Grocery stores are an ecosystem that can be said to be quite complete in the retail industry. Starting from production to distribution to consumers, everything is integrated by the grocery store. Even so, grocery stores are potentially threatened by the growing presence of modern stores. Therefore, grocery stores need to be able to compete with modern stores. With the advantage of modern stores in better access, the growth of grocery stores has its own challenges and obstacles.
In July 2016, the Qasir team met Mrs. Intan, owner of Toko Haikal, a simple grocery store located in the Pondok Cabe area, South Jakarta. At that time, it just so happened that one of the suppliers (supplier) of the Bu Intan shop came to deliver 3 kg gallons of mineral water and gas. The Qasir team also had the opportunity to see how this shop works.
From Mrs. Intan's story, this shop, which has been around for more than 20 years, has experienced a significant decline in income in the past few years. One of the triggers is increasingly tight market competition, both with other grocery stores and with modern retail which offers more convenience for customers. Apart from that, the road around the Haikal Shop is relatively quiet and there are not too many buyers. Within two hours, only one or two customers came to buy candy and eggs. However, Toko Haikal accepts delivery services for some consumers, which can be done by ordering by telephone or SMS.
With several forms of services provided, Toko Haikal is able to generate around IDR 2,000,000.00 every day. Unfortunately, this figure is still just an estimate, without knowing for sure. Mrs. Intan herself said that every sales transaction that occurred was never recorded and only relied on memory.
It may seem trivial, but it's not only Bu Intan stores that don't strictly record and monitor business income. This problem is also experienced by the majority of grocery stores in Indonesia, which often occurs because they do not have an integrated system to be able to provide information about the business conditions of the grocery stores they run. In fact, understanding the conditions of the business being run is the most important thing for every business actor. It's true that many people don't realize this, especially when they're just starting a business and the impact hasn't been felt yet, but when they've been running it for years, an efficient system will result in a business that runs more smoothly and is profitable.
The Haikal Store clearly needs a system that makes it easy to record sales, total income, product stock, as well as various things related to business operations. Note-taking, although important, is often considered tedious or troublesome. Therefore, it is not uncommon for entrepreneurs to skip this task, either because they don't understand its use or simply don't want to bother. The existence of certain systems or tools that provide this service will certainly make daily work in the shop much easier, so that this part of the work is no longer underestimated. The problem is, the various existing system options have a number of obstacles which make entrepreneurs think twice before using them.
The main obstacle faced by Toko Haikal when applying for the creation of software to monitor its business conditions was cost. Mrs. Intan received various system options from several of her acquaintances, but the manufacturing fees charged were relatively expensive, ranging from IDR 15,000,000.00 to IDR 15,000,000.00. Rp. 20,000,000.00. This does not include maintenance that needs to be carried out periodically, repairs when there are problems, and other necessary treatment. Another obstacle that Mrs. Intan also faces is less flexible access. He wants to continue trading and control transactions and shop conditions from his home, but he has not found a simple tool that can provide this information directly to the business owner.
Business condition reports can be said to be a very important aspect to support business development, especially when planning to expand a shop with a working capital loan. The provider of capital will of course not immediately provide assistance, but will need a complete description of the business before carrying out verification and providing the required working capital. On the other hand, most business actors are also hesitant or refuse to apply for working capital loans due to several reasons, such as not having adequate financial reports, not knowing the exact capital requirements required, the capital loan given is less than required, and difficulties in fulfilling the administrative requirements given by the capital provider. With a neater and more integrated system, business actors have a very practical way of knowing the condition of their shop and the strategies needed to support its growth.
Apart from recording sales, there are other obstacles that grocery store owners need to be aware of, namely the system for ordering goods from suppliers. Generally, the ordering process is carried out in several ways, including dealing with the arrival of a salesman to offer the product, as well as visiting certain agents. In this way, it is also difficult for business owners to find out the variety, quality, location and other product information sold by suppliers. This means that grocery store owners need more effort to handle product management, from selecting, ordering, approving orders, sending goods to the store, even to determining selling prices. This situation is different from modern stores which have better access to suppliers and distributors. With this, modern stores also have the opportunity to sell products with certain promotions or bonuses, in addition to the shopping convenience they offer. How can a grocery store businessman develop his business, let alone compete with increasingly fierce competition, if managing his business more efficiently still faces so many challenges?
Qasir, Solutions to Haikal Store's Four Big Obstacles in Doing Business
In general, the obstacles experienced by Mrs. Intan in running Toko Haikal represent the obstacles also experienced by the majority of grocery stores in Indonesia. First, grocery store owners face technological limitations in obtaining information about their business, both in terms of finances, the condition of inventory and product stock, and information about their employees. Second, it is difficult for business actors of this type to gain access to order goods from distributors. Several times, Mrs. Intan and her husband had to take certain items to a large agent located quite far away. Not to mention that in certain conditions, they need to wait for the presence and confirmation of the salesman for certain items, so it takes a lot of effort to maintain stock availability in the store. Apart from that, promotions from suppliers related to certain products can change at any time and are less informative, so it is difficult to get benefits from existing promotions and does not have the maximum impact on increasing sales. Lastly, these business people often have difficulty getting appropriate working capital due to inadequate financial reports, making it difficult for the shop to develop.
BossQ experienced a similar condition? Or do you have acquaintances who are dealing with various issues like this? Is there a solution that can make it easier for business people to manage their shops?
In fact, yes, there is now a solution.
Today's business people are slowly becoming more familiar with the point of sales system, a software that is used to support direct buying and selling transactions as the point where the transaction is said to be completed. In simple terms, point of sales is a cashier application.
Different from ordinary cash registers, this cashier application can even be practically accessed via gadgets that are used every day, such as smartphones. Apart from that, this system is equipped with various features, including detailed data on every transaction that occurs and access to distributors without obstacles. As technology and information systems develop, there are more and more choices of cashier applications with their own unique characteristics to support your shop. One of them is Qasir, a local cashier application that is right for all traders of all ages, backgrounds and types of business.
All these features are in Qasir. Features such as product registration, ordering products from distributors, promotional information, recording financial reports, product stock inventory, and many others can be accessed by business actors easily through this cashier application. Apart from monitoring business conditions, the complete report produced by this system can even be used as an important document for applying for a working capital loan. Apart from that, the Qasir application can be accessed practically via an Android-based smartphone, has a very user-friendly appearance and is easy to use, and is free without any charges. Mrs. Intan herself has felt the convenience.
This solution is not only limited to Mrs. Intan, but you can also have it. Now, all recording and business administration needs can be done more neatly, without hassle or expensive costs, and can even open up opportunities for business development. Whatever form your business takes, Qasir is your answer!