Technology is penetrating our lives everywhere. They help us work, develop and communicate. As for business, or more precisely retail trade, the introduction of technologies was also necessary. Some people are skeptical about it, believing that it is easier in the old days. Someone is sure that this is an indispensable element of any store. To resolve this dispute once and for all, we’ve done a comparative analysis of how technology affects one of the most complex processes in a retail store, namely accounting. In this article we will consider the pros and cons of each method and decide which is better.
Manual accounting
As a rule, either a special notebook is started for manual accounting, a book for accounting is created or an Excel file is created. If the shop is not too big, they use a simple notebook, but when it comes to hundreds of items, then even the most ardent fans of the good old manual accounting start Excel. So, what are the advantages of this method:
- It’s a habit. Perhaps this method of accounting is passed on from generation to generation.
- It’s free. Notebooks do not cost that much, and Microsoft Office packages with Excel can be downloaded and installed for free.
This is where the advantages of the manual method come to an end. Let’s move on to the drawbacks.
- You need accountants. In order to keep a full accounting, you will certainly need the help of an accountant. And if your store is big enough, you need a whole staff. That means salary costs, pension fund contributions and so on.
- There’s a possibility of a mistake. Even if you or your employees are skilled in the art of accounting, there is still the possibility that an error will be made somewhere.
- It’s a long time. Any kind of accounting (warehouse, financial, sales, customers) takes time. And this significantly reduces the efficiency of the staff, because it is constantly busy.
- It is possible to lose data. Often books in which accounting is performed are lost, and Excel files are deleted. All this leads to the fact that very important data is lost.
- This is uncomfortable. For example, in order to accept the goods, you have to write down each position separately manually. The same is true for processes such as inventory and sales.
Automation of accounting
Now you can choose any procurement system that seems to be effective. Each of them fits the specific requirements of stores and businesses. Let us consider the pros and cons of such programs. So, the pros of automation:
- Significant saving of time. Thanks to the program all routine, monotonous and labour-consuming affairs are carried out quickly and easily. For example, making reports will take only a few seconds instead of hours. This also applies to such processes as inventory, write-off and movement of goods.
- The speed of customer service will increase. With its help, the process of customer service will be significantly accelerated.
- All data is at hand. The program is easily synchronized with any devices, which means that you can view all the necessary information from any device and anywhere.
- The possibility to connect a barcode scanner. This greatly simplifies all work. For example, when receiving goods it is enough to scan the barcode and all the information goes directly to the accounting program.
- Connecting discount cards buyers. In addition, this maintenance of a database of customers, which in the future can be used for promotion and advertising.
- Analytics. This allows you to always know how things are in the store.
- Reducing costs. There is no need to spend money on maintaining the staff of specialists. In addition, with detailed analytics, you can easily track expenses and reduce them if possible.