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Use cases

Four situations found in many independent stores, and how they can be handled.

These examples are illustrative: the businesses and figures are fictitious. They show the kind of work involved, not guaranteed results.

Hardware business, 2 stores

Reducing dead stock, product family by product family

The starting point

€280,000 of stock, nearly a quarter of it with no sale in twelve months. The manager knew it, but didn't know where to start.

What we put in place

  • Stock ranked by product family and date of last sale
  • An action plan per family: return to supplier, promotion, clearance or delisting
  • Monthly progress tracking, in euros
Results (sample figures)
−35%dead stock over the year
€25,000of cash freed up

Garden centre, 1 store

Tracking real margin by department

The starting point

The margin was only known once a year, at year end. 38% on paper; considerably less in the bank.

What we put in place

  • Sales, purchases, breakage and unsold stock reconciled, department by department
  • A monthly report: theoretical and real margin side by side
  • An alert as soon as a department drifts from its target
Results (sample figures)
4 ptsof margin lost on plants, identified and explained
+2 ptsrecovered in that department after adjusting orders

Franchised DIY store

Preparing an annual budget

The starting point

The budget was done by hand, in a corner of a spreadsheet, ignoring seasonality. There was no way of knowing during the year whether things were on track.

What we put in place

  • Two years of history, month by month and department by department
  • Growth assumptions, a cost budget and a payroll budget
  • A monthly comparison of actuals against budget
Results (sample figures)
2 daysto build the budget, instead of two weeks
12 monthsbudgeted by department, with real seasonality

Specialist retailer, 3 stores

Replacing 15 Excel files with a single tool

The starting point

Sales, stock, orders, costs, rotas: fifteen files kept by hand by three people. Every meeting started with an argument about which figure was right.

What we put in place

  • A single tool, fed by the till exports
  • Data entered once for anything that doesn't come from the till
  • A shared dashboard for all three stores
Results (sample figures)
6 hsaved every week on data entry and copying
1single reference figure for the whole team

Does your situation look like one of these?

Let's talk. The first conversation is free, and the review will tell you where to start.

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