Sustainable Products: A Growing Trend

Since the last federal election, it should be clear that Australia has significant concerns over climate change and other environmental issues.

Today many consumers are seeking out sustainable products; click here.

The key finding for retailers here

>Approximately 50% of Australians actively seek out eco-friendly products.

>The reasons for this include concern about climate change (73%), wanting to feel good about personal choices (57%) and setting an excellent example for others (48%).

Today major retailers often provide a range of options for their product lines. Typically this includes an expensive, eco-friendly, and cheaper alternative. The eco-friendly product line has the benefit of appealing to customers who want sustainability and are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products.

Factors to Consider When Deciding Whether to Sell Eco-Friendly Products as a Small Retailer

Small retailers should consider the following factors when deciding whether to sell eco-friendly products:

Cost

Eco-friendly products overall are more expensive to source and stock than traditional products.

Market Demand

It's vital to assess your clients' demand for eco-friendly products and their willingness to pay for them.

Supplier Reliability

Small retailers should research and vet eco-friendly product suppliers to ensure quality products' reliable and consistent delivery. Generally, there is little use attaching yourself to products you can only get sometimes.

Competition

Small retailers should consider the level of competition in their area for eco-friendly products and assess the potential for market saturation.

Profitability

Eco-friendly products tend to have higher profit margins for retailers.

Tips for Retailers to Sell More Eco-Friendly Products

To increase sales of eco-friendly products, retailers should:

Partner with Eco-Friendly Brands: Partnering with eco-friendly brands can expand a retailer's selection of sustainable products and attract customers who are loyal to those brands.

See if you can get literature from them. Customers of these products like to read.

Educate Staff: Educating staff about eco-friendly products is vital to provide knowledgeable customer service and promoting the benefits of eco-friendly products. In practice, you will find that your team will do this themselves.

Monitor that your product is effective by looking at the numbers!

Put them in a category. Once you have some history, say a month, look for these items through your cash register reports.

Select Top N Stock sales for the month and select by this category

You will get a listing to review with sales information.

Now check stock

Go through these stock items on the list.

> Verify whether they are in a good position.

> Go through the list to ensure enough inventory (SOH). This is a bad situation if you need more stock. You may need to get more supply as soon as possible if you need more stock to meet your requirements. 

Examine these stock items in the shop now

> Are they displayed appropriately?

> Consider whether they should be in two or more locations. In a supermarket, good sellers are often placed in a good seller position on the corners as well as where they are stocked normally. This means the customer has two opportunities to buy this product.

> Hopefully, they will be a bit higher than waist level, as this is where most people look, so be visible to your customers. Remember that women are slightly shorter than men, and women are the big buys for these products..

Conclusion:

Retailers selling eco-friendly products can increase profits by meeting the growing demand for sustainable products while enjoying higher profit margins. Small retailers should consider cost, market demand, supplier reliability, and competition when deciding whether to sell eco-friendly products. By partnering with eco-friendly brands and educating staff

How To Increase Customers In Your Shop

Introduction

In retail, "foot traffic" is used to quantify the number of customers who enter a store daily.

In the retail industry, foot traffic is everything. It is a crucial factor in determining sales. It refers to the number of customers who enter a store each day. The more customers you have, the more chances you have to sell something. To maximise your business, you need to know how to increase it.

We have discussed here how to measure it. Something I urge you to consider.

You can now get sales by time with detailed POS system analysis. Not quite foot traffic but it's a start.

Here we will discuss some ideas on using your POS System to maximise foot traffic in this article.

Importance

The Investopedia it states bluntly here.

"Foot traffic—or customer traffic—is an important metric because higher foot traffic tends to lead to higher sales and revenue numbers."

Everything in a store revolves around foot traffic.

No matter what you do, you won't sell anything if no one is in your shop. More customers mean more sales opportunities in your store.

Here are some ideas to increase it

Use your data in your POS System.

You can identify the most popular products by looking at your sales history. What promotions have worked for you, and what days of the week are the busiest? You can adjust your marketing strategies to increase foot traffic with this information.

Effective Inventory Management Reports

Besides effective inventory management, you can use your POS Software to see what is selling now. Ensure that people walking past your shop in your sign know you have these products. Studies show that in most retail shops, the top ten sellers today will be in the top ten sellers tomorrow.

While doing this, check the trends in Sales. See what people are starting to look for in your shop.

Storefront signage

A shop window can draw customers into your physical retail establishment. Make use of the shop window to highlight promotional offers. Put a simple sign in front of the window that tells people that you handle your popular stock items. This will alert people walking past that you have these products. Do not overestimate the intelligence of people walking past that they know what you handle.

Free online assets

Modern customers often want to know that you can cater to their needs before they arrive; this means you need an online presence.

If you go into Google Maps, ask for your type of shop by going. Here are some examples of what you need

<my shop type> near me

<some popular products in your shop> near me

<my shop name>

I do it all the time. My daughter was hungry a few weeks ago, craving chicken. We had no idea there who had chicken and who was any good. So we used Google, picked the one close with the best reviews, and went there. That shop made a sale from a free service on Google Business.

Everyone now does stuff like this nowadays.

Here is a Google Trend analysis of how often it is done now over time.

Does Google know about you?

If why not, why not? It is a free service by Google and can be set up free in Google Business.

Do you have a Facebook page? If not, why not? Again it is free.

It's critical to ensure your store and the products or services you are online.

Marketing seasons and Promotions

These do sell, which is why majors use them. If it works for them, why not for you?

Several clients told me they did well on Valentine's Day.

It is easy to get hold of relevant ones coming up as the majors advertise them a lot.

Make or Participate in an Event

Making or joining an occasion can be an excellent method for expanding the number of people coming.

Make one for the shop, our birthday sale eg 5 year birthday for the shop.

Suppose you have some technical knowledge. Running classes or workshops works well.

Promotional Deals

Special offers and flash sales bring in people, increasing foot traffic.

Implementing a Loyalty (CRM) Program

You have a free CRM System in your Point-of-Sale System. A loyalty program is one effective strategy for increasing foot traffic. It can encourage customers to return to your store.

Customers in a loyalty program spend more than customers outside your program. It is a fact.

Speed Up the Checkout Processes

Nothing turns people away more than seeing a long queue in today's retail. Utilise your point of sale (POS) software to speed up the checkout process. We can run in our POS system many tills from one computer. That is a cheap way of increasing your tills with little cost.

Conclusion

A retail store's success depends on its foot traffic. You can increase foot traffic and sales by utilising your POS software better at almost no cost.

Take action now to increase foot traffic in your retail store.

Steps To Make Valentine’s Day a Success for You

Introduction 

With less than a week to prepare for Valentine's Day, it is quickly approaching. 

Lastest research estimate here from the Australian Retail Association 

The prediction here is that Australians will spend nearly $500 million. That amounts to approximately $118 average spend by Australians this year which is up. COVID-19 affected people's interest in Valentine's Day last year. This year should be up since there will be no restrictions on this Valentine's Day. 

Google for this year's outlook looks like this.

So by Google, interest currently is slightly lower but comparable to previous years. This makes sense as even in the middle of the most significant pandemic we have all experienced, with its unprecedented shakeup of our economy. Consumers did not cut back their spending on Valentine's Day. 

That is a lot of sales, so if you want your part, you must prepare. Let's get started and find out how businesses can get the most out of this romantic day.

Researching sales data from the previous year.

Now, if you want some ideas, see what does sell in your shop on Valentine's Day and what stock you have. It will take seconds to discover and give you some good ideas. Remember, unlike other marketing holidays, many products on Valentine's Day are still marketable afterwards if you select wisely. 

So in your POS software, look at the Top N stock report, which gives you the top-selling items.

Go to Register Reports marked in green.

Select stock.

Now you will see two reports. Click the one on green first. The purple you should hold in memory as you may need it before placing an order.
 

 
Now select last year's Valentine's day and the top 40 items, which should be plenty. I suggest doing it by quality sold.

You will get a report with top sellers over Valentine's day, plus your current stock holding to see how you stand for Valentine's day.

Also, run his report for 2019. This was the pre-pandemic period, and one expects this year to be a mix of last year and 2019.

We now have a list of the products sold well in your shop. That took less than a minute. Now make sure you have enough stock.

Embracing New Trends 

You need to contact your suppliers to see if they can suggest new products - chocolates, flowers, romantic gifts etc. 

Go beyond romantic gifts. 

People on Valentine's Day today, as well as romantic partners, are purchasing gifts for close friends and pets.

Check that you have gift wraps and cards. Many people need this to add a personal touch to their purchases. 

Create a Valentine's Day-Specific Section in the shop. 

It is creating such a specific section in the shop increases sales dramatically. It doesn't have to be spectacular; it does not have to be big. Put your Valentine's products on the stand.

Put cute messages on signs to decorate the front of your store to attract the attention of passing shoppers. Spread the love. 

Consider offering a gift-wrapping service.

It is a simple, cheap way of differentiating from business and gives you a professional and personalized touch. Employee training in the fundamentals of gift wrapping is not hard, and the added value it can provide can be well worth the effort. Learning to do it is not difficult and only takes a little practice. Once you get going, consider having * free * and * luxury * pricing services. Luxury includes a card, so a toy becomes a beautiful gift wrapped in attractive wrapping paper with a card.

Email and social media campaign

If, as suggested, you have a loyalty program, why not send out a free newsletter through Mailchimp? If your company has a Facebook page, posting a few photos in a post is a great idea.

Conclusion

You can have a significant chance to boost sales and connect with customers on Valentine's Day. 

> Prepare for the holiday by using sales data from the previous year, taking into account changes brought on by the pandemic

>Stocking up on merchandise related to Valentine's Day

> Embracing the new trend of buying gifts for friends and pet 

> Creating a special section in the store

> Offering gift-wrapping services

Please make the most of this romantic holiday.

Do you need a guest Wi-Fi account?

What is a guest Wi-Fi account?

It is a separate account that gives visitors access to your internet without giving them access to your business information. 

Businesses set them up to offer a service to their clients. Typically they pay nothing for it, and it provides:

Marketing Opportunities

A guest Wi-Fi account is used as a marketing tool by providing customers with promotions, advertisements, or other incentives when they log in, plus supplying marketing figures.

Customers stay longer

Customers are encouraged to spend more time on the premises using a guest Wi-Fi account which may increase sales. A man in a woman's dress shop can keep himself engaged while his wife selects a dress, reducing his complaints and demands to leave. In a cafe, a person can stay longer, so consuming more coffee.

More clients

Businesses that offer such a service will attract customers who value this service. 

Friendlier

It makes your business seem friendlier to visitors. Some sites like FaceBook give you extra points on your FaceBook page for offering free Wi-Fi.

Why should you set up a separate guest Wi-Fi account in your Wi-Fi?

If you decide it is worth doing, there are several good reasons to set up a Guest Wi-Fi account:

Security

If someone comes into your store and needs Wi-Fi, you give them an account that offers this, but it does not let them access any of your sensitive data to protect your security.

Convenience

Customers can access the internet on a guest Wi-Fi account without asking for passwords or network information. 

Parental Controls

These can be enforced on a Guest account. You do not want legal problems such as downloading from inappropriate websites children's porn in your business.

Managing Bandwidth

You can ensure that guests use up only a little of your internet by giving them access to your guest network. 

Legal

There are some legal advantages to using a guest Wi-Fi account:

Keep records

It may be simpler to keep track of guests' internet usage and keep records for legal or compliance purposes as you ensure that your guests' internet usage is separate from your business data. 

Computer security

You are protecting your entire network from potential infection by viruses or malware that may be in your guests' devices.

Avoidance of Liability

You may be able to limit your liability if guests use your Wi-Fi for illegal or inappropriate activities. 

Please remember that I am not a lawyer and that nothing I say here should be considered legal advice.

Creating a Guest Wi-Fi Account

Generally, it is a simple process. 

> Typically, you log in to the management interface of your router.

> Create a brand-new network account and give it the name "{Name of your business} -Guest". 

Give the guest account a unique password—usually, no password is set.

Establish your access restrictions.

Restart your router after you've saved your changes.

Now using this account and the password you set up, your guests can connect to the internet via your Guest Wi-Fi Account.

Conclusion

Providing internet access to visitors via a guest Wi-Fi Account is convenient and secure. You increase the safety of your sensitive data while making it easy for guests to use your internet.

Why Children's Products are a Smart move for your store. 

Ages ago, I reported that sales of products geared towards children appeared to be strong. Not only that, but the profit margins are also healthy. Additionally, I noticed that each sale of a children's product leads to more sales. Furthermore, as new lines are released often, there is a steady flow of repeat business. Plus, these products have high demand, are in need all year, and have good profit margins. 

Today marketing children's products to their existing customers are essential for many of my clients to run their successful businesses. 

The expected long-term growth rate of the Australian toys and games market is 2.87% during the forecast period (2020-2026). The increasing demand for toys, games and electronic gadgets among our population drives the toy and games market growth in Australia. 

Can you go wrong with toys like Lego products, Faber-Castell pencils, Mattel, etc., here?

If you carry them, it is crucial to ensure that they know that you have these products by making them easy to find in your store so: 

>Use in-store displays. 

>Have a dedicated area for children's products. 

>Promoting these products through Facebook can be very effective.

>Targeting people such as grandparents who come to your store. 

>As these products have decent margins, you can consider special deals, discounts or promotions. Tailor these to your customers.

If you are not marketing these products to this demographic, consider re-evaluating your business strategy to focus on children's products as marketing children's products could mean taking advantage of a significant opportunity.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, and we will happily share them with others who may benefit from your insights.

How and why to Use Targeted Receipt Marketing to Promote Your Store

Receipts:

A receipt is an essential record that attests to the purchase. Taxation often requires it. Additionally, it grants consumers the right to return or exchange products. Because of this, it is frequently kept and viewed a few times. 

Targeted receipt advertising: What is It?

Besides serving as a record for tax purposes, a customer receipt can include an advertisement for your business. As a result, receipts have evolved into a powerful marketing tool for engaging customers at many retailers over time. When a particular item is sold, they add an advertisement to the receipt suggesting that the person who brought it might want it.

While it is simple and effective, the advertising program works because you deliver your message to the right person who, unlike most other forms of advertising, actually reads your advertisement.

How is targeted receipt advertising carried out?

Using our point-of-sale system, you can add notes specific to the products. The receipt indicates this.  They will see your advertisement while studying the receipt.

Go to your top-selling list. Do not worry; there will not be that many of them, use the A stock I spoke about yesterday.

Now call up these items in stock maintenance. See the arrow here in green, press the box notes and put a message in the box starting with "^"; this will make it print on the receipt when the item is sold.

In this instance, a store receipt advertising will now be added.

If the customer purchases copy paper, they will be told that the store carries a wide selection of ink cartridges. 

It does not matter if your note is not so good. You can always do better in the future if you have something.

Benefits of Targeted Receipt Marketing

For little effort and no cost, targeted receipt marketing can encourage repeat business from customers. When you bring your store to the customer, you give them a chance to upsell and cross-sell.

Best Practices for Targeted Receipt Marketing

The following are some suggestions for your message:

> Personalize the product advertisement as much as you can. 

>Make sure your advertisement is simple to read

> Make it pertinent to the product

> Providing a simple and straightforward call to action

Measure your targeted Receipt Marketing

Always measure and analyze your targeted receipt marketing campaigns. Your software can do this.  Keep tabs on the performance of your advertisements and determine which ones performed well and which did not. Anything that is measured can be made better. Those that do not work can be edited.

In conclusion

Targeted receipt marketing can be a cost-effective and effective strategy for promoting your store and cultivating customer loyalty.

By following these guidelines, you can optimize your targeted receipt marketing campaigns to get the best results for your business.

Particular times of the year have different customers with different needs, one of the big reasons are holidays. You can pick up more sales by being ready with the right stock.

Well, it's time to start detailed planning for 2023.

Click here for a site with an excellent list of holidays in Australia; what I particularly like about it, is if I require an explanation of the holiday, all I need to do is click on holiday, and I get a decent description.

Why do calendars change every year?

Few reasons, mainly because 365 days a year means we move forward one day a year as 365 does not divide into seven evenly. Today the 30 December 2022, will be a Friday, but the 30 December 2023 will be a Saturday. The next big problem is that many holidays are set but the moon, so they follow the lunar calendar. Then there are other reasons, e.g. different calendars, but the result is that many holidays in 2023 will be held differently than in 2022, so you need to remember these days.

Plan for holiday-specific merchandise or products

It's essential to ensure you have the right stock for the particular holiday; for example, on Sunday, 12 November 2023, many Diwali candles will be sold. Some of these are very beautiful. If you have the right products in stock, you can drive sales.

There are a few key things to consider when determining what stock to keep on hand for a holiday:

Know your audience

Think about who your customers are and what they might be interested in buying. If you need more clarification, ask them. See if you can meet the needs of your customers during that holiday.

Conclusion.

Think about what you need to do to prepare for the holidays.

PS Looking for more ideas

Use this page above and check out other countries where people in your area would be interested.

Now we are in the post-Christmas period (Boxing day). Many now need to move Christmas items, such as holiday decorations, that they need to clear out after the holiday season while they still have value.

The market is there; for example, Commonwealth Bank research shows that 42 per cent of Australians plan to shop the Boxing Day sales this year, up from 39 per cent who said they shopped last year.

Australians enjoy shopping for deals and discounts. They see a post-Christmas sale as an excellent opportunity to find bargains on items they may have missed during the holiday season.

Besides, we have to move what are now low-selling items out of the strategic locations to make room for new products. So let's move it to a place where they sell, as that stuff will muck up cash flow, as it will be sitting in the shop for a year now. Then it will be a year old. Besides, the reality is that these items' market value has dropped. As these items are not in high demand now, a post-Christmas sale can be an excellent opportunity to move them, generating extra revenue.

Now while you are looking at clearing out the Christmas stock, why not add the stuff in the shop that is not selling? It is easy. Here is how.

Do you have some slow-moving stock items?

Maybe you can reduce their space to make more room for your profitable products too?

Firstly let us find the items that are the slow movers

Go to Register reports > Stock > Slow moving Stock lines

Now call it up here

As you can see, I have been looking at the stationery department for over twelve months for anything I have sold for less than $100 and am now stocking something.

Now out pops a report, in this case, of 81 pages of detailed information on all the items that match this condition. In this case, we have almost $80,000 worth of worthless stock.

Now check them out, pull out what you do not want to keep and put them in your Boxing Day sales area.

A post-Christmas sale can be an excellent way for retailers to generate revenue and improve their cash flow.

Adding marketing notes to receipts in your POS Software is something businesses can consider in their marketing strategy. Using this, you can make receipts more engaging and memorable for customers, potentially leading to repeat business or positive word-of-mouth. Today people tend to get receipts only when they ask for them, so they tend to review and keep these receipts as they are legal documents, proof of purchase, and a record for taxation. This makes it ideal as an advertisement for your shop.

Exciting notes on receipts, besides personalized messages, fun facts, promotions or discounts for future visits, and other engaging content, are notes specific to the goods sold. You add information that people who buy a certain product will find useful. While studying it later, they will see your banner on the receipt.

If you are interested in doing this, go to your top-selling items reports, it rarely takes many to get over 50% of your sales. 

Now call up the items in stock maintenance, see the arrow here in green, press the box notes and put in a note in the box starting with "^"; this will make it print on the receipt when the item is sold.

In this case, the retailer has added an advertisement.

For adding a note on say 15 items you will be surprised at how much effect it can have on your business. 

This is another example of using our Software to increase sales and improve your operations.

The deadline for standard deliveries with most carriers has passed for Christmas, December 25 in much of Australia. If you want to ship something by then, you must use express.

Here are Australia Post deadlines. Even with express post, getting to New Zealand on time is questionable.

So many of my clients have placed signs in their shops for when items are eligible for Christmas Day delivery. It has proven to be a good way of generating last-minute sales. 

Try it out.

A Loyalty Punch program is our market the second most popular loyalty program. Worldwide this loyalty program is the most popular marketing. It is used by the smallest to the largest businesses worldwide. So a review here is warranted.

Commonly, customers get loyalty cards. The store marks these cards after every purchase by the customer, and after earning enough marks, the customer receives a reward. A typical example is a customer entitled to a free coffee after purchasing ten coffees in a cafe. To make it work, you need a flagship product. I have seen books, pet food, gift cards, purchases over an amount, etc., used instead of coffee.

The program discounts loyal customers while encouraging them to interact more with your shop. This makes it more likely that they will spend more in it. This increase sales overall. At the same time, one-off customers pay full price, so protecting the shop from unnecessary discounting.

The flagship product should ideally be:

) A product high in demand
) Have an excellent companion sale
) Decent profit as you are giving away a margin.

We recommend that you make a program with a reward after 12 marks.

* When the person first comes into the shop and buys something, they get one mark free for joining the program. They then get a mark for their first purchase. So they are starting with two marks. This gives them the feeling that they are getting closer to their reward, as now they are 17% (2 marks out of 12) through it.

* This is important as you need to give your customer a feeling that the reward is achievable.

* Each purchase gets them another mark.

* Once the card is filled, they get their reward. Then they get a new card with one mark credited for rejoining the program. They get another mark for the free offer they redeemed. This overcomes customer feeling that the reward is unachievable as now they are at 17% again.

* Have an expiry rule, so customers must collect the required total within a year. The unused reward marks can be a long-term problem.

The cost of such a program is 10% assuming it is used; if it is not, it costs nothing.

Finally, we recommend you issue a card to the customer and keep track of it on your POS Software which is provided free because:

) Manual punch cards are easy to cheat, and there is no tracking to prove it is being cheated.
) You can market to these people if you have their email accounts. This is said to be worth 2%.

Overall let us run through the advantages of such a program.

- It is quick to set up as it is in your software now.
- Simple to administer
- This scheme has a proven track record.
- The rewards to the customer are tangible, concrete, visible, and measurable
- It works over time, so a customer is incentivised to return.
- The reward directly supports the shop
- It is considered monetary, encouraging people to spend more in the shop. They come and buy something. They often will buy more.
- The value to the customer is more than the shop as the goods purchased with the discount voucher have a margin.
- The customer sees the reward as valuable and practical rewards as it's what they already buy.
- You get a loyalty program mailing list to market to your clients. Using something like Mailchimp, which is free. You can drive more business to your shop.

Give it a try.

Here is a typical loyalty program today in a small shop that I snapped a picture of a few days ago. If you notice, they offer their loyal customers a 2% discount on sales. 2% is not arbitrary, as this is what most experts think a loyalty program can return without supplier help.

It will not be 2% as most points will not be redeemed and, if redeemed, are in shop goods, so the shop has a margin.

Here a customer would need to spend $500 to get a voucher for $10 on their next buy, and there are variations on the scheme, which I will discuss in a future post.

Enough to say now that here are some advantages.

- It is free, quick and easy to set up as it is in your software now.
- This scheme has a proven track record.
- The rewards to the customer are tangible, concrete, visible, and measurable
- It works over time, so a customer is incentivised to return.
- The reward directly supports the shop
- Give a person a $10 voucher, and they will probably spend more. Few will hit $10 exactly, $12.50, $20, and I have seen $50, etc., being spent with the voucher.
- The value to the customer is more than the shop as the goods purchased with the discount voucher have a margin.
- The customer sees the reward as valuable and practical rewards as it's what they already buy.
- You get a loyalty program mailing list to market to your clients. Using something like Mailchimp, which is free, you can drive more business to your shop.

Have a chew, and as always, let me know your thoughts.

The slogan "Buy One Get One FREE" is one of the most effective promotional invented. Studies show that it beats "50% off" even though both offer the same. This is because, marketing-wise, FREE is very powerful.

Here are some tips for using it:

1) It is better for cheap items where customers are prepared to stock up.

2) You need to pick items with good margins; after all, you are giving away half the money. Some people would use something like this

Buy two and get another free.

Here at least, is only a third off.

3) Works better for flash sales. Try running it during a festive season, for example, as a Father's Day special.

4) Many products customers cannot use two of the same product. For example, two jackets for the price of one might be a problem, but two pairs of socks for the price of one should be okay. In which case, for jackets, consider something like

Buy a jacket and get One from Category B for Free.

This Category B has proven to be a great way of selling stock you no longer want.

Setting it up is easy. All you need to do is follow the red arrows in the image below.

​

 A few days ago, I pointed out that this year the expected Christmas season shopping will be up by 3%; I should have added that the shopping season is expected to start earlier.

The public got burnt last year with shortages, and there are enough shortages and delivery problems now to remind people that the issues have not gone away.

Here is a study done in the US expected sales in 2021

source: Jungle Scout consumer data

The results in Australia were close by the end of November 2021. 57% of all Christmas retail sales were completed.

If you have not yet done so, you have to act immediately to start your stock ordering, which is something our point-of-sale software can help you do. We recommend shadow and focus analysis which our system can do, and I will discuss soon. 

Remember that November sales in 2021 were almost identical to December 2021. Why not this year too? 

It would be best if you also started looking at roistering again, which our point of sale can help too. 

Here is a quick checklist for your computer system

Is your POS system ready for Christmas?  

Start checking

If you plan to use some old POS computers “out of the closet” to accommodate the rush period, test it to ensure it works. If it has been in the closet for a year, who knows what state they are in now?

Check the following

-Have you checked all the cables connected to this equipment?
-Do you have a connection to your network where you need it?
-Can this equipment be linked to your system? Its been a year since it has been used?

Please do it now; the closer it gets to Christmas, the harder it will be to organise in time.

​At the Fine Food Show, I noticed that many suppliers offered extensive ranges of snack food bar products under the healthy banner. Some actually tasted quite nice. The reason is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in snacking. Today millennials are likelier to snack four times daily, which is more than any other generation.

The Australian snack bar market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.38% during the forecast period (2022 - 2027). Of that, the health food segment now accounts for more than half.

So have you considered adding health food bars to your product lists?

Margins for these products are high, there is little work, and there is a growing demand. There is increased public acceptance of these goods. Parents are happy to give their kids these bars with antioxidants, fibre and a natural fruit source.

Your POS Systems are now used in health shops, so there are no computer issues.

With agency work, you are handling someone else's products/services. Typical examples would be lotto, dry cleaning, Australia Post, etc.

Typically the commissions for handling these products/services are sometimes tiny. Yet the claim made by the agency is that these are good commissions, plus they give the shop customers that they would never get. 

Observations I will make here.

1) The commissions, over time, have a habit of dropping.
2) The commissions stated by the agency do rarely add up to the quoted figure. When I added up one client's figures, we found after fees; the 10% commission was more like 8%.
3) Good agencies demand the shop often do and spend to get these agencies.
4) Agencies often put barriers to the shop to sell other products. Yes, the customer comes in, but the store is limited in how it can offer additional products.
5) They interfere in the shop's management which is sometimes a positive as agencies know their business.

Is it worth getting these agencies? Many say YES.

Yesterday with the superdraw for $100 million, we saw long lines of people in shops. People who never came to a shop were coming into the shop. Loto was bringing in lots of customers to shops. 

The challenge for the retailer is to use that added foot traffic to make more sales of other items because that is where the profit is found. The trouble with lotto is that their product rarely leads to additional sales. Still, a small percentage can add up, say 300 people buy the lotto. 10% purchase something else well that 30 new customers for the shop.

As yesterday's long queues show, it promoted the shop, and people got used to dealing with the shop. 

Also, many shops are unmarketable without a good agency and cannot be sold. People will pay for a lotto agency, and they will pay for an Australian Post outlet. 

What I suggest is that you look at your profitability 

If you want a quick and instant way of finding out what did sell in your shop yesterday in the superdraw

Go to Register reports.

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

In the form put in yesterday, 20/10/2022 now compare the same with the report with figures from 13/10/2022, you will be able to see immediately what lotto brought into the shop.

Christmas - 75 days and counting.

Retailers need to plan for the coming season more than any other Christmas because this one will be tough. With retail sales currently up and after more than two years of Covid, Australians want a Christmas to reconnect with friends and family, so one expects that the public will be looking to buy but....

Three big problems need to address now:

) We have a mess of current supply available. You need to review whether you will have an adequate supply for Christmas better, check with your suppliers and get your orders in now. A survey stated that 30% of shoppers say they now planning to start shopping.
) The delivery crisis is improving in Australia, but overseas, if you import, there are real problems, particularly from China. 
) Then there is the other problem of getting enough staff. Plenty are now looking to try and find it. One can expect that getting enough Christmas casuals will be difficult.
I think we can expect that as a result of the pandemic, the public, having gotten used to planning early, will start buying soon for the festivities like last year, and it will happen this year. 

Here is a quick way for you to start the process of planning.

Go to register reports and select the top stock report, marked with the red arrow.

You get this screen

Now I suggest you work by the department as it makes it easier to think about similar products.

Look at the red arrows, as these items need to change for the coming Christmas. Out dates for 2019 pre-covid and 100 items as after 100, it is rarely worth worrying about.

Then you will get a report like this.

Now you need to examine this list to see what did sell. You may find many items that did not sell; you may want to explore these too.

I suggest doing the same analysis for last year as it will give you an extra comparison.

You now have a list of items that did sell over this period in your shop.

Halloween is possibly the fastest-growing marketing season in Australia today. If you look at this graph, I put a comparison of interest over the years of father's day to Halloween. This gives you an idea of how important the holiday has become with double the interest.

As such, sales have been growing over the years. Today has become a major retail event, and it is time to start preparing to get your part. As this holiday is one where the stock is often difficult to move after Halloween, you must ensure your ordering is spot on. If you are looking for ideas, I would suggest looking at costumes, witch hats, Halloween makeup, and masks.  Of course, if possible, try buying stock items that can sell after Halloween.

If you want a quick and instant way of finding out what did sell 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 01/10/21 to 31/10/21. A report will come out with what sold over that month. As last year is unusual, I recommend rerunning the report. So put in now the dates 01/10/19 to 31/10/19. Now compare these two reports.

Move, the clock is clicking.

It's always a problem as the Grand Finals are coming up, most people's teams are out, and although the football sales should be good, it is only for a short time. If it does not move, you may be stuck with the stock, which is often unsellable. Who in 2023 will want a stock with a 2022 label?

What is a good idea is to ring your supplier and see what can be done. If the problem worries you, it is much more for them.

Stick a sign-up, make a Grand Final Sale and try to move it.

Interestingly, I have noticed that most of the items offered in their Grand Final Sales have nothing to do with football. As long as you have a few products for football, there is no reason why many other products can be added to your Grand Final Sale.

As always, I recommend marking the sale on your computer to see how it does.

The recent Fine Food Show brought up the subject of coffee, which is a massive industry in Australia, about 9 billion dollars yearly. There is no dominant player with plenty of room for small to medium players to break in. Have a read of this report by IBISWorld here. 75% of all Australians drink at least one daily. Most of us consume much more. Why more of my clients do not get involved in it is a puzzle to me. It costs cents to make and sells for dollars. It also often has high add-on sales.

Now before I begin, I claim some expertise in coffee, being a certified barista.

​Now let's go through a few factors. Firstly like everything you have to work at it, a coffee seller is a restaurant and retailer. Its no pot of gold just waiting to be picked up.

Can you put coffee in some places like shopping?

In some places, you will not be allowed.

I do not recommend going in with a franchise.

Why share your profits? Do it yourself.

Do you have the space?

The excellent point of coffee is it can live in the dead areas of the shop. They do need access to electricity. Plus, these machines are often messy, so I recommend you be careful with the nearby goods.

The machine

I recommend walking outside your shop and researching the competition around you. Only once you have an idea of the pricing can you decide on the machine. 

The minimum manual machine you could get away with commercially would be $1,500 for a second-hand machine and a decent grinder (if you are going to do it commercially, I recommend a separate grinder). That could get you about $4.5 a cup in a good area. If you look new, you are probably about $10,000, which can often get you more per cup.

An automatic machine costs about $2,000/year, but these only give you cheap coffees. Still, it said much that people make money on $1 a cup.

I recommend you get a machine from a place that fixes them. These machines frequently break down. Check their support. These machines often break down. If you cannot get it fixed, you will soon have a piece of unusable junk.

Beans

Do not buy the caterers' special beans. You can get good beans at reasonable prices for a little more. Australians are extremely serious about their coffee. They have a high standard for their coffee.

Training

I do recommend that you do a course. It does not take long, a couple of mornings. It takes a while to get the skill.

The software

This is important because a good coffee shop POS technology will make your accounting and management easier and more efficient.

Everyone in coffee is cost-conscious. You have to be. You need to know your cost margin exactly. These change with every delivery from your suppliers, so prices must be suitable for each recipe. This is not easy as each recipe has many options, e.g. cow milk or dairy-free alternatives. Then there is decaffeinated or not. Plus, stock control is vital; not having one ingredient can bring your coffee business to a stop. The shop has to be shut while the owner is running to a supermarket is a common story.

So most of you readers are lucky as your software is now being used in cafes where it is highly regarded.

It has clear navigation and a user-friendly screen

Tracking of customer data and honour loyalty schemes

Good cash management functions like dual cash drawer tills

Look into it, please.