Before you think it is of little help 1%, let me show you have much of even improvement per year this can make.
Going to the ATO benchmark study they give what I consider the best benchmarking figures for businesses in Australia today free.
Now I picked a hairdresser shop just because it is something most of us can get our head around. Then picked the average for everything. I put it into an excel spreadsheet and then made a new column for 1% improvement.
Bottom line: I got a 25% increase in profit. That is pretty impressive.
How do we do this 1% improvement?
Well, there is an excellent quote in management theory. I learnt that "what gets measured is what gets improved." What we need to do is measure over time. This will tell you where you are, and how you got there. Then how you go compared to others. Then see where you are going if nothing changes.
And with our POS Software, you have the tool.
Look through our reports for ones that you like, here are some key metrics, I suggest you start with.
Total Profit
Most would say this is the most critical metric in a shop today. It is the primary method used by people to determine their business value.
Number of Customers (Customer Traffic)
The number of customers in your shop is the most straightforward metric for your retail business.
Average profit by the sale
This is always an exciting measure in a shop. Are people that buy more or not?
Basket size
This shows how productive you are in the shop.
Often these are linked. For example, if you see profit per sale is down by basket size is up. Well, you are pushing the wrong products, or maybe you are overdoing discounts.
Try giving your business a standard to measure itself for continual improvement.
