Did you know that boosting your stock turn rate by just 20% could dramatically increase your profits? 

What Are Stock Turns?

Stock turns, or Inventory Turnover, measure how often you replace your inventory over a given period. It is a crucial indicator of your shop's performance.

The Basic Formula:

Manually, it is calculated by

Stock Turn = (Cost of Goods Sold) / (Average Inventory Cost)

Step-by-Step Guide to Calculate Stock Turns Manually

Calculate your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for the period.

Determine your Average Inventory Cost
Add your beginning and ending inventory values
Divide by 2

Divide COGS by the Average Inventory Cost

For example:

COGS for the year: $100,000
Start of the year inventory: $25,000
End of financial year inventory: $15,000
Average Inventory: ($25,000 + $15,000) / 2 = $20,000
Stock Turn = $100,000 / $20,000 = 5

The Impact of Stock Turns on Profitability

Cash Flow Management: Higher turns mean you're not investing in the slow-moving stock. This improved cash flow allows you to reinvest in your business.

New stock: Moving your inventory faster keeps your stock current, reducing the risk of obsolescence.

Space Efficiency: You can use your valuable retail space better by keeping fast-moving items on hand.

The Magic Number: 12

Many retailers aim for a stock turn of 12. Why? It's simple:

You're likely paying suppliers monthly
A turn of 12 means you're selling out monthly
This means you do not pay for the stock you sell.

How to Check Your Stock Turns with POS Software

Our POS software has made inventory analysis more manageable than ever. Here's how to check your stock turns:

Open your POS software
Navigate to Main Menu > Cash Register > Register Reports
Expand the 'Stock' section
Select "Show Stock Turn by Dissection and Item"

​Here is the sample I produced showing the stock turns by department.

As a general rule, the higher the score of your stock, the better. This, however, is not always true; a stock turn that is too high often shows that you are understocked. For example, you have an item you could sell once daily, but you order one weekly. So every week, you have sold one, so at the end of the year, you have a score of 50, which is a great score, but you have lost 250 sales that you could have had because you could have sold one a day and all you have sold is one a week.  

High Turns (8+): Great! But are you missing sales due to running out of stock? 

Mid-Range (4-7): Good, but room for improvement.

Low Turns (1-3): Time to reassess. Are prices too high? Quality issues?

Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Optimizing Stock Turns

Over-optimizing: Pushing for extremely high turns can lead to being out of stock.
Ignoring seasonality: Some products naturally have different turn rates at various times of the year.
Neglecting customer service: Don't sacrifice having enough stock to meet customer needs to improve your turns.
Forgetting about lead times: Consider how long it takes to restock when planning your inventory levels.

Our POS systems offer a range of features to help with inventory optimization:

Real-time tracking: Get up-to-the-minute data on your stock levels and turns.
Automated reordering: Set up automatic purchase orders when stock hits a certain level.
Predictive analytics: Use AI-powered (FOCUS) forecasting to predict future stock needs. Our software includes this feature for free.

FAQ: Common Questions About Stock Turns

Q: What's a reasonable stock turn rate? 
A: It varies by industry, but generally, a turn rate of 4-6 is considered good, while 6-12 is excellent.

Q: How often should I calculate my stock turns? 
A: Monthly calculations are ideal for most businesses.

Q: Can stock turns be too high? 
A: High turns may indicate that you're losing sales due to running out of stock.

Q: Should I use the same stock turn goal for all products? 
A: No, different product categories may have different optimal turn rates. Use our POS data to set appropriate goals for each category.

Wrapping Up

Take time to analyse what these scores are telling you. This will help you to identify the actions required to improve profitability and return on investment.

Now, you need to analyse your stock and check each department to see what is working and what is not. A score signals bad sales and that you are more stock than you realistically need at any given time. Maybe you have a pricing or quality issue, but that department has a lot of obsolete stock. If so, move the obsolete stock to a different department, as it will not give you fair figures here.

A high score indicates greater profitability and a good return on investment, although, as I stated, it may also mean that you are not ordering enough.

Remember, every figure has a story.

Imagine if, in a few minutes, instead of guessing how last year's sales went, you knew this. Sounds like magic, right? Well, that's the power of your modern POS software at your fingertips!

Why Analyse Your Sales?

In the bustling world of retail, staying on top of your sales performance isn't just bright—it's essential.  Knowledge is power. Understanding your sales trends through retail data insights allows you to make smarter decisions and drive your business forward.

Point of sale reporting

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let's quickly spotlight why your POS software is the unsung hero of your shop:

1. Real-time tracking: You need to know what is selling now!
2. Inventory management: Never run out of your bestsellers again.
3. Customer insights: Understand what the customers in your shop want.
4. Data-driven decisions: Make decisions based on data.

The Dissection Comparison Report: Your Retail Crystal Ball

Our point-of-sale software offers a powerful tool called the Dissection Comparison Report. This intelligent feature allows you to compare your sales performance across different periods. It's like having a time machine for your business!

How to Access Your Sales Comparison Report

Follow these simple steps to unlock your retail data insights:

1. Go to the Main Menu
2. Click on Cash Register
3. Select Register Reports
4. Under the Select Report tab, expand the Stock folder
5. Choose "Dissection Family Class Period Sales Comparison"

Comparing Year-on-Year Performance: Your Business Time Machine

Let's dive into how you can use this report to assess your annual performance:

Then you will see this screen. This is what you will get.

1. Set the left side dates:

   • From: 01/07/2022
   • To: 30/06/2023

2. Set the other side dates:

   • From: 01/07/2023
   • To: 30/06/2024

This comparison will show how your business has grown over the past year. It's like searching past photos of your business.

What to Look For in Your Retail Sales Analysis

• Overall sales growth: Has your total revenue increased?
• Top-performing categories: Which product families are your stars?
• Underperforming areas: Where might you need to make changes?
• Seasonal trends: Do certain products shine at specific times of the year?

Zooming in on Quarterly Performance: The Recent Snapshot

To get a more recent snapshot of your business, let's look at the last quarter:

1. Set the left side dates:

   • From: 01/04/2023
   • To: 30/06/2023

2. Set the other side dates:

   • From: 01/04/2024
   • To: 30/06/2024

This comparison is used to spot recent trends. It's like having a magnifying glass for your most recent business performance!

Questions to Ask Yourself for Better Business Insights

• What products or categories have seen considerable growth?
• Are there any surprising declines in sales?
• How do these quarterly results compare to your annual trends?
• Is your inventory management aligned with your sales patterns?

Data-driven retail management

Now that you have the information, here are some tips to turn your retail data into action:

1. Celebrate wins: Did a particular product category smash it out of the park? Give yourself a pat on the back, and consider expanding that line!

2. Investigate dips: If sales dropped in an area, ask yourself why. Was it a change in customer behaviour or perhaps a supply issue? Your POS software can help you dig deeper.

3. Spot opportunities: Are there growing categories you could expand? Use your data to guide new product decisions.

4. Plan: Use these insights to guide your inventory management and marketing efforts. Stock up on what's trending before your competitors do!

5. Customer focus: Look for patterns in what your regulars are buying. Can you create bundles or promotions based on these insights?

6. Staff training: Share these insights with your team. Knowing what's selling can help them provide better customer service.

Business growth strategies

These reports are your numbers – they are your story. Regularly checking your sales performance gives you the knowledge to make intelligent decisions.

Your Action Plan:

1. Log into your POS software today
2. Run your first Dissection Comparison Report
3. Identify one area of improvement and one area of success
4. Make a plan to address the improvement area
5. Share your success with your team to boost morale

Ready to Supercharge Your Retail Success?

Don't let valuable insights slip through your fingers! Your POS software is ready to reveal the secrets of your shop's performance. Why not dive into your Dissection Comparison Report today? You might just uncover the key to your next big business breakthrough!

Bad pricing can be a death sentence in retail. It would be best to have the right pricing strategy to operate in this ultra-competitive landscape. Here is the game-changing solution to help you achieve that.

The Pricing Predicament: Challenges Galore

• Customers question your prices, leaving you scrambling for justifications.
• Suppliers are inquiring about your price, and you're unsure how to respond transparently.
• Endless hours spent analyzing historical pricing data to determine what works for you.

We've developed a cutting-edge solution that puts you back in control of your pricing strategy.

Introducing the Game-Changing Pricing Tool

Our innovative Point of Sale (POS) software boasts a revolutionary "Price Change" feature that revolutionizes pricing management. With just a click, you gain access to:

• A comprehensive pricing history for every product
• Effortless cost and retail price comparison (displayed in red and blue)
• Historical data to inform your pricing strategy

This will set you apart from the competition.

How to use this price-changing tool

You will find a Price Change screen in green above in the stock item. 

Now when you click that, you get another screen with the cost price shown in red and see the blue arrow, you have your retail price. 

Now, you have a complete history of the costs and retail prices and can sort by date. This can help you determine your retail pricing strategy and the right product price.

With just this click, you gain access to:

• A comprehensive pricing history for every product
• Effortless cost and retail price comparison (displayed in red and blue)
• Historical data to inform your pricing strategy

In my experience, the process is quick to do. Also, what I find very useful is assessing the price vs. sales. There is no point selling too cheap if you can get more.

Elevate Your Retail Success to New Heights

Don't let pricing hold your business back any longer. Take control of your pricing strategy today and unlock a new level of retail success. Your business's future is in your hands.

This is the sort of report managers in major retail shops look at weekly. Now, understanding foot traffic is excellent for retailers. Knowing how many people enter your shop can give you a lot of information. This is commonly called your footfall. Let's dive into it and see how it can benefit your business.

Why People Counting Matters

People counting technology provides valuable insights that can help retailers. The primary use is to determine the correlation between foot traffic and sales. Let's explore four results.

High Foot Traffic, Low Sales

• Analysis: Many people are entering your store, but sales are not happening for this traffic.

• Possible reasons:

  • Your stock is not what the people drawn to your shop are looking

  • Often, this is caused by not having enough staff.

  • Unengaging store layout or customer experience.

• Actionable insights: Review product placement, marketing strategies, and store layout to identify areas for improvement.

Low Foot Traffic, High Sales

• Analysis: Fewer people enter your store, but sales are higher than expected.

• Possible reasons:

  • Targeted marketing campaigns are attracting the right people.

  • Effective product placement and inventory management.

  • Engaging store layout and customer experience.

• Actionable insights: Continue refining marketing strategies and focusing on customer experience and product placement. Consider how to get more of these people.

High Foot Traffic, High Sales

• Analysis: Many people are entering your store, and sales are strong.

• Possible reasons:

  • Effective marketing campaigns and promotions.

  • Engaging store layout and customer experience.

  • Good product placement and inventory management.

• Actionable insights: Well, clearly, you are doing the right thing.

Low Foot Traffic, Low Sales

• Analysis: Fewer people enter your store, and sales are lower than expected.

• Possible reasons:

  • It would be best if you considered how to get more people into the shop

  • Poor product placement or inventory management.

  • Unengaging store layout or customer experience.

• Actionable insights: Review marketing strategies, product placement, and store layout to identify areas for improvement and develop targeted campaigns to attract more customers.

It also gives other information. 

Understand Foot Traffic Patterns:

• Analyse the number of people entering your store to identify peak hours, busy periods, and slow days.

Optimise Staffing and Inventory:

• Use foot traffic data to adjust staffing levels, manage inventory, and restock shelves during peak periods.

Account for External Factors:

• Understand how weather, sporting events, and other external factors impact foot traffic.

Types of People Counting Technologies

There are two main types of technology used by my clients

Beam Sensors

Beam sensors are the earliest, cheapest, and simplest people traffic counters. They consist of an infrared emitter and detector positioned on either side of a doorway. When a person walks in or out, the beam breaks, and the counter registers a count.

Pros:

• Simple and Cost-Effective: Break beam sensors are cheap and easy to install.

Cons:

• Unidirectional: They can't distinguish between people entering and exiting.
• Barrier Perception: The beam can act as a barrier, making some customers reluctant to enter.
• Accuracy Issues: They may count two people walking together as one, making the results questionable in a full shop. Also, they tend to miscount families and people with prams.

WiFi Counters

These use the WiFi signals from smartphones to detect and count people. This technology is said to be more accurate as almost everyone carries a smartphone.

Pros:

• Accurate and Advanced: Most people have smartphones, providing reliable counts.
• Hidden: No one knows that you have them. This has proven to be a huge plus.
• Advanced Capabilities: Potential to identify repeat visitors or known shoplifters and exclude staff from counts. For privacy reasons, few do this, though.

Cons:

• Higher Cost: WiFi counters are more expensive.
• Bluetooth Dependency: Individuals may not be counted if Bluetooth is turned off. This is a big problem. 
• Overcounting: Many people today have smartwatches. These can be counted twice.

Overall, I think Beam is better, but many would disagree. 

Integration: Manual vs. Automated

When it comes to integrating people counting technology with your POS system, there are two main approaches:

Manual Integration: Most small retailers opt for manual integration. Each morning, they check the people counter, record the number, reset it, and then enter the data into a spreadsheet. While this method is cost-effective, it has a significant downside: It's messy, time-consuming, and does not give hourly traffic data.

Automated Integration: Although more expensive, investing in an integrated solution provides continuous, real-time data. This allows for detailed foot traffic analysis by the hour, offering deeper insights for better decision-making. I think the extra cost is worth it. 

Conclusion

People counting technology is a powerful tool for small retailers. It provides invaluable data to enhance staffing, inventory management, marketing strategies, and overall store performance. 

If you consider this technology to unlock the power of people counting technology for your business, worth investigating, please get in touch with us to learn how people like yourself use it to help their retail businesses. 

This is risky, and be cautious. Price rises are signals to people to drop you.

People leap after they see a fee rise. However, the fact is that during the business, there can also come a time when you want to elevate your fees. A price increase is often required to maintain profitability and your operations, whether due to inflation, multiplied provider costs, or a strategic shift for your commercial enterprise version. Here are a few ideas that will help you do it.

Understand the Reasons for a Price Increase

Before diving into the method, it's essential to understand the different factors that may necessitate a price adjustment. Here are a few common motives why groups choose a charge increase:

Rising Costs: If your providers have raised their costs or are facing extended operational charges, such as rent or utilities, price growth can be necessary to maintain your earnings margins.

Inflation: As the price of goods and services rises due to inflation, you could want to alter your costs to keep up with the changing economic climate.

Product Enhancements: Perhaps you're transferring your commercial enterprise closer to a more premium market section. A consumer decided to drop many cheap motorcycles and focus on more expensive bikes. With this technique, he lost all his clients.

Conduct Market Research

Before imposing a price rise alternate, it is vital to apprehend your competitive landscape and client perceptions. Consider the subsequent study steps:

Analyse Competitor Pricing:

Examine the prices of similar services or products your competitors provide. This will help you gauge the marketplace fee and ensure your new costs remain competitive.

Survey Your Customers: 

Gather feedback from your customers. This will offer insights into their willingness to pay more for your offerings and assist you in expecting capacity reactions to a growth rate.

Review Historical Data: 

Analyze your sales statistics and purchaser behaviour from preceding fee adjustments. This can help you identify patterns and predict the ability impact of the approaching rate exchange. In your POS System call up the product and see the effect of price increase on these prodycts.

Prepare a Plan B:

Consider what to do if your clients reject the new rate upward push too strongly. 

Develop a Pricing Strategy

Once you have accumulated the critical information, expanding a properly-idea-out pricing approach is time. Consider the subsequent methods:

Gradual Increase:

Instead of enforcing an extensive charge hike, you could choose a more minor, incremental increase over time. This technique may be much less jarring in your customers and extra handy for them to adapt. It works nicely if only a few items pass up at a time.

Bundle Offerings:

Remember to bundle complementary products or services at a reduced fee rather than increasing the rate of personal objects. This approach can lower your clients' perceived price while growing overall sales.

Communicate

 There are two views here. 

Option 1: Provide notice

This allows your clients to regulate their budgets and expectations. It also demonstrates transparency and builds acceptance as true among your consumer base. Explaining the reason behind the charge boom is allowed, but it gives your clients time to consider alternatives. In my experience, most customers do not pay much interest until it happens.

One massive plus is that it can set off a few customers to buy before the rate increases, quickly impacting your revenue. This is why so many humans do it.

Option 2: Provide no warning

This permits you to implement the trade swiftly without a prolonged notification period, but it risks unexpected or alienating customers who feel blindsided during the exchange. If not treated cautiously, it could damage purchaser trust and loyalty. It also leaves less time for customers to alter their budgets or expectations.

Whatever approach you take, it's important to explain the motives behind the charge boom simply and transparently. Highlight the cost and blessings your products or services offer your clients, and remember to offer loyalty rewards or reductions to your current customer base as a gesture of appreciation for their patronage.

Monitor and Adapt

After enforcing the price change, closely monitoring the impact on your income and consumer pride is critical. Be prepared to make modifications if necessary:

Analyze Sales Data:

Track and compare your sales figures to pre-growth ranges. You can also reevaluate your pricing method if you note a sizable decline.

Gather Customer Feedback:

Encourage your clients to provide remarks at the price trade through surveys, social media, or in-man or woman conversations. This treasured input will let you perceive regions for development and make essential adjustments.

Remain Flexible:

If your initial pricing approach is not yielding the preferred results, be open to adjusting it. Based on the information you have gathered and client remarks, adapt and refine your technique.

Implementing an increase can be delicate, but you can navigate this transition efficiently with cautious planning, effective communication, and a patron-centric technique. Remember, a nicely completed charge growth can enhance your profitability and strengthen the perceived price of your services in your clients' minds.

Ever feel like your profit margins are a bit of a mystery? You know the numbers your suppliers give you, but those rarely show what is happening in your shop. That's where actual gross margin comes in – a true reflection of your operating efficiency.

For example, here at POS Solutions, we realize that running a successful store in the brick-and-mortar world requires knowledge. Therefore, our point-of-sale software makes monitoring your gross margins incredibly easy, giving you valuable insights to make informed decisions that can boost your bottom line.

Why Actual Gross Margins Matter More

While suppliers often provide "quoted" gross margins, these figures might not tell the whole story. Here's why:

• Markup vs. Margin Confusion: Suppliers might quote a markup percentage (e.g., a 42% figure), which sounds more impressive than a gross margin of 30%. Plus, getting an actual feel of your business profitability will be tough if some items you have are markup and some are gross margin.
• Selective Sharing: Sometimes, suppliers provide margins only for most products and then claim the rest they ignore. Yet even the rest of the items can impact your overall profitability.
• Discounts and Deals: Let's face it, discounts and promotions are a part of retail life. But these can significantly impact your actual gross margin compared to the quoted figure.

Get Instant Insights with POS Solutions Sofware.

Imagine having a real-time snapshot of your actual gross margins at your fingertips. With our user-friendly POS software, that's precisely what you get! Here's how it works:

1. Access Your Cash Register Reports: Head over to your POS software's cash register reports section.
2. Navigate to Sales: Locate the sales reports within the cash register reports section.
3. Unlock the Power of Dissection: Look for a report titled "Dissection Sales / Profitability for a Given Period." 
4. Run the Report: Select the desired timeframe (e.g., the last year) and generate the report.
5. Find Your Profit Percentage: Within the report, you'll see a magic column – % Profit. This displays your actual gross margin, broken down by product or category.

See the Difference for Yourself!

It's that simple! Monitoring your gross margin with the POS Software System takes seconds. Stop relying on guesswork and hidden figures—take control of your profitability today!

Want real-time insights? Contact us today to learn more. We can show you how our POS software can give you the information you require to help you run your business.

How to Avoid Losing Customers

It is frustrating when a customer comes in looking in your shop only to find you're out of stock. We all now how we feel when this happens. What is your customer now thinking, maybe of going to your competitor? 

The good news is this common issue can be largely avoided with our POS system. 

So here is how you can use the inventory features in our POS to avoid out-of-stock and keep customers coming back.

What is "Out of Stock"?

Out of stock means a product is unavailable for purchase because you don't have any left in your store. It is said here to account for about 8.3% of all shopping trips. It's a lot.

What we have now is a missed sale and a disappointed customer.

This is extremely common when

- An obscure holiday is occurring that some of your customers follow and you have forgotten to buy stock for them

-If have run out of stock and not realised it.

Use the "Sold Out or Selling Out Stock Lines" Report

Our POS system has an extremely handy report called "Sold Out or Selling Out Stock Lines".

It will take you seconds to run and save you thousands.

Here's how to use it:

1. Go to Reports > Stock
2. Select "Sold Out or Selling Out Stock Lines"

What you want is to pick a period last year of the same date as now to compare.

These products need to be checked ASAP. This can help you make sure you have adequate stock.

Moreover

It also alerts you whether items are not properly entered into your system as the stock-on-hand figure is negative, as shown in the example below.

I recommend running this report weekly to stay on top of stock levels.

The Risks of Out-of-Stock

Why go to such trouble to avoid out-of-stock issues? Well, the fact is that your customers will tolerate this situation only a few times before taking their business elsewhere.

Well, most of your regular customers tend to follow a "three strikes, and you're out" pattern:

• Strike 1: The first time a product is out of stock, the customer substitutes 70% of the time, and 30% go elsewhere.
• Strike 2: The second time, they may substitute, not buy anything, or go to another store.
• Strike 3: The third time, they switch stores 70% of the time—losing you their business.

Today, customers have little patience for out-of-stock. They will quickly take their business to retailers that reliably stock what they want.

So stay on top of your inventory with our POS system! Run stock reports weekly, keep high-demand products well-stocked, and avoid frustrating your customers. 

Running a successful retail business means ensuring every product on your shelves earns its keep. This is not easy. You know the items are ringing up the most sales. What is more challenging is to see if the slow sellers are boosting revenue by selling other products. This is where your point of sale software's Stock Companion Report can help.

Measure An Item's True Value

Go to Cash Register Reports > Sales Register > Stock Companion Sales by Period. See the green arrow below.

Select the stock item, put in the last 12 months, and you will get a detailed report listing profit, numbers, etc. 

You'll get a detailed report showing the item's profit, sales numbers, and more. With this data, you can evaluate whether a slower-selling product with low direct sales attracts customers who purchase other higher-margin items.

Insights for Smarter Merchandising

One client used the Stock Companion Report for dry cleaning. This service had low profitability, so they debated whether to keep it, but they found it brought in good customers who bought other products. So they kept offering it.

The Stock Companion Report is just one example of how our POS software arms you with the insights you need to optimize your product mix. Slower-selling items may be necessary to attract foot traffic and complementary sales. Understanding these hidden contributions lets you make informed merchandising decisions that maximise your total store revenue.

Let our POS system provide the robust reporting you need to understand what's driving your sales. 

This is just another example of how our POS System provides you with stuff you can use. Call us to learn more.

As a retail business owner now, it will be many months before you know how your business travelled in 2023. Here is a quick method to check and compare your yearly sales figures.

Year-over-year comparison

First, pull total sales reports for the past few years. For example:

Go to register reports.

Now select the item marked "Sales Comparison for a Given period".

Note you can do it by a supplier, but that can be done later when you have more time for detailed analysis. What we are doing here is getting a quick idea.

1) Put in here the dates 

01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022 AND 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

This will take you a few seconds. Then you will get detailed information showing how you went in 2022 compared to 2023.

Write down some key figures. on the report that you wish to measure.

2) Now go back in and run the report with 

01/01/2020 to 31/12/2020 AND 01/01/2021 to 31/12/2021 

You now have four years of information to study. This should give you a pretty good idea of how your business travels now. I find drawing a graph of sales shows me a clear picture. I hope these figures went well for you.

Sales trends

Say, for example, I have figures like this 

• 2020 total sales: $450,000
• 2021 total sales: $485,000
• 2022 total sales: $510,000
• 2023 total sales: $560,000

Compare the totals to identify upward or downward sales trends over time. Steady yearly growth suggests your efforts are working.

Evaluate Suppliers Sales

Use the same method except this time to break down sales by your suppliers month-by-month.

See how the supplier is doing for you.

Compare Operational Factors

Now, some questions to ask yourself.

• Did you expand hours, staffing, space or inventory?
• Did you run more promotions or advertising campaigns?
• Did you add or remove product lines or services?

Data-driven decisions

Use this to make data-driven decisions for your business to move forward. See what is working, what’s not, and where your retail business needs to head next. Let data guide your strategy. Turning those sales insights into concrete actions to improve your future performance is vital. Let the data direct you toward new opportunities for sales, traffic, and profit growth in 2024!

Unbelievable as it sounds, we are getting close to the new year, the years gone so fast, and this often inspires people to get organised and plan ahead. Diaries can be a great product to help your customers achieve their goals in 2024.

Your point of sale (POS) software is the perfect tool to help maximise diary sales in your shop.

Use Your POS Software to Understand Diary Sales Trends

Your POS software has reporting features that can provide valuable insights into your diary sales from previous years. Specifically, your software can show you:

• Which diary designs, sizes, and types sold well at different times of the year
• Tell you last year's sales, which will indicate what this year's sales will be. Make sure you have sufficient stock on hand to meet customer demand.
• Related products that customers tend to purchase alongside diaries (e.g. cards, nice pens) use your companion reports.

Prominently Display Diaries In-Store

It would help to ensure customers can easily spot your diary selection in-store. Here are some display tips:

• Dedicate prime real estate, like a front counter display, to diaries
• Arrange diaries attractively
• Highlight top sellers; people are drawn to such products
• Put signage and posters to indicate that you sell diaries.
• Do not count on people knowing you have diaries. When serving them, tell them you have them.

Getting diaries front-and-centre maximises the chance of catch-up sales from customers coming in to shop for other items.

Related Products Like Planners

In addition to standard diaries, consider that you can boost sales by also promoting related products such as:

Travel Planners

Help customers plan their dream trips and holidays with travel diaries and journals.

Health and Fitness Planners

Tap into New Year's resolutions with diet, exercise, and wellness journals. 

Work Planners

Appeal to professionals getting on top of their workflow with work-specific planners. Display alongside nice pens, highlighters, and notepads.

Get Organised

You can organise a successful diary sales campaign this year by utilising your POS software to understand diary sales trends, effectively displaying and promoting diaries in-store, and talking to customers. 

You Can't Manage What You Don't Measure

The Christmas holiday shopping season has just officially begun. This is one of the year's busiest and most critical sales periods for retailers.  Many of our clients will do half their trade this year in the next two months. But you can't manage what you don't measure. Going into your biggest sales event blind is a recipe for disaster. It would be to examine the key metrics (KPIs) to understand the impact on your bottom line.

Here, we'll explore two essential key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure this Black Friday to show you how they are used going forward:

Foot Traffic

Understanding how many potential customers walk through your doors is crucial. Converting that foot traffic into actual sales is the name of the game.

You have a few options to monitor your store's foot traffic:

People Counters

If you have followed this blog, you will know that a simple people counter is an inexpensive way to determine how many shoppers entered your store. It should be positioned near the entrance and recorded at the start of each day. A basic, manual counter for a shop is cheap nowadays. 

Centre Foot Traffic (If Applicable)

If you are in a shopping complex, you will find that many of these do monitor the foot traffic numbers. You can use this, but remember, in our experience, these centre traffic numbers are rarely reliable. Use them as directional guidance only.

Daily Sales & Profit

While foot traffic shows customer interest, your sales and profit figures reveal actual spending and earnings.

Your point-of-sale (POS) reporting will tell you the net daily sales and profit. 

Focus on two key profit metrics and compare them to last year's Black Friday. That will give you an idea of how you are travelling.

Number of Transactions

How many sales transactions did you ring in for Black Friday? 

Total Daily Profit

Gross daily profit is ultimately what pays your bills.

Use KPIs to Assess Performance

Armed with foot traffic and profit data, you can now calculate store performance metrics to measure Black Friday's impact.

KPI-Foot Traffic Conversion Rate

Divide your number of transactions by the total foot traffic. 

Rate = (Number of Sales) / Traffic 

This conversion rate reveals how well you translated store visits into actual sales.

Professional marketers commonly do this sort of analysis.

Benchmark to last year's Black Friday. If conversion drops with higher foot traffic, you may need help with sales, e.g., understaffed or poor shop windows.

KPI-Average Transaction Profit

Here, divide your total daily profit by the number of transactions. The result helps you determine the average profit margin per sale. Now, is Black Friday pulling down your averages due to heavy discounting?

Average transaction profit = Profit / Number of sales

Doing Sales Performance Analysis

Now you have POS Software, so you can do most of this and more automatically. I find analyzing sales data by department, product category, and customer segment can help retailers identify areas for improvement and make strategic adjustments.

You will find it here:

Main Menu > Cash Register > Register Reports > Under the Select Report tab, expand the Stock folder > select the report “Dissection Family Class Period Sales Comparison”.

Then you will see this screen.

 Now, put in the dates to compare.  Now, it will pop out a wide range of KPIs, including quantity, cost, sales, profit, and GP%, with a breakdown by amount and percentage. I think besides the two KPIs above, you will find many others useful. Note that these are your actual figures, not what your suppliers tell you.

I would also suggest that you look at your 

Retail department optimization

Consider tracking your sales performance across different departments to identify the most profitable channels and allocate resources accordingly.

Summing up

Implementing key performance indicators is critical for effectively managing your business during the hectic holiday shopping season. At a minimum, start by tracking the metrics of Foot Traffic and gross profit.

Compare these KPIs to prior years.

Don't fly blind - measure performance daily. Spot shortfalls early so the course can be corrected quickly. There's no better tool for managing through the wild ride of this holiday sales season than your POS System.

Long queues at the checkout can drive customers away and cost you sales. Customer wait times,  studies show the average time a person will wait is 6 to 7 minutes in checkout queues before walking out. For retailers, slow cashiers can have a big financial impact. 

The Cost of Customer Frustration

When customers wait too long at the registers, many will leave your store. Some studies estimate that 10% or more of potential sales are lost to customer walkaways. And for those who do stick it out, the memory of queues will linger in their minds.

To crunch some numbers of lost sales - if your business has one walkout a day with an average sale of $30, you have lost $11,000. If it is two, you have lost $20,000+  - that is money you could have kept if your checkouts moved faster.

The risk goes beyond the immediate lost sales, too. Think of your customer satisfaction if you have frustrated customers. They often don't return quickly if they associate your shop with long waits. Slow registers cost you transactions today and cost you customer experience value in the long term. Is it any wonder why major retailers like supermarkets invest heavily to speed up checkouts? You need to take note and make changes, too. 

Average time to complete a transaction in a shop

The industry standard to do this is about 40 seconds for transaction time plus about three seconds for each item to be scanned and rung up. So if you need to ring up four things, the time taken is expected to be about 40 seconds, plus four items in their basket at 3 seconds each, so it's almost 52 seconds.

Calculating The Cost to Your Bottom Line

To figure out the cost of long queues, here are two key metrics to analyse in your store:

Average transaction time: How many seconds does it take to process each sale?

Look at your POS software's " find transactions " screen to see what typical speeds you can achieve. For comparison, I've included some transaction speeds that my clients have achieved with our POS system. 

On this cash register number, they were doing a transaction every three (3) seconds.

Here as you can see, they did transactions from two (2) seconds onwards.

On this page, it was four (4) seconds onwards. Interestingly, the $431.80 transaction that would have required scanning many items was completed in about forty (40) seconds.

Customer defection rate: What % walk away after seeing line lengths?

What you need here 

• Number of lost sales from your Retail sales
• Sales value per abandoned basket
• Profit margin lost

I would suggest looking at both weekly and yearly figures

How to reduce checkout queues

Here are some proven ideas to try in your store to keep the registers moving faster:

1. Restructure Queue Layout

Research shows a single queue line feeding multiple checkout points is perceived as fairer by customers than individual lines per register. It also helps even out speeds so no single operator bogs down line length.

2. Hide Long Lines

Retail store planning experts talk about the power of “inflow angles”. What this means is when a customer enters your store, carefully analyse sight lines to any queues - long lines early in the shopping journey can trigger an early walkway. If they see a long queue, many people looking to shop in your shop will not go in.

3. Entertain Waiting Customers

Don’t let waiting customers dwell on queue length. Distract them with something; banks often use a TV. What works in shops are items that are hot sellers. It is not the sales to just consider but the distraction value. A magazine that a customer can look through while waiting works, too.

4. Keep Registers Clear

A common complaint is when customers have already committed to queuing but see unused registers not being opened despite staff floating nearby not helping ease waits. Make sure your staff, top priority is to jump on a register when lines start to develop.

5. Scan Whenever Possible

Barcode scans are proven 3 times faster than keying in product codes. So ensure everything sold has usable barcodes - even make barcode labels for loose goods or frequently sold combos. Bundling items that often go together also minimises scanning actions at the register.

6. Integrate EFTPOS

Many of you do not use it for cost, but consider that you can save seconds on each sale by integrating EFTPOS into your point-of-sale system. Avoiding re-keying in amounts slashes transaction times and reduces miscues when switching between the terminal and register. It is also more accurate.

7. Cashier speed

When queues are long, having your fastest operators active becomes critical. Slow cashiers bantering with customers may be helpful for engagement at quiet times, but focus on processing transactions fast at peak times. Knowing checkout rates for each staffer also enables good roster decisions.

Conclusion

Even implementing a few quick wins here pays dividends through higher converted transactions and improved customer loyalty. Getting checkout queues moving faster is necessary for any retailer serious about sustaining growth. Reach out if we can help analyse your current state or provide advice beyond what was covered today.

Over the years, Coles has given us many tips for our software. I was blown away when they took us on a tour of their data centre and EFTPOS and Credit Credit card facility. 

Now shopping at your local supermarket seems simple enough - walk in, grab a trolley, and start filling it up. But have you ever wondered how supermarkets decide where to place products on their shelves? It may look random, but product placement in supermarkets is actually heavily dependant on strategic science designed to influence what you buy.

How Supermarkets Use Product Placement

Supermarkets hire experts to advise them on store layouts and product placement. These retail analysts use years of sales data, customer surveys, focus groups, and other research to determine optimal shelf configurations. Their goal is to place the most profitable and popular items where shoppers are most likely to see them or can easily grab them. This encourages impulse purchases and converts browsers into buyers.

Key Placement Principles

• Eye level shelves - Most sought-after items are placed at eye level where they are most visible. This includes popular branded items that stores want you to notice. This is called the buy level.

• End of aisle displays - High value impulse and specials are displayed at the ends of aisles to catch your attention.

• Kids height shelves - Colourful packets of sweets and biscuits are deliberately placed at kids' eye levels to tempt them.

• Bottom shelves - This is for the bargain shoppers as they will reach down for a bargain.

• Perimeter placement - Highly desired products are placed all over the shop, so a shopper has to travel all over the shop. 

Improving Sales Through Placement

Now small changes to product placement can lead to impressive sales lifts.One of my clients blocked off an exist to the shop, so his customers had to walk through more of the shop. It worked.

Checkout this video it might give you some ideas.

My last blog post about using POS system reports generated a lot of discussion. Many clearly use their POS System only as a cash register when it can offer so much more. A shop accessing their sales data through reporting can be a real game-changer. 

Detailed sales reports provide valuable insights that allow for better decision-making. With just a few seconds, you can access actionable information to boost profits.
 

Why sales reports matter

Now, one essential report every retailer should utilize is sales performance. Some key advantages include:

- Identifying top-selling items so you can focus on the best performers. Stock more of your winners.

- Uncovering slow-moving or non-selling inventory. Make room for new items by removing dogs. 

- Recognising sales trends over time. Adjust purchasing to match patterns in customer demand. 

- Pinpointing your most profitable departments or product categories. Concentrate inventory accordingly.

- Discovering when your highest sales occur. Schedule staff and inventory delivery optimally.

With these kinds of actionable insights, you can tweak strategies to maximize revenue. So, let me show you how to access sales-by-item reporting in your POS system.

The single most helpful report: Top-selling items

Now that we've covered why sales reports matter, let's discuss the #1 report every retailer should use regularly: Top selling items.

This report provides a ranking of your best-performing products based on sales over a defined period. Typically, we find the last three months work well.

Here are some specific ways the Top Selling Items report can help your business:

Optimise inventory levels

By knowing which products sell best, you can allocate more shelf space, budget and marketing resources to your winners. Likewise, you may choose to cut back on slower items. This report gives you the data to manage your product mix based on actual sales results.

Spot new growth opportunities.

When you run the report over different periods, you can identify rising trends. Newer products that are quickly gaining traction present opportunities to capture new growth. You may want to order more inventory or create a promotional display.

Analyse performance by department or category.

Comparing top-selling items by department or product category. This allows better inventory planning. For example, bottled water is topping sales in the beverage aisle. You can then adjust the beverage inventory and shelf layout appropriately so water is at eye view in front.

Assess seasonal impacts

The seasonal calendar has a big influence on sales trends. Run the report monthly or quarterly to see how top sellers change as you move through the year. This helps anticipate peaks and valleys in product demand.

Identify declining products

Just as the report highlights winners, you can also pinpoint slower products needing corrective action or discontinuation. By regularly reviewing the bottom half of your sales ranking, you can quickly address laggards.

How to run the Top Selling Items report

Now that we've covered the value of the Top Selling Items report let's walk through how to generate it in your POS system. I'll use our point-of-sale software as an example, but the process is similar across most platforms.

Here are the simple steps:

Go to Register reports.

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

You will want about 100 items with the last three months of sales for the shop, and you will get a report that looks like this:

It's that easy - in just a few clicks, you have accessed incredibly useful data to boost sales and profits. 

Tips for getting maximum value

To gain strategic value from the Top Selling Items report, keep these tips in mind:

• Run it regularly - I suggest monthly. The more consistent you are, the better you can spot trends over time.

• Use custom date ranges - Look at the next three months of last year, so say 01/11/2022 to 31/01/2024, this will give you an idea of what is coming up.

• Do it by department - It is often useful to work by department, top sellers should be at eye height and right in front.

• Look beyond the top ones - You will often find much interesting towards the bottom of the list

• Make it actionable - Don't just run the report. Actually use its insights to do business decisions.

Key takeaways

Here are the significant points to remember about using your POS system's Top Selling Items report:

• Provides invaluable visibility into your top-performing products based on actual sales data.

• Helps optimise inventory levels, identify new growth opportunities and inform promotions.

• It can be segmented by period, department, product category and location.

• Simple to run - just select time range and run.

• Analyse regularly and act on trends to control costs, boost margins and improve overall business results.

Update: This article was initially written on 26/04/2022  and was updated to 1/11/2023

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

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

The figures were based on an ATO benchmark study

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

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

Know what products sell and when

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

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

Do you know your most profitable product lines?

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

Inventory

Identify Dead Stock

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

Forecast Needs

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

Focus on Top Suppliers

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

Know Your Customers Better

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

• Purchase history from POS systems

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

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

Harness the Power of Price

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

Refine Promotions

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

Personalize Messages

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

Improve Delivery Efficiency

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

Strategically Grow Your Business with POS Solutions

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Data-Driven Path to Growth

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

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

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

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

Please start your data-driven journey today.

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

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

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

Millions of Aussies Catching Halloween Spirit

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

Halloween Spending to Hit $490 Million

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

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

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

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

Aussie Adults Lead Halloween Growth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go to Register reports.

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

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

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

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.

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!