Inventory and POS system for a retail chain

One shop is straightforward to run. When the second branch opens, a question appears: how much sits in the central warehouse and how much sits in the branches.

After the third branch, answering that takes several hours. After the fifth, the answer stops being reliable at all.

The problem is not the number of branches. It is how data moves between them.

Three main pain points

Stock does not reconcile. One figure at head office, another at the branch. The cause: transferred goods are recorded in two places at different times, and goods in transit are visible nowhere.

Receivables slip out of control. Where credit sales exist, who owes what is tracked at branch level. Head office learns the total only at month end, and by then the limit has often already been passed.

The range is distributed badly. An item sits in one branch while another runs out of it. Transfer decisions are made by hand and usually too late.

Where it starts

The order matters, because each module rests on the one before it.

The second step is the one most often skipped. If goods in transit have no status of their own, a discrepancy during transfer can never be traced.

Inter-branch transfers

This is the most delicate part of a retail chain, so it is worth setting out separately.

The correct process has three stages:

Dispatch. Head office issues the goods. In the system they move to "in transit" — no longer at the centre, not yet at the branch.

Receipt. The branch counts the goods and confirms in the system. If quantities differ, the discrepancy is captured at this point.

Closing. Where there is a difference, a reason is recorded: under-dispatched, lost in transit, or miscounted.

Without those three stages a discrepancy becomes a general shortfall and its source is never established.

Receivables control

Where credit sales are common, this is the largest hidden risk.

The system needs to cover four things:

• A limit per customer — both amount and term
• A warning as the limit is approached, not after it is exceeded
• A payment schedule and days overdue
• Receivables by salesperson — who extended how much credit
• Total receivables by branch and their ratio to turnover

The fourth is frequently missing and it matters. If the salesperson decides on credit, the outcome of that decision should be visible against them.

Range: slow-moving stock

This is the quietest way to lose money in retail.

An item sits in one branch for three months while another branch runs out of the same line. Both are losses: money frozen in the first case, a sale lost in the second.

The system surfaces it:

These four reports usually pay for themselves in the first month, because the value of slow-moving stock turns out larger than expected.

Till integration

A technical question, but one to settle early.

Two options:

Till inside the system. Sales are recorded directly and stock updates instantly. Requirement: the till must meet local fiscal regulations and work with the required fiscal module.

Integration with your existing till. You already have till software that works. In that case a data exchange is configured, usually daily or in real time.

The second is cheaper but introduces a lag. Which one fits is settled during discovery.

What to measure

Record these at the start of the project:

The last one is hard to measure, but ask your salespeople and they will tell you precisely.

What it costs

The number of branches affects price, but not linearly. The second branch costs considerably less than the first, because the core work is done once. Where each branch runs its own process, separate configuration is required.

In summary

In a retail chain the problem is not the number of branches. It is how data moves between them.

Practical steps:

1. Break down your last stocktake variance by branch — see where it concentrates
2. Start with the central warehouse; branch stock depends on it
3. Split transfers into three stages: dispatch, receipt, closing
4. Show credit limits at salesperson level too
5. Switch on the slow-moving stock report in the first month