In small format
According to the study "Retail Market. FMCG Retail Chains-2013", conducted by Intesco Research Group, in 2012, the share of "convenience stores" in the structure of new retail facility introduction was about 27%. If we look at retail turnover as a whole, we can see that more than 50% of it is generated by medium and small enterprises, as well as individual entrepreneurs.
Small-format retail can be extremely profitable, but this can only be achieved by leveraging all competitive advantages, among which automation occupies a special place. Today, the market offers a multitude of trading automation solutions with a wide variety of functionality and numerous additional modules. However, this doesn't make the choice any easier. Quite the contrary— The abundance of systems presented on the market suggests a more responsible approach.
It is necessary to clearly understand what the mini-market really needs, and what is redundant for it, what functionality will actually be used in the work and will bring tangible benefits, and what will turn out to be unnecessary ballast. To answer this question, we need to define the terminology and clearly define the criteria for a "convenience store" or mini-market. The defining characteristics here are a small footprint (around 100-200 sq. m.) and a limited product range (not exceeding 10,000-15,000 items), primarily focused on everyday products. The store can be either over-the-counter or self-service. Naturally, if we are talking about an automated store, then self-service would be preferable, since this form allows you to take maximum advantage of automation and bring the enterprise to a qualitatively new level.
Most often, a small store decides to automate when the costs of ineffective assortment management and losses from personnel abuse no longer allow it to compete with more successful neighbors. Automation is often a great opportunity for such stores to bring order, formalize business processes, and make everything that happens in the store transparent and understandable. Let's try to formulate the main advantages of an automated mini-market. The first group of advantages will be related to new opportunities for working with goods. The store will be able to always maintain a full and stable assortment, and the number of low-liquid goods will decrease. The ability to work with analytical data will allow you to understand which products are profitable and which are just taking up shelf space. As a result, inventory turnover will be increased. Taking inventory in an automated store will become quick and convenient.
The second group of advantages is related to reduced losses. The store owner will be surprised to discover how many loopholes for staff theft will be closed. And this will apply to cashiers, sales managers, and buyers. Opportunities for abuse will be significantly reduced for virtually every category of staff. Inventory loss due to purchasing errors and mis-sorting will also decrease.
The third group of advantages will be felt by your customers. The speed of their service will increase significantly, and the right products will always be on the shelf. It will be possible to increase customer loyalty with the help of various discount schemes.
Usually, the automation of small stores begins with the purchase of a simple inventory control program that can be installed on a personal computer. This is the simplest automation option, but it will also allow you to automatically record sold goods, monitor their receipt/expenditure, and perform a number of other simple operations.
For a small non-food store with very rare customers, this option may be appropriate at the first stage of automation, but for a grocery mini-market, a more complex system will be required, in which a front office (software and equipment used for direct customer service, where primary information about the purchase is entered and processed) and a back office (software used for financial accounting and product movement management, analysis and forecasting) are distinguished.
For a mini-market, the front office hardware and software are particularly important. The simplest front-office system consists of a cash register (KKM). This can be either a passive cash register or a POS terminal or a POS system consisting of a fiscal registrar, a personal computer with a keyboard, a cash drawer, and cashier and customer displays. For a mini-market, magnetic card readers and scales with label printing can be added to this set. The "convenience store" format assumes a small cashier's workspace, so the POS system should be compact and have a small footprint (the area on which the equipment is located). It is desirable if it is implemented in a single-unit form.
The computing power of the equipment must be able to handle a product base of up to 10-15 thousand items. The front-office software that controls such a cash register system must have a simple and intuitive interface and be easy to configure (for both the cashier and the administrator). A store discount program can be a good competitive advantage, so such software should support discounts. The ability to obtain analytical data directly on the POS system (reports on balances, profits, returns, etc.) can also be very useful.
Naturally, among minimarkets there are facilities that vary greatly in the budget that their owners are willing to spend on automation, so ATOL has 3 types of solutions for small businesses. The simplest consists only of a POS terminal with an operating system and software that allows them to be managed. This option is for those with minimal system functionality requirements.
A more functional solution provides full front office automation. It consists of a POS kit, including a POS terminal, cash drawer, and barcode scanner. The kit may also include a fiscal registrar or a printer for the single tax on imputed income (UTII). The next step is the so-called BOX kit. It allows for automation of both the front and back offices. In addition to the POS kit, it includes a scanner and merchandising software. All three solutions are easy to use, solve basic automation problems and, depending on the required equipment capacity, can in turn be implemented in three more versions depending on the types of POS terminals on which the kits are based.
The most budget-friendly option is EasyPOS lite and is suitable for businesses with a small range of products (up to 4000). If the store's product range is wider (but does not exceed 10,000 units), then the optimal and most reliable option would be EasyPOS nova. If the product base is even wider (up to 14 thousand items), then EasyPOS optima will be needed.
The POS system ForPOSt Lite 8'' minimarket deserves special mention, created on the basis of a compact POS-monoblock Posiflex with an 8-inch monitor and a built-in 40-key keyboard. The system uses a fiscal registrar FPrint-55K, which combines the optimal balance of reliability of elements and an affordable price. The system is controlled by Frontol Win32 OPTIM front-office software. This kit is ideal for most mini-markets. In conclusion, I would like to warn mini-market owners against the temptation to save a little money and install a self-assembled solution. The fact is that ordinary computers and monitors are intended for use only at home; in a store, they can jeopardize the operability of the entire front-office system, which is fraught with serious losses for the business. Reliable operation can only be guaranteed by an industrial solution from a reliable manufacturer. In addition, all equipment must be compatible with each other, and self-assembled solutions do not guarantee such compatibility. Another important advantage of professional equipment is the availability of service centers and spare parts, including after the model is discontinued. For a small store, it is important that the automation system is simple to implement, easy to use, inexpensive, but at the same time has all the functionality that such a retailer might need.
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