Next week I’ll be sharing some secrets of retail success we have heard from our customers. If you are in Europe then why not join me and we are running a session for those in North America too.
Before then I thought I would share one key theme as a taster of things to come. It just so happens that this tip was reflected by comments by advisors and a very successful US fashion retailer Jules Smith who took part in our recent webinar ‘Financing Your Retail Business for Growth’.
In essence it comes down to this. Know your business. Know your numbers. Not just at the end of the month when you do a reconciliation with your accountant or finance team. Know your numbers now – and I mean, right now. And now. And in an hour.
Having access to up-to-the-minute financial information that you have 100% confidence in as this is a critical factor in managing a successful retail business. It is even more true as you grow and things inevitably get more complex.
As you add sales channels your ability to track inventory, manage suppliers and then accurately update your financial records and do effective business planning will become very time consuming, very fast.
But the answer is not to go out and hire an army of bean counters and Excel gurus. Or worse still, turn yourself from a successful retailer into an accountant.
Put in place the right systems for running your retail business early and ensure this is integrated effectively into your view of the finances. For some this might mean ensuring you can share data effectively with your accountant. But we would argue that this is not good enough.
Any ‘manual’ link or additional service requires managing and that means the risk of delay and inaccuracy. It’s far better if you know your systems for running your retail business (inventory control, supplier management, order processing, shipping) integrate automatically with financial management.
This is why customers use Brightpearl. Our cloud service combines the best of retail inventory management with the best in financial management. Automatically. And most importantly, in real time. See exactly what is happening in the business when you need to – month end, day end, every minute – whatever you feel you need.
Our most successful customers tell us this is one of their secrets to success. With Brightpearl in place, they know more about their business and how it is performing than ever before and can take the steps they need to quickly capitalize on an opportunity or tackle a problem.
So we hope you join us to find out more top tips on one of our webinars and if you’d like to take a look at how Brightpearl’s integrated accounting and inventory management works we’d love to show you.
