Patrick MD

Running a retail operation in the present day is much more difficult than it was 25 years ago. The significance of integrated systems and technology is ever increasing, adding this to staff training, customer service and everything else you have to stay on top of; you have a lot to think about. This is unfortunately not getting any easier. These seven tips to make your store more efficient may have the answer;

1. Automate and digitalise your store – While it’s true nothing can ever replace genuine and personal interactions with customers, there are a number of things retailers can automate. Any tasks at your grocery store that have the capacity to be controlled digitally should be doing so. Automation of selected tasks in addition to implementing new digital solutions;

• Install a Modern Point of Sale System- Electronic point of sale system (EPOS).
• Self-service tills in larger stores.
• Technologies that can support your employees. These allow them to search for information they need in real time, producing for better customer service.
• Get listed on Google Maps listings can drive real-life traffic to your store. If you have a detailed listing on Google Maps, you can reduce the rate of customers you lost to nearby competitors.

You can increase overall efficiency and improve productivity by embracing new technology at your store. It can also relieve your employees, allowing them to focus on more important duties.

2. Streamline your Staff – Organising schedules can be time consuming for both management and their staff, especially when there are several people/stores involved. Many stores turn to mobile apps which enable the user to set or cancel shifts using just their mobile device. Wheniwork is a great example of one of these apps.

3.Staff training and In-store support – As the faces of your brand, your staff are a main focus point of your business, it is important that you understand the importance of staff training as these people are representing your store and brand. Training shouldn’t stop at just initial preparation but continue to develop the employee’s knowledge of the company their role. It is key is to invest time and money into your employees to reap the rewards of strong sales associates and as a result.
Having the correct amount of staff on site is a major issue in retail stores; a healthy employee to customer ratio is essential. It is vital that you have enough staff on hand to help customers; however having too many associates on the floor isn’t very efficient, in terms of costs and space.

4. Employee rotation – Long shifts at work do not pay off. If your employees are at the store for longer than 8 hours, there will be a higher tendency to slack off. They will be tired and less enthusiastic about work. If you want your employees to stay focused and dedicated the longest shift you should allow is 8 hours.

5. Customer service and loyalty programmes – Businesses need constant improvement. Customer feedback is the best way to realise any problem in your store, customers are in the best position to tell you what they don’t like about your store. It’s a must to rectify these problems to keep appealing to new customers and to retain the current ones.
Loyalty programmes are a great source of gathering customer insights, these schemes allow you to look into your customers’ purchase history and shopping behaviour, making them easier to target with notifications, discounts and offers.

6. Measure KPIs and objectives – Store budgeting can be a nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be. It is important to measure KPI’s and set realistic objectives. Keeping on top of sales figures and other analytics in your business will allow you to recognise which areas are of concern and which are thriving. They key here is changing direction before it is too late and the issue cannot be reversed.

7. Inventory management – Knowing where your inventory is and knowing its status is vital .Stocktaking in your store is one task that takes more time than necessary. Whether you carry this out in-store or use an external service provide, plans need to be in place in good time leading up to the stocktake. Have a read here for tips on carrying out a stress free stocktake. A stocktake that’s quick, non-intrusive and has easy accessible results can make a huge difference to store efficiency

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• Digital Stocktakes
• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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The Christmas decorations have been boxed up and put away, everyone’s ditching the booze, the fitness DVDs are out and the masses of shoppers are nowhere to be found. As a small business owner these few weeks are seen as the worst time of the year, however there are some steps that may be taken to ensure less of a decline in sales.

Are you ready to start the 2017 ball rolling? Is so, here are a few ideas to combat possible plunge in sales.

1. Have a positive attitude

It is true that sales are known to generally hit a slump for almost all retailers in January. And because of this, a decline in sales becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don’t allow this to happen, take a stance against it and go forth with a positive attitude.

Your attitude will do wonders in setting you apart from other business owners. Look into any offers, deals or discount you could use to your advantage in promoting your products or brand to your current customers or even some new ones!

2. Emphasise the importance of you

Your customers have been prioritising their loved ones over the holidays. This all stops in January and people start to focus more on themselves, and why wouldn’t they? Focus on the customers themselves, remind them to use their Gift cards or let them be the first to see new products or promotions.

If your products/services fit into a category of self-motivation, improvement and fitness put these in front of the customers. Let them know you are behind them in their resolutions.

3. Know who you’re targeting

A common thread across small businesses is not having focussed marketing strategy. The impact of this marketing can be weakened if it is aimed at the wrong target audience. Why do customers choose you and your business? You need to show them what they want to see, meet their needs and be strategic as to where and how you place these advertisements.

If you are unclear about who your target audience are, take a step back to rethink and re-evaluate. Start with the simple areas like demographics and then delve deeper. Think of new ways to get the information, where people will be willing and most importantly honest.

4. Get Social

Twitter and Facebook are always a good place to start, but think about your clientele and where they ‘Hang out’. Your social opportunities could be endless if Instagram, Pinterest or LinkedIn however, social media can be a waste of time if you are targeting people in the wrong place.

Capitalise on social media by being unique and creative. Share photos and videos of your team, products and offerings. Share content relevant to your followers. Use SM to respond to customer queries and host competitions and giveaways to increase awareness, the world is your oyster with social media.

5. Define the data

None of this work will have any relevance if the results of your hard work aren’t being measured. Return on investment needs to be monitored as if nothing comes back from all your efforts you need to consider what next action to take or where it all went wrong.

January however should be the ideal time to get this up and running, a fresh start so to speak. All of this made even better by the fact that your competition may be still picking up the pieces after the December rush.

Still want to count your stock in-house? Try DigiTally!

• Digital Stocktakes
• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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In this “age of technology” how is it that so many premises are still closing the doors for their stocktake?

It is staggering as to how a business can close their doors on a trading day so as to count their stock. As mentioned in a recent blog post available here, (hyperlink with this link http://bit.ly/29FzRA8) it is possible for a premises to undertake an efficient stocktake with the correct preparation and planning and not close their premises.

Closing for your stocktake causes the following issues

* loss in revenue
* customer frustration
* customers being forced to seek an alternative supplier
* variance reports not being undertaken in an efficient manner
* delays in accounts being finalised

While it is advisable to undertake your stocktake out of hours for a fully accurate stock count, it should not take weeks or months to complete as highlighted in the below example.

A recent visit to a new customer who had a wholesale business, told me how they were frustrated with their stocktaking process and that they found it very time consuming and labour intensive. “We would close the store on a Sunday, as this was a quiet trading day and not too many customers would be upset”. Then, they would have ten staff write down the count of each item on-hand on a pre-printed sheet. It would then be totaled, typed into a spreadsheet, and manually input into their EPOS (electronic point of sale), variances would then be investigated in the following weeks and months as there were lots of surpluses and deficits with the count. My conversation with them was four months after their stocktake date and they were still not finished.
Unbelievable! Is it any wonder that businesses hate undertaking their stocktake!

The amount of work involved in their stocktake was enormous and changes had to be made.
We took the following steps;

* their product file of products on-hand was unorganised and it created confusion with staff
* we recreated this file and assigned barcodes to all products and product cases
* product descriptions were uniform, ie; we listed them as Manufacturer/brand, product name, product dimensions (weight/size)
* ensured that where there was stock stored, there was a barcode
* all shelving and storage was neat and organised

These changes resulted in a stocktake being counted and uploaded to their EPOS on the day of the stoctkake. It went from being a 4-5month expensive arduous task to being a 1 day process with there being no downtime/store closing for customers.

For more information on how we may be able to assist your stocktaking process and procedures and avoid closing for stocktaking, please let us know.

Patrick McDermott
Stocktaking.ie
+ 353 091 762001

Still want to count your stock in-house? Try DigiTally!

• Digital Stocktakes
• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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In this article we will outline how to undertake an excellent stocktake which will deliver;

• 100% accuracy
• A process that will help you achieve a result and save you money
• Less stress at the time of the stocktake

On a recent visit to a shop that was having difficulties with controlling their stock levels, it was clear to see why they were having so many problems.

They had undertaken their own stocktake at the beginning of the year and were still putting the finishing touches to it now … at the end of April.

After speaking with them for a few short minutes it was clear why they struggled with their stocktake

• They don’t like doing the stocktake – no surprise here!
• They closed their business so as to use all their staff to count for the day (which they had to do on a Sunday which increased their labour cost)
• Their staff were not trained in using the scanners
• Their staff didn’t want to do the stocktake
• They rented scanners for the day – and several of them didn’t work
• They were not prepared to put in time so as to prepare the store because staff can “arrange as they go”
• No rechecks were undertaken on the day
• There were many people in charge on the day
• When it uploaded the results to their EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) it wasn’t correct as deliveries and sales had taken place
• When it came to analyzing the variances, it was not possible as it was not clear who counted what and sales and purchases had taken place

I would like to think that the above is a one off premises but it is a regular enough occurrence for some premises.

The top tips for ensuring an efficient stocktake are

1. Preparation is key
   Look at each section before the stocktake and know how it’s going to be counted. Leaving it to decide “on the day” is not an option
2. Have all stock barcoded
   Even if it is a temporary barcode, it will save you a lot of time on the day of the stocktake
3. Avoid double entry
   If you are writing things down, then you are creating work for yourself. This creates double entry and with the right store preparation, it is very easy to be prepared and avoid this from happening
4. Have your IT working correctly
   If you are renting it, ensure that its working and that you have a competent member of staff present on the day that knows how to troubleshoot. If you do not know who it updates your stock levels before your stocktake starts, then it will be very difficult to update it after it finishes
5. Conduct rechecks
   Regardless of how/who undertakes your stocktake, you must undertake rechecks so as to ensure accuracy. This is the rechecking of all staff, not just the ones you suspect of potentially miscounting
6. Do not close your store
   You lose business when you close the store. You work hard to get customers so don’t upset them by having an unexpected closure and risk losing them
7. Look at the costs of your current stocktaking process
   • Labour hours (incl taxes)
   • Management hours
   • IT hardware rental
   • Training for count
   • Managing staff on the day
   • Overtime
   • Store closure and the potential loss of business in the future as a result

   Once costed, compare it with outsourcing to an external professional provider. This way you can see if you are saving money or spending it
   Do you really want the hassle of undertaking it yourself?

   Stocktaking.ie assist businesses across Ireland with undertaking an accurate and efficient stocktake in their business. We provide clear, accurate and transparent reporting. Through our experience, we can assist all types of business in undertaking stocktaking in an efficient manner.

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• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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This is dependent on the level of control that you want to have over your business.

For example, if there was an area within your business that was running at a loss due to incorrect control procedures including stock shrinkage (a general term for unexplained stock losses) – including internal and external theft, poor portion control or dispensing practices, when would you like to know about it?
At the end of the year? Quarterly? Monthly? Weekly? Daily?
Your answer will assist you in knowing how often you should undertake a stocktake of your inventory.

In hospitality businesses such as hotels, pubs and restaurants, it is common to undertake a stocktake once per month. This way you can control your Gross Profit (GP) margin for your food and beverage. If there is a problem occurring with a loss in GP then you know about it straight away and action can be taken.

Retail businesses in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector (FMCG, also known as C-Store) undertake their stocktaking between one and four times per year. The business owners who have a once per year stocktake have less control over their margin and if their end of year margin is not what is expected, then the entire year has passed before they make a change to rectify a problem.
The business owners who want more control over margins undertake their stocktakes every quarter. This way, stocktake results are used in conjunction with management accounts and if a problem is occurring, you know it and can then make the necessary changes without delay.

For other retail businesses including clothing, footwear, gift and hardware businesses, it really depends on the type of stock that is on-hand and if it is prone to shrinkage. If live stock is in operation, then there should be more stock control procedures in place. Cycle counts (mini stocktakes of a particular department or product range) assist with keeping stock levels up to date and allowing the retailer to analyse variances. These variances are then investigated and explanations sought. This is good practice for efficiently managing your stock. Note: cycle counts are only effective if a follow-up variance analysis is undertaken.

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• Digital Stocktakes
• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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With an increase in stock losses by 22.2% and cost of over £5bn in lost sales to retailers, we have decided to provide you with a list of the top 10 ways to reduce stock losses in your business.

According to RetailFraud.com’s 2014 Retail Fraud Survey, increased stock losses for UK retailers across the sectors vary from 0.6% (mainly hospitality and leisure sectors) to 2.4% (department stores).
The two main reasons for stock losses are

• Shoplifting 39%
• Internal theft from employees 33%
Remainder is a combination between
• Admin book-keeping errors
• Cash internal
• Stock supplier fraud
• Cash external

So what are retailers to do in order to decrease shrinkage?
(Shrinkage is a term that we give to all stock that is unaccounted for ie: not sold)

Retailers, wholesalers, pharmacies, publicans, all make their money from their stock, so it is important that they have control and measures in place so as to manage it effectively.

So how is it done?

Here are the top 10 ways to reduce stock losses in your business.

1. Have a good working knowledge of how to use your Point of Sale (POS) effectively. Many businesses have expensive, state of the art electronic management tools at their disposal but use their POS as a cash box rather than a tool that can manage their stock more effectively. Use it to manage your stock

2. Have a live stock system in place. time spent on having a system in place so as you can see the movement of each stock item at the click of a button and to manage it through the system from back door to front will ensure that stock is managed in the best possible way. It will show staff and suppliers that discrepancies will be identified

3. Know what stock you have on hand – now. It’s your stock and it is how you make money so have a plan so as to have it counted several times per year

4. Know the level of shrinkage that is occurring within your business. Thinking that you have a problem is not good enough

5.Identify what products are causing you problems. And put in place a plan to reduce the shrinkage of them. This is done through either stocktaking (preferred method so as to identify the exact problem item) or a departmental analysis of scanning margin versus actual margin (but this is not as accurate and will not identify the problem items)

6. Take time to investigate discrepancies. Often we see owners undertaking cycle counting but then don’t take the time or allocate the resources to analysing the variances. This is where the real money is.

7. Undertake cycle counting. These are mini stocktakes and are usually of a particular department which is either high value of prone to high levels of stock loss. Undertake this on a regular basis until the issue is solved

8.Communicate any issues that arise with your team, at all levels. Explain what is being done to tackle shrinkage. as the above statistics show, over 30% of stock losses are internal theft from employees

9.Train your staff.It is important that your staff are trained in both how to work your POS and also how to manage your stock (including the ordering, receiving, storing, displaying and selling all stock items).

10.It is everyone’s responsibility.A common mistake is to place only the best, the most diligent person in charge of managing the stock. A good idea in principle but what do you do when they are off, on holidays, on a break, out sick or leave to work elsewhere? Yes, have one responsible person who is in charge, but also share the knowledge to others so as they are aware of a company attitude, that “stock losses will be identified”

If you have any questions on any of the above, please contact Patrick McDermott on +353 (0)91 762001

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• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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Firstly let’s look at what they do, put simply, Retailers retail and Pharmacists dispense.

In the past two years, the margins in the Dispensary has been reduced considerably due to government policy, reference pricing, increase in generics due to patents expiring etc. and more and more pharmacists have turned to finding their margin in the front of house stock rather than in the dispensary. The area where best margin is now achieved is the retail/front of pharmacy area.

In the past number of months it has been apparent to us that there are more and more pharmacy owners who undertake a stocktake because their Accountant tells them that there is one required.

But what do Accountants want with this valuation of stock?
We will quickly run through what you should be getting from your accountant.
The purpose of the stocktake is to get a closing value of stock at a certain period of time. This stock value is then used in conjunction with your purchases, sales, credits and any other internal stock movements so as to compare your Scanning Margin versus your Actual Margin. Or, your accountant may just give you one overall margin for your premises (but this is of little use to you as a good margin lies in the detail and stock losses will not be specific to a particular area).

Your scanning margin is the margin that you decide you can charge for certain stock departments which your Electronic Point of Sales (EPOS, your till system) will tell you that you have.
For example, you may have a 33% margin on your Baby Department and then a 30% margin on your Fragrance department. But what If you have a problem with stock loss, shrinkage, staff theft, customer theft, inaccurate deliveries, stock being priced incorrectly and sold at an incorrect price?
Will you have a 30% margin on Baby department? No.
Scanning Margin is what you should be getting.
Actual Margin is what you are actually getting based on the Actual closing stock figure.

Your accountant should use the stocktake figures for each department to calculate the margin based on “Actual” closing stock figures. So if the Baby Department is then having an Actual margin of 31% against a scanning margin of 33% you have a loss in stock and a loss in sales revenues. Needless to say, this is not good.

If you undertake a stocktake once per year (which appears to be the case in over 80% of pharmacies) and then it takes 3 months (depending on the efficiency of your accountant) to get your year-end accounts, you then see that your operation is not performing in accordance with scanning margins.
What can you do to rectify this situation?
There is nothing that you can do. You have just been performing below scanning margin for the past year and didn’t even know it.

Information is knowledge, knowledge allows you to make informed decisions about your business and to operate your business more effectively and profitably.

So back to our original question, what do Retailers do?
Full stocktakes 2-4 times per year
Combined with management accounts 2-4 times per year
Regular updating of product prices and barcodes
New products added to their stock file and assigned to the correct departments
Why? So as to identify poor performing departments and make changes if required.
What’s measured is managed, and if something is amiss in your business then you need to know about it. Once you know, you will have confidence in your margins and can operate a more effective and profitable business going forward.

If a premises operates a live-stock system where purchases/deliveries are input directly into the EPOS then you can usually get the above information at the touch of a button. This, combined with a cycle counting system and variance analysis, ensures that stock losses are at a minimum. However, for a Live Stock system to succeed, you need to have excellent:
Discipline to keep all deliveries, products and prices updated on arrival to pharmacy
Staff procedures to ensure that all staff are aware of the importance of stock control
Knowledge of your EPOS
There is always some department which is performing below expectations. As a business owner, wouldn’t you like to know which department that is?

Still want to count your stock in-house? how about a way to EasyCount?

• Digital Stocktakes
• Eliminate pen, paper, Excel and double entry
• Reduce stocktaking time by 66%

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1. You know your margin at the click of a button
Knowledge is power and by you knowing your margin regularly allows you to make informed decisions about the progress of your business

2. Your stock levels are at an optimum level
Because you know what you are selling you do not order in stock which is not selling and reduce slow moving lines from stock

3. Your cash flow improves
By having your stock levels reduced it ensures that you have better turnover of stock and improved cash flow as a result

4. Your EPOS is up to date
No products are received into stock unless they are ordered through the system which states the prices of the stock items. If on arrival the price or barcode has changed, it can be immediately updated

5. No non-scanning items at the till
By scanning deliveries you are updating all new barcodes onto the system. This eliminates stock discrepancies and inaccurate prices being charged at the till

6. No office administration manually entering dockets
Depending on your EPOS, in most cases, by having a scanner at the back door you are immediately updating the delivery into the EPOS and this in-turn reduces your costs

7. Your staff will become more efficient
Staff becomes more interested in their role as they are responsible for ensuring that deliveries are immediately before placing onto the shop floor

8. Staff retention improves
Recent studies have revealed that job satisfaction (and not the rate of pay) is the No. 1 reason for staff satisfaction within their role. This results in improved staff morale and staff retention

9. Reduces costs of services such as accountancy fees
By highlighting pricing discrepancies immediately on arrival, you are eliminating the need for your accountant to forensically review invoices and statements several months down the line in order to rectify discrepancies

10. You, as the business owner, has FULL CONTROL over your business