Solutions · Retail chains
Branches, stock and sales in one place.
In a retail chain every branch keeps its own records. When you can’t see in one place where the stock is, how it sells and what happened at the till, decisions come late. See below how it works for a household goods chain with several branches.
Sample Figures, names and screens are for illustration. Every system is built around your processes.
01/05Stock
Stock in the system should match stock on the shelf.
If receipts, transfers and returns aren’t entered on time, nobody trusts the system’s numbers. The stock count shows a gap and nobody knows why.
Sales, receipts, branch transfers, returns and counts are kept in one movement history, so you can trace a difference to the document that caused it.
A responsible person confirms or writes off the difference.
Laundry powder, 3 kg · Chilanzar branch
Movements since the last count
02/05Between branches
One branch is running out while another has stock sitting idle.
When branch stock is viewed separately, one store runs out while another ties up cash in surplus stock.
Stock is compared with each branch’s sales rate, so you see how many days it will last. The system drafts a transfer proposal.
The area manager approves the transfer.
Item Electric kettle, 1.7 l
Chilanzar
60 in stock · 4/day
lasts 15 days
Yunusabad
9 in stock · 4.5/day
lasts 2 dayslasts 12 daysRunning out
Sergeli
96 in stock · 2.4/day
lasts 40 dayslasts 21 daysSurplus stock
Mirzo Ulugbek
33 in stock · 3/day
lasts 11 days
Sergeli holds 40 days of stock, Yunusabad 2. After the transfer Yunusabad has 12 days and Sergeli 21.
03/05Purchasing
Buy based on demand, not habit.
Buying by “how much did we order last time?” leaves too much of one product and too little of another.
The order quantity is proposed from recent weekly sales, the coming season and the supplier’s delivery time.
The buyer approves or changes the quantity.
Item Oil-filled heater
- Demand during delivery time
- 232 pcs
- Safety stock
- +40 pcs
- Stock on hand and on the way
- −92 pcs
- Proposed order
- 180 pcs
04/05Tills
Check cash, discounts and returns at the end of each day.
When cash, card takings, discounts and returns are checked weeks later, mistakes and misuse are very hard to find.
Each till’s daily takings are matched with sales in the system. Anything unusual is flagged separately.
The branch manager writes a conclusion for every flagged case.
Chilanzar · till 2
- Cash short by 50,000 UZS
- Cashier’s note: wrong change given
05/05Overview
Every branch in one view.
When each branch prepares its report its own way, the numbers can’t be compared: one counts discounts, another doesn’t.
Sales, margin and stock are calculated the same way for every branch. Management compares branches in one view.
The system shows the difference. Finding the cause and acting on it is management’s call.
- 01ChilanzarStock count difference closedMatches
- 02YunusabadKettles: 45 pcs on the wayIn transfer
- 03SergeliSurplus down from 40 to 21 daysUpdated
- 04Mirzo UlugbekStock lasts 11 daysOn track
- 05PurchasingHeaters: 180 pcs proposedAwaiting approval
- 06Tills3 cases awaiting manager conclusionsUnder review
Same definitions: sales after discounts, gross margin = (net sales − COGS) / net sales
What needs attention
- Chilanzar · till 2: 50,000 UZS differenceBBranch manager
- Yunusabad: more discounts than usualAArea manager