Getting your store ready for the busy season
The busiest weeks of the year reward the stores that planned them. A practical checklist for stock, staff, registers and your website.
Reports are easy to collect and hard to use. A short morning habit with a few numbers works better than a long monthly review nobody finishes. These are the five we would read first.
1. Yesterday's sales, compared with the same day last week
Compare Tuesday with last Tuesday, not with Monday. Days of the week behave differently, so the right comparison is the same day a week earlier.
2. Number of sales and average ticket
Sales can go up because more people bought or because each one spent more. Split the total into the number of sales and the average amount per sale, and you will know which one moved.
3. Visitors and the share who bought
If you count people at the door, look at how many came in and what share of them bought. It tells you whether a slow day was a quiet street or a missed opportunity inside the store.
4. Differences at the register
Look at yesterday's close for each register: what was expected and what was counted. Small differences happen. The same difference repeating on the same register or shift is worth a conversation.
5. Low stock and what is on the way
Check which best sellers are running low and which purchase orders are still pending. A stock problem caught in the morning is a phone call. Caught on Saturday afternoon, it is a lost weekend.
Make it a habit
Same time, same five numbers, every morning. Write down one action, even a small one. After a few weeks you will spot problems days earlier than you used to.
