Retail is part of the sales for most businesses: the products you recommend and what goes home with a customer. Many businesses also keep stock they use on customers and never sell. The Products page holds both: every product, its price, what it costs you, and how many you have.
Adding a product
Open Services & products, then Products and choose Add product. The product opens on its own page. If you've loaded a supplier's price list, the top of the page searches it: tick the sizes you carry and press Fill in, and the product fills in for you.
A product needs a name and a price. Everything else is optional:
- Photo, handy for a team that knows the product by sight.
- Category, to group a long list into sections. Categories are for finding things and never change a price. Choose + New category to add one.
- Brand and Supplier, who makes it and who you buy it from. Pick one from your list, or choose + New brand or + New supplier to add one.
- Description, a short note for you and your team.
To rename or remove a category or brand later, choose ⋮ on the Products page, then Categories or Brands. Suppliers have their own tab, Suppliers, beside Products, where each one keeps its price list and shows your products from them.
For each size you can also add:
- Cost, what you pay for one. Only people who manage your services and prices see it.
- Barcode, scanned or typed. A size can have more than one, for old and new packaging.
- SKU, your own product code, if you use them.
- Low stock at, the number that counts as running low.
Prices are entered including GST. If you're registered for GST, you can enter a price without it, and the full price is worked out for you. Cost has its own switch, and starts without GST, the way supplier invoices show it.
Stock you use, not sell
Turn off For sale on a product you only use in services. It keeps its stock and cost, but never shows when you're adding items to a bill.
A product with several sizes has one For sale switch for all of them. If you sell the small size and use the big one, turn off For sale for just the big size. The product's switch then says Some sizes.
Sizes and options
One product can come in more than one form: a 300ml and a 1 litre, or a range of colours. Rather than creating separate products, choose Add another size or option, then pick what makes them different: a size, a colour, a scent, a material, a flavour, or your own word for it. Each one gets its own price, cost, barcode and stock count, but they stay one product on your list.
The sizes show in a table, with each size's barcode, SKU, price, cost, low stock number, For sale and stock. Set for all, under the price, cost and low stock headings, fills that column for every size. Then change any size on its own. On a phone, the table scrolls sideways and the size names stay in view.
Counting your stock
Choose Count stock on the Products page. Every product is listed with how many you should have. Type how many you actually have, or scan each item: every scan adds one to that product's count. Only what you count changes.
- You can count while you're open. A sale made after you counted an item is kept when you save.
- Count part of your stock by choosing a category, brand or supplier first. When you save, you're asked whether anything you didn't count should go to 0.
- Your count is safe until you save, even if you close the page.
- When stock you don't sell comes up short at a count, it's recorded as used in a service.
- Lines on your price lists show up when you search or scan. Count one above 0 and it's added to your products when you save, with that count as its stock.
- Counting after the day it's for? Set Count date to that day, such as 30 June when you count on 3 July. Count what's there now. Sales and deliveries since are taken into account, so the count becomes your stock on that day. You can choose a day up to a month back.
When stock arrives
Choose Stock arrived on the Products page. Scan each item as it comes out of the box, or search for it, and set how many came. Add a note like the invoice number, then Add to stock. Everything in the delivery is added in one go. Something you've never stocked comes up from your price lists and is added to your products, with what arrived as its first stock.
Entering a delivery that came on an earlier day? Set Date received to that day first, up to a month back, and your stock reports count it on that day.
A barcode the system doesn't know yet can be added to its product right from the scan. Anyone who manages your products can do that.
Adjusting one product
For a single change, open Adjust stock on the product and record what happened:
- Stock arrived: how many came in.
- Stocktake: the actual count, and the correction is worked out for you.
- Damaged or written off: how many you're removing.
- Used in a service: how many you used.
If it happened on an earlier day, set the date before you save, up to a month back. A stocktake for an earlier day works the same way as Count date on Count stock.
The recent changes for each product are right there in the same window, so you can always see how a count got to where it is.
Who can count
Everyone on your team can count stock, add stock that arrives and adjust stock, including the Front desk and Team member roles. Only people who manage your services and prices can change the products themselves or see what they cost. Every change shows who made it.
People who don't manage your products find these pages under Stock in the menu.
Low stock
Give a product a Low stock at number and the Products page shows when it's running low. Choose Low stock above the list to see only what's running low: that's your order list. Copy list copies it with each product's code and how many are left, ready to paste into an email or SMS to your supplier.
You're also told the moment a product crosses its low stock number. It's always in the bell. To have it by email or SMS as well, turn on "A product is low on stock" in My notifications. A count that takes several products low sends one alert naming them.
Selling at checkout
When you check out a visit or make a new sale, choose Add item and type part of a name, an SKU or a barcode. Products show their price and how many are left. With nothing typed, everything is listed as before. The - and + buttons set how many, for services too.
A barcode scanner works straight away, with nothing to set up. Scan a product and it's added to the bill. Scan it again and the quantity goes up by one. See Using a barcode scanner.
Product sales behave like everything else on the bill: a promotion or promo code that covers them comes off, a discount you type or a reward comes off them too, gift cards can pay, GST is worked out, and the receipt lists them. Stock comes off automatically when the sale is recorded, and goes back if you undo it.
A sale is allowed to take a count below zero. If the product is there but the system says none, the sale still goes through, and the negative count shows in red on the Products page as your cue to count.
The walk-in sale
Someone buys something without a booking? Press the + button and choose New sale, or open Payments and press New sale there: it opens the same window as checking out a visit - add products, services or anything typed in, take a tip, apply a discount or a gift card, and record how they paid. You can put a name to the sale, or leave it anonymous for a quick cash sale. Sold by starts as you, if you're on the team: change it to whoever made the sale, and the By staff report credits them. A named sale shows in that customer's history beside their bookings, and with a service on the bill it is a visit: you can add a visit note, invite them to join your loyalty program, or let them use a reward they've earned, exactly as at checkout. Every sale lands on the Payments page - open a walk-in sale there to email its receipt or undo a mistaken one (the stock goes straight back).
In the BeNotely app, open Payments and press + or New sale at the foot of the list. New sale works the same way on one screen: the customer if there is one, Sold by, then the bill, with the camera to scan products onto it.
What each product earns
The By product report shows units, sales, discounts, cost and margin for each product, with refunds and returns taken off. Sales are what each product sold for, after the discounts each sale took, which show beside them. Margin uses what each item cost you when it sold, so a later price change never rewrites it. If you're registered for GST, cost and margin leave it out. You can narrow the report to a category, brand or supplier, and export it.
To see what one customer has bought, open their profile and choose Products bought. See A customer's profile.
The stock reports show what you have in stock and what it's worth on any day, for your accountant at 30 June, and what arrived, sold, was used and was counted over any dates.
Products and loyalty
If your loyalty program counts money spent towards rewards, product purchases count too. You can switch that off under Growth, in your loyalty program settings, so only services earn. A product bought on its own never counts as a visit for visit-based programs.
In the app
In the BeNotely app, open More, then Services & products, then Products. Tap a product to change it, or + to add one, with the same fields as on the web. The ⋯ on a product holds Adjust stock and Archive.
- Find a product by its barcode: tap the barcode button beside search and point the camera at it. Search also finds a brand, a supplier or a barcode.
- Low stock above the list shows what's running low. Share list sends it to your supplier by SMS, email or any app on your phone.
- Count stock and Stock arrived are in the ⋯ beside search. Tap the barcode button there and the camera stays open: every scan adds one, and the list builds under the camera. Press Done to go back to the list and save.
- Your count or delivery stays on your phone until you save it, even if you close the app.
- People who don't manage your products open More, then Stock. It shows once you have products or a price list.
- Suppliers and Brands are in the ⋯ too. See Price lists.
Bringing products in
- From a supplier: add their price list, and products come across as you count, receive or add them.
- From the system you're leaving: bring your products across, with their stock.
Archiving
A product you no longer carry can be archived from its menu. It leaves your list straight away but keeps its history, and you can restore it any time.