This has proven a godsend for many of our clients during this COVID crisis. What they could do is get detailed Business Reports automatically sent to them by SMS or email. 

Let us start!

Go into End of Day.

Now in the Options, you can see (red arrow) where you have plenty of options and pages so you can specify the report to your needs. 

Now see the brown arrow. Press that.

Now out will come out more reports option, don't worry about them yet we can cover them in another post. Let just get started now, and we can build later.

Click on the blue arrow. This is where you can schedule the report. I recommend that you set it up daily and archive it in your email folders if you do not need it that day. If you want, you can set up a filter in your email. It is rare for someone looking in their data to complain that they have too much information.

Now in the green arrow area, put in your email details and save.

Now you will get detailed business reports sent to you automatically.

This gives you the power of data on the fingertips that only big retailers' executives had until recently.

Although this tip came out of a Facebook page one of my clients set up and uses, it applies to all advertising that you do.

Do not make your customers hunt for your phone number. Today, it is all well and good to use email, but often people want your phone number. 

I would suggest that you put it right in front.

Here are some items to add to your checklist

Analyse Your Sales information

Go to Register reports

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

Selected a period like what you want to check this year

Out will come a report with the top sellers for last year, this time.

As well, do the same report for the last few weeks this year.

In this report, you will get current stock figures for each of these items. Check that you have enough as you don't want to run out of items check you have enough.

Organise Your Staff Rosters

Make sure you have enough coverage at peak hours and schedule staff breaks. Check your traffic analysis report by the hours, which you will find marked with a green arrow below.

You do this by putting in dates from a previous period here that you feel will give you typical results for the roster you are trying to create.

Now what you will get is a colour-coded analysis which shows the activity in the shop. Look at those periods marked in red as these are expected to be your busy period.

Promote Your Extended Hours

Some businesses now are shut. Some are open. You need to communicate with your customers to let them know your opening hours, even if it's just a sign like this on the window.

Also, ensure that opening hours are up-to-date on your website and all social media.

It's a good question which I am not sure. One of my clients got into a little trouble about this as the camera was pointing into a private area. Nothing serious happened, but it may be something worth considering.

I would say that the safest action is to assume that fake cameras have to adhere to the same laws as the real ones.

The current retail landscape looks different from the start of the year. COVID has changed the way people shop, for good. 

Let us look at the payment types people are using in your shop. It will only take a second.

Go to the "end of day" and click "Taking report"

Now put in the report and select the appropriate dates for your shop. 

On the right-hand side click "Show payment breakup"

In a second you will get the breakdown.  I am sure it will make interesting reading.

Two figures considered for EFPOS are most important are the number of transactions and the average amount per payment.

See how you go and as always let me know the score.

This Christmas is expected (hoped) will be the biggest retail event in Australia ever,

So here are some tips for this holiday season from a retail expert talks that I attended and from what is being said around the traps. Some of these are very relevant to my clients.

1) Show your trading hours

Many shops have changed their trading hours. If you are not open, the public may not be aware of when you are open. 

Make sure that they know when you are open. 

2) You need signs that you are COVIDsafe

Covid safety is a big focus for many people now. If you look at the majors, you will see that they all have such signs. Not surprising as the public is worried about it and needs reassurance. Check a few majors out and then put up a few similar signs in your shop's window too.

3) Promote gift cards

With so many people, families are separated due to travel restrictions.

Gift cards are the only way for many to share the love.

4) Click and collect

I have clients now doing a large percentage of their trade with a click and collect option. Because this does not have delivery costs, a small business can compete with online here.

After COVID, it will be a significant point in retail. 

5) Count on a lot more local trade 

I doubt many will go to the CBD now. Many will avoid large shopping centres too.

This is your chance to pick up on local traffic. 

6) Marketing

I'm afraid I have to disagree with my competitor about this. Forget loyalty marketing, today the emphases in retail and business, in general, should be the truth. 

We are in this together. We are all part of this journey. We are in this together. 

Remember, it has not been a good year for Aussies with bushfires, job insecurity, and the pandemic.   Interestingly, US election exit polls have shown that job insecurity is more important now to the public than the pandemic. Everyone knows someone that has employment troubles, few that have had a major concern with COVID.

Replace your loyalty marketing with togetherness.

7) Gift wrapping

If you do not know how to gift wrap items - learn.  I am hopeless in this stuff. Yet it took me in grandfather's shop a short time to learn, and do not worry as you will get plenty of practice soon.

Hope this is of help

In Australia today, every organisation must have a work safe officer.

I have had a client after an employee collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. He suddenly found himself this officer and having to show that he knew and had done things.  

If so, a free first aid course like this one here might help. It is informative and is certainly better than nothing.

It took me less than an hour, and that was part-time, as I was doing much in the meantime. 

Pick someone in the shop. Then have them do the course, so you do have someone that knows some first-aid then make them your medical officer. As a bonus, they can always add it to their resume as a qualification.

This is a question that I get a bit. How do you do, I get real-time stock warning monitoring?

The problem: 

With so many different lines in a shop, that it is almost impossible to know which items are starting to run out or have run out. 

No doubt, you will know when a customer asks you, but it's often too late by then. 

Answer:

It is simple, you can check in seconds your stock levels, and here is how! 

Go to reports > stock > Sold Out or Selling Out Stock Lines

Note if some of the stock comes out with stock on hand figure in negative. It shows you that items that are not probably entered into your system, so it's a check here as well.

So I would recommend running this report regularly. It will alert you to both out of stock situations and errors in invoicing.

Review your proof of delivery. 

A client has now got themselves into an argument with a customer over whether they got the goods. 

My client claims that they dropped the item off while the customer states that he got nothing. Unfortunately, there is no proof of delivery.

It is a tricky one, alright.

What do you do in this situation?

This problem is all too real. 

At the very least, if you leave items on the doorstep,  take a photo of the item on that doorstep. If someone signs for the goods, ask for proof of identity with photo ID. 

The fact is that YOU are the one that has to prove that the goods were DELIVERED or PICKED UP.

Last week I showed signs by the local business organisations designed to help the local morale and support local businesses. It got a response and seemed to fill a need, so I decided to put up some more that I took.

I liked this one. It was relevant and straight to the point. Its the crux of our community in this pandemic. 

A disease does not care if a person is smart, educated, stupid, rich, poor, working, unemployed, political views, white, straight,  tall, short, Chinese, Indian, your religion, sex, etc. etc. etc. 

To the disease, what all that matters is your a person.  Try denying someone humanity now? We are all in this together.

Many businesses are making a big mistake because although they are open, the public does not know it. If you are open, make sure the public knows this. What they also had on the window was signs showing the services they offered now like curbside pickup, special hours, and phone calls to place an order.

If your closed, the public needs to be notified that you are coming back. I also noticed in Chapel street that most of the shops had a website and a social media page.

i was

In these trying times, many local business organisations are putting together signs. These are to help boost the morale of the locals and to support local businesses. 

Now local traffic matters more than ever. 

These SMB businesses need a fair share of this traffic.

With this in mind, these photoshoots I took are from my local area. It might give you some ideas to suggest for your local business groups. Some of the messages on some of them, resonated with me, see what you think.

This highlights the problems with loyalty rewards that do *NOT* have computer auditing to the account.

Yesterday the Woolworths receipt hack received comprehensive coverage.

What it is that a person collects receipts from the bin or trolley in this case. Using these receipts, they then claim the benefits of the shop's loyalty program. 

Here, the person did not even think she was stealing, nor did many in public. 

The result is that the retailer pays the person who may not even shop at the store the benefits. This payout can be very high. For example, merchants are advised on discount vouchers to set the payout at 50% of the profit. Here you would be giving half the profits to someone who does not even shop with them.

It goes much deeper than that. 

Loyalty rewards programs do not get much in the way of scrutiny. Security is often very lax as the rewards are not cash. That makes it open for abuse. This lack of oversight attracts thieves.

What you need to do is examine your loyalty programs for any such potential loopholes. 

Then Make Your Reward Loyalty Program Secure

Charges are now all over the place. I have noticed looking at some statements from a major bank. It probably not because of a change in bank rates.

People are now using EFTPOS much more for smaller transactions. This is causing more transactions with lower average amounts. I suspect this has resulted in a different item on the EFTPOS rate card coming up. So the fees are now different.

So it is worth reviewing the fees you are getting now.

If they need to be changed, this is the best method for surcharging.

If you look at the yellow arrow with the pay types circled on the point-of-sale screen. You set up your pay types with your surcharges to charge the new EFTPOS/Credit card surcharges for each pay type at the appropriate rate.

Note under Consumer Law provisions, you must be transparent about these fees. So it would be best if you displayed the fees prominently.

I recommend making a payment type with no fees under certain conditions and products eg, some EFTPOS transactions over $25 with no fees.

How can we sign and witness documents during a pandemic? This is getting to be a real problem in this pandemic.

Business must go on, and documents must be signed. How do we do this, as many of us often now are not near a printer or fax?

This is what I do. I converted the electronic document to be signed into a pdf. Then I use a free website, pdfescape <no longer free checked on 2023 April>

I import the pdf to that site.

Then I put in the details required by the document electronically and then sign using my mouse instead of a pen.

Then I add under my signature with the following note. 

This document was electronically signed in accordance with the COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) (Electronic Signing and Witnessing) Regulations 2020.

Note this is allowed in Victoria; looking at several states, I found that they all I found to have something very similar, but you need to check for your state the exact wording if you are not like me, a Mexican.

So far, only one supplier has made a fuss over this to me, most now from what I can see, are aware of the problems and accept this solution. 

I hope this is of help.

I have spoken about click and collect a few times here over the past years. 

If you have not already done so, this is why you should look at Click and Collect!

Near me is a small strip shopping centre. I walked down the shopping centre what I discovered that every single shop in my centre had a sign in their window advertising their click and collect service. Looking at the cars coming and going, I could see it was in use. Some of the shops, its the only business they can have. 

Now, this is not a notable centre. Although new it is ordinary with a range of shops having small to large retailers. Clients are not computer savage or sophisticated. 

Let me start by saying that our POS system makes it very easy for you to set up and do click and collect, more about that later. 

Here are some reasons why you should consider doing this if you have not already done so.

-Many people now do not want to come to your shop because of COVID-19. To service these people as a retailer, you now have to look at alternatives or lose these people.

- Here is a costing from the USA costing out the alternatives by options. If you go through the list, you can see significant operational costs savings compared to delivery by click and collect. 

-For many small retailers, delivery in Australia is not worth it. You need as a rule orders of about $100, to make it worthwhile delivering. 

-Click and collect is much faster. Your customers can have their goods often in minutes. 

-In the click and collect model, the customers come to the shop to collect their purchases. Many, studies state that between 49% to 61%, make new unplanned purchases. These are often impulsive or forgotten items. You are not going to get much of this business from a delivery model.

-People are comfortable buying on click and collect, as they know you. They know if anything goes wrong with their purchase, they can go to your shop immediately. 

My advice is to try click and collect and see what happens. You can make adjustments as you go on, if it does not work, you can stop it.

If so, you want to do it. 

You need to make a clear strategy for your program! Go out of your shop, see what others are doing, check out the opposition and make a plan. 

- Do you want to introduce a fee? Can you?

-What packaging are you going to use?

-Where is going to be your collection point?

- How will the customer warn you that they are here?

 etc. 

Now once you are on your trial. 

Advertise it boldly in your window! There is a question often raised did "A tree did not fall if no-one heard it!", if you do not advertise "Click and Collect" you do not have it.

This is how I recommend doing it in our software. I would suggest using business invoicing with an A4 receipt in the cash register. It is easy to do. 

Look for the item, to click and collected. 
Click on the "Receipts" button. 
Find the receipt you would like to print.
Then select the "A4 Print" button as here.
 

Out will come an A4 receipt:

As always, please let me know your thoughts and how it goes. 

Most of your sales floor is never seen by your customers. So it’s up to you to bring your merchandise to their attention. So in modern retailing, I have noticed is that shops now have many special areas. Not one but many! In the supermarkets as well as the regular area, you will find the same product at the ends of a shelf, the entrance and cash register area. So rather than have one big section dedicated to a product or line they have several. There is often is no correlation to these items in this area but people look at it. 

Try this

Reduce some of the area of a department and move some of these items into a special area. Make it noticeable put a nice sign advertising this area

This will maximise the reach of these products so giving you more opportunities to market your products.

And of course, tell me how it goes.

Now you are collecting information for your business for the end of the financial year. In the business world, the clock has been reset so many will talk to you, for example, your suppliers, accountant, bank and insurance broker etc.

It is time to consider what happened this year, see what has gone well and what has not gone well. More importantly, it is time to start planning for the new year.

What works for me is you do a SWOT analysis of your business? I am sure to you that it will be useful and rewarding to sitting down, hopefully with someone, reviewing your business in a formal method.

Current conditions have created a significant challenge in keeping touch screens clean. 

Firstly I suggest that you shutting down and unplugging the screen before cleaning but due to the urgency and frequency few do this now.

Check with your screen supplier, but I suggest that soap and a little water should be okay, although better still would be a suitable glass cleaner liquid. Do not use kitchen cleaners, bleach, ammonia solutions and vinegar as these can damage the sensitive coating on touchscreens. Alcohol is a maybe some screen manufacturers are saying that it is okay and say are saying this is a no-way.

One point I have noticed is that supermarkets do not care in the long-term, but most of us want our screens to last as long as possible so do not assume that because a supermarket uses it that it is okay.

Now disinfect by spraying the screen with a fine but thorough cleaner mist. Do not soak the screen or allow moisture to get into any of the openings on the table. Leave the cleaner mist on the surface for one minute.

Now wipe it off with a microfiber cloth or soft rag. Do not use abrasive cloths or paper towels as these can scratch the glass.

If required to remove dust and smudges from your screens, use water for the heavy lifting.

Now allow it to dry.

Now if your screen does not work, I am not trying to tell anyone how to suck eggs, but please check your power lead as it may be slightly out of its socket either at the back of the monitor or the PowerPoint. Also, check that the monitor cable is secure and in correct. We get all very annoyed now when our support line is flat out, and a person calls and the problem was that the power cable came out of the plug. 

The Australian government has just released its COVIDSafe app whose aim is to assist with the process of identifying those who may have been exposed to COVID-19 so we can take measures to help stop the spread of the disease.

It aims to speed up the process of identifying people who have been in close contact with someone diagnosed, quickly stopping the further spread.

Details and download links are available here.

I admit that there are ongoing concerns about the privacy of those using this app, considering how badly the government has treated our privacy online, I doubt this issue is that important and with the dangers of COVID-19, I think we have to get our priorities right.  So I recommend that you get it and request that every one of your staff get it as it may help. 

People with Android smartphones should have no problems, but users of iPhones on low power mode may have issues. If you use an iPhone on low power mode, you may need to turn this mode off while in public if you wish to use this app.  Google and Apple are working on a better app, but it's not ready for release yet, so this app is the best we have now.

Managing your customer expectations is now critical with Coronavirus. People are concerned and confused and need reassurance your shop is acting on the current events and that you are taking their health seriously. 

Now your customers know that much is happening and are looking for information. They are also looking into contingency plans. When this is over, you want to be in those contingency plans. 

You can start by making sure you communicate with them your opening hours.

Put your current opening hours on a sign on the front, update your google business profile etc.

Also, let them know if your deliveries are affected, whether you do backorders something very easy to do with your POS software and if you provide delivery and/or Click and collect services.