I get to see data from plenty of newsagents using a variety of computer systems. I am grateful to have this insight into not only business performance but also the quality of data across the channel.
Our biggest data weakness as a retail channel is the poor stock data quality. This hurts us commercially at the store level as well as at the supplier level.
Too few newsagents use their computer systems to track what sells and what is stolen. This stops them being able to order accurately based on sales. It means they do not know the value of stock at the push of a button. It means that hours are wasted ordering stock. It means many ordering mistakes are made.
All of our competitors in every product category use their computer systems to manage stock. This is a competitive advantage they leverage against us. Newsagents who not manage stock using their computer system let the entire newsagency channel down.
We need to get serious about managing stock. If we don’t we will lose more business to our competitors and then want to blame someone else for this happening.
Own your stock situation. It’s not hard. The commercial payoff is valuable, bankable.
If you are not sure where to start, contact your computer software supplier. Enlist their help.
Set a goal of getting one or two departments done in the next week. The results from this should be enough to encourage you to get the rest of the business done.
I know of a newsagent who, once they setup stock control for their entire business, cut their stock investment by $15,000 without losing a single sale. That’s money in the bank.
i think many of us would agree with you Mark, I know I do. My stock files are not accurate I know, and the major hurdle is the mess they are in, re stock numbers, item despritions, departments etc etc etc. Its difficult to get a handle on where and how to start the cleanup. I have tinkered around the edges, and its much better than when I purchased the business, but no where near where it should be or where I would like it to be. Would be great to wipe the lot and start again, but not feasible I know.
Rick without accurate business data you can’t make valuable business decisions.
Rick, start with a small department and one category, one you can watch over for a few weeks.
Get an accurate stock-take of this section TOMORROW !!
Work out the sales over the last month or two, and depending on how often you order this particular category, set some max/mins.
Over time these can be changed, you are in charge. Run a stock reorder for this small chosen area, see how useful it is.
Confidence will build as you gain experience. It will take you a full year to gain control of most things, but after that, you will LOVE stock control –
Good Luck !
We try to approach it seriously . One of the biggest impediments to automating. is supplier invoices. So called EDIs often aren’t line itemised aren’t especially if you’ve bought pacaked deals at fairs and conferences. Hallmark EDIs could do with a clean up as well you spend a lot of time downloading irrelevant no charge merchandising material.
You simply have to do a lot of manual handling and physical checking.
We try to approach it seriously . One of the biggest impediments to automating. is supplier invoices. So called EDIs often aren’t line itemised aren’t especially if you’ve bought pacaked deals at fairs and conferences. Hallmark EDIs could do with a clean up as well you spend a lot of time downloading irrelevant no charge merchandising material.
You simply have to do a lot of manual handling and physical checking. There’s no way around it.
taylor graphics have terrible descriptions for their cards. as you import the edi file, add new product only to have the description the same for about 30 or more other cards.
it does sound like im trying to blame someone else too…..
I use card companies I can believe in and who listen to me. I actually had SEVEN unsold Easter cards !! I had warned my suppliers not to over order, and they did not ! I reckon I lost about 10 sales max on Easter Sat morning……………..(cos the remaining cards were for Mum/wife etc , not applicable). Yes, I was wrong and will adjust for the future !
Re stock control for cards – I love Henderson because they simply have one barcode per price break, manually arriving an invoice takes moments ( and the stock-take is very straightforward in June also – hire a teenager, I’ve got one in mind already!) The rep does the pocket re-order according to my ask ( on one’s or twos per pocket, threes for sympathy). Twice a year I ask for a vigorous clean-out of slow moving stock – except today the rep told me he would be doing this next visit, he was going to revamp the control, so I didn’t even need to ask. Enough about cards.
Stock control that works for me best is in cigs/drinks/maps/and some areas of stationery such as pens/pen refills/quickstik labels/envelopes/(lots of other small cats I can’t recall atm/also AWW cookbooks/…….. pretty much things that are discrete and repeatable. Since I have these items under control of the computer, I can spend time playing in the discretionary areas of social stationery/gift/ and one-off items that may add to the bottom line. Believe me I’m no expert, but it’s still a lot of fun after 16 years!!