Using 'was/now' specials to drive foot traffic in some form is one of the most common sales promotions today. Now, the federal court has ruled against Coles, which ran such a promotion, and the resulting penalty will likely be expensive. The decision has fundamentally changed the rules for every retailer in Australia. Here I will tell you where we stand now.

Key Takeaways

• The Federal Court ruled that Coles' "Down Down" pricing misled consumers by using short-term price spikes as the "was" reference price in discount claims.
• Retailers can legally raise prices and then discount them, but the higher "was" price must have been charged for a genuine, reasonable period before advertising a saving.
• The court indicated that approximately 12 weeks is a practical benchmark for a stable "regular price" and four weeks was ruled insufficient.
• Any "was/now", "save $X", or "X% off" claim must be backed by a documented price history showing when that higher price was actually charged.
• Small retailers face the same Australian Consumer Law obligations as major supermarkets, and a single customer complaint can trigger ACCC scrutiny.

Was/Now promotion

These promotions are when you state the price was $X, but it is now $Y.

Say, for example, an item was $10, and you advertise it "Was $10 Now $6."

ACCC v Coles court case

The ACCC sued Coles, claiming its "Down Down" campaign was deceptive. Coles raised prices for about four weeks, then lowered them and put a large red "Down Down" sticker on the shelf, creating the illusion of a big bargain.

For example, Coles raised the price of a popular breakfast cereal from $5 to $7 for just one month, then dropped it to $6 with a "Down Down!" sign reading "Was $7, Now $6".

Coles argued that all these prices were legitimate. The court accepted that Coles was correct on this point. The courts accepted that supplier pressure had caused the price rise and that the lower price was a discount.

So what was considered wrong?

The court felt that a price for only four weeks was far too short to count as a normal price and that "ordinary shoppers would wrongly believe they were getting a genuine discount off the usual regular price, rather than just a slight drop from a temporary spike." The case came down to not on why Coles raised prices, but rather whether the later promotions created a misleading impression about the savings.

The court suggested that 12 weeks should be the measure. Now that 12 weeks are yet to be tested, and even the court stated it may depend on the product. Right now, no one knows. What we do know is that four weeks is not enough for these products.

But this landmark ruling means all Aussie businesses must completely rethink how they advertise their sales.

I would state now in your shop that if you increase the price of an item in May, you need to wait until September before you can safely run a "Save 20%" sale based on that May price.*

Can the ACCC now fine retailers for 'Was/Now' Pricing?

Now, yes, the ACCC can fine retail businesses for such discounting tactics as the same rules that apply to Coles apply to all shops. You do not have to accept the fine and take your chances in court. I would not suggest it.

It's not hard for a single confused shopper to give you such a massive regulatory headache. Imagine a customer spots your "Special: $10 off!" sign on a premium stationery set, checks their receipt from last month, and reports your shop to the ACCC because this "was" price never actually existed.

Stop Risky Short-Term Spike Discounts

Start by reviewing every price ticket or sign that uses phrases like "Was $X, now $Y", "Save $X", or "Down from $X." Ask yourself if that higher price was charged for a substantial, genuine period. Your POS Software can help you there, as it shows prices from 12 weeks ago.

Use Safer Ways to Describe Promotions

You can still run highly effective specials without relying on fragile "was" price comparisons. Instead, read up on how to set up multi-buy promotions in your POS system to run deals such as "2 for $X" or "Buy one, get one half price". You can also advertise an item as $X without reference to an older price.

Keep Basic Records of Prices and Promotions

In any ACCC investigation, the retailer must prove its price history. Here, your computer will be a lifesaver. It maintains a price log for each product, showing the date each price took effect and when it changed.

Also keep dated copies of all your promotional materials, and record the exact start and end dates of every promotion you run.

Conclusion

The Aussie retail landscape has fundamentally shifted, and we need to be more careful with our advertising.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences through effective software solutions.

Most Australian retailers know Armaguard has faced serious financial pressure. Still, fewer realise that new pricing changes are likely to increase cash-handling costs and affect how reliably cash can be accessed.

Key Takeaways

• Armaguard pricing changes are intended to support Australia's cash distribution network.
• Cash-in-transit services move physical currency between banks, retailers and ATMs.
• Armaguard needed major financial support to stay operating.
• Lower cash usage is increasing the cost of handling cash for small retailers.
• Reliable cash access depends on a financially sustainable cash-in-transit network.
• POS cash reporting helps retailers measure true cash handling costs and profitability.
• Regional retailers face greater exposure because banking and ATM access are thinner.
• The ACCC has allowed collaboration, but pricing outcomes may still evolve.
• Retailers need to balance cash resilience against rising operating costs.

Why Armaguard Matters to Australia's Cash System

Since the merger of Armaguard and Prosegur, Armaguard has become central to Australia's cash system, handling about 90% of the physical currency moving between banks, retailers and ATMs. That makes it a key part of keeping cash available across the country.

How Close Was Armaguard to Trouble?

Armaguard was under severe financial pressure, and major banks plus large retailers stepped in with about $50 million in support to keep it operating for 12 months. That support was designed to prevent default and give Australia time to build a more sustainable long-term pricing model.

This shows how important Armaguard is to the cash system. If the company is under stress, the entire cash distribution network feels it.

So the Armaguard new pricing model is part of a broader effort to keep cash distribution alive. As the main cash-in-transit provider in Australia, any pricing change affects the wider cash distribution network.

Price of Cash

For most small and medium retailers, the price of cash is not just one visible fee. This Armaguard fee is often hidden in banking fees, while other costs are more visible, such as cash handling time, reconciliation work and security.

These costs are likely to rise, making cash more expensive to support. Some clients are already asking for electronic payment only, although in practice many will still accept cash if needed.

Problems with Cash Distribution

Getting cash has become harder because bank branches and ATMs have been closing in many areas. That makes a stable cash distribution model more important.

Although this plan aims to improve distribution, the benefits will likely be shared unevenly because high-volume retail areas are easier and cheaper to serve. Lower-volume and more remote locations may continue to face the same access problems.

Effect on Retailers

Small and medium retailers are affected more than larger ones. Bigger retailers are usually in high-volume areas and often have more bargaining power over EFTPOS and card rates, making it easier for them to lean away from cash.

Smaller shops also often do not generate enough cash to offset cash-handling costs. More retail trade is now happening online through electronic payments, which further reduces the role of cash for many businesses.

What Should Retailers Do Next?

Your POS system can show how much cash your store actually handles through sales reports and end-of-day reports. You can then calculate what cash really costs your business, including banking, reconciliation and staff time.

Review your sales history to see which transactions are still being paid in cash. That gives you a clearer view of whether cash is still worth the handling cost in your shop.

Conclusion

Armaguard pricing changes are not just a fee story. They are about whether Australia can keep its cash infrastructure functioning sustainably.

For SMB retailers, the smartest move is to measure cash handling costs in your POS system and decide whether your current cash process still makes sense. If cash is still valuable to your business, manage it better. If it is becoming too expensive, make adjustments based on real data rather than guesswork.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences through effective software solutions.

In retail today, we need to make heaps of pricing decisions every week, and discounting is one of the hardest to get right. A well-timed markdown can save a sale, but what is less visible is how repeated, uncontrolled discounting drains profit. Often, worse, it can devalue your shop.

Key Takeaways

• Excessive discounting reduces prices.
• Strategic discounting supports a clear goal.
• A 10% discount on a product with 40% gross margin requires a 33.3% increase in unit sales to recover the lost gross profit.
• Stacked discounts are dangerous because multiple offers on one sale can remove much of the profit.
• The Discounted Items Sales Summary report in your POS system is great at revealing markdown patterns.
• Repeated markdowns in one category or supplier can point to a buying problem.
• Clear discount approval policy controls support better retail price management.

Excessive Discounting

The problem is not generally the discounting itself. Often, we need markdowns to clear aged stock or rescue a sale. For example, a Christmas item often needs an emergency clearance while it is still marketable.

Excessive discounting often begins when these markdowns become a habit. For example, if your staff automatically gives 10% off when a customer asks.

Excessive Discounting Matters

Excessive discounting matters because every markdown comes straight off your profit.

Discounting can create an illusion of improvement in the shop by increasing sales.

From personal experience, I can tell you that heavy discounting will train your customers to treat your prices as negotiable.

How Much More must be Sold to Cover a Discount?

It is surprising how even a small price cut can remove a larger share of the profit on that item.

An item with a 10% price discount that costs $11.00 and has a retail price of $18.00 reduces your gross profit by 25.7%, from $7.00 to $5.20.

Info: You make the same profit by selling 100 units at full price as 135 units at this discounted price

Here is the table for this sample item showing the price margin drop and break-even requirements.
 

Moreover, retailers often want the quick break-even version by margin. With a 40% gross margin:

• A 5% discount needs 14.3% more sales.
• A 10% discount needs 33.3% more sales.
• A 15% discount needs 60.0% more sales to recover the lost profit.

That is why "just take 10% off" is rarely a small decision.

Stacked Discounts

Stacked discounts are two or more discounts on the same item. It dramatically increases the discount.

Info: A typical example would be a clearance markdown and a loyalty reward.

What Happens When Customers Expect a Discount?

Customers learn from repeated pricing behaviour. If your shop discounts too often, many shoppers start to see full-price items as something to negotiate or wait out. It devalues the shop too.

For example, if customers know your lifestyle range is always discounted at the end of the month, many will delay the purchase. That makes it harder to sell on value.

How Do You Control Discounting in a Retail Store?

Staff discounting needs clear rules.

You should have a discount approval policy in your shop. It needs to specify who can discount and by how much.

Most shops say that only a manager can approve a discount, and ban all discounting on certain products.

Your POS system should enforce that policy. Make sure that it is also set to activate an audit trail to log every discount.

Discounted Items Sales Summary Report

In our POS System, there is a Discounted Items Sales Summary report that shows discounted sales activity to help you identify your discount patterns. This is evidence that is much better than relying on gut feeling.

In the reports,> Go to Discounted Items Sales Summary 

It is shown below, marked with a green arrow.

Fill in the appropriate responses, and here is the basic report that appears.

What it shows is sales and, most importantly for this question, the discounting by product type.

Note the large discount that had to be given to the Clemens Bears here to sell them. 

Using the Discounted Items Sales Summary Report

Treat it as part of regular management reporting.

Run the report over a date range, I suggest once a month. What you need to do is look for reasons why products are being discounted. Generally, a discount shows something is wrong.

Excessive Discounting Affects Cards, Stationery, and Giftware

The first question to ask yourself is does a product need a discount?

A greeting card's sales are often made on a need basis.

Info: A shopper who needs a sympathy card today usually buys one, even if the price isn't discounted.

Stationery needs a more selective markdown strategy. Invoice books, for example, are often purchased when someone needs them now.

Giftware is often a problem item; it's so hard to know what will work and what won't. A plush gift line, all too often, looks exciting at a trade fair but struggles in-store. Sometimes we have to be ruthless.

Frequently Asked Questions About Excessive Discounting

Q: Which products or suppliers are actually causing the problem?
A: Look for repeat markdowns by item, department, and supplier in the Discounted Items Sales Summary report. When one supplier range keeps appearing with high discount values, that often points to a buying issue rather than a pricing issue.

Q: How often should I check discounting in the POS?
A: Check it routinely. A weekly review suits many independent retailers. I suggest a monthly review, which gives you the range to spot patterns.

Q: Do I match a competitor's price or hold firm?
A: Treat that as a margin decision first. Check whether the lower price still leaves enough profit and whether the likely sales gain actually justifies the cut. See if you can make a value-based response.

Q: How do I stop customers waiting for the next sale?
A: Be less predictable. If your markdown pattern becomes too predictable, customers are more likely to delay buying.

Next Steps

The goal is not to stop all discounting. The goal is to use markdowns intentionally so they support sell-through, protect gross profit, and strengthen retail price management.

The next step is to turn discounting into a managed process. Review your current practices, enforce staff permissions, and use your POS System.

Then identify the main problem areas, e.g., items, suppliers, or staff.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences

I have had some ask whether they should turn off their current POS auto-ordering and switch to an online AI tool. My answer is no. We tested an online AI for stock ordering, but it wasn't as good as the built-in AI ordering in our POS software.

Now I am going to put aside the immediate question of costs. Your POS System AI is free, but the online AI costs; we will discuss this in another article.

Key Takeaways

• Your current POS auto-ordering is already a form of AI.
• It is built for one job: working out what stock to order.
• Online AI needs prompts, setup, and checking before it becomes useful.
• If your stock data is wrong, any ordering system will give bad advice.
• Online AI can also get local context wrong unless you guide it carefully.
• The best way to test online AI is to run it beside your current system and compare the results.

Why Is a Purpose-Built POS Ordering System Better Than Online AI?

The automatic ordering in POS software is AI. We were the first in our market space to introduce AI. It uses your sales history, supplier details, pack quantities, and seasonal patterns to calculate stock orders. That matters a lot because it is built for one specific job, not a hundred different jobs. An online AI tool can write emails, answer questions, and write software. Our ordering AI does one thing: it determines which stock your shop should order. That narrow focus is a huge strength.

What Does It Take to Set Up Online AI Ordering?

This question is often overlooked: the setup time. You do not just turn on an online AI and get perfect purchase orders. You have to spend hours writing prompts, explaining your specific shop rules, and checking the results. If you want to try something like this, let me know, and I will give you some prompts to test out for your shop. You will need to write suitable prompts that explain your business rules, and keep checking the output until you get it right. If the prompts are weak, the answers will be weak too. Unlike your current ordering system, it does not already know your business rules unless you provide them; they must be in your prompt.

Here, what I hate is that AI sounds confident when it is wrong. It is programmed to please you and will try to please you even if it has to lie. I am currently writing a blog post on this point, which will be released soon with examples from retail, drawn from actual examples our clients have shown us. Suffice to say, any AI today gives somewhere between 0.6% and 2% hallucinations on top of errors. The difference here is that, unlike your current AI automatic ordering system, the online AI does not have business rules to catch these errors. This means that the online AI system, as it is unsupervised, gives you a significant operational risk for your retail stock management.

We also found that online AI can miss local context. In one test, it returned results based on North American holiday timing rather than Melbourne, Australia. We had to change the prompt to force the right local context.

You Test Online AI Against Your Current System?

If you want to test it, do exactly this. Grab a historical weekly sales report with some history behind it, run it through an online AI tool, and compare those results with your current automatic ordering.

Do not switch first and hope for the best. Test both side by side and compare the order quantities, the time required, and the number of changes you need to make by hand. No one ever got in trouble by testing AI too much before using it.

What is the Real Question here?

The real question is not whether you should use AI. The real question is whether you should replace a specialised ordering AI already built into your POS System with a generic online AI tool that needs setup, prompting, and careful checking.

Conclusion

We all know no system gets it right 100% of the time. Sudden weather changes, local footy finals, or supplier delays will always throw a spanner in the works. That is why the best approach is to still use a human being to review the orders.

For most retailers, I would not recommend that change without a very good reason. If your current system is working, be careful about turning it off just because something newer is available.

If your current ordering is not giving you reliable results, or you are not sure your reorder settings are correct, book a free consultation so we can review your setup properly. Details on setting up your automatic orders can be found here.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences through effective software solutions.

Your website may have unseen digital errors pushing shoppers away. We now give a free professional audit to find most of these errors for our clients.

Website audits find errors, lowering search rankings as Google penalises bad sites. Broken links and missing pages harm trust and SEO. Page speed and uptime impact sales and user experience. Technical SEO boosts Google's rankings. Automated tools save time. Regular audits prevent traffic loss and revenue misses.

What Is a Website Audit?

It is a detailed audit of your site that includes speed, SEO, and user experience to determine how they impact your rankings. It sees how well search engines read your pages. Ultimately, it's a health check for your online presence.

As retail systems specialists, we've invested in professional website auditing software to help SMB websites perform better in search and convert more customers. For example, this tool instantly scans your product listings to verify they work. It produces an actionable list of what needs to be fixed immediately.

Why Website Audits Matter for Retailers

Website audits help a retail site load quickly, work flawlessly, and rank highly in search results to attract customers. For example, if your homepage takes 10 seconds to load on a smartphone, many will leave. Even worse, Google will penalise you.

Furthermore, modern shoppers expect instantaneous access to product information, inventory levels, and store locations. If your site drags, you are effectively locking the front door to your digital shop and turning away eager buyers. For example, a customer checking your opening hours from their mobile phone while parked nearby will go to another site if it is too slow.

Conclusion

We now provide professional website audits that identify broken links, missing pages, SEO errors, and performance issues affecting your online presence.

Contact us today to schedule your audit.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences through effective software solutions.

I can also if you need, help you with the analysis.

Now, many are starting to agree with me that XChangeIT should be free for the users of this product. I said it for years and have not changed my mind. We are pleased to have been involved with XChangeIT from the start, even before it began processing Gordon and Gotch invoices in newsagencies electronically. Over the years, we have seen it deliver real value to the magazine channel, but that was years ago. The current charging model no longer stacks up, and the industry should review how this essential service is priced. The system that I have studied the most is the Ariba used by Coles, and I doubt the magazine companies charge Coles for their electronic invoices. Ariba is free to use.

Key Takeaways

• XChangeIT is an essential data exchange service
• Electronic invoicing is now standard practice across retail
• Newsagents fund a system that also benefits distributors and suppliers through cleaner data and lower admin costs.
• Fairness becomes a bigger issue when a retailer has no practical alternative to the service.
• Value-based pricing is easier to defend when a platform offers premium analytics, benchmarking, or decision tools.
• Industry review is warranted when essential infrastructure operates as a monopoly.
• Newsagents should push for transparent pricing, clearer value delivery, and independent review of access arrangements.

What Is XChangeIT and How Does It Work?

XChangeIT is the data exchange platform widely used in the Australian magazine supply chain to send invoices, return information, and other supply-related data between publishers, distributors, and retailers. First, it reduces manual data entry and supports faster, more consistent administration. For example, instead of a store owner manually entering 50 magazine titles into their inventory, they can use our POS System to populate the delivery data automatically.

Moreover, that operational role is real and worth acknowledging. The issue here is not whether XChangeIT is worth it, but whether retailers should still pay for access to a service that is now a standard business practice.

The first question many will ask is whether the charging is legal. The answer, I think, is YES, but that is not the point here. I am talking of fairness.
https://www.possolutions.com.au/blog/xchangeit-is-it-a-fair-and-reasona…

Why Are Newsagents Charged for XChangeIT Access?

Newsagents are charged for access because the platform was historically introduced as a specialised, premium technology solution for a complex problem. Then it was premium technology that was unusual, complex, and commercially distinctive.

Today, electronic invoicing and automated data exchange are standard operating tools across retail. Anyone with a simple accounting program, say like MYOB, for about eleven dollars a month can send invoices electronically. Our POS Systems allows our users to send electronic invoices free.

Is XChangeIT Now Essential Industry Infrastructure?

As an essential industry infrastructure, all market participants must use it to trade efficiently. Across the many retail sectors I have worked in, I have not seen suppliers routinely charge stores for receiving a standard invoice. Do you charge your customers to receive your invoices electronically? 

Then there is another issue. Magazine sellers are not just receiving data through XChangeIT; they are also sending information to the suppliers and distributors. Distributors benefit from cleaner returns, fewer processing errors, and more efficient administration. Yet the smallest business in the chain, the magazine seller, is being asked to bear the cost.

When Is a Separate Platform Fee Justified?

This separate platform fee would now be justified if XChangeIT delivered what it was originally promising to do: measurable, premium capabilities that go beyond standard transaction processing, say if XChangeIT delivered advanced analytics, stronger reporting, benchmarking, and practical marketing tools beyond basic transaction processing. I do not see anything happening here. Years ago, they started these projects. I can remember them collecting that data for mathematical studies, but nothing came of it despite some interesting results. 

The Fair Position for Newsagents

XChangeIT is playing an essential role in the magazine channel, and that contribution should be recognised. Newsagents should be asking for transparent pricing, clearer value delivery, and an independent review. You can read more here on the fairiness of XChangeIT.  I am glad now others are agreeing with me now.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences through effective software solutions.

List the top 4 markets or products your business services:

1. ………

2. ………

3. ………

4. ………

Now do a Google search and check the AI Overview,

Ask it for each of these markets or products
“Who are the best [markets/products] in [My Suburb]?”

Sample questions might be:

“Who are the best greeting card companies in Keysborough?”

“Who are the best pet food suppliers in Dingley Village?”

If your business isn't showing up in those answers, you’re quietly missing out on customers. Today probably about 20%.

Also check:

Is your shop’s name and address easy to see (or clearly linked to the product)?

Are your competitors more visible in the answer?

Try this today (it’s free and easy).

What Free Tools can you use now to help improve your score? 

These online systems pull from the exact same places. The main ones being 

Google Business Profile – your digital shopfront in searches and maps. This tells them where you are and what you sell.

Facebook Page – where people check hours, photos, and reviews.

Check the links to see what you can do now for free.

Click here for some ideas to talk about online
 

Many are missing out on a simple, high-margin product category that your customers already buy elsewhere. Why not put in a clothing range to boost your shop?

Key Takeaways

• Profit margins in utility clothing
• Strategic placement of weather-ready apparel near checkout zones drives high-value impulse purchases.
• Inventory testing involves launching just 6-12 apparel units
• Point of Sale (POS) analytics required.
• Staff training focuses on practical, weather-related conversation starters to encourage add-on sales.

Clothing Retail Expansion

Everyone needs clothes. It has better sales potential and margins than most products. For example, a $60 jacket with a $30 wholesale cost delivers far more profit than selling several magazines. Ultimately, clothing is a high-margin, everyday category.

Moreover, Australia's apparel market remains a stable investment for local shops.

Select the Right Clothing Category?

What you want is something that increases your average basket size by turning routine, low-spend visits into higher-value transactions. For example, a customer buying a birthday card would notice a lightweight jacket. If it's cold and wet, they will often grab it.

Utility clothing sells best because it solves immediate, everyday needs without requiring a changing room.

Clothes displayed by hanging save shelf space. Choosing the right clothing category involves picking a narrow, practical niche that matches your existing customers. Study similar retailers for proven, low-risk ideas.

How Should You Test a Clothing Range?

Testing a clothing range means starting small and measuring concrete results before committing to a larger order. For example, introducing just two jacket styles in limited quantities drastically reduces your financial risk.

Define a Test Range

Start your test with just 1–2 product types and 2–3 colours, for a total of 6–12 units. For example, order a handful of adult wind-resistant jackets and a matching kids' version. Treat this strictly as a 3-6 month seasonal test.

How Do You Source Clothing Brands for Your Shop?

Sourcing clothing brands involves partnering with wholesalers who can actively support you. For example, local Australian outerwear brands often supply boutique hardware stores or newsagencies without demanding massive minimum orders.

Where to Find Brands

Look for independent labels, outdoor brands, or local suppliers. For example, check a brand's website for "stockist" or "apply to stock" pages. When contacting them, always ask about minimum order quantities, delivery fees, and consignment options. Be careful, as in my experience, many of these suppliers will, if they think you do not know, try to get you to take unsalable stock. Most clothing suppliers are sitting on such stock. Conversely, you can get such stock at a very good deal. If so, they work well in a dump box.

What Pricing Strategy Works Best for Clothing?

Clothing pricing works best when you balance perceived affordability with strong retail margins. For example, a jacket bought for $30 wholesale can comfortably retail for $54–$66.

How Should You Display Clothing in a Store?

Clothing displays should be simple, highly visible, and tied directly to existing customer flow. For example, placing jackets on a small vertical rack near your greeting-card wall captures customers who are already browsing.

First, use folded-stack displays or small racks with clear, benefit-driven signage. For example, use a sign that reads: "Light wind-resistant jacket for school runs and park days." Keep the range feeling like a helpful add-on rather than a demanding fashion section.

Utility Clothing vs. Fast Fashion in Small Retail Stores

Utility clothing focuses on practical, weather-resistant garments designed for everyday use, while fast fashion offers trend-driven apparel with shorter lifespans. When comparing the two, utility clothing offers a longer shelf life, lower inventory risk, and higher, more consistent sell-through for non-fashion retailers.

A POS System Helps Manage Clothing Sales

Your Point of Sale (POS) system is very important here as clothing is such a specialised product with sizes, colours, styles, etc. It does not take much to have many combinations. Five sizes, male and female, five colours, and four styles give you 200 combinations. Automatically analysing sales data, predicting demand, and recommending reorder quantities across 200 combinations is a lot of work for a small department, and in clothing, you need to analyse in real time. You also need to be ruthless here in getting rid of unsellable stock, as it takes up a lot of room.

First, use your system's sales reports by SKU to eliminate guesswork. Our advanced POS systems will identify trends for you.

Conclusion

Clothing can increase revenue. Start small, focus purely on practicality, and let your POS System guide you.

Written by:

Bernard Zimmermann is the founding director of POS Solutions, a leading point-of-sale system company with 45 years of industry experience, now retired and seeking new opportunities. He consults with various organisations, from small businesses to large retailers and government institutions. Bernard is passionate about helping companies optimise their operations through innovative POS technology and enabling seamless customer experiences through effective software solutions.