Guides
Practical guides to run your business
Inventory, margins, customer credit, evening cash-up, stock losses, mobile money: simple methods, with free Excel templates.
How to do a stock inventory, step by stepA simple method to take inventory in your shop: preparation, counting, discrepancies and stock value. Includes a free Excel template to download.Read the guide →How to calculate profit margin and set your selling pricesHow to calculate margin, markup and selling price for a product, with examples in CFA francs, dirhams or euros. Simple and jargon-free.Read the guide →How to manage customer credit without losing moneyHow to give customers credit, track it in a book, send reminders politely and limit unpaid debts. Practical advice for shopkeepers.Read the guide →Cash closing: doing your accounts every eveningHow to close the till at the end of the day: float, total sales, cash, mobile money, difference. A simple method and a free Excel template.Read the guide →Reducing stock losses: breakage, theft and expired goodsThe causes of stock loss in a shop and practical ways to reduce it: rotation, alerts, seller permissions and regular inventory counts.Read the guide →Mobile money in your shop: recording Wave and Orange Money correctlyHow to track Wave, Orange Money, MTN or M-Pesa payments in your business and reconcile your sales with your account balance.Read the guide →Restaurant: calculating the cost of a dish and pricing your menuHow to calculate the cost of a dish, the markup multiplier and the selling price so that a restaurant, cafe or snack bar really makes money.Read the guide →Notebook, Excel or POS software: how to choose for your businessAn honest comparison of a notebook, an Excel spreadsheet and a point-of-sale and management software for a small business: cost, mistakes, stock, credit and what to check.Read the guide →Opening a grocery store: the checklist to start wellThe steps to open a grocery or neighbourhood shop: location, starting budget, first stock, suppliers, prices, organisation and sales tracking.Read the guide →When to reorder your products: calculating your reorder pointHow to set a stock alert level per product, calculate the quantity to order and avoid both stock-outs and overstock in your shop.Read the guide →Managing your sellers: access, permissions and sales by employeeHow to organise your sellers’ work: personal access, limited permissions, sales per employee, evening cash-up and preventing mistakes or theft.Read the guide →Simple bookkeeping for your small businessThe basics of simple bookkeeping for a small business: sales, expenses, profit, separating personal and business money and preparing documents for your accountant.Read the guide →Hardware store: managing thousands of items, units and pricesHow to organise a hardware store or building-materials depot: many items, sales by the metre, kilo or carton, quantity prices and stock.Read the guide →Bakery: adjusting production, cutting unsold items, tracking marginsHow to run a bakery or pastry shop: daily production, unsold items, ingredient costs, prices and tracking sales by product and by hour.Read the guide →Bar and pub: tracking drinks stock, losses and customer tabsHow to run a bar, pub or refreshment stall: bottle inventory, losses, deposits, customer tabs, price and margin per drink and staff tracking.Read the guide →Wholesaler and depot: tier pricing, customer credit and stock rotationHow to run a wholesaler or depot: wholesale and retail sales, tier pricing, credit to resellers, stock value and product rotation.Read the guide →Keeping customers loyal: simple ideas for a neighbourhood shopHow to build customer loyalty on a small budget: know your customers, WhatsApp, controlled credit, small gestures, feedback and tracking your best buyers.Read the guide →Clothing shop: managing sizes, colours, seasons and salesHow to run a clothing or shoe shop: stock by size and colour, collections, sales, unsold items and margin per item.Read the guide →Phone and electronics shop: stock, accessories and repairsHow to run a shop selling phones, accessories and electronics: stock per model, serial numbers, accessories, repairs, credit and margins.Read the guide →Beauty salon and cosmetics: managing services, products and customersHow to run a beauty salon or cosmetics shop: services and products, stock, customer credit, staff tracking and revenue.Read the guide →Bookshop and stationery: preparing for back to school and managing stockHow to run a bookshop or stationery shop: back-to-school seasonality, supplies and book stock, school orders, credit and margins.Read the guide →Casual eatery, snack bar and fast food: serving fast at peak hours and tracking stockHow to run a casual eatery, snack bar or fast-food place: fast selling, peak hours, ingredient and drinks stock, takeaway orders and evening accounts.Read the guide →Restaurant: managing tables, orders and waiters without mistakesHow to organise restaurant service: table plan, taking orders, kitchen ticket, bill, splitting between waiters and cash closing.Read the guide →Cash flow for a small shop: how never to run out of moneyUnderstand and manage your shop’s cash flow: the difference between profit and available cash, customer credit, stock, fixed costs and a safety reserve.Read the guide →When prices rise: raising yours without losing customersWhat to do when your suppliers raise prices: work out the impact on margin, pass the rise on, talk to customers and keep traffic-driving products.Read the guide →Promotions and discounts: how to run them without losing moneyHow to prepare a profitable promotion: work out the remaining margin, pick products, limit the duration, control sellers’ discounts and measure the result.Read the guide →Selling with WhatsApp: taking orders, sending receipts, following up customersHow to use WhatsApp in your business: catalogue, orders, sales receipts, credit reminders and broadcast lists, without disorganising your management.Read the guide →Keep selling despite internet and power cutsHow not to lose sales when internet or power goes out: offline mode, battery, saving sales and syncing when the network returns.Read the guide →Holidays, Ramadan, back to school: preparing your business for peak demandHow to anticipate periods of high demand (holidays, Ramadan, back to school, year end): plan stock, staff and cash, and track sales day by day.Read the guide →The 6 numbers to track every week to run your businessRevenue, number of tickets, average basket, margin, expenses, credit owed: simple indicators to know whether your business is doing well, without being an accountant.Read the guide →Backing up your business data: never lose everythingWhy and how to back up your business data: sales, stock, customers, credit. Frequency, safe places, Excel exports and recovery after a breakdown or theft.Read the guide →Break-even point: how much do you have to sell each day to avoid losing money?Calculate your shop’s break-even point: fixed costs, average margin, minimum monthly and daily revenue, with a concrete example.Read the guide →Choosing and negotiating with suppliers: prices, lead times and creditHow to choose, compare and negotiate with your suppliers: purchase prices, delivery times, reliability, payment terms and tracking every delivery.Read the guide →Training a new seller: opening and closing routines and good practiceHow to train a new seller: welcoming customers, recording sales, opening and closing the day, till rules and the first weeks.Read the guide →Managing several tills or several shops without losing controlHow to organise a business with several tills, several sellers or two shops: shared stock, accounts per station, permissions and centralised tracking.Read the guide →Organising home delivery: orders, fees and payment trackingHow to offer delivery in a restaurant or shop: zones, delivery fees, taking orders, payment on delivery and tracking runs.Read the guide →Returns, exchanges and complaints: a simple rule for your businessHow to handle returns, exchanges and complaints in your business: set a clear rule, communicate it, record cases and keep customers’ trust.Read the guide →Cutting your shop’s costs: 7 practical ideas without lowering qualityHow to cut a small shop’s costs: energy, transport, purchases, losses, subscriptions and staffing, while keeping service quality.Read the guide →
Guides by country
Currency, payment methods and sales tracking in your country.
Running a business in Côte d’IvoireA practical guide for shopkeepers in Côte d’Ivoire: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Wave, Orange Money, MTN MoMo and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in SenegalA practical guide for shopkeepers in Senegal: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Wave, Orange Money, Free Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in MaliA practical guide for shopkeepers in Mali: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Orange Money, Moov Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in Burkina FasoA practical guide for shopkeepers in Burkina Faso: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Orange Money, Moov Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in BeninA practical guide for shopkeepers in Benin: FCFA, payment methods (cash, MTN MoMo, Moov Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in TogoA practical guide for shopkeepers in Togo: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Flooz, T-Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in NigerA practical guide for shopkeepers in Niger: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Airtel Money, Moov Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in GuineaA practical guide for shopkeepers in Guinea: GNF, payment methods (cash, Orange Money, MTN MoMo and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in CameroonA practical guide for shopkeepers in Cameroon: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Orange Money, MTN MoMo and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in GabonA practical guide for shopkeepers in Gabon: FCFA, payment methods (cash, Airtel Money, Moov Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in CongoA practical guide for shopkeepers in Congo: FCFA, payment methods (cash, MTN MoMo, Airtel Money and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in MoroccoA practical guide for shopkeepers in Morocco: MAD, payment methods (cash and card), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in FranceA practical guide for shopkeepers in France: EUR, payment methods (cash, card and meal vouchers), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in BelgiumA practical guide for shopkeepers in Belgium: EUR, payment methods (cash, card and Payconiq), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →Running a business in CanadaA practical guide for shopkeepers in Canada: CAD, payment methods (cash, card and Interac), evening accounts and tracking sales and stock.Read the guide →
Excel templates
Free Excel templates
Two files ready to fill in so you can start today, no sign-up. When you want to stop copying everything, Kaislo does it for you.
Stock inventory Excel template (free)Download the template
Daily sales and expenses Excel template (free)Download the template
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