Retail and wholesale companies face innumerable challenges every single day. From continual stock management to the unparalleled importance of customer service, there are few sectors whose back-end processes and outward-facing roles both take on such responsibility. In short, there are many plates to balance, and it doesn’t take much, once one has fallen, for others to quickly follow suit. When you pile on top of that (already precarious) stack the complexities that retail-specific accounting brings with it (weekly inventory management and transaction reporting), then you begin to understand the difficulties that a retail setting can pose, especially when compared with other industries. That, however, is where accounting software for retail businesses can come in handy.
The team here at Impress Solutions, who are certified Sage vendors and developers, wanted to look at the benefits of updating and improving such software to retail companies, across all the branches of a business.
How Can Sage Products Help Retailers?
There are a huge number of financial processes involved within retail and wholesale companies. Some cover the shop floor, whilst others pertain to longer-term issues. These requirements, however, all hold vital importance. They include (but are not limited to):
- Staff payment
- Supplier payment
- VAT & other taxes
- Product sales
- Profit and loss estimations (short and long-term
- Accounts, both payable and receivable
As a business, if you haven’t laid solid accounting foundations – which is most easily done using accounting software for retail companies – then you’ll find yourself constantly playing catch-up with these various expenses. Moreover, relying solely on a human accountant/bookkeeper only further increases the chance of mistakes whilst handling the accounts (incorrect data input, for example) and takes longer than an accounting software would. After all, even the most experienced of accountants make mistakes when they’re thinly stretched. As businesses grow and expand, often these outdated approaches to accounting can’t keep up and you risk inefficiency and inaccuracies in your business processes.
Sage & Training
Expenses slipping through the net become greatly amplified when you fail to use the right accounting software for your business. At best, you’ll be left with a financially inefficient business model. At worst, on the other hand, your business will be fiscally incompliant, entering (inadvertently though it may be) potentially fraudulent situations. It will save a huge amount of stress in the long-term, then, if you digitise your accounting with a package like Sage 200cloud (or Sage 50 for smaller companies). For more information on the differences between these two Sage packages, you can read our blog here! When it comes to accounting software, Sage are amongst the most trusted developers, worldwide. They’ve been industry leaders for some considerable time now.
Of course, such software requires guidance to use, though here at Impress, we offer full training for the software packages we offer. Sage’s accounting packages are easy-to-use and highly configurable to your particular retail needs. For instance, different accesses and permissions can be granted per the user’s designated role; a store manager, for instance, can be made to have a larger number of accesses and permissions than a retail assistant.
Retail And Wholesale Particularly Benefits From Module Integration
These two sectors benefit, perhaps better than any other, from the possibility of integration that accounting software offers. Sage’s software has been designed so that additional modules can be bolted on, to help a business in various ways. This could be a CRM module, or often POS software, which is particularly useful in a retail environment.
With these optional extras, not only can your company’s accounts be improved, but so too can its overall functionality as a business. You have more control over both your daily processes, and your longer-term planning (thanks to forecasting and highly actionable reporting).
What Do We Offer At Impress Solutions?
Here at Impress Solutions, we offer several Sage accounting packages, including Sage 200cloud and Sage 50. We can also integrate our POS software, Elite POS into our clients’ Sage packages, offering retailers numerous benefits. Elite drastically improves the efficiency of the shop floor and supermarket aisles, with features including:
- Fast product search
- Park and recall transactions (from any till)
- Multi-branch item enquiry
The fact that Elite POS works so seamlessly with Sage products is a real advantage for any retailer. Put together, your work as a retailer can go back to focusing on other core business areas. This may be determining what products to bring in next, or figuring out where else you could possibly improve your customers’ overall retail experience. With accounting software for retail companies, a great burden is lifted from a business’ shoulders.
Without corporate accounting software, it can feel to a business like they’re always fighting a losing battle. With such software at your disposal, on the other hand, your processes are streamlined. Your customers will become much more satisfied and your business can therefore grow. So, if you’d like to find out more about our accounting software for retail companies, then get in touch! Contact Impress Solutions today on 01708 759 760.
