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4 Useful Reports for your Retail Business

Written by Sinead Comerford Customer Success Manager
Sinead Comerford
RWA Pharmacy GB - 4 Useful Reports for your Retail Business in 2022

Back to Basics

After a tumultuous two years is it time to go back to basics in your retail business? There has been a lot of uncertainty in the market since early 2019 and it is easy to forget about the key drivers which can help to maintain a successful business. In order to be successful, you need to know what is actually happening in your business and this can be achieved through a mixture of good reporting tools and actually walking the floor to see what the customer is experiencing. If you don’t enjoy the experience of browsing in your store, then it is unlikely that the customer will either. If we focus on reporting tools, which reports are most likely to benefit you!

Store Financial Reports

It’s very important that you can see your sales daily, weekly and for your financial year. How are the stores performing, how do they measure up against similar stores in the group, whether that’s a store that is similar in size or in a similar geographic area? Are the departments within the store performing as they should? Are there any outliers within the sales? With the proper reporting tools and reports, you can see all of this, and you can make informed decisions based on this. With the correct information, you can save both time and money by focusing on the areas that are working and starting to deal with the problem areas.

Product Stock & Sales

Do you know what stock you have in your stores and what is in your warehouse? How many weeks of cover do you have? Is it actually selling? A stock and sales report will show you all of this info in one report, it will help to highlight lines that you need to take action on. Do you need to force stock from the warehouse, do you need to order more or a replacement line, is the pricing right? If you can see all of the important info on a product, the price, the margin, the stock and the sales in one report you can make decisions quickly and accurately.

Best Sellers / Deadstock Reports

While these reports might show two different metrics, they are equally important. Everyone loves a best seller, and they are easy to focus on. Identifying your best sellers presents opportunities, it will allow you to maximise the sales by ensuring that you have sufficient stock and that it is available in all of your stores. Deadstock is a less attractive issue to deal with, but you must do so to maximise performance. Deadstock is taking up space in your store, space in your warehouse and tying up cash flow. Unless it is a seasonal product, dead stock is unlikely to suddenly start selling, you need to take action on it. You need to clear this stock to create space and free up cash for lines that will sell. No one likes taking reductions, but they are necessary and while they may cost you in the short term it is worth it in the long term to clear the line and move on from it.

Range Planning / Space Management

Range planning and space management can all be driven using your financial reports, your stock & sales reports, and your best sellers’ reports. What have you sold well in the past, what has worked for you? It seems like a very basic concept, but your sales history will be the starting point for all of this. What departments performed the best and the % of retail space they get should go hand in hand. You may have departments and products that you need to stock to remain a credible retailer to the customer but with the right information, you can keep these products at the right level and remove the risk to you. Within the departments which are the best sellers, do they need extra space, is there a similar line which the customer might also like. Are you measuring the sales per meter in your store, which meters are performing the best and why! This is all information that is available by analysing the data from your store, it helps to take the risks and uncertainty out of the decisions you make. Retail can change very quickly, and trends can shift but if you are making data driven decisions you are minimizing your potential threats.

If you have any questions around the reports mentioned above or about our other services, please contact your customer success manager or email pharmacy@realworldanalytics.com

Sinead Comerford is the Customer Success Executive at RWA Pharmacy, she has worked in retail for most of her career and has spent the last 16 years working in a department store Head Office. During this time, she worked as a Buyer, a merchandise planner, and various other roles in between.

 

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Contact RWA Pharmacy

Interested to learn more?