Before the doors open

It is half past eight on a Saturday, the busiest day of the week for the sample homeware and gift shop in this tour. The owner has a coffee, half an hour before opening, and one worry: is anything about to sell out before lunch? This tour shows how the shop's Home screen answers that and a few other questions in five stops, before the first customer walks in.

Each stop is expanded below into what you look at, what it tells you and what to do next. After that come a short worked example, tips, common mistakes and where to go from here.

What does Home show first thing in the morning?

The top line sums up the shop in three short pieces: no sales yet today, four products running low, and £18,940 taken so far this month across 412 sales. The date sits beside it, Saturday 3 October in the sample.

Under that are four areas: Running low, Latest sales, Last 7 days and Go to. Together they take about a minute to read, which is the point. Home is for the start of the day, not for an afternoon of analysis.

Step by step

1. Open Home before you unlock the door. Read the top line. "4 products running low" is the number to act on; the month's figure is for context.
2. Go through Running low. Each product under its reorder level is listed with how many are left. In the sample: the fig soy candle has 3 left, the cedar candle 5, the sage linen cushion in 45 cm just 2, and the birthday greeting cards 14.
3. Decide what matters today. Three fig candles on a Saturday is a problem; the candles sell steadily and there is an offer about to start. Fourteen birthday cards will probably last the day. Running low gives you the facts; you decide the order.
4. Move stock from the back if you have it. If the stockroom has more candles than the system shows on the shop floor, now is when to bring them out. If it does not, make a note to reorder later.
5. Read Latest sales. Yesterday's last sales, newest first: two stoneware mugs and a card for £22.50 at 17:20, an oak serving board for £28.00, two linen cushions for £48.00, a fig candle for £10.80. It is a quick sense of what was moving at the end of the day.
6. Look at Last 7 days. Sales before tax for each of the last seven days, drawn as one line. Last Saturday was the best day at £1,934; Monday the quietest at £615.
7. Use Go to for the first job. Offers, Returns, Inventory and Reports are one tap away. In the sample, the owner's first job is a spring offer on the candles, so she taps Offers.

What did the last seven days look like?

Last Saturday brought in about a quarter of the week on its own. That is common for gift shops and it changes how you think about stock: a product that runs out on Saturday morning loses more sales than one that runs out on a Tuesday. It is why the Running low check matters most before the weekend.

Why look at stock before sales?

Because you can still do something about stock. Yesterday's sales are finished; the week's line is history. But three fig candles at 08:30 can become twenty if there is a box in the back, or can at least become an order placed today rather than next week.

The reorder level behind Running low is your own number. If a product keeps appearing there only when it is already almost gone, its level is too low for how fast it sells. Our guide on the reorder point shows how to work it out from daily sales and how long your supplier takes, and stock control covers the wider routine.

Tips for a five-minute morning check

• Same time, same order, every day. Running low, then Latest sales, then the week. Habit makes it fast.
• Look at sizes and colours, not just products. In the sample it is the sage cushion in 45 cm that is low. The oat one might be fine. Options are tracked separately, so act on the exact one.
• Pair Running low with the weekend. Friday morning's check is the most valuable of the week.
• Do not chase the month's figure. £18,940 is useful at the end of the month; at 08:30 it changes nothing you will do today.
• Use Go to rather than the menu. The four links cover most morning jobs: an offer, a return, a stock count, a report.

Common mistakes

• Setting reorder levels once and never again. A product that sells twice as fast at Christmas needs a higher level in November.
• Ignoring low stock on slow sellers. Fourteen cards might last a day, but if the next delivery is a fortnight away, they will not last until then.
• Reading the week with VAT in your head. The seven-day line is before tax. If you compare it with a till receipt total, which includes VAT, the numbers will not match.
• Leaving stock in the back unrecorded. If stock arrives and is not booked in, Running low warns you about products you actually have.

What should you do next?

The owner's next stop in the sample is the spring offer on the candles, set up before opening. After that the day follows through the Saturday till, a return, and ordering what is low in a quiet hour, which picks up the same four products you saw on Home this morning. For the money side, our guide to cash flow for a small business explains why buying stock ahead of a busy month needs planning.

How EasyTaskr helps

EasyTaskr's shop Home shows products under their reorder level with how many are left, the latest sales, the last seven days before tax and quick links to offers, returns, stock and reports. The reorder list and reorder suggestions then turn what you see into an order. The shop and figures in this tour are sample data.