| You'd think pet shops would do well, even in a tough | | | | described sales down by 16-22%; even annual, |
| economy. Our dog or cat is a family member and a | | | | expected sales activities, like those huge annual |
| comfort while we're stressed. But we find that their | | | | pre-Christmas fish tank sales were way off. |
| owners are cutting back, and going to grocery stores | | | | INVENTORY, DEPOSITS AND GROSS PROFIT - |
| and discount stores to save money. How do you, the | | | | HOW DO THEY FIT? |
| independent pet shop, compete with those high volume | | | | Pay rent, pay taxes, pay employees, pay heat - they |
| discounters? | | | | all come out of your sales. Will you have enough to |
| Invest in a good POS system for your pet store. Then | | | | restock inventory? It should be the other way around. |
| you can better manage the two critical areas affect | | | | If you're paying your bills first, then replacing the |
| sales and profits - inventory and customers!!! | | | | inventory that sold, you may find yourself in trouble. |
| With a good Pet store POS system, your inventory | | | | Your inventory is your working capital, and you have |
| becomes lean and mean. You continue to meet | | | | to treat it with care. Too much, and you are cash poor, |
| customer needs, and at the same time, tighten your | | | | too little and you'll run your sales down. |
| inventory, free up cash, AND improve your margins! | | | | Do you know what your average gross profit margin |
| A good POS system will show you exactly where | | | | is? Today, this week, this month? That's how you pay |
| you stand financially: gross profit by item, by | | | | your bills - rent, payroll, advertising. The other part of |
| department, by vendor, and very important, contribution | | | | sales is cost of goods sold - and that's just a fancy |
| of these areas to overall store performance. You'll be | | | | name for merchandise you have to replace! |
| able to compare this year to last year, and pinpoint the | | | | You can control both sides of this equation, if you |
| areas that need closer management. Sometimes we | | | | know what your store is doing. Profit-wise, what are |
| don't want to look too closely. "If we have enough to | | | | your strong items, your strong departments? Your |
| pay the bills, we're okay." Good point of sale software | | | | POS system will show you those profitable |
| will give you daily, weekly, monthly and year to date | | | | departments, and then you let your sales history |
| sales and profit reports! | | | | ranking take over. What does your sales history tell |
| A post holiday survey of pet shops was grim. Some | | | | you? A good Pet store POS system will identify your |
| shops had sales figures that were level with last year. | | | | best sellers, and your worst sellers. You'll raise the |
| The few with increases attributed their success to | | | | prices (by pennies and dimes) on your best sellers - |
| more closely watching their inventories, and more | | | | even that improves your gross profit, and you'll |
| effort reaching out to their customer base (and yes, | | | | eliminate those bad sellers, using that cash (no, not to |
| they used point of sale). However, far more shops had | | | | pay bills) to put into the kind of merchandise that sells! |
| a bad, rather than good holiday season. Reports | | | | |