Advice on Running Family Business (Convenience Store)

[mallik]

Hi, relatives of mine have a family business, and I'm trying to help run it. It's a convenience store, but it's not the most efficiently run place I've ever seen. Inventory isn't monitored too tightly, and a lot of times, stock runs out. They use the old style registars, and everything is done with pen and paper. I was thinking of maybe trying to automate everything, so that we can automatically keep track of inventory, sales, etc. For example, when a customer purchases an item, the item would get scanned, and then the price comes up and the inventory gets automatically updated. I don't know if something like that would be too fancy for a convenience store, but it was just a thought. The store isn't huge or anything, and we're in Canada, so we're not allowed to sell alcohol like in the US, but I thought it still might be a good idea. Also I was thinking that if it were possible, I was wondering if it would be possible to build one from an old PC. What would you need to know to do it? Sorry for the long post, but does anybody have any experience with this, or any ideas? If this automated inventory/purchase system could work, does anybody know where I could get info on it, or does anybody have any recommended system to get? Thanks in advance.

 

[brxndxn]

I worked in a mom and pop computer store for a while and we had an inventory system like that. It did wonders for keeping track of things and making sure we weren't being ripped off. I forget what software program we used - but there are a ton of 'point of sale' software programs out there.

I think there are even ones that automatically add the product information into the system from the scanned barcode. You might want to consider spending $1000 or two on a decent point of sale solution instead of trying to just build one out of your old computer. Pencil and paper has got to annoy a lot of customers that are used to swiping everything.

 

[IamElectro]

You could work something out with a couple of old pcs. a couple of barcode readers and some other hardware probably run you under a grand. The software will be the exspensive part..

 

[ajpa123]

Hey Malik,
Check out this website.

Updating an outdated C-Store would actually be an interesting project !
That website will answer all of your questions. Look for Point Of Sale Terminals (fancy computerized registers). The forums are whacked out though!

Gettin your store to look like one of those Modern Quickie Marts would be fun..
Adding stuff like an ATM, good coffee, western union, ups drop off, check cashing and maybe even a Subway restaurant.. it's a sound investment to keep improving it. Margins are better than i had once thought. I now consider 'quickie marts' as being respectable professions for us average joes ... lol Stable anyway.. not like the other half of society

 

[mugs]

There's free POS software out there, but I'm not sure about the quality and all that.

You can fix the out of stock problem pretty easily. Just track your orders in a book for 5 or 6 order cycles, then average the number ordered for each product. That's roughly how many you sold per order cycle. You want to order enough extra that you don't run out, but not so much extra that stuff is sitting on the shelves for months. You'll find that especially with your faster-moving products, there isn't a lot of variation in sales from week to week.

CSN
CSP
Both good magazines. They have a lot of ads if you're looking to buy new equipment or shelves or anything like that.

 

[GeekDrew]

As many have said, there's a lot of POS software out there right now. Evaluate it as you will, and see what you like.

I personally wrote my own POS system in Access... it does exactly what I want it to do... no more, no less.

Hardware could cost less than a grand, depending on the equipment you're looking for.

Software can mount up, though, depending on what all you need it to do, etc.

 

[SherEPunjab]

I'm thinking you can get a relatively inexpensive barcode reader from somewhere, i think even some retail B&M stores sell it (where did i see it... microcenter, best buy.. not sure... call around).

edit: duh, yeah just use the existing barcode.

 

[GeekDrew]

You can pick up barcode readers all over the place now.

It makes more sense to use the manufacturer's UPC code, if it's unique, to keep track of inventory and check-out. That way you're not spending a lot of time on maintaining barcodes and relabeling everything.

As for the school library... there are many commercial products out there for that sole reason. Follett Software Company is very good at what they do I THINK they'll even work with schools with limited budgets. I only bring that up because I'm a network administrator at a high school and have worked with many library circulation packages, and Follett seems to be the best, by far, IMHO.

 

[SherEPunjab]

maybe someone can comment on this reader

software

total is less than 400

 

[mallik]

Thanks for all of the advice, I think I'm going to look into it. For a barcode reader/scanner, are there certain features/standards that I should be looking for, or are they all basically the same?