Keeping track of your store’s purchases, sales, and other data is the key to good planning and healthy margins.

The Holiday season seems like the one when a florist can least afford to be distracted from the day-to-day managing of your store — taking orders and making arrangements. However, although it’s very busy, holidays are precisely the most important time to keep good records, ideally using an easy-to-use program like Microsoft Excel or Google’s free web-based spreadsheet program (for a tutorial take a look at this video)

Here are some ideas that will help you next year at Christmas. Some of these records can be gotten from your computer and others you will have to keep track of.

1. Weather – this will affect sales and deliveries.

2. Customer count – number of walk-in customers, also weather related.

3. Sales – what you are selling and what is not moving.

4. Stock Purchases – you purchases of supplies, flowers, and plants

a: poinsettias and other plants b: cut flowers and greens c: vases and containers

It’s also a good idea to keep track of pre booked plants and the date you purchase additional plants. Next year don’t pre book the additional plants you ordered.

5. Christmas Greening - Know how many greens, labor, container and other accessories are put into the the pre greened container. This will give a designer a base to start pricing, no guesses it’s the correct price.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Floral Management, Holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.