As a small to medium sized landscape yard supplies business, you need a software solution that is built for the complexities of your industry. While “off-the-self” software solutions are readily available they don’t offer the industry customisations that you need to grow your business. At the other end of the spectrum, custom-built or bespoke software is out of your price range.

ProfiitPlus landscape yard business software is our leading business management software customised for your industry. Over the last 35 years, our team of business consultants have partnered with businesses in the landscape supplies industry and through this experience industry specific functionality has been incorporated.

What to look for in landscape yard business software

Using “off-the-shelf” business software has its limitations for a landscape yard business. These limitations can hold your business back, negatively impacting your profit margins.

What will I get with ProfiitPlus?

With ProfiitPlus, you’ll benefit from the following landscape and garden supplies business features:  

• Support for unlimited ratio stock items – sell by the tonne, the cubic metre, quarter metre, trailer and more
• Generate new stock items and update existing products with quick and easy bulk editing tools
• Buy and sell in different units of measure – purchase by the tonne and sell by the metre
• For front counter sales choose from trade style invoicing screen or cash register style
• Create quotes, job cards, special orders and invoices
• Easy drop-shipping – take orders at the counter and create purchase orders on-the-fly to deliver straight to site
• Keep in touch with your customers via integrated SMS and email
• Print delivery dockets with weight, size and delivery instructions
• Import electronic price file updates from your suppliers
• Accommodate commercial, trade, council and retail pricing with flexible pricing structures
• Create pricing structures for individuals or groups of customers
• Print delivery dockets with weight and volume
• Manufacturing processes for re-potting as plants grow and increase in value

What you’ll get with Foresiight

When you partner with Foresiight you’ll get more than ProfiitPlus software. Based in Brisbane, our team of consultants make your business their business and work with you to help you grow.

Further information

Visit ProfiitPlus for landscape and garden supplies or use our easy contact form and we’ll be in touch.

At Foresiight, we regularly work with businesses across a range of industries who are ready to upgrade from the retail or POS software that is holding them back.

ProfiitPlus is a great alternative to retail and POS software such as MYOB Retail Manager because it is so much more than just retail software. ProfiitPlus is all-in-one business management software.

MYOB Retail Manager certainly has an important role to play, serving small business retailers. However, what we often find is that as small business retailers grow into larger business retailers, they in turn outgrow the functionality of MYOB Retail Manager.

At Foresiight, we’re here to help small retail businesses grow beyond their current state and ProfiitPlus plays an important role in this.

Why is ProfiitPlus all-in-one business management software better?

What does “all-in-one business management software” actually mean? And how will it benefit your business? Let’s take look:

Integration

At its core, all-in-one business management software runs each of the following business functions from one database, enabling full integration:

• Point of Sale
• Stock control
• Accounts

Automation

With your core business functions integrated in one database, data feeds automatically and seamlessly throughout your business. There is no need for multiple or duplicated data entry and you will always have access to real-time data from anywhere that you have an internet connection.

Accuracy

Through this automation, you will greatly reduce or even eliminate human error. This means you can have full confidence in the accuracy of your data and the business decisions that you make based on your data.

Add-ons

Further to this, you can also choose to add-on modules to suit your business needs. Some of ProfiitPlus’ add-on modules include:

• Paperless Office
• CRM
• Loyalty & Rewards
• Maintenance Records
• Data Import/Export
• Job Scheduler
• eCommerce
• Industry specific EDIs

Personal approach

At Foresiight, we take a consultative approach, partnering with our clients to help drive business growth. From implementation through to ongoing support, we pride ourselves on the personal service that we provide and the value we add to our client’s businesses. When you call Foresiight, you will always get to speak with a real person who understands your business.

Industry knowledge

Over the years, ProfiitPlus has been refined and customised for the key industries that we support. These include:

• Hardware
• Irrigation and pumping
• Pharmacy
• Tools and industrial
• Landscape and garden
• Automotive and marine
• Wholesale and distribution

How difficult is it to switch from MYOB Retail Manager?

For businesses switching from MYOB Retail Manager to ProfiitPlus, we keep things as simple as possible.

We provide data conversion services to extract your most important data from MYOB Retail Manager and import it into ProfiitPlus. We are experts at converting information about your customers, suppliers, stock items, product groups, and account balances – to help make the transition a seamless one.

Our team of business consultants are here to support your business in the implementation of ProfiitPlus at every level of your business with training and consultation services. 

What our clients have to say

“Foresiight made the switch from MYOB Retail Manager to ProfiitPlus seamless. They really were with us every step of the way and now 6 months in we’re certainly seeing the benefits for the business.” – Business owner, Group of Hardware Stores

Further information

To find out more about Foresiight’s leading business management software ProfiitPlus, simply call us on 1800 061 670 or use our easy contact form to tell us about your business and we’ll be in touch.

Step 1
To setup printers in ProfiitPlus/Alchemii go to Sales Orders/Invoicing | System | Setup Options – Invoicing

Step 2
Select default receipt printing to docket, invoice or neither for Cash sale, account sale and “cash only” acct sales

Step 3
Select your default invoice printer for your terminal. This can be set under “Default invoice printers“. 

If you use multiple invoice printers you can tick an option which allows the operator to select which printer they want to print to.

Step 4
If you have a docket printer please tick the “Docket printer attached” option and select your docket printer. 

We recommend using Bixalon, Nexa or Epson docket printers with our software. 
There are also more options for docket printing by clicking on the “Docket Printing” button.

Step 5
Most docket printer settings are as follows :

• Printer Emulation = Epson or Text   
• Max Character Per line = 42   
• Lines before cut = User Defined   
• Lines after cut = User Defined   
• Cut String = 027105

Cash drawer settings are as follows: 

• Cash Drawer = (Set this to your docket printer)         
• Open String = 027112000025250 (If you double click in this box it will auto fill)

Step 6

If signature pad is in use please select the correct brand/software of the signature pad.

Also tick “barcode scanner in use?” if the terminal is using barcode scanners. 

Click the OK  button once finished. 

Why is small business stock control so important? Products and services are at the core of every Australian business, so managing and controlling your stock is vital to the success of your business.  Spending a fortune on dashboards, reporting and business analytics is money wasted if on the data being reported on is inaccurate.  Businesses need an accurate source of truth from which to make business decisions relating to stock. It makes sense then that stock control should be the focus of your small business ERP software solution.

In this article we take a look at what comprises small business stock control to ensure productivity and profitability within your business, the principles of small business stock control and how to achieve it.

What comprises stock control for small business?

Effective small business stock control means accurately measuring and tracking your inventory. Understanding when to order stock, how much to order and your price points. This can sometimes feel like guess work for small businesses. However, the right software will eliminate the guesswork and allow you to take control of your stock. Let’s take a further look at why small businesses need stock management software.

Having control of your inventory can make or break a small business. Whether it’s stock management for auto spare parts, stock management for pharmacy, stock management for tool stores and everything in between – knowing how to manage your stock is vital.

This means knowing when an item is likely to sell out and when is the best time to restock your best-selling products. How much it costs to store products that aren’t selling and how to avoid over-ordering.

What about manual handling?

While small businesses will look for ways to minimise investments, manually managing inventory is counter-productive. Using spreadsheets cannot keep up with the demand of modern small business stock control and limitations include:

• Significant time and effort to manage
• They are prone to errors and inaccuracies
• They don’t integrate with other systems such as point of sale or accounting
• They don’t give an overview of product performance

Stock Ordering

Stock ordering plays a crucial part in effective small business stock control and should be pivotal to your small business ERP software, integrated across you business.  You need to provide the right stock, for the right customer at the right price and the right time or risk your customers going elsewhere.  For some businesses this simply means having full shelves, using minimums and maximums to trigger ordering.  Managing these minimums and maximums however can be quite laborious, particularly where there are seasonal trends.

In a min/max setup, you risk being in a position where you have stock sitting on shelves for long periods of time.  This can have a major impact upon stock control.  The same issue is encountered when managing stock based on a one for one replacement system.  Whilst there are some industries that call for this type of stock control, the vast majority will want to maximise cash flow by having only as much stock as is required to suit demand.

Intelligent ordering systems can overcome these issues, by calculating orders based upon actual sales for a given period of time.  For greater accuracy, use a minimum 90 day period to establish average daily usage to forecast stock requirements.  Depending on your geographic location and ordering habits, ensure that your system accommodates the interval you order in and the transit time from order to shelf.  The order forecasting system should be able to calculate orders for any snapshot of your trading period, whether you are ordering for Christmas peak trade, end of financial year or Father’s Day sales.

Of course the ultimate in ordering is a system that takes into account all of these potential ordering methods.  Your business may adopt an ordering timetable that requires a combination of all methods of stock control.  That flexibility will allow your business to maximise cash flow at low trade periods and end of financial year, whilst boosting shelf levels at busy times.

The easy principles of Small Business Stock Control

No matter your industry, from stock management for paint stores to stock management for landscaping businesses or for pharmacy, the principles for effective small business stock control remain the same. Here’s a quick summary:

Quantities – knowing what stock is ready to be replenished, when to buy it and how much to buy is essential for efficient small business stock control.

Tracking – understanding where your individual stock items are at any given time is crucial to small business stock control and will result in happier customers as you will be less likely to be out of stock of desired items.

Shelf-life – inventory items will vary in value, and certain stocks may be perishable or seasonal, which can influence how you manage it.

Holding costs – take into account the associated costs of holding stock, such as warehousing, insuring and shipping or freight. Work out how much stock you need to hold and don’t hold more than you need to.

Value – work out which stock items make the most gross margin and focus efforts on the sale of these stock items for increased profit.

Best-sellers – know you best-selling stock items and conversely your slow moving stock items to improve your ordering strategy.

How to achieve Small Business Stock Control

So how to you get there as a small business? Investing in the right business management software Australia allows small business to take control of their stock. Business management software Australia is one of the biggest assets for small business.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways business management software Australia enables small business stock control.

Reduce errors – manually tracking data results in human errors such as typos made in data entry. These cause inaccuracies that can impact a business’s bottom line.

Reduce training time – hand-held scanners used for stock-take are not only accurate but easy to use which means minimal training time for staff.

Integrate systems – the right business management software Australia will integrate point of sale, account and inventory giving you a holistic view of your stock allowing you to make more informed business decisions.

Grow with your business – as your business grows you don’t want to outgrow your stock control software solution. You might want to open another store or add new product lines. The right software will enable your business to keep control of your stock as you grow.

Learn more about stock control with ProfiitPlus, our leading software for small business.

For further information on small business stock control get in touch with the Foresiight team on 1800 061 670 or use our simple enquiry form and we’ll be in touch soon.

We work with small businesses to medium sized enterprises specialising in wholesale inventory software and retail business management software. Why do our clients choose small business ERP software? In our experience, we’ve found some key reasons why our clients are seeking a small business ERP software solution. Often we hear that business owners are spending too much time working “in their business” instead of “on their business”. Issues like stock visibility and sales forecasting are common so if you’re experiencing issues like this you are certainly not alone!

Here are 5 reasons why ERP software in Australia is in demand from SMEs:

1. You have different software for different processes and areas of your business

Unlike an all-in one business management software solution, when you have disparate systems in place, none of the systems talk to each other. For example your accounting team use one system for receivables and payables, and sales staff a separate system for customer orders. The process of taking orders, fulfilling them and inputting them into the accounting system is manual and takes up a lot of time that could be better spent.

When various front and back-end systems run separately, the result is often processes that “interrupt” the smooth running of your business. All-in one business management software or ERP software in Australia integrates systems so that your business operates from a single database.

2. Accounting is time consuming

If your accounts team use paper-based invoices and sales orders and spend hours every week manually entering them into different accounting and sales systems it goes without saying that a lot of valuable time is being wasted. The right small business ERP software will handle all of this in an instant.

The same is true for financial reporting. Do you dread 30 June? Does it take forever to consolidate or reconcile financial information across systems and do you rely on countless spreadsheets? With the right small business ERP software your accounts team won’t have to spend hours manually reconciling data because your business operates from a single database.

3. You don’t have easy access to information about your business

The best business decisions are well-informed ones. Do you currently know what your best sales margin is or can you find out very quickly? And other key business metrics like year to date sales or your best-selling product, are they readily available? To make the best business decisions that will enable sustainable growth you need these insights.

4. Customer satisfaction is down

When a business is bogged down by inefficient processes, invariably it is your customers that suffer. Effective inventory management is a basic requirement to ensure that the right stock is where it needs to be when your customers want to purchase it. You absolutely don’t want stock shortages on your best sellers.

Order tracking is also a “must” when it comes to customer service. If a customer calls to find out where their order is you need to have the answer that they want to hear. Poor customer satisfaction will result in decreased loyalties and likely sooner rather than later your customers will choose a competitor over your business.

5. Your small business stock control is poor

As mentioned above, effective small business stock control is vital for a successful business. The right small business ERP software will enable your business to track best-selling products against those are not performing so well. For example, those that aren’t performing well may need to be discounted in order to sell. Knowing your best performing products will then inform your buying strategy to increase the profitability of your business.

The right stock management software will also help you to review your pricing strategies by analysing your sales and profits and adjusting product pricing that isn’t generating maximum profit. Find out more about Foresiight’s all in one business management software.

If you’re an Australian small business retailer and have been selling products via your store, or stores, for a period of time, you have probably been advised at some point to diversify your sales channels and get online.

The reasons why you haven’t done this yet may be far reaching and don’t worry, you’re certainly not alone. Expanding your business to online sales may feel like a big step but with the right small business online sales software, you can have a fully integrated e-commerce solution that is easy to manage and profitable.

What is a multi-channel sales strategy?

You may have heard the term “multi-channel sales” with regards to getting your sales up and running online. Put simply, this term just refers to selling your products in other places, additional to your bricks and mortar stores. It means that you are providing multiple ways for your customers to purchase and includes an e-commerce sales solution. It can also include other online channels such as third party platforms like Amazon or eBay but this option is not always for everyone and will depend on your product, your audience and your overall sales strategy.

Do I need to enable online sales?

The short answer is yes. Providing your customers with the option to purchase online makes their life easier. While some will always prefer to come in store the convenience of online purchasing is obvious, especially if you’re dealing with periodical orders. Some retailers lend themselves better to e-commerce and this has a lot to do with the product your business sells. Customers can be more reluctant to purchase clothes online because they might get the wrong fit or style or even fresh products like fruit which they may want to see and touch. However, other products suit online shopping such as books, hardware, toys and everything in between.

By enabling online sales, you’re giving your customers the option to purchase anytime, from anywhere, when it suits them. Not providing this option is a big risk if your competitors do.

If you’re thinking of adding another bricks and mortar store to your business but you don’t yet have an e-commerce offering, it’s definitely time to start researching small business online sales software to find the solution that will grow your business without the expense of another physical store.

It’s predicted that online sales throughout Australia will reach over $35B by the end of 2021. So the question is why wouldn’t you want a part of this?

What about integration?

For businesses that already have bricks and mortar stores, the right small business online sales software, will integrate seamlessly with your existing sales channels. This means you won’t need to manually maintain stock information and sales transactions across multiple systems. Instead, your small business online sales software will do it for you.

Introducing ProfiitPlus

ProfiitPlus is Foresiight’s leading small business online sales software. ProfiitPlus connects your online store with your bricks and mortar stores. Our powerful eCommerce interface module has been purpose-built to integrate with the popular eCommerce platforms Magento and Neto.

With ProfiitPlus you can:

• Automatically publish product information to your website including descriptions, pricing and stock levels
• Easily pack and send orders that are automatically created once they’re placed by customers and ready to view in the ProfiitPlus system
• Avoid double handling of data – keep your inventory up-to-date and keep your customer accounts and purchasing history in one place.

Further information

Find out more about Foresiight’s small business online sales software ProfiitPlus. Simply call us on 1800 061 670 or use our easy contact form to tell us about your business and we’ll be in touch.

In order to ensure the accuracy of your data, there are a number of steps that can be followed on a regular basis to maintain your system.

Performing these simple maintenance tasks will help prevent anomalies that might arise in your stock and customer records.  This is particularly important in systems where a number of users simultaneously edit Stock Items and perform administration tasks.

Housekeeping

A number of options are available in the housekeeping list that we recommend you use to keep your ProfiitPlus/Alchemii system healthy.

The first four menu options should be run regularly for most businesses. Often these processes will run through without actually needing to change or refresh anything – but it’s a quick and easy way for you to ensure everything is in check.

Recalculate Committed Stock

This function will review all open (unposted) Sales Invoices and Jobcards and update the current Committed quantity for each Stock Item. You can run this weekly, monthly, or just as required.

Recalculate On-Order Quantities

This function will review all open (unfulfilled) Purchase Orders and update the current On Order quantity for each Stock Item. It’s a good idea to run this before you generate your automated orders or enter any large Purchase Orders.

Record Current Stock Valuation

This function will take a “snapshot” of the current quantity and value of all stock on hand (for all stock locations). This can be useful for auditing purposes and is recommended to be run at the end of each month and/or the end of each financial year.

Recalculate Customer Balances

Customer accounts within the Accounts Receivable module contain detailed information about invoices, credits, payments, and all other transactions on that account. In other areas of the system, a much simpler account balance “sum” is used to quickly and efficiently display just the current total outstanding balance of the account. Occasionally this can become out of sync with Accounts Receivable and needs to be refreshed.

This function is used to update any Customer account balances that have become out of sync. It is recommended to use this each month before your statement run.

The next two processes would be used rarely, if at all, on most systems.

Data Compactor

Compacting data reduces the complexity of stored information, we highly recommend that you backup your data before running this process!

Re-Build Indices

This function re-builds the indexes of a selected table or all tables in the database. This is not normally required as part of your regular maintenance. Please speak to your Foresiight support consultant before running this process!

Ask Us How

Every business is unique and uses the system in different ways. In some cases these processes should be run every week, for others monthly is fine or simply ad-hoc when required. Please speak to your Foresiight support consultant for advice specific to your business.

Please Note: Data Compactor and Re-build Indices don’t need to be performed as part of normal maintenance. Only use these facilities where absolutely necessary or if instructed to by your Support Consultant.

Running a landscape and garden store has many challenges and complexities that are unique to your industry. You need business management software that has been customised for landscape and garden stores

What to expect from ProfiitPlus

Business Management – Manage all aspects of your landscape and garden supplies business from a single system. ProfiitPlus handles everything from backend accounting, to stock management through to point of sale (POS). Get your business running more efficiently.

Stock control – increase your opportunity for sales by taking control of your stock/inventory so that you can maintain the best product selection for your customers and have stock items where you need them, when you need them. Set minimum and maximum stock levels to save time and simplify the ordering process. You will get support for unlimited stock ratio items so that you easily sell by the tonne, cubic metre, trailer, buckets or other measures. Plus, you can buy and sell in different units of measure for example buy by the tonne and sell by the metre.

Point of Sale – improve your customer service with ProfiitPlus’ fast and easy-to-use POS interface. Staff training is easy with the intuitive interface.

Sales and invoicing – Create quotes, work orders and invoices on-the-fly. Data entered automatically updates across all modules, in real-time. Which means that information is always up-to-date.

What to expect from Foresiight

When you partner with Foresiight you’ll get more than ProfiitPlus software. Based in Brisbane, our team have years of experience supporting landscape and garden supplies businesses. We know your industry and the challenges that you face.

Further information

Find out more about growing your landscape and garden store business with ProfiitPlus, or use our easy contact form and we’ll be in touch.

Small business stock control is one of the most important but overlooked factors needed for business success. But what does effective small business stock control look like, how is it achieved and why is it so important?

What do we mean by small business stock control?

Taking control of your stock (or inventory) is the core component of your supply chain management. It aims to have the right stock (products or inventory) available in the right place, in the required quantities and at the exact time that they are needed. This is the essence of small business stock control. Getting this right will reduce the cost of carrying excess inventory, maximise sales opportunities and increase your profit margin.  

How is this achieved?

Sounds great right but how is this achieved? Foresiight’s leading business management software in Australia is ProfiitPlus. ProfiitPlus provides sophisticated stock control functionality designed with small business in mind and customised with industry targeted specifications. Our all in one business management system integrates sales, stock and accounting function for absolute control.

What are the benefits?

But how will this level of control benefit your business? Business software that integrates your stock operations with your sales and accounts, will enable you to:

• Reduce costs and increase both cash flow and your bottom line
• Track and measure your inventory in real time from anywhere
• Help with sales forecasting through the year
• Prevent product shortages and surpluses that cost your business
• Improve warehouse organisation and human resource management
• Easily manage multiple locations management, for example across stores and/or warehouses

What strategies should I use?

Once you have the right software in place, there are some strategies you should incorporate into your operations that will ensure you achieve small business stock control.

Forecasting – accurate forecasting is crucial and without it you will not achieve stock control for your small business. With ProfiitPlus, you will be able to base your projected sales calculations on historical sales figures, year on year, taking into account seasonal demand, market trends, special offers and more.  

Stock take periodically – regular stock takes are still vital to ensure that you have the stock you think you have and that it’s all where you think it is, in the right place to reach your customers in a timely manner. The frequency of stock takes will depend on your business and whether you’re dealing with perishable products. With ProfiitPlus, stock take is much easier with the functionality of mobile barcode scanning.

Prioritise by Value – all stock is not of equal value and one unit of a certain product will not match the dollar value to your business as another unit of product. Categorising your stock by value and making sure that you have particularly tight inventory controls in place for your high value stock will reduce the impact on your bottom line when stock is damaged, lost or wasted.

Eliminate shortages and overs

Effective small business stock control will save your business money in the long term by avoiding stock overs, resulting in product that doesn’t sell and impacts your bottom line. It will also help you to make money because you will have less missed sales opportunities due to the unavailability of stock. If an item isn’t available and a customer wants it now, they will buy from a competitor and your business misses out on not only that sale but also potentially the repeat business as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can’t I just carry on using spreadsheets to manage stock?

You could – but your business will suffer. Spreadsheets need to be manually updated which means time is required for data entry, human error is common and you won’t have a picture of your stock in real time, instead the data is almost always out of date. Last but not least, spreadsheets do not integrate with your sales or accounting functions so you will be entering data into multiple systems all of the time.

Isn’t business management software for big organisations?

No. For small businesses it can be even more critical that stock control is efficient. Foresiight’s market leading software ProfiitPlus is customised for the needs of Australian small businesses across a wide range of industries.

I’m expanding from one store to two, is now a good time to consider how well my business is managing stock?

Definitely. With the expansion of your business, you’ll need to manage your stock across multiple sites and multiple teams. Spreadsheets and some start-up software can’t manage this.

Further Information

Find out more about Foresiight’s market leading small business management software ProfiitPlus. Our software has been developed over 35 years to help Australian small business to take control, grow and become more profitable. We partner with businesses across a range of industries and offer customisations to suit. Check out our industries page for more information.

Business management software can also be known as Enterprise Resource Planning (or ERP) software. It is sometimes thought that ERP systems suit larger corporations whereas business management software is for smaller organisations. This isn’t necessarily true and the two terms can be used interchangeably to mean software or a system used to manage business processes.

Business management software here in Australia, can have a number of different functions. It can be either custom built or customised to meet the unique needs of not only a given industry but a given organisation. In simple terms though, it is business management software designed to integrate, automate and streamline processes to make businesses more time and resource efficient which in turn, increases profitability.

Business management software is used for managing inventory, production sales and accounting. It also monitors and manages resources throughout a business such as:

• – revenue
• – materials
• – orders
• – human resource
• – expenses

This is achieved via a single interactive database management system so that one source of truth exists within your business and there is no inaccurate and conflicting data, reporting and insights.

What types of business management software is available in Australia?

Online – Cloud-based or online business management software solutions are accessed via the internet and payment is a subscription basis. The software itself isn’t owned or licensed by the end user but is provided as a service. This is also known as Software as a Service (SaaS).

On-premise – Business management software solutions that are installed on a server physically located on the business premises are known as on-premise solutions. Traditionally the license for an on-premise system is sold on an up-front basis and treated as a capital expense. However, many on-premise systems now also offer a subscription-based license.

Some on-premise systems also offer a “hybrid” deployment option, where the software may be hosted in a cloud data-centre environment rather than on-site.

What are the benefits of business management software?  

Small businesses will see many benefits and over time they will see the return on their initial or ongoing investment. Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits:

Transparency: Rather than each part of your business having its own information system, data is shared and can be accessed throughout your business. This eliminates the need to enter data into multiple systems or export data, which means less human error, increased efficiency and cost savings.

Decision-making: The real-time data enabled through an all-in-one system can benefit many areas of your business for the purposes of marketing, management, accounting, forecasting and more. This enables business owners (or managers) to make intelligent business decisions and respond quickly to changes.  

Productivity: The increased efficiency of streamlined business processes allows for a shift in focus from operations and logistics to business strategy which leads to business growth. Business management software will enable you to work “on” your business instead of “in” it.

Stock management: For any business that handles stock, effective stock control is crucial for success. Effective small business stock control will help you to review your buying cycles, supply and demand, seasonal fluctuations, pricing strategies and more. Knowing your best performing products will inform your buying strategy to increase the profitability of your business.

What types of industries use business management software in Australia?

Any business in Australia that handles stock will benefit from business management software that integrates stock management with accounting and point of sale functions. Businesses with large and complex inventory needs or with multiple stock locations will see the greatest benefit, with operations streamlined across all locations.

Further information

For further information on ProfiitPlus, Foresiight’s leading business management software in Australia, leave your details via our contact form and one of our business consultants will be in touch. We’ve been helping small businesses to grow for over 35 years and we’re ready to help you.

There is no doubt that 2020 has been a tough year particularly for small business. For some businesses though, it has provided the opportunity to take stock, to diversify or to review business operations and whether the processes in place still work optimally in 2020 and beyond.

At Foresiight, we work with hardware store clients throughout Queensland and Australia. If you run a hardware store and are looking for ways to future proof your small to medium sized business then business software customised for the specific needs of hardware stores is a good place to start.

Here are 6 ways that hardware store software will support you to grow your business.

1. Take control of your stock

Do you always have the right stock in the right place at the right time? If the answer is “no” or “not always” then this will incur significant costs to your business. Successful businesses understand where stock needs to be and when, to meet customer needs. They have visibility over weekly and seasonal fluctuations and an accurate understanding of supply and demand. They have automated ordering in place and integration between stock, accounting and point of sales functions.

2. Hardware customisations

You can still benefit from hardware industry customisations without going to the expense involved in implementing bespoke software built specifically for your individual business. With software like ProfiitPlus, Foresiight’s leading all in one business management software, industry customisations are good to go for hardware and tool stores. Read more about ProfiitPlus for hardware stores.

3. Full business integration

With ProfiitPlus up and running, you will achieve one source of truth. That means one database and interface to manage operations throughout your business. When your stock ordering system doesn’t talk to your accounting system it makes managing cashflow challenging and results in inaccuracies. Similarly, if stock ordering doesn’t integrate with point of sale, manual stock takes for re-ordering are time consuming and susceptible to human error. Full business integration is efficient and frees up human resource.

4. Automation

Say goodbye to spreadsheets and manual stock takes. With the right hardware store software in place, integration and automation work hand-in-hand to streamline your business processes. This means that at any point in time,  staff members across different teams and/or locations can get an accurate understanding of operations, stock-levels, sales and ordering.

5. Accurate data

With operations automated and integrated, you can be confident that your data is accurate. Using multiple systems and duplicating data entry across these systems, will always result in discrepancies and inaccuracies. Making business decisions becomes challenging  because you don’t have confidence in the information you have to hand. Your hardware store software should give you the right data that is a true representation of what’s going on in your business at any given time.

6. Consolidated IT costs

Integrated systems means integrated costs. Streamline your IT resources with one system, one supplier, one database and one license. Reduce staff training requirements and the time spent to manage multiple, disparate systems.

Talk to the Foresiight team about how we can help you grow your business with our leading hardware store software ProfiitPlus. Simply call us on 1800 061 670.

Find out more about ProfiitPlus for hardware stores.

Our leading business management software ProfiitPlus has been customised to meet the needs of landscape and garden supplies businesses throughout Australia. As a landscape supplies business, your needs are unique but we understand the industry and what you need from your management software.

Why choose business software?

Your landscape business may have grown to the point that the business management processes that you put in place in the past are no longer functional and may in fact be holding your business back. If you answer “yes” to three or more of the following questions, it’s time to start considering how business management software could transform your landscape supplies business.

1. Are you manually entering the same data into different systems across your business?
2. Do you use spreadsheets for record keeping and stock control?
3. Are you finding data inaccuracies caused by human error?
4. Are you struggling to make business decisions on the fly because you don’t have access to intelligent business insights?
5. Do you struggle to step away from your business because you are integral to the successful running of operations?
6. Are you “micro-managing” your team and/or your processes?
7. Do you spend more time “in” your business than “on” your business?
8. Are your business operations siloed?

How does all in one business management software work?

All in one business management software works primarily to connect your accounting, sales and stock management business functions into one database to achieve full integration and automation across your business. This is the core of our leading business management software ProfiitPlus.

Further, with ProfiitPlus add-ons and customisations created exclusively for the landscape supplies industry you can improve your customer management, quoting, invoicing, margin management and stock control.

Grow your business with all in one business management software

We’ve helped many landscape supplies businesses throughout Australia to grow by taking away the stress of business operations and the uncertainty of not having an accurate and real-time view of what’s going on in your business. ProfiitPlus has given many business owners the opportunity to focus on running their business as operations and processes are taken care of.

What can ProfiitPlus do for your landscape supplies business?

Here’s what you need to know about the features of ProfiitPlus for your landscape supplies business:

• Support for unlimited ratio stock items – sell by the tonne, the cubic metre, quarter metre, trailer, bucket, and more

• Save time by generating new stock items and updating existing products with quick and easy bulk editing tools

• Buy and sell in different units of measure – e.g. purchase by the tonne and sell by the metre

• Choice of trade style invoicing screen or cash register style for front counter sales

• Create quotes, job cards, special orders and invoices

• Easy drop-shipping – take turf orders or blocks & pavers orders at the counter, and create purchase orders on-the-fly to deliver straight to site

• Use the Booking Diary to schedule deliveries at the point of sale

• Integrated SMS and email to keep in touch with your customers

• Print delivery dockets including weight, size and delivery instructions

• Print proforma invoices for customers

• Save time by importing electronic price file updates from your suppliers

• Flexible pricing structures to accommodate commercial, trade, council and retail pricing

• Create special pricing structures for individuals or groups of customers

• Print delivery dockets with weight/volume

• Manufacturing processes for re-potting as plants grow and increase in value

We know that as a full-service landscape yard, you probably carry a range of hardware supplies too. Foresiight software is used widely in the hardware & building supplies industry, so you’ll benefit from all of the features of a great hardware store system. Selling timber by the lineal metre or the pack, selling bolts by the carton, the packet or as a single unit – no problem!

Don’t put up with your old accounting system or POS system any longer. Start managing your stock and running your business the way you want it run – ProfiitPlus is the right tool for the trade.

The Foresiight difference  

Established in 1981 as an Australian privately owned company, we work from our head office in Brisbane, to partner with businesses throughout Australia.

We believe that an innovative approach to the way that businesses operate and integrate their point of sale, stock control, accounting and mobile commerce is crucial for a business to grow. 

In Australia there are many basic “off-the-shelf” accounting and POS systems, and then there is a big leap to larger and more complicated (and expensive) business management systems.  Foresiight fills that gap, providing software that is affordable and easy to use.

Recently acquired, as part of Constellation Software via its operating group Vela Software Asia Pacific, Foresiight benefits from a strong corporate platform and international support and governance, while continuing to operate with the same small company responsiveness.

Further information

Find out more about ProfiitPlus for landscape supplies, fill in our contact form or call us today for a free demo.

Are you under the pump managing the multitude of time consuming administrative tasks it takes to keep your irrigation supplies business running? Do you feel like you are working “in” your business when you should be working “on” your business?

What do irrigation supplies businesses do?

You’re in the business of building and supplying irrigation parts for various projects. Some of these might include:

• • Irrigating households and household water supply
• • Water features and fountains
• • Fish farming pumping and aeration
• • Household and commercial filtration
• • Flood control
• • Golf course irrigation
• • Fire fighting facilities
• • Water treatment infrastructure

To service the projects you work on as well as your direct customers your product range is wide and varied and might include:

• • Pumps
• • Pipes
• • Sprinklers
• • Hoses and fittings
• • Water meters
• • Fittings
• • Valves
• • Water filters
• • Water storage

The scope and breadth of your projects, means that you may have multiple stores, locations, offices and you may have showrooms. These all service your customer and your business needs.

What challenges does your business face?

You carry products and provide services which means that your business processes can be complex and with this comes multiple challenges, they might include:

• • Multiple systems – you have multiple systems in place across your business and no single “source of truth”
• • Manual data entry – these systems rely on manual data entry which takes time and resource
• • Stock control – stock data isn’t updated in real-time so it’s always out of date and stock transfers are challenging
• • Lack of visibility – it’s challenging to understand exactly what is going on in your business at any given time
• • Inaccurate data – human error and multiple systems mean that your business data is prone to inaccuracy

How can business management software help?

The right business management software will automate employee driven busines processes for your irrigation supplies business. This frees up employees to do their actual jobs and take better care of your customers and the projects at hand.

Business management software such as Foresiight’s ProfiitPlus can help your business to achieve all of the following.

Stock control

Only buy and store the stock that you need based on accurate and real-time stock data. Avoid over-stocking and the cost that comes with it as well as under-stocking which results in project delays and/or disappointed customers.

Automation

Processes such as your ordering are automated so there is no manual handling and no room for human error.

Forecasting

Business management software enables you to predict stock levels, automate financial forecasts, staffing requirements and more so that you can make smart decisions to grow your business over time.

Anytime, anywhere

Manage your business from your multiple locations at any time. You don’t need to be at your “head office” to manage projects, stock, businesses processes or accounts.  

Is it time to invest in Business Management software?

If you are still not sure whether it’s time to invest in business management software for your irrigation business, then our easy checklist will help you to review where you are at with business operations and whether things are working efficiently. Answer each of these questions honestly:

• • Do you rely on manual data entry?
• • Do you use spreadsheets for stock control?
• • Is your point of sale separate to your accounting and stock control?
• • Are you  required to work out of a specific location to undertake certain tasks?
• • Are you or your team members entering the same information over and over again into multiple systems?
• • Are you unable to step back from day-to-day business operations?
• • Do you “micro-manage” your business?
• • Are you struggling to digitise your business and link online sales/ordering with your bricks and mortar stores?
• • Do you struggle to understand what your customers need and want from your business?

If you answered “yes” to more than five these questions then now is the perfect time to talk to Foresiight about how we can help.  

Why choose Foresiight?

At Foresiight, we’ve been partnering with small to medium sized businesses throughout Queensland and Australia for over 35 years. Based in Brisbane’s north, and partnering with businesses across Queensland, our business consultants provide their expertise and personalised service to each and every business that we work with.

Our business consultants have specialised experience across a range of wholesale and retail industries including irrigation, tools and hardware, pets and produce, automotive and more. We understand industry specifications and we have tailored our leading all in one business management software ProfiitPlus to meet and exceed the needs of each industry.

Why choose ProfiitPlus?

Over the years ProfiitPlus has been customised to meet the specific needs of irrigation supplies businesses like yours. We currently work with successful irrigation businesses operating across Queensland, servicing Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and beyond.

We understand irrigation and this is reflected in the customisation of our ProfiitPlus software.

ProfiitPlus provides:

• • All in one solution
• • Point of sale interface
• • Real-time data and insights
• • Stock management
• • Accounting
• • Performance monitoring
• • Plus the options to add-on CRM, Paperless Office, JobMate and more

Further information

Chat to one of our team of business consultants today about how ProfiitPlus can help your irrigation business to grow through these challenging times. Call us on 1800 061 670 or complete our simple enquiry form and we’ll be in touch.

All in one business management software is designed to integrate operational areas of your business and automate the processes required to keep your business running successfully.

But why should small businesses strive to achieve this? As a smaller operation is all in one business management software a “nice to have” or a “must have”? The answer depends on how successful you want your business to be now and into the future.

At Foresiight we’ve been supporting small to medium sized businesses across Australia for over 35 years. Our flagship all in one business management software ProfiitPlus has helped these businesses to grow. Let’s take a the top 8 benefits of business management software.

• Better business reporting. Accurate reporting on your business metrics allows you to make informed decisions, the right decisions for your business and your staff. You’ll get real-time information from one single database. This means one source of truth so no more discrepancies and inaccuracies in data across different systems.

• Next level customer service. All in one software gives you better access to customer information. This means faster response times for customer orders, enquiries and feedback and improved order accuracy. All of this will take your customer service to the next level and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty to your business over your competitors.

• Take control of your stock. All in one business management software gives you ultimate control over your stock. With this in place you can carry the optimal amount of stock, across all products at any given time of the year (taking into account any seasonal demands). This means that you can reduce the overhead costs for holding more stock than you need while also avoiding under ordering and disappointing customers and/or clients with out of stock items.

• Boost cash flow. Automate your invoicing so that invoices are dispatched and paid in a timely manner. This means more cash on-hand for your business and less human resource needed to create and follow-up on invoicing.

• Cost savings. With streamlined and automated processes in place you’ll see the cost savings from improved inventory control, better procurement management, better customer service and improved vendor/supplier relationship management.

• Improved data security. You can be rest assured of improved data security for your business and your customers with dedicated security resources.

• Standardised processes. With manual processes comes human error and variations in the away in which processes are used and followed. Simply because we’re all human! With processes automated, they are standardised and not reliant on interpretation.

• Better supply chain management. You’ll be able to achieve lean inventory (only store what you need), reduce production bottlenecks and achieve transparency throughout your entire supply chain.

Why choose Foresiight

At Foresiight, we’ve been partnering with small to medium sized businesses throughout Australia for over 35 years. Based in Brisbane, we offer our expertise through the personalised service that we provide to each and every business that we work with.

Our business consultants have specialised experience across a range of wholesale and retail industries including pharmacy, hardware, pets and produce, automotive and more. We understand industry specifications and over the years we have tailored our leading all in one business management software ProfiitPlus to meet and exceed the needs of each industry.

Further information

Chat to one of our team of business consultants today about how ProfiitPlus can help you through these challenging times and future proof your business. Call us on 1800 061 670 or complete our simple enquiry form and we’ll be in touch.