Today, many prefer to use AI rather than hand-enter supplier invoices into their POS System. If you are ready to scan these invoices, let us know.

Many people have questions about doing this, so here are some questions I have received over the past few months.

What is AI supplier invoice processing?

AI supplier invoice processing is when your POS Software reads supplier bills that are sent to you. It uses AI to extract information from the invoice and enter it into your POS system, so you don't have to type everything manually. AI processed supplier invoices, reducing manual entry and speeding up data entry. People do report saving hours. Its accuracy is equivalent to manual data entry. Since you get a check at the end, the accuracy is rarely a significant problem.

Speed and Accuracy of a typist vs AI?

Here are some observations that I worked out for a single-page invoice, admittedly on a run of invoices.

When humans process an invoice, they do not just read words; they must scan, find specific fields, verify totals, and manually key data into the POS software. Humans take about 12 minutes per invoice. This includes locating vendor details, invoice numbers, and line items, and manually retyping them into the POS System. Interestingly, when I tested a trained typist, she took 4 minutes to type an invoice, mainly because she did not have to look at the keyboard as often, and she typed much faster.

An AI OCR invoice processing took 2 seconds per invoice, as it reads the whole document and then extracts the figures.

So the AI OCR processes invoices 60-360 times faster than a human, depending on your training. Its accuracy was much higher.

Where humans will win is with handwritten or complex invoices, like what we sometimes see coming from places like India.

Here are some questions people have asked me about these AI invoices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will the ATO accept digital copies of receipts and invoices?

A: Well, now you are getting the invoices electronically and entering them manually. As for the invoice, you still have the digital version sent by email or the paper one sent with the goods.

Q: How do OCR tools handle multi-currency invoices from AliExpress or eBay?

A: Double-check it, as I have seen it confuse US and Australian dollars and go wild with the invoice in Indian rupees.

Q: Do AI tools understand line items?

A: It understands line items; with line credit notes, people have reported mixed success.

Q: How do you stop ABN errors?

A: It's not doing any checks on the ABN number. Again, you need to do it manually.

Q: How does it handle duplicate invoices?

A: It is a very real problem with AI. The supplier sends an invoice by email, so people enter it in. When the goods arrive, they OCR the invoice and use AI to process it. Because it is so much faster than manual typing, it happens much more often with AI.

Q: Why does your AI tool say VAT instead of GST?

A: People are importing British invoices that have VAT.

Q: Can AI handle all suppliers' invoices with OCR?

A: Almost all, but I have seen some problem ones. Most suppliers today use accounting software to issue invoices, and they can send them to you electronically. At first, you'll need to monitor each supplier to see how it goes.

Q: Does it have a cost?

A: AI is not free; it's very cheap, but it's not free.

Q: What is the break-even point for switching to AI processing invoices?

A: I have asked several people that question with mixed results; one of my clients can type at 65 words a minute, I assume her answer would be very different to mine. It depends on how many invoices you process, how quickly your typist works, and the condition of the invoices.

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.

We lock the shop door every night, secure the till, and run a stocktake. However, if a laptop goes missing or someone copies your files, your confidential information could be completely exposed. To keep your POS system and back office running, you probably have many staff members and occasionally repair technicians accessing it. This shared access creates a problem for your sensitive information.

Everyday Risks in Retail

While sharing system access with staff keeps the shop floor moving, it does create security problems.

• Employees snooping through documents on back-office PCs.
• Unattended computers left unlocked while you help customers browse greeting cards or magazines.
• Stolen devices from your shop, car, or home.

These risks can expose confidential information, so we recommend a simple tool like VeraCrypt to protect your information even when your computers are out of your control.

How VeraCrypt Works

POS Solutions has been recommending VeraCrypt for years.

It is one of the simplest and most effective tools for securing confidential retail data. It is a free, open-source program. It acts like a digital safe on your device. You can use it as usual, or drag your private files into it. Without your password, no one can open or read anything inside it.

How secure is VeraCrypt

In 2008, in the Brazilian Banker Case. Police seized five hard drives from a suspect that were fully encrypted using a predecessor to VeraCrypt. The Brazilian National Institute of Criminology failed to crack them for five months, so they went to the FBI. The FBI spent 12 months attempting to break the encryption but ultimately failed.

In a 2015 U.S. case involving a former police sergeant, the U.S. government was unable to access the data.

Based on this, I can say that VeraCrypt is exceptionally secure.

Getting Started

You can easily set up this level of security for your own files without any special IT skills.

1. Download VeraCrypt for free from its official website.
2. Install and run it.
3. Create a new volume and select a size. I suggest 4GB for your files.
4. Select the default AES encryption and set a strong, unique password of at least 12 characters that includes letters, numbers, and symbols.

Mount the volume so it appears as a new drive letter, say I:

• Move your sensitive files to I: and work as usual with the files on I:
• Dismount the volume when finished to safely lock everything away.

You still need to back up the encrypted file just like any other information. People tend to forget that computers are mechanical devices and they can fail like any other machine.

Mistakes to Avoid

Even simple tools work best with good daily habits to ensure your data stays secure.

1. Simple passwords: Avoid "password123". This is the first thing a hacker will try. Pick something memorable but unique that only you know, like your wedding song, the singer and year.
2. Suspicious filenames: Prevent suspicion by giving your vault an obscure video file name rather than "Private Payroll", say something like "Zootopia_2"
3. Leaving volumes mounted: Always dismount your volume when stepping away from the computer; this only takes seconds.

VeraCrypt vs BitLocker

A common question is why we prefer VeraCrypt to Microsoft's built-in BitLocker, which is heavily pushed by one of our competitors. Here is why VeraCrypt provides a much better solution.

The Functional Differences:

BitLocker is designed to lock the entire computer; this is not required in most shops. Plus, BitLocker automatically unlocks at startup, meaning any staff member using the till has access to all the data on that machine. VeraCrypt requires a password, giving you control over who can see your private files.

The Technical Problems with BitLocker:

Recently, BitLocker has suffered from major technical issues that can severely disrupt a business. In both October 2025 and April 2026, routine Windows security updates contained bugs that caused PCs to enter an "infinite BitLocker recovery loop". We have seen people locked out of their own computers as a result. Not good for a retailer to be locked out of their POS system at the start of the day.

The YellowKey Exploit:

Even worse than the bugs is a newly discovered vulnerability, "YellowKey. If what is said is correct, then someone can bypass BitLocker protection without a password. It is now being debated whether Microsoft built a backdoor into BitLocker after reading the information. I think they did.

The Trust Factor:

VeraCrypt is open-source and audited by independent experts. Its code is fully visible, meaning it is unlikely to have a hidden backdoor. BitLocker is closed, meaning you must trust Microsoft.

Conclusion

VeraCrypt is one hell of a good cyber protection.

FAQ

Q: I caught staff snooping on the back-office PC through the network. Can VeraCrypt help?

A: Yes, even if someone snoops on your computer, no one can read, or even detect, what is inside a VeraCrypt volume, unless they know the password.

Q: I forgot the password to my locked folder. How do I recover my files?

A: You cannot retrieve the information unless you can remember the password. This is one of the biggest problems we have with VeraCrypt, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Q: Is VeraCrypt hard to set up?

A: Not at all. I have set up many VeraCrypts and never had a problem. You need about 4GB of space on the computer, and choose a strong password (I suggest at least 12 characters). You do not need any special tech skills to get started.

Q: If I leave the computer to serve customers, are my files safe?

A: On your computer, your files are only safe if you dismount (lock) the volume before stepping away from the computer to the shop floor.

Q: Is VeraCrypt actually secure against hackers?

A: VeraCrypt is incredible. Real-world cases involving the FBI and international police forces have shown that without the password, even government agencies cannot crack the AES encryption.

Hackers will typically program your name, dates of family births, etc., and search for passwords, so avoid weak, easily guessable ones.

Q: Will VeraCrypt slow down my POS system?

A: A little. In practice, the files that need this level of security rarely require super-speed operation.

Q: What should I name my locked folder so it doesn't attract attention?

A: Avoid suspicious or obvious names like "Private Payroll" or "Confidential Data". I suggest using an obscure video file title, e.g., "The Shawshank Redemption (1994).AVI".

Q: Do I still need antivirus software if I encrypt my files?

A: Absolutely.

Update notes: I wrote an article on this a few months ago, but recently, YellowKey changed a lot here, so I totally rewrote the article 

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 suppliers and business partners often look you up online before they meet with you. It's how business is done today. The main source is LinkedIn. A bad LinkedIn profile will hurt your business. It will make you look less credible. I have a fix for this here that takes at most 20 minutes.

What happened recently is that after a career change, I updated my own LinkedIn profile. Did not think much about it until a week later, when I checked LinkedIn before a meeting with a bank official about some upcoming changes. It told me what sort of a guy he was and what he was in the bank. Then, almost immediately, I had a meeting with a retailer, and just before I talked, I automatically checked him up on LinkedIn too. That profile told me almost nothing. He did not look very credible.

Ultimately, that contrast exposed a gap. So I checked some more and found many of my clients also had poor LinkedIn accounts, so I decided to make a tool to fix them.

Key Takeaways

• LinkedIn profile quality shapes first impressions before meetings, supplier calls, finance discussions, and store visits.
• Specific retail detail makes a business easier to trust than vague labels such as 'Owner' or 'Self-Employed.'
• Personal credibility helps readers understand the experience, systems knowledge, and operational skill behind the shop.
• Retail context explains what you sell, who you serve, and why your business is worth contacting.
• AI assistance improves wording best after accurate facts about the business are already in place.
• Twenty-minute updates are enough to improve a headline, About section, Experience section, and Skills list.

Core Definitions

• LinkedIn profile is a public professional summary that explains who you are, what your business does, and why someone should trust your business.
• Retail LinkedIn optimisation involves updating your headline, About section, Experience section, and Skills so readers can understand your business quickly.
• LinkedIn headline is the first short description most people see, so it should state your role, shop type, and product focus.
• Business credibility on LinkedIn involves specific facts about your store, your customers, and the experience behind the business.
• AI rewriting involves improving clarity after accurate facts about your products, location, role, and strengths are already in place.

What Is a LinkedIn Profile for a Shop Owner?

It is a professional page that explains the business and emphasises your role.

Why Does LinkedIn Matter for Independent Retailers?

LinkedIn matters for independent retailers because they deal with a complex network of stakeholders who verify credibility online. You also deal with suppliers, banks,

Consequently, a weak profile creates uncertainty and leaves the other person guessing what you actually do. A label such as 'Owner at Self-Employed' says almost nothing about the business, the products, or the experience behind it. For example, leaving your skills section blank deprives a prospective landlord of knowing your strong background in retail operations.

Conversely, a strong profile makes that easier. what sort of person you are, and what experience you bring to the table. Someone should be able to see in seconds what you are skilled at, what sort of operational, technical, or commercial experience you have. If LinkedIn shapes their thoughts about you before the first conversation.

How Can Shop Owners Improve a LinkedIn Profile in 20 Minutes?

Improving a LinkedIn profile in 20 minutes requires focusing only on the core sections that drive immediate credibility. Simply follow these six structured steps.

Step 1: Research other people's profiles similar to yours

What you are looking for are strong LinkedIn profiles from people like you. Pay attention to their headline, About section, Experience section, and the way they explain their business.

Step 2: Starting

If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, create one; if you have one, log into it.

Now check your existing email, phone number, and location are completely up to date. Verify that carefully. It will do you damage if these details are wrong.

Step 3: What Business Details Should You Add First?

Then, fill out your profile with the basics. Do not worry about perfect wording, spelling, grammar, etc., yet; get the facts down first so the profile accurately reflects what you did.

Make you your present position shows what the business you are in does, not just what you do in the business for example, not just I am responsible for buying, merchandising, customer service, supplier relationships, and day-to-day store operations in Johnson's Pet shop but add to this that Johnson's Pet shop which sells pet foods, toys.... in the Morrabbin area for over 30 years."

When you are happy with it, save it. Then print out your LinkedIn profile to PDF, see the green arrow below

Step 4: AI prompt

Now run the AI prompt below on that PDF. You can use any AI for this prompt. I tested it on ChatGPT, Grok and Claude.

It can turn rough facts into clearer, more professional wording without changing the real meaning, as business people want to read. Many of you will be surprised by how you sound after the prompt does its magic.

Now review it. One of the good points of AI is that you can ask it to add, change, or delete parts. A common change, in my experience, is dates.

Step 5: Updating LinkedIn

This tends to be the messy part. What you have to do is paste the newly generated text into your LinkedIn page. While doing this, make any last-minute changes you feel are appropriate.

Step 6: Review Your Profile

I find reading it aloud helps ensure it sounds like a real person and feels natural.

Make sure the facts are accurate and demonstrate your competence.

Conclusion

You have probably now spent a very profitable 20 minutes. Many people update their profiles every 3 to 12 months.

Conclusion

I do believe strongly that today we all must be as professional as possible, and a strong LinkedIn profile acts as a silent ambassador for your retail business. All it takes is just 20 minutes.

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.

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.

Today, Australian businesses use AI for tasks such as drafting, reporting, analysis, and administration. You're probably one of them, but have you considered the risk of starting when your business information is outside the store's control? The problem, I am sure, is not foul play by the AI company but the storage of information. This is what many business people miss: where is the information in an AI service?

Key Takeaways

• Data movement risk: Online AI moves prompts and files into third-party systems, creating privacy, confidentiality, and retention risks.
• Control advantage: Local AI keeps prompts and files inside a business-controlled environment, giving retailers stronger control over access, logging, and deletion.
• Privacy obligations: Personal information in AI prompts can trigger Privacy Act duties about collection, use, disclosure, accuracy, and security.
• Commercial exposure: Confidential business information, such as supplier terms, pricing logic, and dispute strategy, can create serious risk even when privacy law does not apply.
• Shared access risk: Shared AI accounts can expose past prompts, uploaded files, and internal thinking to unauthorised parties.
• Tiered policy: The right answer for most retailers is not all-local or all-online.

What Is Local AI vs Online AI for Business?

Local AI is AI stored on your computer, and that runs on it. Right now, it's really hot with a lot of public interest. The two biggest advantages people see are cost and privacy. Today, local AI can deliver about 80% of what online AI companies can give you.

Let us discuss a real user case.

A staff member ask an AI tool to rewrite their reply to a customer complaint, what is being stored on the AI is the angry shopper's name and address.

How Does the Privacy Act Apply When Staff Uses AI?

Under the Privacy Act, which would apply to AI use if it involves personal information.

The government says you must take a careful approach to AI use involving personal information, conduct due diligence on the product, and build human control, privacy governance, and staff procedures around its use.

Where it is actually frightening is that AI hallucinates. In one study I saw, the rate was between 0.6% and 2.6% today. What happens if An AI hallucination incorrectly states a specific staff member was fired for theft. and that information gets out.

The other concern is that an AI can be very good at finding other information on a person, for example For example, a pharmacy collecting a patient's email for a receipt cannot legally dump email addresses into an AI tool to predict their future medical purchases. The Privacy Act restricts businesses from using data for secondary purposes without consent or an exception.

About business Confidential Business Information?

Confidential business information may include pricing policies, supplier terms, internal reports, and other factors that drive your commercial advantage. This data can create a serious risk when it leaves the business. For example, I remember a newsagent who was very upset when he discovered that a report showing his seasonal greeting card markup by supplier was given to another shop nearby.

What about using AI to prepare an email to a supplier, asking for an extension to pay because they do not have the money this week, and then it ends up with another supplier of theirs?

Shadow AI

Most people have one AI account for business. They then share it with everyone to use. We call this a Shadow AI account. In practice, it means everyone can see the information.

It may get worse, as many people today have smartphones and use them, which means your staff member has this confidential information stored on their AI account. I have no idea how to handle that problem.

How Long Do Online AI Providers Keep Your Information?

There are many pluses to storing this information for a long time. For example, in the above example, where a merchant is writing to a supplier for an extra month's credit, the merchant may need to refer to the letter in a few weeks. So you want it to stay as long as possible. Most suppliers claim they can keep it for 60 days, but I read that their internal logs retain it much longer. We do know from a case in the US that even after the user deleted the information, it was still stored officially for training purposes.*

We do know that AI companies do analyse your messages, not just for training purposes but also for some illegal activity such as paedophilia. How deeply they go, I do not know. Still, I remember how, a few years ago, people were complaining that Google Gemini was becoming unusable because it was so politically correct. The AI refused to label a drink by a hot chill dish by its name in a restaurant. What the AI companies do with the information they flag, I am not sure. It would be nice to know.

Can Using AI in a Legal Dispute Damage Confidentiality or Privilege?

Short answer: YES.

The police or courts can demand this information from you or the AI company. If you use an AI company under US law, they will have no problem getting it. If you use, say, a Chinese AI company, it may not be so easy for them to get it.

If you want to know more, check out the Federal Court of Australia, which published its Generative Artificial Intelligence Practice Note, GPN-AI, on 16 April 2026. This document sets clear expectations regarding the responsible use of AI during proceedings.

There is no problem in a judge ordering a retailer to disclose exactly which AI software they used to summarise thousands of pages of contested supplier invoices and to demand a copy.

Why Does Local AI Appeal to Privacy-Conscious Businesspeople?

The first point is that it limits the risk of third-party access to the data. Today, about 80% of all AI requests in large organisations go through their local AI. It gives the organisation direct ownership of its security and usage. It often allows you to know who asked and when.

AI Policy statement

Here is one I wrote; feel free to use it or modify it as you require.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Acceptable Use Policy

1. Policy Purpose
   This document defines how we may use artificial intelligence tools to improve efficiency while protecting customer privacy and commercial confidentiality. It establishes well-defined guidelines for tool selection, information handling, accuracy verification, and incident reporting. The policy will be reviewed to ensure compliance with current technical progress and regulatory requirements.
2. Scope of Policy
   It applies to all full-time employees, casual staff, contractors, and temporary personnel. It covers AI usage on company-owned devices, shop-floor tablets, cloud workstations, and personal devices used for work.
3. Approved Tools and Account Access
   Staff must exclusively use AI platforms authorised by management. The IT department maintains a register of approved tools with defined security certifications. Single sign-on credentials are required for all licensed accounts. Unapproved public applications need management approval first. Use of tools falling below minimum security thresholds will stop immediately.
4. Protecting Point of Sale Data
   Extreme caution must be exercised when exporting information from our organisation. This includes such things as raw transactional records, customer loyalty databases, and end-of-day financial summaries, which must never be uploaded to unapproved public platforms without prior sanitation. Personally identifiable information should be masked before export.
5. Human Review and Accuracy
   Artificial intelligence models frequently generate plausible but incorrect outputs, a process identified as hallucination. Each employee remains fully accountable for the accuracy of machine-assisted work products before the submission. We ask that if in doubt, you see management before release.
6. Incident Reporting and Consequences
   Any accidental data exposure involving AI platforms are required to be reported to the manager on discovery. Rapid reporting enables immediate containment, including session termination, cloud cache deletion, and customer notification if required.

Regards

Manager

Conclusion

An important AI question for a businessperson is who controls the information after it's entered into an AI. You must ensure your operational data remains secure. I suggest, for both cost and security, that you consider Local AI if possible. I discussed deployment of Local AI 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.

Many customers still want to pay in cash. Many of these are finding that we are seeing shrinking cash access, fewer ATMs, and weaker retail banks slowly destroying our cash infrastructure.

Key Takeaways

• Cash Out Day 2026 takes place this year on Tuesday, 28 April
• It encourages Australians to withdraw physical cash as a public show of support for keeping cash available.
• Cash still matters to many local shoppers.
• A clearer political consensus is forming that keeping cash is important, but politicians will only push for it if voters and businesses visibly support it.
• Supporting cash can help your store signal convenience, reliability, and community values at a time when trust matters more than ever.
• The October 2026 surcharge changes will reshape payment habits, making it even more important to review your cash policy.
• A simple in-store promotion can help you back Cash Out Day

What Is Cash Out Day 2026 and How Does It Work?

Cash Out Day 2026 is an Australian campaign that encourages people to withdraw physical money on that day to show that cash still matters. In practical terms, shoppers are asked to visit an ATM or a bank branch on Tuesday, 28 April, and withdraw some money as a simple public signal that they want cash access protected.

The campaign speaks to a larger concern. Many Australians can see that access to cash is slowly shrinking, with fewer bank branches and fewer ATMs. This is about sending a message to banks, payment providers, and governments that cash still plays a real role in everyday life.

Importantly, there is also a political angle retailers should not ignore. A clearer political consensus is emerging. Politicians can see that many feel that keeping cash is important. They can see voters push back against branch and ATMs closures. But let us face it, politicians respond to visible public pressure. If they do not see shoppers and businesses actively supporting cash, many will move on to other issues. Policy usually follows pressure, not silence. Silence will cause the issue to fade. For example, if a local MP hears complaints from traders and residents about ATM access, that concern stays alive; if nobody speaks up, it drops down the priority list.

Did Cash Out Day Achieve Its Goals?

Cash Out Day 2024 certainly raised awareness, but unfortunately, in 2025, it did not create the level of public momentum the organisers wanted. They thought it was because so much had happened that day, so people were distracted. I think it was partly because the date got mucked up. Moreover, last year’s poor result was likely due to many Australians believing the issue had already been handled. The government was then talking about protections for cash acceptance, so many assumed the problem was solved. Many of these people would be very disappointed now with what the government came up with. Actually, their proposals were considered disappointing, that it was defeated in the Senate.

How Can Your Store Promote Cash Out Day 2026 In Practice?

Promote Cash Out Day 2026 by making cash acceptance visible and normal, reassuring customers of your support for choice without conflict. A small sign, like “Cash welcome here on Cash Out Day, Tuesday 28 April,” can start conversations without overwhelming customers.

If you want to sign a petition that now has over 200,000 signatures, click here.

Conclusion

This year, Cash Out Day 2026 will hopefully be a practical reminder that cash still matters.

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.

As a retailer, you need to keep records for years. Government regulations, legal needs, or even access to old customer data are all important! I sometimes had to access very old information just for commercial reasons, 20+ years ago.

Now, have you thought about how long your digital records will last?

Sadly, the hard drives and discs we use aren't built to last centuries, unlike the old carvings archaeologists have been uncovering up to today. Let's look into long-term storage, so you make the right choices.

How Long to Keep Retail Records

In Australia, retailers should keep POS system records, invoices, receipts, daily reports, and end-of-day summaries for at least five years. However, seven years is safer under Australian Tax Office guidelines. Keep payroll records for a full seven years, too. Extend that period if the records relate to assets, warranties, or legal disputes.

Here is a detailed table of the times required, I have put together and by who wants it 

Business Record Retention & Disposal Schedule

I will add that, personally, I am not in favour of deletion unless you have to, as you never know when you might need the information. For example, a client of mine is involved in a case linked to 2006. When records this old are missing, courts accepted that as reasonable, but then it becomes their word against the other party's. This is not a good position to be in! 
 

We call this a Potential Litigation Hold.

What Lasts, What Doesn't, and How to Make it Better

• Cloud storage: Theoretically, it lasts forever, but there will be issues.
• Magnetic Tapes to the Rescue? These can, under ideal conditions, last a long time, but few of us actually have the specialised equipment. Besides, it's often a pain to use.
• Old-fashioned Hard Drives: Most last about 3-7 years, though a lucky few last longer. To keep them, you need to use them; otherwise, they deteriorate after about two years.

• Optical Discs: Please aim for quality; write-once media like Verbatim Gold have longer longevity, and the cheaper ones have much less. For CDs and DVDs, you are looking at 5 to 100 years, depending on the type. When I went to the Verbatim website and looked at their warranty here, I noticed they only offer a 2-year warranty, which does not include a data retention guarantee. The courts may have something to say about that, but few people want to have to argue this in court.

Most people today, when considering very long-term storage, look to DVDs because they are both convenient and economical. If you go this route, here is how to do it:

Protecting Your Precious Data on CDs and DVDs:

It depends on three main factors:

1. Have more than one backup. I argue that you do not have a backup if you have only one. These two backups should be stored in different locations so that if anything happens to one, the other is safe elsewhere.
2. You need good-quality DVDs. There are good reasons why they are a bit dearer. This comes from a Canadian government study, which you can find here.

3. Environment matters! Pick a place:

• Cool & Dry: Store items at around 20°C with about 40% humidity.

• The Dark Side: Store discs in cases out of direct sunlight. I put a sealed plastic bag over them.
• Peace & Quiet: Avoid putting the discs where they will be moved or dropped.

Using DVDs for archiving business and POS records has distinct advantages and drawbacks, especially compared to modern hard drives or cloud storage.

Pros of DVD Storage

• Long lifespan: High-quality, archival-grade discs (such as those with a gold metal layer) can last 50 to 100 years when stored in the right environmental conditions.
• Tamper-proof: Standard recordable DVDs (DVD-R or DVD+R) are write-once media, meaning that once your data is burned onto the disc, it cannot be accidentally deleted, overwritten, or infected by ransomware.
• True offline security: DVDs provide "air-gapped" cold storage. Because they sit on a shelf rather than being connected to a network, they are completely immune to online hacking or cloud policy deletions.
• Excellent for chunking: DVDs are great for archiving specific, yearly projects (like a disc labelled "FY2025 Accounts"); other methods, like the cloud, tend to mix up your data.

Cons of DVD Storage

• Low capacity: A standard DVD holds 4.7 GB, dual-layer 8.5 GB. Suitable for text reports and spreadsheets but insufficient for larger files, requiring the management of multiple discs.
• Slow write speeds: Burning data is slower than on fast SSDs and USB drives.
• Vulnerable to damage: DVDs degrade within 5-10 years due to heat, humidity, sunlight, or scratches, often going unnoticed until it's too late.
• Limited hardware support: Modern computers rarely have built-in DVD drives.

Cloud Storage

As the limitations of physical storage have become increasingly apparent, cloud storage emerges as a compelling solution for preserving your digital legacy. In theory, entrusting your data to a reputable cloud provider can overcome many of these problems.

Pros:

• Accuracy: Today, many Cloud storage providers offer an astonishing rate of accuracy in their storage capacity. One I saw doing an online search offering 99.999999999% (that's 11 9s!) data durability. That far exceeds the reliability of any physical media.
• Dispersed storage: Many Cloud providers store your data across multiple geographically dispersed data centres, ensuring redundancy and resilience.
• Easy access: Your data is available on demand from any internet-connected device, anytime, anywhere.

Cons:

• Cost: Generally, it costs, though many, like Google and Microsoft, offer a limited free plan.
• Future uncertainty: Considering the time frame we are looking at here, a cloud provider could go out of business, change its policies, and who knows what else.
• Policy: Some cloud providers, e.g. Google, state that they "reserve the right to delete an inactive Google Account and its activity and data if you are inactive across Google for at least two years." So every two years, you have to log in to your account and say, "Hey, this account is still active." It's not a big ask, but it's not entirely set-and-forget.
• Remembering passwords: Cloud accounts rely on account names, passwords, and, increasingly, mobile numbers. Over the next 10 to 20 years, how will you remember these details? Will you have the same mobile number then? If someone else has access to your account and its passwords, they can also access your data.
• Control: In an overall sense, you do lack control.
• Privacy concerns: Be aware of potential changes in data privacy laws or a provider's terms of service. Although few of my clients have an issue here now, the privacy laws are slowly turning to the idea that much data businesses store must be held in Australia, not an issue now, but who knows in 10 to 20 years.

Summing up:

Overall, my preference would be to burn two copies of my business records onto a good-quality DVD. Put them with your business records in a safe place in your house in a protective box, as seen here:

I would then put a copy on a free service like Google, which I could access anytime, anywhere.

If you decide to go this route, here is a suggested policy

Management of Archived Physical Media (DVD/CD)

Effective Date: [Insert Date]

Objective: To ensure business compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 and ATO record-keeping requirements when using non-rewritable storage media.

Access Controls (Security)
Physical Lockdown: All archived DVDs containing personal or financial information are stored in a secured room, fireproof cabinet or safe.

Restricted Access: Only [Insert Job Title, e.g., Business Owner] is authorized to access the archive.

No Active Use: Staff are strictly prohibited from accessing, copying, or disclosing personal data from archived discs for marketing or general business operations.

Labelling & Warning
Every archived disc or its protective sleeve must be clearly labelled with a Generic Warning.
Label Template: “ARCHIVED DATA: [Year Range]. Contains personal information. Access restricted. DO NOT USE. 

Final Disposal (Destruction)
If you decide to destory the disc, it must be irretrievably destroyed. 

Note: Simply throwing a disc in the general waste or scratching it by hand is not sufficient.

Conclusion

Long-term record storage isn't just about compliance; it's about keeping your retail history available and trustworthy for years to come.

Want to get your data storage sorted? Contact us for a free consultation!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I leave my POS backups on a USB thumb drive in a drawer?
A: No, I highly advise against this. USB flash drives use similar technology to SSDs. If sitting unpowered in a draw for years, they can lose their charge, and your data may silently corrupt or vanish. They are great for moving files around today, but terrible for 10-year storage.

Q: Does the ATO accept digital copies, or do I need the original paper receipts?

Q: What is the best brand of DVD for long-term archiving?
A: Look for "Archival Grade" or "Gold" DVDs. Brands like Verbatim (specifically their Gold Archival range) or CMC Pro are widely trusted. They use a gold reflective layer that resists oxidation and degrades much better than the cheap silver discs you buy in bulk at the supermarket.

Q: Is it enough to email the backup to myself?
A: I do that, and it's okay for a quick, temporary backup, but it shouldn't be your only long-term strategy. Emails can be accidentally deleted, end up in junk folders, or become inaccessible if your email provider changes policies or you get locked out of your account 10 years from 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.

Every time a customer taps their card at your counter, a slice of that sale quietly disappears into the banking system. Currently, many recover some of that expense through a checkout surcharge. Here, I will show you exactly how to use your POS System to protect your margins as the 1 October 2026 surcharge ban deadline hits.

Unlike many people, I was one of the few directly involved in the discussion about the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) ban on surcharges, and that is why, after reading some of their advice, which I found almost useless and self-serving, I wrote this article. 

Key Takeaways

• The 2026 RBA surcharge ban legally prevents retailers from passing card processing fees directly to customers at the checkout.
• Least-Cost Routing (LCR) directs debit payments to the cheapest network but requires manual activation by the retailer.
• Blended merchant rate plans will hide the proposed fee reductions unless retailers switch to interchange-plus pricing.
• Many fixed-price stock items force shops to absorb payment costs completely because retail prices cannot be raised.
• Premium reward credit cards remain highly expensive to process and will cut deeply into retail profits.
• No-cost EFTPOS providers must alter their entire business model, leaving retailers vulnerable to sudden fee introductions.
• Modern Point of Sale (POS) software allows retailers to find products that can absorb the price bump.

What is the 2026 RBA Surcharge Ban?

The 2026 RBA Surcharge Ban, effective October 1, 2026, prohibits Australian retailers from adding checkout fees to Visa, Mastercard, and EFTPOS transactions. This ensures consumers see a single final price without surprise charges. For example, a retailer can't add a 1.5% fee on a $20 book to cover banking costs. However, this ban only covers processing costs, not penalty rates for weekends or holidays. Retailers can still charge holiday surcharges if they are clearly disclosed, such as a 10% Sunday surcharge at a cafe, excluding card-specific fees. 

The RBA surcharge ban starts on 1 October 2026 for all domestic card networks.

The RBA combined a ban on interchange fees with mandated reductions, which are hidden charges your bank pays to card networks for transaction approval. For instance, the fee for verifying funds with Visa is capped at a lower rate.

Why the 2026 RBA Surcharge Ban Matters for Your Bottom Line

The 2026 RBA Surcharge Ban shifts the burden of payment processing directly onto retailers. This matters because the fundamental cost of processing electronic payments does not disappear; the RBA wants it to be an invisible operating expense. For example, a shop processing $500,000 in card sales annually will instantly lose $7,500 in pure profit if it previously charged a 1.5% fee to its customers.

Card payments cost the Australian economy over $1.6 billion annually.

Consequently, SMB shops face a structural disadvantage compared to massive supermarket chains. Large acquirers and major retail chains can negotiate ultra-low processing rates directly with banks due to their massive transaction volumes. For example, while an independent newsagency might pay 1.2% per tap, a supermarket giant next door might pay a fraction of a cent per transaction.

Are Cash Discounts Still a Legal Alternative to Surcharging After October 2026?

YES. Cash discounts remain a fully legal and compliant pricing strategy for retailers who want to encourage customers to use cash. The Reserve Bank explicitly allows businesses to display a standard shelf price and reduce it at the register for cash. For example, you can price a greeting card at $8.00 on the shelf, but program your pos system to automatically drop the price to $7.80 when the cashier selects the cash payment button.

However, relying on cash discounts is a severely limited strategy in today's digital economy. Almost all consumers have shifted overwhelmingly to cards, meaning a cash incentive will capture only a small percentage of your traffic. For example, putting up a sign offering a 2% cash discount will not convince many busy parents to walk to an ATM.

Therefore, cash discounts can make only a minor contribution to your overall margin protection strategy. You must combine this tactic with rigorous merchant-fee negotiations and smart inventory pricing to protect your entire business. 

Do Premium Reward Credit Cards Cost Small Retailers More After the Surcharge Ban?

Premium reward and corporate credit cards incur higher interchange fees than standard debit cards mainly because of their point structures, and under the 2026 surcharge ban, Australian retailers must absorb these costs now in full. These luxury cards fund their points programs by charging the merchant more. This practice should be illegal, as the merchant is being forced to pay the bank's marketing. The RBA did not seem to care about that.  For example, processing a standard EFTPOS debit card might cost your shop 14 cents, but tapping a platinum frequent-flyer credit card for the same purchase might cost you 80 cents.

Some shops will be hit much more if they sit in an affluent suburb, where customers are actively chasing airline points and cash-back rewards on every small purchase. For example, a customer buying a simple $5.00 newspaper might tap a corporate credit card, with higher fees.

However, because Amex has notoriously high fees and is not local, you will be legally permitted to refuse their cards. For example, you can stick a clear "No Amex" sign on your front door and configure your pos system to decline those specific cards automatically.

Are You Caught in the Blended Rate Trap for Merchant Fees?

This is important: blended merchant fees include the true cost of card processing by charging a flat percentage across all card types. Banks have been aggressively selling these simple flat-rate plans, but they are incredibly dangerous when the wholesale fees drop. 

The upcoming RBA wholesale caps will, as such, not automatically save you money if you remain on such a plan. When the government forces banks to lower their interchange fees, the banks may not be legally required to pass those savings on to retailers under flat-rate contracts. If so, the bank will enjoy a wider profit margin on your transactions while you continue paying the same 1.5% fee.

Therefore, you must contact your bank immediately and review your pricing. Ask about the "Interchange-Plus" pricing model. It is transparent and charges you the exact wholesale cost of the card plus a small, fixed bank markup. For example, on an Interchange-Plus plan, when the RBA drops the wholesale cost of a debit transaction, only then will your monthly merchant bill drop.

How Does Least-Cost Routing (LCR) Lower Debit Card Costs?

Least-Cost Routing (LCR) is a payment terminal feature that automatically directs debit tap-and-go transactions through the cheapest available network, typically EFTPOS, reducing per-transaction costs for Australian merchants. Almost all businesses will be better off under this scheme. However, most businesses do not have it, and, unfortunately, the Reserve Bank has not legally required banks to enable this money-saving feature. This means most retailers are currently paying higher fees simply because they have not activated it. If so, you must take proactive steps now to fix this in your business. Pick up the phone, call your EFTPOS provider, and explicitly demand that Least-Cost Routing be activated. If your provider refuses or claims their older terminals cannot support the feature, it is time to shop for a new EFTPOS provider immediately.

What Should You Do If You Use a No-Cost EFTPOS Provider?

If you are using a zero-cost EFTPOS provider, you are not actually getting free banking; your customers are simply paying your merchant fees via an automatic surcharge.

From 1 October 2026, the RBA will make it illegal to pass card fees directly to consumers at the point of sale. Because zero-cost providers rely entirely on consumer surcharges for their revenue, their current business model probably reverts to charging retailers directly. They cannot legally continue providing you with free hardware and 0% merchant rates.

Now, traditional banks can comfortably keep charging you a flat 1.5% merchant fee behind the scenes, and what you will see is that the zero-cost providers will rewrite their contracts. 

Recently, I contacted a major no-cost EFTPOS provider on behalf of my clients to ask about their business model after October 2026. They admitted they were still digesting the information and needed time to figure out their post-ban pricing strategy. 

Therefore, if you use one of these providers, you must demand answers about your future contract terms. I suggest contacting them in June after they have had some time to work it out. 

How Do You Handle Fixed-Price Inventory vs Flexible Inventory?

Fixed-price inventory is products you do not control, such as lottery tickets, goods with retail prices printed on them, etc. The retailer cannot adjust the shelf price. These items are considered the biggest problem now.

Consequently, you cannot treat your shop as a single, average-profit pool. You need to identify which departments can carry slightly higher prices without being aggressive. 

What Dates Should Retailers Put in the Diary?

We have a strict timeline due to regulatory deadlines, Unfortuanely they don't match retail realities. The government has created a transparency gap. The ban begins in October 2026, but major banks won't publish actual pass-through rates until late January 2027. This leaves you blind during Christmas.

Foreign card interchange caps take effect on 1 April 2027, but we are still awaiting details.

How Can Your POS System Automate Margin Protection?

Your POS system can act as your primary defence against shrinking retail margins. Rather than guessing which items can absorb price bumps, your software provides hard, irrefutable data on category profitability. For example, you can run a GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Investment) report to discover exactly which gift lines sell quickly at a high margin, marking them as prime candidates for a small price increase.

Furthermore, modern POS software allows you to execute these defensive strategies in bulk, saving you days of manual data entry. Once you decide to increase your novelty stationery category by 3%, the software does the heavy lifting. For example, you can use the bulk price update tool to instantly raise prices on 400 separate stationery items with a single click, instantly updating the barcode database.

Your POS system tracks changes in real-time, showing if adjustments like a 40-cent price increase for premium greeting cards impact sales. If sales stay steady, you've recovered fees without losing customers.

What Steps Should You Take Before October 2026?

Retrieve your latest merchant statement and scrutinise it immediately. This document holds your current financial exposure to card fees. For example, identifying exactly how much you pay in scheme fees, terminal rentals, and percentage rates gives you a baseline to measure any future bank promises against.

Next, execute this strict operational checklist to secure your business:

1. Contact your bank to confirm your current pricing model.
2. Demand written activation of Least-Cost Routing for all terminals.
3. In June, if you use a no-cost EFTPOS provider, find out their exact post-October fee structure.
4. Run category margin reports to separate fixed-price from flexible inventory.
5. Strategically raise prices on flexible, high-margin categories before August.

Finally, communicate with your staff so they understand why signage and checkout processes will change. For example, training your team on how to explain the disappearance of surcharges smoothly prevents awkward conversations at the register when the October deadline arrives.

Conclusion

The 2026 RBA surcharge ban is a profound structural shift that forces Australian retailers to manage hidden costs intelligently. While the government narrative focuses on consumer fairness, the reality is more than that.

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.

Today, AI can help with writing, legal work, accounting, financial reporting, admin, customer communication, etc., in business. The fact, however, is that today the real choice is not finding the "best AI", but finding an AI that delivers the best value without becoming a massive computer job. Here, we will break down our hands-on tests comparing local vs. online AI to help you choose the exact setup that fits your shop. It can run either locally or online. Now, can a local AI replace an online AI for your business? The short answer is NO, but the real answer is it depends.

Key takeaways

• Cost is a major factor, with online AI services like ChatGPT generally costing a minimum of $30 to $35 per month.
• Local AI runs directly on your own hardware and can be free to run if you already own a suitable computer.
• Online AI is much faster and easier to use for everyday business tasks.
• Privacy is highly secure with local AI because your sensitive business information never leaves your computer.
• Hybrid setups that mix local and online AI can work well, but they often become messy in everyday retail use.
• Information on both systems is roughly the same
• POS system reports can be easily fed into a local AI, providing insights that are just as good as a paid online service.

What Is a Local AI and an Online AI?

A local AI runs entirely on your own computer, while an online AI runs on a server and is accessed over the internet. For example, a local AI might sit on your PC in your back room, while an online AI can be used anywhere you have internet. This may be a problem if you work both in the shop and at home. My local AI is on my home machine, and I cannot run it at work.

Today, local AI technology has recently taken a massive leap forward as Google released AI software called gema-4-31b-it, which can run on many computers and delivers very good results, sparking immediate interest among some of our clients. It directly addresses the two biggest problems many business owners are considering with AI right now: ongoing costs and data security.

Moreover, the big problem is the technical knowledge required to set it up properly. Based on my conversations with people who have done it, it is not hard, but they all already had a lot of computer skills. Finally, you must remember that cost is not only about money leaving the bank account. If the owner spends three hours trying to fix a local AI model after a software update, the real cost is management time. For example, those three hours could have gone into merchandising shelves, ordering new stock, or supervising floor staff.

How much better this model is compared to others available is debatable; there is a Chinese AI Software model, Qwen3.5, which I have used, and I think is almost as good. There are also some smaller versions, such as gema-4-2b-it, that can run on not-so-powerful computers, which is very good.

How long does a query take?

This depends much on the model that you use. I did a speed test using a question, "when was GST introduced into australia and when does it apply", I ran this many times using Gemma  on my computer

2B it took an average of 4 seconds

4B it took 18 seconds

26 B took 25 seconds

31 B took me 1 minute 10 seconds

Not surprisingly, the larger the model, the better the answer. Now, interestingly, the older QWEN 35 B gave the best answer, taking 35 seconds. Overall, I found QWEN 35 B to be just as good as Gemma 31 B.

But this is the one that everyone seems so excited about gema-4-31b-it, so let us discuss this one. 

How Much Does a Local AI Really Cost a SMB Business?

The true cost of such a local AI depends heavily on the computer hardware you already own, as the software itself can run for free. You generally need a very good computer from 2025 with a powerful graphics card to run a local AI smoothly. Unfortunately, this is not the sort of computer that retailers tend to buy for their shops. For example, a standard shop PC used just for scanning barcodes does not work for local AI. The computers that can run these models are more like the gaming computers that kids buy. If such a computer is already part of your normal business operations, then the local AI is effectively free. However, if you have to buy a $3,000 gaming computer just for the office, the cost isn't worth it.

Moreover, the next problem is the technical knowledge required to set it up properly. Based on my conversations with people who have done it, it is not hard, but they all already had a lot of computer skills.

Finally, you must remember that cost is not only about money leaving the bank account. If the owner spends three hours trying to fix a local AI model after a software update, the real cost is management time. For example, those three hours could have gone into merchandising shelves, ordering new stock, or supervising floor staff.

What Does an Online AI Cost a Business?

An online AI costs a predictable monthly subscription fee, usually starting at $30-$35. For example, a retailer can pay a flat $35 fee to ChatGPT and get instant access to the smartest models available.

This monthly fee gives you access to massive supercomputers without needing to buy one yourself. If you are a heavy user, however, it can cost much more because most online AI companies have strict limitations on how much you can use them per day. For example, one of our users, after writing 50 product descriptions in one morning, hit a limit and was locked out for a while. Because of these usage limits, many serious AI users end up having two different accounts. This means we are looking at about $65 a month to ensure the business never gets interrupted.

Cost is not just cash; it is also your time. 

Is Online AI Easier for an SMB Business?

Online AI is definitely easier to use for a small retail business because the AI company handles all the technical background work. For example, a retailer can sign up with an email address and start writing an advertisement almost immediately. They are designed to be almost trivial to set up and use for the average user. Most of them offer free plans you can set up to test, so the risks are very small. For example, a shop owner can use a free online plan to write a quick Facebook post without entering a credit card.

Moreover, because these tools are so popular, finding help is incredibly simple. Most computer-literate people know how to use them, so it is easy to get staff or friends to help you if you get stuck.

Ease of use drives adoption. If software is hard to use, we will all ignore it.

How Fast Is Local AI Compared with Online AI?

Local AI is often painfully slow to use compared to the near-instant speeds of an online AI service. Even with a good computer, you do not have a supercomputer. For example, when asking a local AI to write a complicated refund policy, you might literally wait minutes for it to type out the words. This speed point should be considered very carefully by anyone who is busy. I ran tests on a $6,000 computer, and even after an online AI had given me an answer, I was still waiting for the local AI to finish. For short answers, local AI was perfectly fine. But when I asked questions that required a long answer, I ended up making coffee while I waited. This slowness makes certain tasks unusable. If you are dealing with a long, complex legal problem, like a rental agreement, where you need to ask 20 different questions back-to-back, the waiting time makes it unusable. What am I supposed to have 20 cups of coffee?

Size of question

A main problem is that local AI cannot handle as big reports as online AI. This is a real problem if you want to run with a lots of information.

What Are the Privacy and Security Trade-Offs?

The main privacy trade-off is that online AI sends your data to the internet, whereas local AI keeps it on your machine. For example, if you feed your profit margins into a local AI, that highly sensitive data is going nowhere. Data security is one of the biggest concerns for SMB retailers right now. When using an online AI service, you have to ask yourself: where is this information going? For example, if you paste a customer's private address into an online AI to format a shipping label, that data is now stored on a foreign server. You must consider who can access this information and what damage it could cause if it falls into the wrong hands. A local AI solves this completely by keeping the information inside your computer.

Privacy is local AI's biggest strength. Your data never leaves your computer.

How Good Is the Quality of Information from AI?

The overall quality of information from a local AI is excellent and often just as good as that of an online AI. For example, when asking a local AI to explain a tricky accounting term, it provided me with a deep, accurate answer.

Then I fed a local AI several long, highly difficult tests and was very impressed by the depth and quality of the information it provided. Overall, I found the answers to be good, and often better, than those from an online AI service.

Having a smart AI locally means you get top-tier brainpower without paying a subscription. However, there are two major problems retailers must watch for in the quality of this information.

How Current Is the Update Information?

This is the most important problem: a local AI's knowledge depends on its date of manufacture. Here, Google trained it up to January 2025; as such, it knows absolutely nothing about the recent RBA surcharge ban. It also does not know the local prices of the products I asked about. In business, one often needs the most up-to-date information. Well, you cannot get such answers here. What you need is a plugin that is very slow in use.

For SMB businesses, this lack of current events makes a local AI impractical for many uses. This is why I do not believe a local AI is a total solution.

AI Hallucinations

An AI hallucination is when the AI goes crazy and confidently makes up nonsense. One of the biggest problems with AI is that, when asked a question, it can simply make up answers. It happens with any AI, and with the state of today's technology, you have to check the answers yourself manually. While I would not say that in my tests, "local AI hallucinates more", it definitely had fewer safety checks. This is because online AI companies have gone to great lengths to address this problem.

You need to check the local AI much more carefully. There is an old warning about free advice: if it is free, you'd better check it.

How Can Local AI Work With Your POS System?

I found that local AI can easily process and analyse daily reports, as long as they are small and generated by your POS software. For example, I exported a few weekly sales reports and fed them directly into the local AI to identify which items are selling best. I specifically wanted to know how this technology handles raw retail data. I had absolutely no trouble doing so, and I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the information that I got back. The local AI instantly read the numbers, spotted the trends, and gave me a clear summary of what was happening in the shop. For example, the AI correctly noticed that umbrellas sold rapidly yesterday and suggested I move them to the front counter.

For this specific job of crunching numbers, I consider the local AI comparable to the paid online service. It will allow you to get free deep insights from a Point of Sale (POS) system without ever uploading your private sales figures to the internet.

Should an SMB Business Use a Hybrid AI Setup?

A hybrid setup is when a business uses both a local AI and a free online AI simultaneously. For example, a shop might use a private local model to read their financial reports, and a free online service to look up current news.

Because many online AI tools offer free plans, many SMBs want to try both. You may consider it, although it is much messier as you need to manage two systems.

Moreover, for many, it is clearly an attractive idea. You keep your privacy when required, while still using online AI when you need web access, faster speeds, or fresher information.

It will work if you are clever. What you might do is go to an online service and ask it, "What factors are important for reviewing a commercial lease?" Now, you get the answer, put it into a local AI, and say, "Based on this online output, what do you think of my private lease document?" It will work, but it's not a good solution as there is always more to consider.

Where Does Each AI Fit Best in Retail?

We were all very impressed with the quality of local AI information, but this is really a decision about the correct fit.

First, for most SMBs, an online AI is a better starting point. It is simply easier, faster, and much more polished for beginners.

Moreover, local AI makes perfect sense when you already have the gaming-style hardware, care strongly about your privacy, and are happy to spend more time.

Where online AI usually fits best

• Marketing campaigns and seasonal store promotions.
• Finding current product information from suppliers.
• Researching current events and news.
• Asking general legal or business questions.

Where local AI usually fits best

• Writing internal notes and staff procedures.
• Sensitive drafting that should stay only with you.
• Repetitive writing on a machine you already own.
• Use cases where avoiding monthly fees matters more than fast speed.
• Processing private financial reports.
• Analysing reports from a pos system.
• Customer communication and email drafting.

Conclusion: Making the Right AI Choice

Ultimately, you do not have to choose the most famous AI; you have to choose the one that makes your retail life easier. If you want instant help with marketing and do not mind a small monthly fee, online AI is your best bet.

However, if you want to analyse sensitive reports from your pos system and already have a strong computer, local AI is an incredibly powerful, free tool. Take a look at your shop's daily tasks, try out a free online plan to get a feel for it, and then decide if bringing the brainpower locally is worth the setup time.

Experiment further

If you want to experiment on your computer, visit LM Studio and download a copy. You can find instructions on how to get started there. There’s also a mobile version available on Google Play, which is handy if you’re somewhere without internet access.

To run a decent AI in LM Studio, you'll need a computer with sufficient video memory (VRAM) to process AI models smoothly. For instance, if you want an AI to securely analyse offline sales data from your Point of Sale (POS) system, you need at least an 8 GB NVIDIA graphics card, the more the better, my VRAM is 64GB, and it's slow. Next, your system RAM needs about 32 GB and using an SSD would be good to ensure the AI remembers long conversations without lagging. 

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.

Today, many shops are losing customers because shoppers now look online before shopping. What you need to do is review your local online presence. Then fix the biggest issues, and make your shop easier to find.

Key Takeaways Box

• Conducting a local online audit to show you what customers see when they search for you.
• Use private or incognito search. This is as it provides a clearer view of what customers see.
• An incorrect business name, address, or phone number will confuse shoppers and search engines.
• A Google Business Profile helps your shop appear in Google Search and Google Maps.
• An incorrect location can lead customers to the wrong shop, so you should test directions yourself.
• Some simple tricks can help Google and shoppers know what you sell.

What Is a Local Web Presence Audit?

A local web presence audit is a simple check of how your shop appears online. For example, a customer might search for "lotto near me", "dog food <suburb>", or "magazines <suburb>" before deciding where to shop.

Next, this audit looks beyond your website. For example, it also checks your Google Business Profile, business name, address, phone number, social pages, map pin, and how your shop appears in search results.

Also, this kind of audit is not hard. For example, you can do it in less than half an hour with a phone, a computer, and a simple checklist.

Fact: wrong details lose sales.

Why Local Web Presence Matters

A local web presence matters because many shoppers often search first and visit second. For example, if they need a card, magazine, gift, or stationery item quickly, they usually look online before they leave home.

Next, local SEO works best when your business details are clear and consistent across the web. For example, if your shop name is one thing on Google and another thing on Facebook, search engines can get mixed signals.

Also, your online details shape trust. For example, if something looks wrong, for example, your address looks wrong, many customers will choose another shop.

Clear local data builds trust.

Search for Your Shop Like a Real Customer

On a paper list note:

1. Your business type, e.g. newsagency, pet shop, chemist, etc.
2. Top three products you sell
3. Name of your shop
4. Phone number of your shop

Searching like a real customer means using the same words and search habits a shopper would. Since I mainly use Chrome, I tend to use Edge in private mode for this work, but in truth, Chrome in incognito mode works well too. This helps reduce the effect of my online usage.

You need to do the Local Web Presence Audit in four stages:

1. With your computer using Google
2. With your computer using Bing
3. With your smartphone, using Google
4. With your smartphone, using Bing

Smartphone results can differ from computer results, and it's about 50/50 which shoppers will use.

For each stage:

Put your business type into the search and add your suburb, e.g., "gift shop <your suburb>" or "Flower shop near me", etc.

Check what you see, note whether your shop shows up, and whether what the search says about you is correct.

Now search for the top three products you sell, e.g. you may say "lotto near me", "dog food near me", "butcher <your suburb>".

Check what you see, note whether your shop shows up, and whether what the search says about you is correct.

After that, search your exact business name on its own. For example, this shows whether your main listing is easy to find and whether old pages, old addresses, or other shops appear instead. Check spelling, punctuation, and the trading name. For example, if one listing says "Smith's Newsagency" and another says "Smiths News & Gifts", you may be making it harder for search engines to connect the dots.

How Do I Check My Google Business Profile and Map Pin?

In my experience, most problems stem from errors in your Google Business Profile. Your Google Business Profile is one of the most important local listings you have because it helps your business appear in Google Search and Google Maps. For example, when someone searches for a nearby shop, the map result often shapes the visit before the website does. I have discussed how to set it up and fix it here.

https://www.possolutions.com.au/blog/boost-your-shop-sales-with-google-business-profile

A modern business needs to have this right. Fix any errors straight away. For example, if the pin is off, move it to your real front door and check that the address matches what appears on your website.

A map pin can make or break a visit.

Finally, also important to look at your business category and photos. For example, good categories and fresh shopfront photos help customers understand what you sell before they visit. Use your POS system's sales reports to make sure that all your major stock items are listed.

How Do I Review My Facebook and Social Media Pages?

Your social media pages should support your local search presence and help shoppers trust your shop. For example, when someone searches your business name, a good Facebook page can confirm that your store is active and real.

Next, ensure your business details match across all platforms. For example, your Facebook page, Instagram bio, and website should all show the same name, address, phone number, and web link.

Then, look at your last ten posts. For example, if the page has been quiet for six months, it may make shoppers think the business is not active.

Also, post what people buy. For example, show new stock, seasonal products, popular gifts, school supplies, card displays, or shopfront photos.

After that, make your posts useful. For example, short posts like "New puzzle books in store now" or "Mother's Day cards now available" can turn a search into a visit.

Finally, check your contact buttons. For example, a customer should be able to call, message, or get directions with one tap.

How Do I Check My Competitors Online?

Checking your competitors online helps you see what local shoppers see first and what people are looking for now. For example, if three nearby shops appear before you for the same product search, you need to know why.

Next, search the same phrases and note who shows up. For example, look at their Google listings, photos, reviews, website pages, and social media activity.

Then, look for patterns. For example, they may use clearer category names, better shopfront photos, or better local wording than you do.

Also, copy the structure, but not the wording. If it's working for them, it can work for you too.

Conclusion

A local web audit is a simple way to make your shop easier to find. When shoppers search online, they need to see the right name, the right products, and the right location without confusion.

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.

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What I said a few days ago, looking at the RBA's 2026 surcharge reform, was that “the big banks... are certainly winners,” even though many said it looked negative for their fee income so disputed my claim. Here are some interesting charts of Bank Shares over the past few days. The RBA decision was announced on 31 March, and all the big banks’ share prices have been up since then. Check them out here, the RBA decision was on 31st March. Can anyone name any major reason for these price rises in this period other than the RBA decision?

Key takeaways

• The RBA’s March 2026 conclusions paper confirmed a ban on surcharges from 1 October 2026.
• The same package also includes lower interchange fees and stronger transparency rules.
• The announcement looked negative for bank fee income on the surface.
• Major bank shares still rose after the RBA announcement.
• That market move suggests investors may have expected a worse outcome.
• Retailers still need to prepare for the loss of visible card surcharges at checkout.
• POS reporting and merchant fee review will matter more once the ban starts.

What is the 2026 RBA surcharge ban?

The 2026 RBA surcharge ban is a payments reform that ends card surcharges on debit and credit card transactions from 1 October 2026, while also lowering some interchange fee caps and improving fee transparency. The RBA set out that direction in its March 2026 conclusions paper after consultation.

First, this was not just a loose discussion. It was the RBA’s final public position at that stage, and the market treated it as a concrete policy decision. A retailer that once added a 1.5 percent surcharge at the terminal will need to remove that charge and rethink how it recovers payment costs.

Why did bank shares rise?

Bank shares rose because the market likely saw the final package as less damaging than feared. When investors hear a reform that could cut fee income, they do not only ask whether it is negative; they also ask whether it is better or worse than what they had already priced in.

Next, that matters a lot. If traders expected a harsher crackdown on bank and payments revenue, then a more limited package can still push shares higher. In other words, a “bad” policy can still lift shares if it was not as bad as the market feared.

Why did the reaction look odd?

The reaction looked odd because the announcement clearly affected fee income, yet the bank sector still went up after the news. The investors did not read the reform as a disaster.

Moreover, this is where the story gets interesting. If the RBA’s package had really threatened bank earnings in a major way, you would expect a much clearer negative market response. Instead, the share price move implies investors either expected worse or believed the effect would be manageable.

What does the share move mean?

The share move may mean investors thought the banks could absorb the change. It may also mean the reform leaves the wider card system intact, which protects transaction volumes even if some fee settings are trimmed.

For example, a bank can lose some surcharge-related or interchange-related income and still look strong if card use remains high. That is why the market can treat the reform as a short-term negative but a longer-term non-event, or even a mild positive.

Why this matters for retailers

Retailers should not confuse a bank-share rally with a win for merchants. The fact that shares rose does not mean the reform automatically helps small shops.

Instead, the practical issue is that retailers lose a visible way to recover card costs. A shop that used to show a card surcharge at checkout will need another way to protect margin, whether through pricing, fee negotiation, or tighter cost control.

What changes at the checkout

The biggest change for retailers is the checkout experience. The surcharge line disappears, but the underlying payment cost does not.

That means retailers need to understand the full cost of taking cards, not just the visible fee passed to the customer. A POS system that shows payment-type sales, average transaction value, and card-cost impact becomes much more useful once surcharging is no longer available.

How to prepare

Retailers should review their merchant statements, terminal fees, and POS reports now. The goal is to know exactly what card acceptance costs before the October 2026 deadline.

Next steps

Clearly, we have questions about the RBA’s rationale for its decision, but the immediate point for retailers is that the stock market is not your main problem here. Your real issue is how to manage payment costs when you can no longer add a visible surcharge at checkout. The RBA decision should reduce bank fees, help alleviate some of the fee differences faced by small and large retailers, and provide greater transparency into bank fees.

Retailers should take four steps before 1 October 2026:

1. Review current merchant fees and terminal charges.
2. Check POS reporting for payment-method visibility.
3. Revisit pricing to make sure margins still hold.
4. Talk to payment providers about lower-cost alternatives or better fee transparency.

Prepare your shop for the 2026 RBA surcharge ban

Update:

Update:
Since the article first went live, it has become a hot topic. Several have questioned the link between the 2026 RBA surcharge ban and the rise in bank shares. That is a fair point, and it is worth explaining the facts in plain terms.

First, it is true that Suncorp’s share price fell during this period, which at first glance seems to contradict the idea that the RBA decision helped banks. But Suncorp is no longer a normal bank for most investors. Suncorp Group sold Suncorp Bank to ANZ in 2024, took the money, and later returned cash to shareholders. Today, the listed company is more of an insurance business than a bank, so its share move does not tell us much about investors saw the surcharge ban. 

Second, the good share reaction was not just in banks. Payment companies listed on the ASX, such as Tyro and SMP, also rose after the announcement.

Third, that the banks’ shares rose because of the better profit numbers they announced back in February and the interest‑rate move in March. That is true, they did rise, but here the timing is a problem. We are now in April, and those profit updates and the March rate move happened earlier. If those were the reasons, you would expect the share price lift to show up in February and March, not now in April. Instead, the rise lines up most closely with the announcement of the 2026 surcharge ban. Also you need to explain why investors reacted the same way to non‑bank companies in Debit and Credit Crads. Payments players like Tyro and SMP saw their shares rise too, even though they do not benefit from the same upside from bank‑style profits or rate changes.

Third, investors liked that the surcharge ban applies to both debit and credit card transactions from 1 October 2026. When the extra checkout fee disappears for both, customers have the same price whether they use debit or credit. That will make people more likely to use credit cards, because the “extra cost” they used to see is gone. This is what we stated in our submission here. More credit card use means higher fees. The investors would also have liked the bank's comments that new fees will need to be created or some fees will need to be increased to cover the loss.

All of this does not weaken the article’s original point. It just sharpens it. The investors see the final package as positive and manageable rather than a big hit.

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.

The Australian greeting cards market is projected to grow steadily, with revenue expected to rise towards 2033. Historically, many shops let sales reps dictate their greeting card inventory, partly to save time and because it was lazy. However, relying on these reps means you are likely missing out on profits. The big killer here is the hidden dead stock that eats up valuable floor space. Ultimately, it's only by taking control of your card stock data that you will discover exactly how to change your card stands into a highly profitable department. 

Key Takeaways

• POS reports instantly identify dead and slow-moving greeting cards, reducing wasted stock.
• Digital stock-takes prevent over-ordering and free up valuable backroom storage space.
• Premium boutique cards offer a distinct competitive advantage over local mass-market supermarkets.
• Cross-merchandising strategies place complementary cards near relevant gifts and books.
• Customer loyalty programs track annual buying events to predict seasonal card demand.
• Sales data mapping places high-value items in premium, eye-level shop locations.

The Point of Sale (POS) System Information Hub

A Point of Sale (POS) system is a digital hardware-and-software combo that processes transactions, tracks inventory, and records customer data. It acts as your shop's info hub, recording purchases in real time. For example, buying a $7.95 birthday card instantly updates stock and revenue.

Furthermore, modern software platforms do much more than ring up sales at the front counter. They provide deep, actionable perceptions of consumer behaviour and specific product performance. For instance, a shop owner can pull a quick report showing which premium cards sell best now. Our retail integration empowers shop owners to make profitable decisions.

Consequently, you no longer have to guess what your local customers actually want to buy. By replacing intuition with hard numbers, you can confidently tell your suppliers exactly which items sell on your shelf space.

How Does Greeting Card Management Increase Retail Profits?

Greeting card management involves curating, tracking, and positioning paper inventory to minimise dead stock and maximise retail profit margins. Historically, the greeting card department has been one of the fastest areas in a shop to show financial improvement when closely monitored. For instance, I have seen figures where a high-profit wedding card, simply by moving to an eye-level shelf, instantly doubles its weekly sales velocity.

Unfortunately, too many leave these critical management functions entirely up to external sales representatives. These reps are notorious for making stocking decisions partly based on their company's needs rather than on your shop. For example, a rep might fill your premium spinner with a slow-moving card simply because their warehouse desperately needs to clear it out.

How Does a POS System Manage Inventory for Greeting Cards?

Automated inventory management involves continuously recording every retail sale, return, and supplier delivery to maintain real-time stock accuracy. Specifically, the software flags exactly which items are selling and which ones are collecting dust. For example, if you order five Mother's Day cards, the system will show exactly how many remain unsold by Monday morning.

Additionally, maintaining accurate inventory levels helps prevent costly retail shrinkage and overstocking. It is incredibly common to find heavy boxes of unsold cards sitting in a back room, tying up your precious capital. Yet the rep is ordering more stock for you. Use what you have first!

Identifying Slow-Moving Stock

You need to find the specific products that require dead stock reduction to save your net profitability. You can achieve this quickly by navigating to the reports section in your software and selecting the 'Stock Slow and Dead' reports.

Finally, the resulting detailed report will likely shock you with the total monetary value of your stagnant stock. Armed with this knowledge, you can confidently instruct your reps to permanently remove these duds. For instance, you can hand the rep a printed list of 50 under-performing SKUs that need to be credited and removed today.

How Can Retailers Compete with Supermarkets?

Supermarket competition is the ongoing retail challenge of retaining local customers when large grocery chains sell similar mass-market products. It's hard, as a busy customer buying milk at Woolworths, to avoid grabbing a generic $3 card out of sheer convenience.

Instead, your principal advantage lies in offering premium items. For instance, stocking a beautiful range of handmade, letterpress birthday cards will draw shoppers specifically into your store. Premium products attract high-value local shoppers.

Consequently, you must use your Point of Sale (POS) system to track these high-end ranges rigorously.

What Are the Best Cross-Merchandising Strategies for Retailers?

Cross-merchandising is the physical retail practice of displaying complementary products together to increase the overall size of the customer basket. Because your shop likely focuses on gifts and books, this creates a massive opportunity for impulse purchases. For example, placing a small spinner of baby shower cards right next to your children's book section guarantees overlapping sales.

Furthermore, analysing your basket data will reveal exactly which items are frequently purchased together. Your software can easily highlight these hidden customer buying habits that you might otherwise miss. For instance, a companion analysis report will show that premium anniversary cards are almost always bought alongside your gift stand.

Therefore, you should immediately break your cards out of their isolated, traditional department. Moving a selection of tasteful sympathy cards next to your floral or premium candle displays will noticeably boost your daily transaction value.

How Do Retailers Target Local Demographics?

Market targeting is the analytical process of adjusting your inventory to align perfectly with the income and lifestyle of your local community. Typically, if your local area consists of family-oriented residents with above-average incomes, your product range should reflect their specific wants. For example, an affluent neighbourhood will happily buy a $15 elaborate pop-up card for a child's first birthday.

Furthermore, you can try luxury price points without worrying about alienating your main customers. Your sales data will quickly show the highest price your customers are willing to pay. For instance, testing a small batch of expensive, gold-foil wedding cards will quickly reveal if your market supports premium pricing.

Additionally, you should run category reports to closely monitor important life-cycle events in your community. Make sure your stock always matches your community's social calendars.

How Can Retailers Use POS Data to Boost Customer Loyalty?

Customer loyalty integration involves the strategic connection of specific customer purchase histories directly to their store rewards profiles. Luckily, you already have a steady local customer base, which is your most valuable asset. For example, when a regular customer buys a card, their profile automatically records the transaction date and the particular occasion.

Consequently, tracking this deep data allows you to utilise customer retention analytics to forecast seasonal demand with incredible accuracy.

What Tools Optimise Store Layouts for Better Sales?

Retail mapping tools are specialised reporting features within a point-of-sale system that determine the most profitable physical locations for your products. Essentially, your absolute best-selling cards must be displayed in the most prominent, high-traffic spots on your stand. For example, placing top-selling humorous birthday cards directly at eye-level instantly guarantees higher daily turnover. Calculated positioning maximises overall retail profitability.

Details on how to do this with our system can be found here on how to create a useful planogram.

Next, you can directly compare your current greeting card sales data to past periods to test any layout changes. If you move your sympathy cards to a lower shelf, a quick comparative report will show if sales dropped over the following month.

What Are the Ensuring Steps for Retail Business Owners?

Actionable inventory control is the immediate implementation of software tools to halt bad ordering habits and boost shop profits. First, you must set up a regular, non-negotiable schedule to review your card sales and stock information. For example, using only fifteen minutes every Tuesday morning to run a slow-moving stock report will keep your inventory incredibly lean.

Additionally, you must have a firm, professional conversation with your card company representatives today. Stop relying on their intuition and firmly dictate that they only restock high-performing categories based on your actual data. For instance, you can safely refuse a delivery of generic blank cards if your system clearly shows you already have a six-month supply. Consistent monitoring guarantees long-term retail success.

Conclusion: Maximise Greeting Card Sales Today

A comprehensive POS system is an undeniable requirement for managing a highly lucrative and well-organised greeting card department. Ultimately, using your software's accurate sales data analysis transforms a confused, rep-managed stand into a highly profitable, controlled retail zone. For example, simply identifying and removing your bottom 10% of performing cards instantly frees up cash flow for much better products.

FAQ

Q: How do I quickly find and eliminate dead cardstock that's taking up space?
A: Run a POS report to identify unselling SKUs, then give the list to your rep for credit and removal.

Q: What is Dead Stock?
A: Dead stock is inventory that has not sold within its expected timeframe.

Q: What is planogram?
A: A planogram is a store layout guide that shows where products should be placed to maximise sales.

Q: What is Cross-merchandising?
A: Cross-merchandising is the practice of displaying complementary products together to increase basket size.

Q: How do I stop sales reps from dumping unwanted cardstock?
A: Use your POS data to specify restocks and decline unnecessary deliveries.

Q: How can my shop survive when customers grab cheap cards from Woolworths?
A: Stock premium, high-quality cards like handmade or letterpress to attract shoppers seeking better options.

Q: What should I do if my card spinner is full of duds that won't sell?
A: Remove the bottom 10% of best-performing cards identified via your POS, replace them with high-value items at eye level.

Q: How does a POS system track my individual greeting card sales?
A: When scanned, the system deducts the card from inventory and records the sale in real time.

Q: Where is the most profitable place to put my best-selling cards?
A: Use POS maps to position top cards at high-traffic, eye-level spots for higher turnover.

Q: How do I cross-merchandise cards with other items to boost basket size?
A: Use companion analysis to place related cards near complementary products.

Q: Will my community pay more for premium or luxury cards?
A: Test by introducing expensive cards and assess sales to determine pricing limits.

Q: How can I use my loyalty program to sell more cards?
A: Connect purchase histories to customer profiles for targeted stocking around milestones.

Q: What is the best weekly routine for managing greeting card inventory?
A: Spend 15 minutes weekly on reports, sales review, and layout or order planning.

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.