1 year ago

Find the busiest periods

In the shop, traffic often fluctuates from all the time by using your POS Software you can get figures for which periods are the busiest and slowest now. Go to the register > reports.   .... more

1 year ago

The credit/debit card network

While I was explaining the costs of Tap and Go and the benefits of you using Least Cost Routing, I noticed that some people were unclear on how the system works so I thought I better explain it. This is a chart of the Credit Card network. Although it is for America and the charge figures are different in Australia, the overall system is roughly… more

1 year ago

Backup

Yesterday, one of our clients went down, and they had no backup. We had to rebuild the hard drive and managed to get most of it back. Then after patching, we managed to get them going. Every site without exception… more

1 year ago

Valentine's Day 2020

Are you ready for Valentine's Day!   This year,  IBISWorld forecast predicts Australians will spend $1.09 billion on Valentine's Day, the average Australian consumers are expected to spend $43.61 on someone special. If so to give you a feel of its size, that is about 40% of  Boxing Day..... more

1 year ago

Latest newspaper delivery fees announced

Looking at the new distribution fees, they vary but as a first-level approximation, I would say its average of just less than 1.5% Surely they should be more if only because the Australian inflation… more

1 year ago

Different types of margins

Margins are often considered as being the most important KPI in stock control.     Like everything, once you get into it, it gets more complicated as different shops tend to have different needs and requirements. So we… more

1 year ago

Gap Analysis

Gap Analysis in easy steps This is a formal process of comparing what you got with your budget and is designed to determine *why* it was right or wrong. What you do is compare your budgeted figures to your actual… more

1 year ago

Google Trends

One tool I do recommend if you are doing market research on products is Google Trend. This is a potent tool by which you to enter search terms that are relevant to your business, to see what is Australia looking for with this product. It is free. What is particularly useful in retail is that it can also be used to show seasonality of demand which… more

1 year ago

Lights go out does your business too

Suddenly the electricity cuts off, an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) may be the difference between you still working, or you are having everyone just sitting around till the power comes back on. I also do… more

1 year ago

Auditing if something goes wrong

  While doing your reports, a figure may appear that looks wrong, and you need to investigate.  This happened to me, a while ago while investigating our GST on purchases. The way, I recommend you approach it is to… more

1 year ago

Some tips to save costs on a computer repairs

Point of sale systems is excellent, till something goes wrong. Then for some reason, people seem to lose all sense of reason and proportion. The fact is that they are all mechanical devices and all of the parts… more

1 year ago

On Google reviews

  It is a modern business nightmare. You put all this effort and money into your business, and suddenly you find your hard-earned reputation is attacked by some anonymous person online. .... more

1 year ago

Keyboards are dirty than toilets

This discussion came out of my last post when some people commented about fixing computers and brought up cleaning. Everyone is worried now with Coronavirus, here check this video out about China. .... more

1 year ago

Afterpay Touch Group - eServices Wind Down – 30th June 2020

At the start of February, we were notified that the eServices from Touch Afterpay confidentially advised us that they were closing down. Apparently it does not fit into their strategic priorities and as such their… more

1 year ago

Special orders

If you are doing special orders in your shop, what I suggest you do is put the special order into the computer and bill from the computer. Here are some reasons why: 1) Your pricing is transparent and everyone can see how… more

1 year ago

Security in your point of sale

This cannot be stressed too much. In a retail business, every person in your point of sale Software should have a unique login and that they must make them make use of it. Do not allow several people to share the same… more

1 year ago

Afterpay Touch Group - eServices Wind Down continued

  Many of you have contacted us to ask us what is happening as a result of the … more

1 year ago

Comparison reporting

We suggest that every month you do a sales Comparison report to compare how you did this month to the same month last year.  This is considered as being a very good indication of how you are travelling, You will find it here: Main Menu > Cash Register > Register Reports > under the Select Report tab, expand the Stock folder > select… more

1 year ago

Note on newsagency computer systems and numbers

  A competitor released a dubious statement which among claims is that they serve more newsagencies then anyone and that this is shown by evidence that is  1) recent 2) independent 3) verified  As such from what I gather… more

1 year ago

What are my best selling items?

Here are some questions to ask yourself. What are my best selling items? Which items in my shop are just sitting there? Here is a rule that that shows in retail often all the time, a small percentage of your stock lines up all the time give you almost all your sales.  I took a data file from a customer of ours, and in a year, I found that… more

1 year ago

Internet speed

Does not matter how fast the internet goes, we all want more speed. No two places are the same. The problem is that today we have in Australia seven different nbn connections and your internet speed depends on what… more

1 year ago

Overstocking and what can be done

No-one can handle the vast numbers of products available to almost all retailers. Most the suppliers have large numbers of items on catalogue. They will also have many more if you require something special.  A typical client of ours would be selling actively over a year over 43,000 lines. That is a lot of work if you order once a week to handle… more

1 year ago

VIP points an idea

Over the years, VIP points have proven the most successful way of running a VIP system. It is by far, the most cost/effective. However, one problem with VIP points is that many potential customers cannot use them for some reason. So offering in your VIP system, points will not tempt them If this is your problem, here is a solution that may help… more

1 year ago

Balancing the till

Balancing your tills is essential to any retail business. It actually should be part of your daily routine, but now suddenly you sense that something is not right and you want to balance the till. This is where we use X-offs, What we strongly suggest is that every cashier has their cash drawer. There is no problem as our system allows many tills… more