What is taking off now are sales of waterproof barcode scanners. If you need this, it is worth considering.

-The big plus is, of course, that they are more resistant to water, but we certainly do not recommend putting one in a pool of water.

They are great if you need a scanner to work, for example, outside where they can get wet. They tend to be hardy so they can take punishment. One client told me that, yeah, he dropped it a few times, once into a puddle of water, and it kept working.

Another client told us how impressed they were when a coffee spill went all over a scanner with no damage.

- In use, in my experience, they are every bit as good as regular scanners. For example, they read small fine barcodes well.

The negatives would be that they are designed to be waterproof compared to an equal non-waterproof scanner generally

- So the costs are a bit more. 

- Because they are more enclosed, the range tends to be less. This can be a problem outside.

- They often do not have continuous scanning, which means you cannot aim at a spot and wait till it reads.

If you need such scanners, they are great so please let us know.

This is happening because we have so many integrations with suppliers. Our clients are now are often simply importing in the suppliers' files, great. 

But what is happening is that suppliers, when faced with 

-A product name that is too large for their systems
 -Products so like too many of their other products 
- Laziness

summarise the description. 

Look at the above real example. What does TAS mean? Looking at the book, our client could not find anything that made sense. We think it might be the supplier code "Trade At Settlement" since it is used by several items in their catalogue and the only thing common is made in Canadian. So it is was used to mark a product whose price is to be decided when payment is due because of currency fluctuations. For example, if you buy in Canadian dollars, you will not know the cost till the date of settlement. 

Now, what happens when your staff are looking for the item in your system and see the TAS? How does it help them?

If they cannot find it, they cannot sell it?

If you encounter this problem in your system, you need to change the description to something more meaningful.

A quick way of checking the most commonly handled products in your shop is to go to Register reports.

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

Now in the form put in the two months and ask in order of quantity and see what you get. If you cannot recognize some of the descriptions how can your staff?

Now it is up to you to do something!

Thinking that you need such a policy to combat majors in your area? 

Consider what price and price match policies you are thinking of matching? 

A person goes to one of my clients, shows an advertisement and asks for a price match on a product. Looking at the advertisement, my client notices, it is in a different state. He then remarked how much is the delivery going to cost from Queensland?

Now should he price match?

After this came up for discussion, I decided to investigate these pricing guarantees. What I found was interesting. It is something that every business person needs to consider for their policy.

As a rule, they only apply:

* To products that their competitors have in stock today. 

* To a specific region

* It often only applies to selected competitors.

Have a chew and let me know what you think your policy should be?

This tip works in many retail environments, so consider using it in your shop.

What happens is that we all end out with an item that is the last one, and we have decided for some reason not to get it in again. The problem is that this one item often takes up as much room as many items. So we usually have to keep it in that spot until it goes sweating that it will go before it gets too much out of date.

Well, why not make a collection for the last ones left. It does not need to be well presented in the pile as the bargain hunters are willing to work through it. It saves space and often moves the items immediately before we are often stuck with it.

Many industries do this; here is another example used by a card seller.

If you want a list of items in your shop that have only a few left, to get a feel of the size of the problem follow these steps.

Go to register reports > stock titled "Old Stock on hand by Date last received"

I tend to do it in two parts. I check the overall problem in the shop to see the scale of the problem. 

So now, look through the list to get an idea of the extent of the problem.

If you decide that idea is a goer, go back to the report and examine by department to action.

Then let me know how this tip goes for you?

Our advice is unchanged wait!

Overall the update from Windows 10 to Windows 11 now seems to be working.

Several of our users, despite our advice to wait, have been running our software on it.  It works, *sort of*. I say *sort of* as it is not thoroughly tested. The big problem is not our software but the equipment like scanners and printers. As expected, when doing the update, one of our clients found one receipt printer not working. In this case, we were able to fix this problem. 

Despite Microsoft's claims, we have not seen any speed increases with the newer Windows software. Maybe there is some, but you would need an accurate stopwatch to tell you. Still, based on specifications, I suspect that you will see some on a laptop on Windows 11, but we have not tested that yet.

Also, what is clear now is that the significant improvement promised of running Android on your computer is at least a year away. Without that, I do not see anything urgent with waiting. Yes, there are some enhancements, but I doubt many are particularly interested in these. For example, Teams is better than skype, but most use now Zoom or Google Meet. Still, I suppose we will all need to learn to use Teams, but that is long-term.

Most corporates are planning to move middle of next year. This is because of all the problems that they had with Windows 10 updates. This is good advice as it gives a few months for people to test it. Gives Windows time to mature. Remember, Microsoft has promised to support Windows 10 until 2025, so there is little risk of delaying your Windows 11 experience.

Above all now, make sure that any computer or equipment you buy is Windows 11 compatible. You do not want to buy an obsolete computer. 

If you will not wait, let us know before you do the update. We always need beta testers.

The problem here is that missing an ATO deadline can often, in fines and cause problems. Now our software was paired with ATO software, so giving our clients warning of the ATO key dates. Unfortunately, this ATO software was discontinued. Now we can no longer do this.

So it is advisable to check the ATO's key date page here manually and regularly. Then write down these dates in your diary with a date when you have to go back to this site. I would not suggest just trusting your bookkeeper.

If you will be late, my advice is to notify the ATO in advance as often they are helpful.

If so, make sure you get a reference number from the ATO.

What you need to check now is your Christmas trading hours this year. Many of you will need to change your regular Christmas business hours this year. We can see that this will be different everywhere as each of the states governs opening hours. Also based on current trends it may also depend on the category of your business and where it is located.

Since the public is confused too, I suggest that you make your hours clear on the front of the shop and update it as time goes on. So something like this above is ideal as well as that consider adding it to the receipt your opening hours.

Today, we are struggling to cope with the impact of pandemics on our supply chain. It has become more than a severe inconvenience that is affecting profitability.

On top of the supply problems, many suppliers struggling with shortages are quietly increasing prices and substituting old formerly unsellable stock. So prices are going up everywhere except in official Treasury figures.

What happened to us lately is interesting. We ordered two items for around $ 18 unit price and with a shipping cost of $15. But what happened was we were charged the two shipping costs of $30 in one parcel. They never did that before.

You must be cautious otherwise, you will not notice the price increase or replacement.

Older legacy systems with inadequate stock tools cannot do this. Here's a valuable screen if you need to check

Stock maintenance> History tab> Price change

What it does is provide a product history for each barcode and price change over time.

It is worth studying as this screen will be invaluable for you over the next few months until we get over this supply crisis.

As always, as we approach Christmas, this is when the EFTPOS suppliers come up with some fantastic bargains. They know this is their last chance to get your business for quite some time. Plus they know that now your business EFTPOS is more valuable as both your turnover and basket size is higher.

That's why we can offer our customers sweet deals now.

Please let me know if you are interested as we can give you a few more options.

You do need to move quickly as the 1/ Dec /2021 is the cutoff date. Nothing we can do about that, bank policy.

The immediate problem we often see is that if someone has the ambition to connect to the Internet, they need a logo. Soon they discover that a company logo is a small and huge problem, a trivial and significant problem as a logo is a symbol or image that identifies them. It is a representation of your business and finding this can be a stressful process.

Remember there is no right or wrong here! Everything is based on thoughts and emotions, and everyone has different feelings. No matter what you do, what you spend, some experts will come and tell you, "it sucks." No matter what you do, you are wrong! Learn to live with this!

If you want to see what these experts think take a look at this review by an expert logo designer of five other expert logo designers.

Why I do not agree is that these logo designers are used to designing for large organisations or software that people use daily. We do not need the logo to be told what apple or IBM do because they have high brand recognition and spend fortunes in advertising. Few SMB has this so it is something else to create for SMB businesses.

Still, these experts do not ask for much and if you want a logo, this is clearly good value.

Your logo needs to be scalable.

What you need to consider first is how do you want to represent this logo. Logos are used in a wide variety of places. You need it as a tiny icon on your website that no one can read much on it. You also need it on a large sign outside the store. we call this scalable. It has to look good big and small.

What you need is something simple

You want something simple, the less in your logo, the better. I suggested that you look at your company name. Try to shorten it as you want the least. Volkswagen uses VW. International Business Machines uses IBM. POS Solutions Australia Pty Ltd uses POS Solutions.

What you need is something readable

You do not want complex writing styles, nor too much shading, relief or shading. Overcomplicating your logo will lead to readability issues.

What you want is something exciting

It has to stand out.

Think of your customers, what colours do you like? Pink, for example, works well with girls, but some guys find it unpleasant. In my experience, you can't go wrong with bright blue, red, and green. Bright purples and yellows, I have mixed feelings about these, but many like them. But too many colours are terrible, two colours are best, three are good, and four are starting to get too much unless you are google, but that is another story.

Now if you want to try your luck first in making a free logo, read on...

Now review in your shop, your biggest departments, we are going to list them. Make them as short as possible without becoming difficult to read.

Now we need a logo generator. The one I use is this free one here but there are many others online that are good. I do not recommend paying much for a logo generator as for similar money you can get on Fiverr and expert.

Now I would use on this website.

Name: <Your company name>

Tagline: <Biggest departments>

Now, look at the results until you find some that you like. You want about five on your shortlist. Then you may want to adopt one immediately or if nothing at the end really suits take them to an expert to come up with them as an example for what you sort of want.

Let me give you an example we have a SMB business: John Carter Cakeshop Pty Ltd for the logo I would shorten it to "JC Cakeshop", that would go in the name.

It is a Bakery: Bread, Cake and Pies so in the tagline, I would put in "Bakery: Bread, Cake and Pies" 

Give it ago and see how you go!

Remember, even if you have a logo that you love, it will eventually become outdated, lose relevancy or need an updated design. 

Managing Christmas is a difficulty, even at its best. This season will be more challenging.

But what is often forgotten is that Christmas preparation is more than going through rosters, inventory, and orders.

Please schedule a time to test your POS System.

1) Do all your POS devices work? Where the problem often occurs if you plan to use some of your older point-of-sale computers to accommodate the rush period. Test them now?

2) Check that the system you plan to use works. Lots have occurred in the last year.

3) Do your staff know how to use the Christmas features you plan to use?

The closer you are to Christmas, the harder it is to prepare.

Fairs and conventions came to a halt with the Covid-19 pandemic. Many organisations tried some form of virtual meetings. From what I've seen, the results were generally disappointing. If someone is looking online, what do they need for a virtual trade show?

Now, as vaccines are rolling out and restrictions loosened, trade shows are viable again. Still, the way forward may not be clear.

* Many are not yet vaccinated and will be denied admission if they try to come. The big problem is that if two people want to go in a group from a store today, one is most likely not vaccinated.

* Many vendors' staff and attendees still have health concerns.

* Some potential attendees now prefer virtual trade shows after getting used to them as it is much faster and cheaper, e.g. no travel or hotels.

Still, some things are difficult to do virtually, such as analysing a photo gift item, meeting with your vendors in person, meeting new vendors, etc. 

So it will be interesting to see what happens as the trade shows start again, will many go?

It will be a make or break for the trade show industry.

Still, vendors are interested as both the Reed Gift Fair in February in Sydney and the Fine Food Australia scheduled for March in Sydney are already over 90% booked. I have also been told that there is little left, which I believe as prices are pretty high to attend.

Note, they all have clauses in case of another cancellation.
 

Many of my clients do use Facebook marketing. When asked, they will say for them it is the cheapest and most profitable form of advertising. That is why they use it.

The first question that many who are not using Facebook advertising will ask is, can they get more people onto their Facebook business page without paying? This is tough as you will find that even with those who liked your page, few get your latest updates.

Although Facebook sees itself as an advertising medium, its main hook is for family and friends. These get priority. What is left, hundreds of million organisations worldwide with Facebook pages are all fighting to get noticed. Now a few years ago, Facebook changed their systems so that unpaid got less to try to get people to pay if they wanted to get people to see their latest stuff. This means you are competing with all these people in a smaller space.

So those that use Facebook today, what they see is what Facebook thinks most interests them. If Facebook feels what you posted is of little interest to your public and does not invite meaningful interaction, they will not display it. 

Your content has to be good to show up if you do not pay.

It is not so easy if you pay either, but that is a story for another post.

Now if you do want to use Facebook you need to test and continually review what is working. No point in using Facebook measures as really who cares how many likes you get in business if no one comes and importantly buys. So put in Facebook if possible a rarely used phone number and/or email address. Most email systems support disposable addresses without needing to register them first. This is perfect for this task.

Next is what you need to know is who did respond to your Facebook post.

Luckily our point of sale software has a very advanced system for doing this. What you need to do is enter into the POS system a Promotion ID.

Firstly you need a Promotion ID here are some tips:

- Make a unique ID for each different promotion. This will allow you to distinguish each promotion. Don’t reuse or recycle these IDs for different promotions. If you feel you must use the same ID  add a date or year after it, eg add say F2Nov2021 (F=Facebook, 2/Nov/2021 if it was first live today).  

- Once you make an ID, don't change it. 

- Do not use spaces, it can be confusing, e.g. a person was looking at Jan  2019, and it sometimes worked, and sometimes it did not. What we found was the ID was Jan 2019 (One space no, two spaces which he sometimes used)

Now in Detailed Transaction Entry see the red arrow, below for more details.

Now you see the Promotion ID. 

Enter the code when putting in the sales.

Now you can watch the transactions based on this code, letting you recognise whether you are receiving value for your efforts.

Recently one of my customers got fresh stock. They updated their prices to the new prices. Then they placed under the old shelf price the new stock. A customer appeared with the item and demanded that the shelf price be honoured. What my client did was observe the shelf price. It was a good customer, repeat business etc. Then they removed the shelf price. He did end the problem as the customer came back and wanted more at the old price.

This generated a discussion as happens when a retailer displays the same item at different prices.

This situation is common in retail. If you visit bargain sites, you will find many examples of pricing errors in stores. Often with comments that buyers need to grab the items before the retailer realises the mistake.

Now I am not a lawyer, but this is my understanding.

Most Australian consumer codes state that you must sell your product at a lower price or withdraw it from sale until the price can be corrected. Things will get murky if the product is advertised or you did not make a mistake.

If it is a mistake, you are not obligated to honour the lower price. This is because the sale is considered an offer. So before the deal is done, you must agree with the customer offer to buy. Thus you have the right to explain that you have made a pricing error and reject the customers' offer to buy the item.

What I have noticed is that some majors include in their terms lines like

We reserve the right to cancel an order that we have accepted at any time for any reason.

The best solution is to find the incorrect prices before the customer mentions them. In this, we can help. We have a quick and easy way to check stock prices for what you have on hand.
 
Go to reports. There is an option Quantity On Hand and Price check; click on that.

For this exercise, we exclude those items that we do not have in stock. If you are out of stock, there is no problem here. If you do not have accurate stock control, use the line below, stock activity from a selected date.

Now it generates a report that lists the details of your article, including margins.

See the margins are listed so you can now check your prices.

I'm sure you will find something. I know one of my clients who reviewed it told me that he found some bugs.

Rapid COVID tests will be available from Nov 1. These kits act like the pregnancy sticks sold now. They allow people to get almost instant results, which is a significant advantage. Now, people often need to wait three hours to get tested at a public test facility. I had to go at 8 a.m. to have my daughter tested before they opened to get a spot.

Plus, if they get tested there, they are publically listed if they have COVID. Some people do not want that.

I expect it will be a good product here, as US sales for these 15-minute tests are soaring. So why not here? One guy at work told me that he and his partner are soon going to a wedding, so he wants two to test themselves.

So why not check it out? The cheapest supply I have found is here. I do not know how good they are.

It is a shame that this product took so long to appear, as we could have used it when COVID-19 first started here.

We have waited 20 months for the green lights to get back in Victoria. I know that most of you have done much better but at least now we all have an opportunity to rebuild. Now is our time.

Now as Australia moves closer to achieving the required vaccination targets of 80% of double vaccinated, you can check here on how your feeder area for the shop is doing.

Put in your suburb and let it rip. Now you can find the exact areas of ​​interest by zooming.

Currently,

Single 75% is poor, 85% is average and 90% is good.

Double 60% is poor, 70% is average, and 80% is good.

This helpful resource is updated weekly.

One of the most popular features in our POS Software is a customer-facing screen.

They are digital displays that show detailed order information to customers such as their orders, tax, discount and loyalty information during the checkout process. You see customer-facing displays in the retail businesses all the time.

Why should you use a customer display?

Ensure sale accuracy

When a staff member enters a customer's order information, each item and price appears on the customer-facing screen. This means that the point of sale screen provides the customer with a quick and easy way to verify it is correct while being entered. Most queries can be resolved immediately, such as pricing and many incorrect quantities.

Instil customer confidence in you

One of the clear benefits of a point of sale display is the impact on the customer experience. It has transparency. That can be a great help in establishing trust between your staff and your customers.

Drive Customer Engagement

You can also use it to display advertising for your shop.

Professionalism

It much more looks professional, giving your shop a better image.

Speed up cash register operations

As many mistakes are noticed quicker before completing orders, your staff can immediately adjust items. Once the sales go through they, have to process a return which takes longer.

The display screen prompts the customers to act as the transaction proceeds. For example, once you scan all the items, the customer display cues customers to pay, then tells them to pick up their goods and go.

If you're considering a customer-facing display for your own business and want to see what has been working with our customers for years, we can help you. Feel free to talk with us now.

Too many people now are looking at last year when Halloween due to COVID-19 was dicey.

Today, many people are interested in Halloween costumes and makeup. Families want to join in the festivities so this is not only for children anymore but also for the parents and surprisingly for people's pets.

Most retailers are scared of these product ranges as if they do not sell over Halloween, they are stuck with unsellable items. Still, many of the popular items are not Halloween items, e.g. facepaint, vampire teeth, fairy costumes and makeup. So I would suggest while there is time to look into it.

We all have Trading Terms on which our businesses supply our products and services.

The problem is that many clients have their trading cycles. Often they place on us, these trading terms as a condition to trade. So we are confronted with a choice to accept this or decline their business. A typical example is a tradesman who does his books monthly, a large organisation that seems to pay whenever they want, or a government department that pays on its cycle. Nothing you can do. I have been in a government department, demanding overdue funds. I had two people look at me with much sympathy in their eyes but making it clear that they are unable to do anything.

Often we reluctantly accept it. We want the business, and there is no point in making a fuss about it.

The immediate dilemma is that your computer system is set up to put everyone in your business cycle.

Well, do not worry, as you have the right POS software.

> What you do is go to the customer maintenance screen and call them up.

> Now click on the "Other details" tab.

Now at the top here, you will see the above image. There you can put the appropriate trading terms for that account.

Now your POS Software will treat this account with their trading term.

Now trade!