Liga.Biz

Automation has become a key element in trade - it makes it possible to organize work in such a way as to free the business owner from routine, but at the same time maintain control over the management of the entire retail network.

However, when it comes to implementing software in store operations, managers have many questions. This is quite logical in the context of finding the perfect management tool and often internal resistance to change.

The program helps owners of online stores, retail chains, warehouses, and manufacturing facilities to keep comprehensive records. It takes care of most of the daily tasks of an entrepreneur, such as automating management accounting, streamlining customer service, financial and warehouse accounting. This gives the manager the opportunity to look at their business from above. 

Automation of finished goods accounting, for example, in a grocery store, systematizes all work processes. The Torgsoft accounting program installed on sellers' computers carries out the arrival, sale, and return of goods; marks them with barcodes; packs and packs goods; keeps records of stocks in the warehouse, profits, settlements with partners, employees; prepares documentation and reports for the tax authorities, etc.

At the same time, many people associate the transition to automated accounting with an overwhelming task. Let's try to figure out why this is the case.

Why does automation scare owners?

The difficulties of implementing an accounting system in a store can be divided into mythical ones related to the entrepreneur's beliefs and real ones that arise in the process of mastering the program.

1. Exaggerating the complexity of automation

Store owners often find the process of automation difficult and are confident that the reorganization will affect the store's usual rhythm.

Such worries are usually unfounded. To switch to automated management painlessly, you need to have a clear sequence of actions. Torgsoft specialists help entrepreneurs to identify the urgent needs of their business, select trade equipment and program options for their specifics.

The company has its own video library of automation knowledge (more than 250 training videos), user manuals, and electronic help to help you learn the program. The company also offers individual consultations and technical support services.

"It is only with experience that entrepreneurs begin to understand that accounting in each store is very individual - it is not a standardized process and can be done in different ways, as convenient, with varying degrees of detail. This is not accounting, and mistakes are much easier to correct here," says Victoria Pashchenko, editor of Torgsoft.

2. Old accounting habits

Entrepreneurs may not use 90% of the accounting functions available in the program at all and consider them unnecessary. However, understanding their importance comes only with full mastery and acceptance of the program.

Some store managers find it difficult to move away from accounting in a notebook or Excel spreadsheet. And in the transitional period of entering goods until they fully master the program, they keep double records: they enter sales both in a notebook and in Torgsoft.

"The other day, I was buying a golf set for my son, and the saleswoman was writing down the sale in a notebook: full name, size, color, price... It was painful to see something wrong," says Maria Gladkikh, technical documentation developer at Torgsoft.

Torgsoft specialists are convinced that in order for the system to work like clockwork, you need to train both yourself and your staff to be disciplined: when you receive goods, do not delay posting them to the program. Do not make transactions retroactively. Immediately enter expenses and payments to suppliers.

You need to record everything in the program: the expenditure or receipt of money, movements, sales, each cash withdrawal from the cash register. This will help to avoid initial difficulties: discrepancies with the warehouse, confusion in calculations, inaccurate profit indicators.

3. Arrival of goods

According to Yana Rybas, Head of Sales at Torgsoft, goods arrival is the biggest pain for sellers who are just getting acquainted with computerized accounting. It is worth devoting maximum time to it. Some entrepreneurs refuse to use the program because they expect it to do everything and thus simplify the accounting in the notebook.

However, for the automation of business fixed assets accounting to work, it needs to provide accurate data about the goods: name, article or serial number, barcode, etc.

Posting the store's assortment is a one-time operation. The speed of the process depends on the amount of assortment, the store area, and the "hands" of the sellers who will be stocking it.

"On average, a warehouse of about 1,500 unique items in the Torgsoft program is processed in 3-4 days without closing the store. Fast product entry is complicated if the warehouse is messy, if the same product is in different parts of the warehouse, if the seller does not know what is in the boxes or bags," emphasizes Yana Rybas.

After posting, the work goes faster. Products are quickly and accurately written off when sold, and automatically returned to the warehouse when returned. Sellers know exactly what products have been sold and how much is left in the warehouse.

4. 4. The need to pay taxes

Ukrainian business operates in difficult wartime conditions, and some entrepreneurs find it easier to keep track of sales in a notebook than to install a licensed accounting program. After all, once set up, the cash register (registrar of settlement transactions_ed.) "legalizes" each transaction by transferring it to the tax office.

If you calculate how much money an entrepreneur loses on formal accounting and, as a result, constant shortages, theft of goods by staff, incorrect arrivals, and sales errors, it becomes obvious that automated consolidated accounting and reporting is the only solution that can improve the state of the business and keep it in the legal field.

5. Staff training

The reasons for sellers' resistance to automated accounting can be both selfish: the program will not allow them to cheat with goods, and age-related: older sellers are often not flexible to change. Some employees openly sabotage the changes and blame the accounting program for all mistakes.

According to Torgsoft experts, there is only one way out of this situation: organizing salesperson training. Before implementing changes, the staff must be prepared so that they get used to this idea: warn them in advance about the installation of the program, give clear instructions on who is responsible for what, how to start and end the working day in the program, and how to turn on/off the equipment correctly.

Torgsoft has a series of video tutorials and instructions on how to use the program's modes. Allocating time for staff training will pay off the money invested in the program and help avoid mistakes.

To ensure that the integration of the new tool into the company's work goes smoothly, it is necessary to prepare not only the staff, but also the processes and equipment.

"The program itself will not correct all accounting errors - it greatly simplifies the life of an entrepreneur, removes routine, suggests the right ways, but does not think for him or her and his or her staff. First, business processes must be established. It's impossible to automate chaos," Anna Prykhodko, Deputy Head of Programming.

6. Blurred benefits of automation

Those entrepreneurs who have had something stolen from them understand why they need accounting. But they also don't understand the prospects it offers, such as e-commerce, access to new markets and marketplaces, and increased sales through planning and analyzing marketing activities.

The Torgsoft program has basic functions that provide the owner with information on how to attract customers, which promotions are effective, which products are popular, which suppliers are profitable to cooperate with, which employees are beneficial, etc.

How is the implementation of the Torgsoft accounting program carried out?

Usually, the implementation of the Torgsoft accounting program takes 1 day, without stopping trade. Training and setup take place without closing the store, so that sellers can practice typical situations in their work.

Automation is becoming an integral part of running a successful and stable business. However, to see the positive results of automated management, it takes time and the owners' desire for change. And an action plan to avoid overloading and smoothly move to a high-quality level of control and accounting.