Today with RU OK Day, it is worth considering that even in the best times, people have traumatic incidents. These incidents can have lasting effects as they go through life's ups and downs. I am sure we all know of someone with a tragic record of suicide, depression or anxiety. Today many people, because of lockdowns, were locked in their homes. Feeling lonely and isolated and are now finding the strain of trying to return to everyday life challenging. Just trying to get to work on time after three years is an effort.

It is not just a personal issue as an employer. You do have a legal duty of care.

If you have any doubts about an employee's mental condition today, ask if they are OK! I know that they will appreciate someone who cares enough to ask. Please be diplomatic. If you want to hang up a poster click here. {link removed]

If you have doubts or are unsure what to do, I suggest you contact your employee group to find out what you can do. Remember this problem, its a potential legal nightmare so find out what you can and cannot do to help. They often have mental health experts to advise you. I had one client who had a possibly violent guy, which brings up another problem he was responsible for making a safe workspace.

We're fortunate to be living in Australia, with access to high-quality mental health care, resources and support services. Much of which is free.

Note: I saw a great film that I enjoyed on mental health and suggest if you are interested in this, The Sunset Limited. If you are interested in this sort of stuff, I think you will enjoy it too with a beautiful story and great actors. 

Financial analysis can say, "what not calculated cannot be managed." besides, working from a gut feeling is stupid if you can get exact figures from your POS System.

This is how you can calculate how your shop travelled over Father's Day 2022; so let us get some facts.

In your POS software

Go to reports and click on sales.

Now select the last seven days. For the first run, ignore all the extra options you can examine here. Once you see what it does, you can expand for more detail. Use for the previous date the week before.

A report with the simplified options is here.

Now there are lots of details for you to examine. I think the most important is the $Profit column.

If you want to look at one department, click on the left.

What can also be an interesting view is to compare this Father's Day to a previous Father's Day. If so you need to consider the official Australian inflation rate is 6.1% which is the highest recorded since 1990.  

Let me know how you travelled.

Efficient Inventory management means you have the correct amount of stock when needed while ensuring that your funds are not tied up.

And today, you should order with a computer as a partner for your Inventory management. 

Although changing your inventory management might seem like an enormous undertaking, once you get the hang of it, it will not be with your POS System.

I suggest you do it not to start from scratch; it is much easier to work with something there. It saves a lot of time as the more the computer does, the less you have to do.

So if your stock levels are correct, your POS Software knows how much inventory you have instead of second-guessing like people often do. Plus, it uses the automatic focus system to determine the sales fluctuations over time. This allows you to stay ahead of the peaks and troughs to maintain the right inventory balance. This is your advantage as you have an integration with the point-of-sale system and accounting software.

Then once the computer does the initial order, you change and adjust to what you see as your needs. This is much faster to do.

You will find that you can get faster and more accurate ordering with less workload. 

Plus, you will find it all on a single screen, making it faster.

Our system has AI in, and were currently trying to extend it. Currently, as far as I know, we are the only ones in our market space with this type of advanced technology. As part of our research, we applied and were accepted into the Dall-E program. Part of what it does is draw computer pictures. This part excited us as it meant that even people with no skill in art could draw high-quality posters. This could be very useful for our clients.

Now a sister program to Dall-E, Midjourney made a picture that won first prize in a prestige art contest. A computer drew this.

What you do is enter some expression like a google search, and the program will draw a picture. admittedly this one, the *artist* made many attempts first.

Now I decided to test Dall-E by drawing some pictures showing you its capabilities. See what you think. I think it shows potential. An excellent graphic artist would charge you hundreds of dollars for something like this. If anyone wants me to demonstrate, let me know.

I decided to use "sunset over a paper shop with newspapers and magazines"

Here I decided to use "sunset over a pet shop with dogs, cats"

Then I decided to do some marketing images for posters.

So I said, "Father's day sale gifts."

Here is one I made for "Business internet network."

All pictures are in Hi-Res, so if you right-click and view the image to see the incredible detail. I think you will be impressed.

This is the future.

Imagine what it will do to the art industry.

Robotic companies frequently have offered us robots for retailing. , I think we could link these into our system. We are still waiting for pricing. I doubt they will be cheap as it is a quality item. If it were $100,000 and could replace one person, many would consider it a bargain as it would give them a considerable boost in productivity. So we have seen a few companies try to push robots into retail, so far, none has worked, but no one has given up on the mission.

Nor am I sure what the public would think of them. I have noticed that although many restaurants allow ordering without a waiter, few people do it.

Have a look and see what you think of something I am sure is the future in retail.

If anyone wants to know more please let me know.

Following the turmoil caused by the COVID pandemic in 2020, we had a semiconductor chip shortage and extended COVID-19 lockdowns in China and many parts of Australia. Also, the delivery system was in crisis. All this wreaked havoc on computer imports. So here we were all waiting for these new all-in-one units that were never coming.

Well, finally the new models have arrived.

It is a computer made for a shop running POS Software.

There are slightly bigger and more powerful, and the screen is better than the previous model. So these can run a shop faster and better too.

I took some pictures of the unit. Once you see them, I am sure you will be impressed with the small footprint on the counter.

It's a best buy, alright.

If you want the older model, they are available at a better price now for a short time as stock is limited. Once the Australian stock sells out, we cannot get any more of the old models.

Google my business!

People today often ask Google for the closest one and directions when they want to go shopping for their goods and services. These people are good customers as they are going now to shop.

Here is a report of Australian searches done now per month of people asking for directions to some of our popular customer types.

Now people that search are not looking for something small like a chocolate bar. The odds are they are looking at something of reasonable size with a need.

Now pick the line that applies to you and do some calculations. For example, there are 3,000 newsagents in Australia, so we have (10,040+10,000 searches)/(3000 newsagencies) monthly. That is about seven people per newsagent monthly.

Check on Google and see what happens when you search "<your business type> near me" and who comes up.

Now there is no cost, and it takes little time. To put yourself into this equation now, click here.

There are several others, but consider that Google has 93.3% of all searches, Bing 4.7%, and many share the rest.

So I would, since it is free and quick, consider putting yourself in Microsoft Bing, too; click here. I doubt I would worry about the rest of them.

Father's day is coming. According to figures released by Finder's research, the average expected spend this year is up.

"those from New South Wales and Queensland are the most generous, planning to spend $113 on average on their fathers. South Australians are the tightest, forking out just $85."

What they are planning is below.

So based on previous years, the retail industry is looking at an increase in sales this year.

Based on previous years, convenience is crucial for the public when picking out a Father's Day gift. They want to do it quickly. So make it easy for your shoppers to find their gifts. Consider creating a display that features your Father's Day merchandise with signage to lead shoppers to this exhibit. You want to make it super easy for your customers to grab and go.

Here are some gifts that Nextra is offering its members.

Do this if you are unsure what will work in your shop on Father's Day or to get some ideas.

Go to Register reports.

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

In the form, put in the week before September 5, 2021, and check it out. That will give you what worked last year.

Now put in the year before COVID-19 hit on September 1, 2019, and see that report.

This year will be a mix of these two dates.

Now, these are the items that worked for you then. They will probably work for you again this year.

Father's Day is an excellent shopping day in retail. Although it is a limited-time shopping festival with a short season, it can considerably impact your shop if correctly done.

We do not have a lot of time to prepare.

Zero-cost EFTPOS is used when people want an EFTPOS/Credit card service that their customers pay directly. This is instead of the merchant collecting it from their fees and then paying it through their bank fees. What they are doing is cutting themselves out of the equation.

There is some confusion here as different banks and institutions have other names to describe this.

Some banks call it Zero cost EFTPOS, free EFTPOS and "pass on the full cost of card acceptance" all seem the same to me.

Then when you look at the fine print, there are significant differences in banks' offerings even if they are quoting what they claim is zero costs. I have heard of people with zero costs being charged fees. Some services and some premium cards are not included; e.g. if there are disputes on charges or international cards, costs show up. Some of these costs are not small either. Even if it was not the merchant's fault, errors in calculations appear to be assigned to them.

What you need to ensure you include dynamic surcharging with the flexibility to change it to your costs. 

The other issue is the rates significantly vary. Even though the merchant is not paying for it, their customers will be paying for it. If the charges look too high, the merchant's customers will react. It is a cost increase for their customers. So it would be advisable to review the rates first.

Let us know if you are interested in this service, as we can certainly help you.

Payments by a debit or credit card incur a cost. Many businesses absorb these costs, but a significant percentage do pass the costs on as a payment surcharge.

Off the top of my head, I would say, based on what I have seen and heard, about 80% of our clients are in the beauty industry, e.g. hairdressers, a slightly smaller percentage in hospitality and general retail, 30% charge a surcharge. As a general rule, the smaller they are, the more likely they will charge it.

Does it cost them, customers? I think it does, but some will disagree with me. Many will accept that it costs them customers but claim that it produces more revenue than it loses. Here I agree they often have a good argument here.

Say you have a small coffee shop doing about $300,000 turnover in EFTPOS with a 40% margin and an average sale of $20. You introduce a surcharge of 50 cents, which makes about $7,500 profit, but as a result, you lose 1% of sales. This costs you a $1,200 loss in profit. The net gain in profit is about $6,200.

This is why our free EFTPOS system is very popular with these people.

Now accepting that you want to charge a surcharge, the rules are very confusing. Different banks had given me different views on the details here, as did the ACCC when I enquired.

So I suggest in point form the following if you want to charge a surcharge:

1) Get something in writing from your bank, see their website for details, study it, now cut and paste it and save it, and then follow it.

2) You need a sign showing your customers that you may set a surcharge to charge if EFTPOS/Credit cards are used.

3) Those who charge it have told me that when they calculate the costs, it is more than the bank's figures. I would query this with the bank, but if it is legit, yes, you can charge your figure. It's something you need to keep in mind that the bank's figure often seems too low. What is fascinating is that the banks' figures do not agree with each other. You may be able to use this to your advantage.

4) Now you have two choices

a) You can charge this through your POS System. Here you have the advantage of giving you more flexibility, but it has a problem that the POS Software does not know the card used. Many premium cards, which are the big problem here, are unknown, so they can only charge an average fee.

B) My favourite is using the bank system to charge it. Most banks' systems allow you to change the surcharge as you like. Plus, it somewhat leaves you out of the charge in the public perception.

5) Keep careful note of what happens after introducing the surcharge. If it is causing problems, you may consider rethinking the idea. What works well is only charging for payments under a certain amount. It has proven to be an excellent encouragement to get people to spend more. In our example above, people in the coffee shop often buy another coffee to get above this limit.

As always, let me know how it goes.

Almost all email systems can send an Out-of-Office message so that people emailing you know that you are away. These are often called autoresponder email messages.

This is good practice to set up to send an out-of-office message. It is a simple courtesy to tell people that you cannot respond immediately. It is also efficient and makes you look professional.

Think of it from the other person's perspective: they have sent you an email and expect a real-time response. Plus, in today's world, you may find your lack of response means something. Just imagine you get an email "We want to sort it out before we go to a lawyer...."

So I suggest you set one up if you intend to be out of the shop for some time.

When I am on holiday, even if I know I should have internet access, something often goes wrong. Plus, I do not have access to documents and people to discuss it. Plus, usually, I am not in the mood. So I set up such a message.

The note I use is

From experience, give yourself a [return date] a few days after you return. This is because when you arrive, besides your regular duties, there will be much to do to catch up.

For [reason] keep it simple holidays where ??? - let them be jealous, medical checks not an illness, etc.

[phone] not [email] as too many spammers are harvesting email addresses.

If you want to copy or change it, go for it. I change it on every extended break.

But I suggest you don’t forget to write an auto-response for those who email you while you’re on leave. 

Try using your End of Day Options and experiment.

Yes, your POS System is a Cash Register that can do X-Offs, Y-Offs and your Z-Offs at the end of the day, but it can do much more. Why not use it as well as a computer, not a Cash Register?

These are what we call a freebie. It takes no time and effort and gives you a pile of information.

Now when you go into your End of Day, stop and look at the other options, I have highlighted in Green below.

Study them all. In particular, look at the ones I ticked as I think you will find these most useful. 

Another helpful function is to set your POS System to automatically email or SMS your shop's End of Day details to many different email addresses and mobile numbers. This is an excellent feature if you are away from the shop and a convenient paperless way to archive your end-of-day reports!

Your POS Software is not just a simple Cash Register.

Readers here will know I support using events to connect with their customers. It is tricky, but it works, and it is cheap. Find some event, and link your stock to it to sell your products. This piggyback works as you connect to the major's extensive advertising program to get a slice. Often for free.

One such event I did like was Afterpay Day. Critics said that would not be much as Afterpay was on a decline and BNPL is down. Well neither I think is true. Yes its share price dropped, but its business is doing fine. The public overall does not care about the share price. What they care about are the business offers. Millions of them would have gotten emails pushing them to buy.

Well, here is the interest in Afterpay Day this August 2022.

In red, you will see the interest in 2021 and in blue, the interest in 2022. It started earlier and finished later than last year, but if you look at the bar on the left, you can see it is identical to last year. Majors must have been happy with it, as they extended the sale dates. It is a standard pattern today that the retailers will extend the holiday to get more sales if it works.

If you want more info, Australia Post puts it on the same level as Father's Day. Click here.

I am sure those retailers who listened to us made a few sales. I hope you did.

There is a new ePay version that we are releasing now in testing. It is in beta now, with mass deployment scheduled this month. The latest version will give you access to more virtual products; click here for a list. Overall I would say with ePay that these products are popular, bring people into a shop, and pay their way.

To get involved with ePay, you must first set up an account. To do that, please click here. Now you need to tick the boxes in the following order, which I have numbered 1 to 5 in green.

Then click next and Enjoy!!!

In retail, the traffic and Customer conversion rates are what professional marketers check religiously. They are easy to set up using our software.

What I will discuss is the manual process. If it's automatic in our software, it's going to be all different as it's automatic.

Now, you need to set up a spreadsheet which will be a record book. Here are the following columns

1) Date

You can do hourly with some counters, but we will leave that to another post.

2) Summary of the highlights of the day

Examples might be raining, EOFY sale, Easter, road works mucking you up, etc.

3) The traffic

Traffic is generally considered the number of marketing groups that come into the shop. For example, a husband, wife and three kids are one buying group. If he went by himself, the husband then came into your shop. He would be a buying group. It is best described as the number of decision-makers.

The best way to get this figure is to put a people's counter at the shop's entrance. These counters are not particularly expensive; a few hundred dollars should be enough for a good one. Some cheap people count the number of people that come into the shop. This can be deceptive. In the above example, five (5) people ( a husband, wife and three kids) came into the shop, yet there was only one buying group. Some of the better people counters have options that can overcome some of this  problem. They count one person, switch off for a few seconds, and then start counting again. The idea is that the above family will all come together. It works better, but it does not solve the problem totally. Some can do both, which is better still. We use what we have.

Some cheap systems only hold one day, and some better systems have many days of counting. Depending on its cycle, e.g. if it's daily, then every day, generally first thing in the morning, a person records the number and resets the counter to zero. If it can be done monthly, even better, as this process can be monthly.

This you put in this column.

4) The number of sales for the day you get from our POS Software.

5) Now, you calculate the conversion rate as a percentage

So the conversion rate per day = (Number of sales) / (Number of people)

Most of our clients are looking here at about 30%.

Analysis

You could write a book on what you can determine with this.

It does help with rostering as it does tell you when people are coming into the shop, but its primary use is to assess marketing campaigns and shop fits.

Professional marketers determine a low and high point for traffic and conversion rates. Once you have a month of history, this is pretty easy to do. Sometimes Saturdays and Sundays need adjustments.

For example, a shop I talked about a few days ago might consider 100 low traffic and 200 high traffic.

Now they want to know what days had low or high and why. Is it something the shop did? If so, maybe they can repeat it? 

Similarly, it might determine that conversion rates of 20% are low and 40% as high.

The same point here. Why are the conversions high or low?

The most intriguing days have high traffic and low conversion rates. ; why? Plenty came, but little was brought. What did we do wrong that day? Say we had an EOFY sale, well the people came, but what we had was not what they were interested in.

Another interesting one has low traffic and high conversion rates, but in my experience, 90% this is often the weather, as rain often does discourage window shoppers.

People that do such analysis religiously claim a 1% improvement in the shop. So if your shop does a million dollars of sales, it is worth an extra $10,000 of sales to the shop. For most, this can justify a few hundred for a people counter.

Try it out. If you want an automatic system, let me know.

Soon EFTPOS/credit rates will increase. These actual amounts are less than expected. This appears to be true of all banks. This affects new contracts made in this financial year.

Those who took our advice of locking in the rates last year are not affected.

I would suggest that if you charge a surcharge, you need to review this charge. Most EFTPOS have a portal you can check out. If not, call the customer service team at your EFTPOS bank. One problem here is although the banks are quoting a rate, these are subject to change as the banks are unsure of some of the charges. This means your actual new rate is yet to be determined. This will make it challenging for you to budget and notify your customers of your new EFTPOS charges.

How to Increase Net Profit dramatically! 

A tall order, let us look at the basic retail formula to calculate the Net profit of your shop. It will look like the one below.

Now, if you look at this formula, let us discuss what you can concentrate on to improve your shop's net profit dramatically. 

I decided to take a typical shop everyone can relate to, so I selected a gift shop and took the ATO benchmark figures here. So my shop has

​Our mission is to increase the profit dramatically, so let us take each variable in the retail net profit figure. Yet as many variables are not mentioned here, I decided to fill the equation with some typical examples.

​Traffic size: Making a significant increase in your traffic figure is tricky. You could try moving the shop's location to a better position, which may work. Better window displays, advertising, and different goods and services might help if you are a destination shop. All these items are long-term to medium-term projects. It would be hard to increase traffic dramatically.

Conversion rate: This is something that can be worked on now. Are you stocked correctly? Can customers see your products?

"It's much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than doubling your traffic." – Bryan Eisenberg, Co-founder of Buyer Legends and NY Times bestselling author.

A 1% increase in this example of the conversion rate gives this shop an $8,000 profit.

Let us put a star on this one as it's actionable now.

Basket size: The shop layout can help; using your companion reports. It is much easier to sell something to someone already buying something in the shop. A standard method of doing this is to mix stock with frequently-bought-together items that can increase the basket size. See your reports on what sells with what.

This one is also actionable now so we will star this too.

Average price: This is a medium-term item. The most common method of doing this is to upgrade your products. Sell premium products in your shop. I have seen it work. I had one client that marketed $300 plus pens. You do not have to go this far, but most products have a range of premium products you can investigate. What you are looking for here is to pull some of your low-cost sales into high-cost sales.

For every 1% of your customers that buy a 30% more expensive item here, you make $1,600. It is a medium-term project. For many businesses, this is a difficult one to do. Your market sets prices. Consider re-inventing yourself here as a premium retailer.

Margin %: Few suppliers today have or are willing to give more. You may get something. In my experience, they are often ready to help sell more products, say with a stand, than reduce their price.

This is why it helps if you have something unique and can set your price.

The other problem is that few suppliers do have a dramatic percentage of your turnover. This produces many accounts that add up together. This makes it challenging to increase your margins as even a dramatic drop with one supplier will have little effect.

In this example, a 1% reduced cost gives this business $4,160 extra.

Shop costs: The big problem with reducing costs here is that the big ones are almost fixed and impossible to move. Labour is the big one, and how well do you think you will go asking your staff to take a pay cut? For your efforts, you may even end out in trouble. Checking your roster in your software can help here. Looking at your traffic reports would help too.

Rent is another one that is hard to move. Again it is a long-term proposition. Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to do something.

The other costs, the problem here is that nothing is costly, like the suppliers above. It is not one whole but a lot of odds and ends that add together. This makes it very hard to reduce them, and as they make up about 10% of this business, even a dramatic drop in one will have little effect.

Most businesses find selling more with the existing costs easier than reducing costs.

Overall, this means there are two actionable ways of immediately increasing your business.

1) Conversion rate
2) Basket size

Please have a chew; we will discuss these two items in detail soon.

Using Marketing Lifestyle.

A lifestyle in this context means a segment of the population, for example, a particular profession, interest or age group. Common examples used are:
Seniors
Teachers

but it can also deal with almost anything

Bike riders
Gardening enthusiasts
Golfers

On its most superficial level, you offer a special discount in some departments to people in this group on a particular day. 

You put a sign on the window as" As a thank you to - ....." on date __/__/__ we are offering ................

Now try to pick a large group and, if possible, one that you only do minimum business. You do not want to give up too much discount. Try and pick an affluent segment. What is the point of marketing to people without money? You are trying to make your business known to a segment that you want to reach, creating an opportunity for them to become new customers. 

It is easy to pick an appropriate date as most of these segments have a particular date in the year for them.

Golfer's day 10th April 
Teacher's day 28th October

They work as 

1) Everyone wants a good deal.
2) Everyone wants to feel special.

Keep an eye on your calendar for these marketing dates so that you can plan your promotions well in advance and maximize their results!
If you need some ideas, use these sites; click here. Be careful as sometimes Australian dates can vary from overseas ones. 

All it costs is a sign on the window.

Make sure you use your POS System to record the sales due to this promotion to assess how well it worked.

Any printer needs cleaning; over time, everything gets dirty. You will see what is necessary as you will see signs of blurring and skipped lines on the printout. What is happening is the printer is getting a layer of toner and dirt. If you are using a laser, this reduces the beam reaching the drum, making it weaker and diffused. Also what you will see is the number of paper jams increase. This can cause printhead damage and replacement.

Soon the printer will be unusable.

So cleaning your printer is required.

Note:
- If it works well now, do not touch it.
- If it ain't broken, do not fix it.
- Remember, what you are about to do can break your warranty.

What you will need

- I recommend you make a solution of white vinegar and water. I have not found the prepared cleaning solutions any better.
- Microfibers clothes work well.
- A small vacuum cleaner you can get in most electrical shops helps.
- Some small brushes help.
- Some mechanical attribute

Steps to do:-

- Turn off the printer, and take all wires off it before attempting to clean. Wait a while; some printers store electricity, which can spark.

- Now open the printer up.

- Now, with a dry cloth, clean as usual. Avoid any electrical items and all electronics. Do not touch anything electrical. You can damage it.

Don't wipe back and forth because it will be wiped on the cloth and smeared when you go the other way. Get out of that habit.

- Look for dirt and gently lift it. The brushes and vacuum cleaners can help here. The spilled toner, dust, hair, and built-up old paper fragments can gum up your printer and sometimes need some elbow grease to remove.

- Only open what you can. If you take something out, take note of how it is designed and where everything goes while you pull things apart. You are going to have to put it together soon. Clean those items with a dry cloth. Gently wipe. If you need a moist cloth, be careful if it is electrical. This damp cloth must not be wet. Take care to prevent moisture from entering inside the printer.

If toner scatters on you, immediately wash it with cold water and dry yourself.

- Do not worry if you have only done, say, 70%. It should be enough. Better too little than too much.

- Above all, dry everything.

- Now, put it back together again.

- Now clean with a dry cloth outside. In some places, you will need a moist cloth. Careful you do not get any moisture in the gaps around the control panel or panels. For hard-to-remove stains, AJAX is good.

- Now dry the outside.

- Wait a few minutes to let any residual water dry off, and only then turn on the printer.

Besides being less of an eyesore in the shop, a clean printer will print better and last longer.

I hope this helps.

As in most of the world, Australia is switching over to allow people to register the shorter .au domain for their website. This will replace the existing websites from .com.au or .net.au to .au.

In most people's view, people are looking for speed of use, so the AU will become the dominant domain as it has overseas. If you have an Australian website for your business, you must reserve your website with the shorter domain AU. If not, it soon becomes available to the general public. The consequences of not registering your existing business name by the deadline could be catastrophic for your online business. A rival could take your online site name. From personal experience, I can tell you that unscrupulous people with little morals will steal your business name if they can. What we are doing for our clients is telling them to register the shortened AU name. Then set up an automatic redirect so people going to the short website .au will direct to the current longer one. This is no long-term solution. It will hurt your SEO doing this. Your site needs to be converted to AU.

I know it's a short deadline, but what can we do? I have asked, and NO extension would be available to give us time.

Act now. It is happening in September.