like returns can distort numbers if not accounted for consistently. Your data should represent what's happening now.

Choose Reports for Your Goals

Some common reports include:

Sales Reports

Customizable reports on sales by date, time, location, product, category, customer, staff and payment method.

Inventory Reports

Stock levels by quantity, value, cost, selling price, margin, turnover rate and more. Compare across locations/suppliers.

Customer Reports

Details on who is buying, what they buy, purchase frequency, spending habits, preferences and segmentation.

Staff Reports

Performance by sales, service, product knowledge and KPIs. Compare across locations/shifts.

Customize your Favorite POS Software Reports

Do you have a favourite report that you run consistently but must go through several pages to get to?

Our users love the ability to create an intelligent list of the reports they like to run frequently, all in one place. All they have to do is locate their favourite report and highlight it. Then, right-click on the reports, adding them to the Favourites Section. Now all their favourite reports are in one page; no more going from one screen to another screen as their favourite reports are in one convenient place! If they want to take it out of favourites, all they do is right-click and remove it.

Our users have the unique ability to quickly design an intelligent list just for their reports, increasing their overall productivity as they instantly have their business information.

Review Reports Regularly

Regularly reviewing reports, such as monthly, helps track performance over time. Identify:

• Trends - Consistent increases, decreases or differences.

• Patterns - Recurring changes or similarities in the data.

Understanding trends and patterns reveals business strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.

Use Reports for Planning and Evaluation

With insights from reports, you can:

• Plan - Set SMART goals and define actions to achieve them.

• Implement - Execute plans and monitor progress using reports.

• Evaluate - Compare results to goals and identify lessons learned.

Data-driven planning, implementation and evaluation ensures continuous improvement.

In summary, following these steps of data quality checks, report selection, regular review and usage for planning helps turn POS insights into informed decision-making and business growth.

To make the most of your POS Software, you need to:

• Check the quality of your data before running your reports
• Choose the correct reports for your business needs and goals
• Review your reports regularly and identify trends and patterns
• Use your reports to plan, implement, and evaluate your strategies

Following these steps, you can turn your POS system data into valuable insights to help you grow your business and achieve your goals.

Generally, one of the quickest ways to increase sales in a shop, such as in a newsagent greeting cards, to computerise this department.

Shelf space is valuable real estate. Why pay high rent to store slow-selling items that do not sell? The key to increasing profits is to optimise. But how do you determine which items aren't pulling their weight and which ones deserve more prominent placement? This blog post will show you how to use your point-of-sale (POS) system reports to identify fast and slow movers. You'll learn proven techniques to phase out laggards while spotlighting your star products. By actively managing your products, I have seen increased sales by 50%!

Step 1: Pinpoint Slow Movers with POS Reports

The first step is finding slow-selling products that take up space and drag down your performance. Here's how to identify them:

Run the Slow Moving Stock Lines Report

This vital report shows you which items sell below a specified threshold over a defined period. Make a budget for what an average item should have, and then see what items are below that budget. 

In your POS system, go to:

Reports > Stock > Slow Moving Stock Lines

Now pops out a report, in this case. I notice that many people get stunned by how many show up. Now, review this report for opportunities to adjust your mix. Any consistently low performers are candidates for removal or relocation.

Strategically Remove Laggards

Once you've identified the worst sluggish sellers, it's time to cut the dead weight. Clear them off the prime shelves and selling areas. Consider these options to remove them:

• Put them in a less expensive area in the shop.
• Mark down prices drastically for clearance sales
• Return, if possible, to the suppliers
• Consider bundling these items with stock that sells.

Freeing up space is critical. Shelves packed with stagnant items hinder sales. Now, you will have room to showcase faster sellers.

Review Slow Movers Frequently

Don't just run this report once a year. Analyse regularly to stay on top of declining products. Act quickly before they become completely obsolete and worthless.

Newly launched products may need more time to catch on. But persistently slow items must be removed before they fester and consume valuable real estate.

Step 2: Give Top Sellers the Star Treatment

Now look at your top sellers - you want to make these items the stars of your shop! Spotlight them front and centre to maximise sales.

Find Top Sellers with POS Reports

Go to register reports and select the top stock report as marked with the red arrow here.

Now, check these items out. I suggest doing it twice, the first, 3 months and then 12 months. This will give you an accurate idea of what sells in your shop.

Allocate Prime Space to Top Sellers

Give your hottest sellers expanded space in high visibility areas:

• Studies show that double shelf space for absolute top performers increases their sales by 50%. 
• Place at eye level for maximum visibility
• Cluster complementary products nearby
• Use signage and displays to highlight top products

Let your layout reflect consumer demand.

Maintain Inventory of Top Sellers.

Nothing kills sales in your shop faster than being out of stock on popular items. Use sales data and forecasts to ensure an adequate inventory of top-selling products.

Step 3: Replace Slow Movers with High Potential Products

Now, the strategy is rapidly replacing underperformers with new products with promise. Some fresh merchandise will become new top sellers. You are trying to create room to trial new products by clearing out persistent, sluggish sellers.

Test and Measure New Products

When introducing new items, set time frames for initial testing. For example, pull products that don't meet sales minimums after three months. Be ruthless and pull out poor performers.

Analyze Sales Reports Frequently

Regularly review both slow sellers and top sellers reports, such as monthly or quarterly. This allows you to dig into the factors driving sales fluctuations.

Watch for Red Flags

Warning signs a product is declining:

• Slow sales velocity
• Excess inventory build-up
• Lower than average profit margin
• Frequent price adjustments or mark-downs
• Loss of visual appeal or damaged packaging

Don't let struggling products occupy space for too long. Quick, decisive action prevents more wasted time.

Trust Your Judgement

Even with perfect data, sometimes you need to trust your gut. Act on those instincts if a product "feels" like a loser or winner. You know your business!

Follow the overall strategies and frameworks, but go with your intuition when all else is equal.

Give your customers more of the products they want from you!

RU OK? Today is a national day of action in Australia, where people are encouraged to check in with their family, friends and peers to ask if they are doing okay mentally and emotionally. 

Why is R U OK? Day important?

R U OK? Day is important because it raises awareness of the importance of mental health and wellbeing, especially in these challenging times of pandemic, disasters and economic uncertainty.

It is not just staff that are affected business owners also feel isolated.

How can you support your staff and colleagues on R U OK? Day?

A business owner does have a legal responsibility. Here are some tips for what is suggested that you can do:

• Download the free workplace resources from the R U OK? website here to learn how to ask, listen, encourage and check in with your staff and colleagues.
• If you are concerned ask your staff and colleagues how they are feeling and listen with an open mind. Don't judge, interrupt or offer advice unless they ask for it. 
• Encourage them to seek professional help if they are struggling with stress, anxiety, depression or other mental health issues. Your employee organisation can suggest services like Beyond Blue or Lifeline. 
• Create a supportive work environment where people feel valued and respected, a culture of trust, collaboration and kindness. Avoid unrealistic expectations, excessive workloads and unnecessary stress.

What if you are not doing okay?

Life can be challenging and unpredictable, especially during these times. If someone can help why not get help?

Uncertainty Ahead as Shoppers Face Mortgage Stress

According to expert analysis from Roy Morgan Research, the forecast for Australian retail in 2023 is one of continuing uncertainty. Cost-of-living pressures and rising interest rates are expected to dampen consumer confidence and discretionary spending.

Here is my summary of the report, you can read it here plus my notes of how I expect it to affect my clients.

Mortgage Stress Reaching 15-Year Highs

• 29.2% of mortgage holders are now at risk of mortgage stress, up 642,000 in one year.
• Highest level of mortgage stress since August 2008.
• Caused by 12 RBA interest rate rises over the past year.

This increase in mortgage stress reduces people's discretionary income to spend on retail goods. As more household budgets are stretched paying the mortgage or rent, retail spending is impacted.

Consumer Confidence Remaining Near Record Lows

• ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index below 80 for 27 consecutive weeks.
• Longest period below 80 since tracking began in 2008.
• Ongoing uncertainty around further interest rate rises undermines confidence.

Consumers lacking confidence in the economic outlook tend to restrain their spending, providing another problem for Australian retail.

A 'Softening' Rather Than a 'Cliff' for Retail Spending

While these pressures are taking a toll, the feared "spending cliff" has been avoided so far, according to Roy Morgan. Spending volumes and growth have slowed, but this is more of a "softening" and gradual return to trend.

Some factors propping up retail spending include:

• Strong population growth continuing, increasing demand.
• Grocery spending remaining steady as food is an essential purchase.

Although not mentioned here in this report, items affecting kids education have not been affected.

Travel Reclaiming Its Share of Wallet

One area clearly impacting discretionary retail spending is travel. After COVID lockdowns, travel demand has roared back.

Roy Morgan data shows travel spending up $30 billion in the year to June 2023 compared to the previous year. As holidays claim more of people's budgets, this leaves less available for clothing, dining out, electronics and other discretionary purchases.

Although not mentioned in this report, the big spending overseas tourist from China are unlikely due to the Chinese economic problems to come to Australia.

Overall Retail Sales Forecast to Decline 1.4% in 2023 After Inflation

While retail spending is expected to grow 2.8% before inflation, Roy Morgan forecasts a 1.4% decline after factoring in 4.1% inflation predicted by the RBA.

This indicates a return to trend after the aberrations of COVID stimulus and reopenings. Before you get upset by this note that retail sales are still 15% above the pre-COVID trend, showing the ground is still made.

Essentials Like Food to Outperform Discretionary Categories

Food retail spending is forecast to grow 4.8% before inflation, and 0.5% after. Consumers still need groceries despite cost of living impacts.

Meanwhile discretionary non-food categories like household goods, clothing and dining out are predicted to decline 2.7% in real terms. These categories surged earlier in reopening so some correction is expected.

The Path Ahead for Australian Retailers

While the retail environment remains challenging, the forecast is for a very modest rather than dramatic downturn. Food and necessity spending shows some resilience, while discretionary categories are pulling back as spending patterns normalise post-pandemic. 

Some people do not switch off their POS System computers. They run them 24/7.

In my opinion, this is not a good practice.

Why You Should Restart Your POS System Weekly

Using point-of-sale (POS) systems during regular business hours and restarting the POS computers weekly can keep things running smoothly. While it causes a brief downtime, the overall benefits make it an intelligent maintenance routine.

The Benefits of a Weekly Restart

Restarting Windows-based POS systems weekly provides several performance and stability advantages:

• Install updates - Windows can check for and install important OS and security updates. Keeping things patched prevents issues.

• Clears out temp files - Temporary application files and caches are deleted, freeing up disk space.

• Frees memory - Programs with memory leaks are reset, freeing up RAM. This prevents sluggish performance.

• Resets connections - Network connections, ports, and sockets are refreshed. This can fix odd connectivity issues.

A reboot clears out any digital cobwebs and lets your POS system start with a clean slate. I recommend this as a general best practice for any business system.

When to Schedule the Restart

The best time to do it is between Tuesday and Thursday; this is because if something goes wrong, you can help.

Often you can stagger the restart if you have multiple computers, so they aren't all offline together.

The Temporary Downtime is Worth It

The downtime from a reboot is usually brief - just 5-10 minutes. While inconvenient, the performance and stability gains outweigh this small window of being offline. It's a smart tradeoff for any business.

Adopting a weekly restart routine is an easy way to keep your POS system running optimally. Combine it with other IT best practices, and your point-of-sale environment will stay healthy for the long run.

Today, we are now at four decades of stability, integrity and commitment to customers.

It marks a major milestone as POS Solutions celebrates our 40th birthday. It's incredible to think about the journey from those early days back in 1983 to now being a leading point-of-sale software provider across Australia and New Zealand.

From Humble Bedroom Beginnings to Industry Leader

I founded POS Solutions as a young, eager (maybe over-confident!) guy in my early 20s with no real business plan. However, I knew others were developing POS Software. I was confident. I felt I was so good, huh, to be 20 and know it all. I felt with my programming skills and my determination, I could do something even better than them.

It was the start of the journey that has led us to where we are now today.

Reaching 40 years in business is a remarkable achievement in any industry. Reflecting on our success, I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished with relatively modest resources compared to the more prominent players we competed with early on.

I vividly remember those early days of starting up in my bedroom, which doubled as our office! Yet, through sheer perseverance and commitment to being the best, we withstood the challenges that came our way.

Our Winning Formula - Care Deeply About Product and Service

Analyzing the key factors behind our POS Software success, it comes down to caring more than competitors in two core areas:

Product Development

We've always invested heavily in R&D and programming to improve and innovate our software constantly. Even now, we maintain at least double the number of developers compared to most competitors for any project.

This unmatched commitment to product excellence keeps our Point-of-sale (POS) Software at the forefront of retail technology. And it's why I'm so excited for the future. We have genuinely game-changing developments on the horizon!

Customer Service

Providing exceptional support has been central to our philosophy from day one. We prioritize service as a core value with rigorous staff training, satisfaction monitoring, and empowering employees to resolve issues quickly.

After 40 years, I still ensure we uphold the highest standards in helping clients. Our customers' success drives our own.

Celebrating the Past and Future

Today, we celebrate the past successes and lessons that have brought us here. But we also look to the future with eager optimism.

Through relentless innovation, we aim to help retailers achieve new levels of productivity and efficiency. We feel a profound responsibility to the community that has supported us over the past four decades.

To all our employees, partners and customers - thank you for being part of our journey. Here's to even more success in the future together.

Unfortunately, the article is protected by a paywall, but you can read the story here and here. In the US, Visa and Mastercard will almost certainly increase their network fees paid by merchants. While the exact details are still uncertain, it's reasonable to expect similar hikes to hit Australian retailers soon. Let's break down what this could mean for retailers.

The Potential Impact

• My back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest this would amount to a 0.5% increase in credit card fees.

• As economic conditions worsen, consumers rely more heavily on credit cards than debit cards or cash.

• With Australian interchange fees already low, these increases will likely roll out here too.

• Some merchants may see immediate impacts if they lack long-term contracts, locking in rates.

Coming at a Challenging Time

These fee hikes couldn't come at a worse time for small retailers already dealing with:

• High inflation driving up supply and operating expenses
• Households are now tightening their budgets
• Rising interest rates increase

This represents yet another margin squeeze small businesses did not need.

Strategies to Mitigate the Impact

While the situation seems bleak, retailers do have some options to minimise the damage:

• Review Pricing - I know it is challenging due to market and competitive factors, but you need to review your prices

• Renegotiate Rates - Use long-term contracts to lock in competitive credit card fees before the hikes hit. Investigate modern Credit Card solutions. The ones we suggest are UrPay and mx51. Let us know here and we will put you in contact with the correct people

• Incentivise Debit card/Cash - Promote alternative payment methods like cash. Simply advertising that a small fee will be charged without money works well.

The bottom line is retailers should start reviewing the situation. 

As a retailer, you need a POS system tailored to your specific challenges and needs. The right software should empower you to:

- Make data-driven decisions using robust sales reports and metrics on department performance. Identify high and low-growth areas. 

- Set sales, profit, and KPIs goals and monitor real-time progress across your business.

- Focus on growing your business instead of manual processes. The software needs to handle the grunt work.

- Gain actionable insights into customer behaviour and purchasing patterns through its advanced analytics and dashboards.

- Access critical data anytime, anywhere.

The right POS system becomes a strategic asset for retailers by tackling pain points like limited visibility into performance, inefficient processes, lack of staff motivation and engagement, and more. It should work for you, not against you, so you can focus on the big picture of operating a successful retail business.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for retailers

Understanding your daily sales performance across all departments is crucial for any retailer. It would be best if you had visibility into which areas of your store are driving revenue and profitability. You must quickly identify low-performing departments or see any operational issues impacting your shop. 

That's why having a robust point of sale (POS) system like ours with detailed reporting capabilities is so important. The right POS software will help you quickly generate a dissection sales report to analyze critical metrics for each department. Do it now in seconds!

This becomes very powerful if you can get them today while the day is still fresh in your mind. The question here would be, "What financially actually happened today"

Sales data and metrics for retailers

Easy with our POS system.

Go to Sales

Now select Dissection sales for a given period (see the red arrow)

Now select the days you require

In this case, I will choose today.

Now pops out a report full of relevant KPIs details for that day, including numbers, sales profit, scan rate and much more broken down by departments.

And that is only the beginning.

There are many more KPIs listed for you to look at. You can also specify other dates to analyse more. For example, look at yesterday's sales for comparison while these details are fresh in your mind to increase sales, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. It will also help you to understand what's driving performance so improve your retail sales performance. 

Some of the Sales Data and KPIs Metrics Provided

The dissection sales report provides a wealth of data for each department, including:

• Number of sales transactions - How many sales occurred? Is your shop layout reflecting your current sales?

• Total sales revenue - Which departments are bringing in the most money?

• Gross profit - Where is your profit coming from now?

• Margins - What departments are bringing in good margins now? Can these departments be improved?

• Scan rates - Highlights barcode or POS system issues impacting scans. Where are the problems in either your or your suppliers' data?

Deeper Analysis and Comparisons

In addition to these KPIs, you also get valuable analysis from other reports in that section such as:

• Top-selling products by department - Know your winners and losers.

• Sales comparisons to previous periods - Easily spot trends and anomalies.

• Insights into results - How did promotions, holidays, weather, and other impacts on sales?

Using the Data to Improve Performance

With the level of detail in the dissection sales report, retailers can better understand what's driving performance and where more focus is needed. You can identify high and low-performing departments, operational issues, staffing needs, merchandising opportunities, ineffective promotions, and much more.

Let the data guide your decisions to improve staffing levels, inventory planning, marketing initiatives, and overall strategy in each business area. The POS sales metrics will point you to what's working well and what needs more attention to optimise sales and profitability across every department.

From the results coming through from my clients' stocktakes, it is clear that shoplifting and retail shrinkage, in general, are significant problems facing retailers in 2023. Figures for retail shrinkage in 2022 were already high, with many blaming the impacts of COVID-19. However, emerging figures for 2023 seem to indicate the problem is worsening. Understanding the causes of retail shrinkage and implementing prevention strategies has never been more critical for retailers looking to protect their bottom line.

Major Causes of Retail Shrinkage

Many factors contribute to retail shrinkage, and awareness of these significant causes can help retailers target their prevention efforts.

Shoplifting

Shoplifting, or the theft of merchandise from a store by customers. It is the fastest-growing category. As a punt, it probably is about 35% of your total retail shrinkage. Shoplifters tend to move when the shop is busy. Often, they work alone and look for techniques to avoid detection. Once they find a method that works, they will target that method.

Some ways retailers can deter shoplifting include:

• High-quality customer service - Attentive employees who greet and assist customers can deter potential shoplifters. I believe that much shoplifting can be stopped by having grandmum stand in front of the shop and greet everyone as they come into the shop.

• Clear lines of sight - You must always give your staff good stock visibility of your stock. 

• Electronic anti-theft measures - Security gates, tagging merchandise, CCTV cameras, mirrors, etc. Even if they are not activated, their mere presence helps.

• Signage - Signs warning of video surveillance and prosecution of shoplifters. The best signs have images of eyes, which I discussed here.

  

• Secured high-risk items - Keeping expensive or frequently targeted items locked away. Your stocktake figures should be able to identify these items.

Employee Theft

Employee theft accounts are now estimated at about 30% of retail shrinkage. This can include stealing merchandise, giving unauthorized discounts, under-ringing sales, or outright theft of cash.

Retailers can reduce employee theft by:

• Background checks - Thoroughly screening job candidates for any red flags.

• Employee training - Comprehensive training on policies, expectations, and consequences.

• Accountable culture - Emphasizing integrity and deterring temptation.

• Transparent systems - Restricting access monitoring transactions. If employees cannot get into these systems, they do not know how they work.

• Hiring - Investing in hiring quality staff and training them thoroughly in policies, loss prevention, and inventory management.

• Frequent auditing - If possible, have every employee responsible for a till.

Return Fraud

Those without a good return fraud will get decimated by this fraud. Here, customers returned stolen merchandise and used fraudulent or stolen receipts. Retailers can prevent return fraud with the following:

• Receipt requirements - Mandating checks of all receipts used for returns.

• Camera -   Use your camera to match customers to receipts.

• ID tracking - Recording customer IDs with each return transaction has a significant impact.

Administrative Errors

Human and paperwork errors account are now estimated at about 15-20% of retail shrinkage. Preventing administrative errors involves:

• Employee  - Ensuring staff enter the correct figures into the computer.

• Goods received - These are matched to the suppliers' invoices.

Vendor Fraud

At around 5% of losses, vendor fraud happens when vendors deliberately short-ship or overcharge retailers. Prevention includes:

• Checking stock receiving - Invoices should be checked to ensure the quantity matches the invoice. Similarly, that credit for goods going back matches your vendors' figures.

• Checking prices - Do the invoice price details match what you were told? I have seen invoices with a much higher charge figure than quoted figures.

Damaged/Expired Goods

Damaged merchandise and expired perishable items comprise around 5% of retail shrinkage. This can be minimised through:

• Employee training - Handling goods properly, ensuring stock in the front window, if in the sun, is rotated.

• Inventory management - First in, first out stock rotation, monitoring expiry dates.

Audits and Inventory Control

Doing these shows that you care; they also show problems much faster than stocktakes at the end of the year. Use, if possible, use the cyclic stocktaking system in your POS System.

Frequent cycle counts, inventory audits, monitoring stock discrepancies, and keeping inventory organized.

Dedicated Loss Prevention Expert

Getting a knowledgeable loss prevention specialist to check your systems out may pay.

Assessing Current Losses

• This tells you the extent of the problem by quantifying current shrinkage levels and identifying problem areas. Drawing problem planograms in the shop of the problem places helps a lot.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

This image could be a planogram of your shop with your problem areas marked.

Blue = Good

Yellow = Moderate to bad

Red = Very bad

blank = Zero

See how it visually shows the problem areas.

Detail on how to do it are available here.

Continuously Evaluating and Improving

• Regularly reviewing audit data fine-tuning strategies over time.

Conclusion

Retail shrinkage through shoplifting, employee theft, paperwork errors and more continues to be a significant drain for retailers. Implementing the right prevention strategies tailored to your business, training staff thoroughly, leveraging technology and continuously reviewing audit data can help protect your bottom line. With proper vigilance and loss prevention processes, retailers can reduce shrinkage and improve profitability.

Here is some of the terminology used in POS Systems today.

Point of Sale

For merchants, efficiently managing transactions is pivotal. The point of sale (POS), is generally the front counter but not always and is generally a store's most influential real estate. It's here that customer interactions and sales are done.

What is a POS System?

Behind every POS lies an integrated system that keeps sales running smoothly. Comprised of hardware and software components, it digitally transforms the transactional experience. This is what we do! 

POS Hardware

Devices like computers, barcode scanners and printers facilitate front-facing jobs. Reliable, user-friendly technology is critical.

POS Software

In retail, this is divided into two categories:

Front Counter The front-end program powering devices at the POS itself. This does the sales processing.

Back Office Running remotely, back-office software compiles invaluable analytics and reports. Inventory levels and staff scheduling tools likewise enhance operations examples might be:

1) Detailed Sales Reporting Dissecting data reveals top products, periods and more to maximise profits.

2) Inventory Management\ Automated stock tracking prevents stockouts while streamlining replenishment.

3) Loyalty programs Transaction histories fuel loyalty schemes and targeted promotions.

Hope this is of help.

The Lotto is essential to many of my clients, so we are keen to read the latest financial reports of The Lottery Corporation, as are many others in the industry, as publicly listed companies need to release a great deal of information. What I am interested in is how their decisions impact my clients.

My key findings from the 2022 & 2023 financial report:

> Expansion of Online Presence

The reports provide limited details regarding specific information on their online sales. It does highlight that online revenue grew at a significantly faster rate than the retail distribution network. However, nothing in the 2023 report suggests they are placing more emphasis on digital market expansion rather than their retail distribution network.

> Stability in Agent Count

The number of retail agents remained unchanged at 7,200 in 2022 and 2023. This suggests that the company is not making any significant changes to its retail network, which is vital for my clients who need stability to make them confident to build their lottery business.

>Commission Payment Updates

One area where 2023 shines is its commitment to supporting its retail distribution network. Commission payments increased by over 20%, reaching over $604 million in 2023 - an impressive figure considering last year was listed as over $500 million in 2022. This demonstrates the organization's dedication to fostering long-lasting relationships with its retail partners, something I wish many other large agencies dealing with small retailers felt! The 2023 report emphasises that it's a plus that its agents get more.

Based on these figures, the average earnings of lottery agents rose from $70,000 in 2022 to $84,000 in 2023. 

Final notes:

I liked that the 2023 financial report from The Lottery Corporation states that they are committed to supporting its retail agents. You can find the reports I used if you want to read them here. If you do, please let me know your thoughts.

Disclaimer: The analysis in this blog post is based on publicly available financial reports. I am not a financial advisor, and I am not affiliated with The Lottery Corporation in any way. The information in this post is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.