- The three tasks we usually take off first are stock counts and reorders, price and listing updates, and a daily sales summary.
- Together they typically come to around six and a half hours a week, as an estimate we check against your own shop.
- We connect Xero, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and work from what your existing POS and online store already produce, such as exports to Excel or Google Sheets and emailed reports.
- Your family or staff can be trained in English, Hindi or Punjabi, whichever they prefer.
What the repetitive work looks like in a shop or dairy
A dairy or small shop often opens early and closes late, with the owner or family covering most shifts. Between customers there are deliveries to check, a supplier rep waiting with an order sheet, shelves to face, and a cash-and-carry list to write before tomorrow morning. Gift stores, bottle stores, hardware shops and boutiques have a similar rhythm, with more online orders mixed in.
The repetitive work is mostly about stock and numbers: what sold, what is running low, what the supplier just put the price up on, and whether the week is better or worse than last week. Much of it lives in the owner's head or a notebook behind the counter.
That knowledge is valuable. Automation does not replace it, it just takes the counting, typing and adding up off you.
The three tasks we usually take off first
The hours below are typical estimates from similar New Zealand shops, not a promise. We measure your actual week during the free session.
Counts done on a phone, with a suggested order for each supplier.
Supplier price changes checked against your margins, with one updated price list for your POS and online store.
Yesterday's numbers on your phone each morning, without opening three systems.
Stock counts and reorders
- Sales reduce stock as you go. Where your POS tracks stock and can export it to Excel or Google Sheets, the count comes from that export. Where it does not, a quick count of key lines is entered on a phone.
- Low items are flagged. Each product has a level you want on hand. Anything below it goes on the reorder list.
- Orders are grouped by supplier. The list is split into one suggested order per supplier or for your cash-and-carry run, with quantities based on recent sales.
- You approve. Check the suggestion on your phone, change anything you know better, and send it. When the delivery arrives, received stock can be ticked off against the order.
Start with your fastest movers. Milk, bread, drinks, snacks and your best-selling lines matter most. A short, tidy list of key lines is more useful than an untidy list of everything.
Price and listing updates
Supplier price lists change often, and updating every price by hand invites mistakes. A typical setup reads the supplier's new price list from email or a spreadsheet, compares it with your current cost prices and works out the new sell price using your margin rules. You see a short list of changes to approve. Once approved, you get an updated price list in Excel or Google Sheets, ready to import into your POS and, if you sell online, your online store where they allow it, plus a list of shelf labels to reprint. New products can be added the same way, with descriptions and photos drafted for your online listings.
Our guide on connecting your business apps explains how this kind of hand-off between systems works.
Daily sales summary
Each morning, a short message arrives on your phone with yesterday's sales, how they compare with the same day last week, the top sellers, any items that ran out, and the cash and EFTPOS totals to reconcile. If you have more than one shop, each store gets its own line. This works from the daily report your POS can email or export to Excel or Google Sheets, so there is nothing extra to log into. Our guide to your business numbers every week covers which figures are worth watching.
Other shop tasks worth automating
- Supplier invoices from email checked against what was delivered and entered as draft bills in Xero.
- Online order emails turned into a picking list for the shop, with a pickup-ready message to the customer.
- Slow-moving stock flagged each month so you can discount it before it ages.
- Staff hours from a simple sign-in totalled for payroll.
- Customer questions about opening hours, stock and parking answered on your website and by email, in their language.
- Use-by dates on chilled lines tracked, with a reminder before they are due.
Tools we usually connect for retail
- Microsoft 365: Excel for price lists and reorder levels, and Outlook for supplier orders and the morning summary.
- Google Workspace: Google Sheets for price lists and reorder levels, and Gmail for supplier orders and the morning summary.
- Xero for bills and daily takings.
We do not connect to your POS or online store directly. Where they can export to Excel or Google Sheets, or send you emails, we work from what they already produce.
Digital tools that help shops
- A fast, multilingual website with your hours, location, what you stock and, if it suits you, online ordering for pickup.
- A staff portal where family or staff see the roster, opening and closing steps and today's deliveries.
- A live dashboard showing sales, stock value and margin across one or several stores, updated through the day.
Read more on our websites, portals and dashboards page. If you also run a café counter or takeaway, our page on automation for cafés and takeaways covers rosters and food supplier orders.
What working with us looks like
- We watch the work. A free session in the shop with whoever does the ordering. You keep the written plan and hours estimate even if you do not hire us.
- We build one automation first. Usually one to two weeks, run on real sales and real orders before it goes live.
- You own it. It is built in your own accounts, so you keep everything if we stop working together. We train your family or staff in English, Hindi or Punjabi, whichever they prefer. Fixes and tweaks are free for the first 30 days after launch; after that, support is a monthly plan or pay as you go, whichever suits you. A named contact stays reachable in New Zealand hours.
Getting started checklist
- The name of your POS, whether it tracks stock, and what reports it can export or email.
- A list of your main suppliers and how each takes orders.
- One or two recent supplier price lists.
- The numbers you check now, and where you get them from.
- Your best-selling products, if you can list them.
When it suits, book a free session and we will come and see how your shop runs.
Common questions
Do I need a modern POS system for this?
It helps, but it is not always required. If your POS can export sales to Excel or Google Sheets, or emails you reports, we work from that. If it cannot, we can often start with a simple phone-based count and a spreadsheet.
Will the system place orders with suppliers on its own?
Only if you want it to. Many owners prefer to see a suggested order first and approve it. Once you trust the suggestions for a particular supplier, you can choose to let those go out automatically.
Can price changes update both my shop and my online store?
Partly. We do not connect to your POS or online store directly. When a supplier's prices change, the new prices can be checked against your margin rules and turned into one updated price list in Excel or Google Sheets, which you can import into your POS and online store where they allow it, with a list of shelf labels to reprint.
How long before I see the daily summary working?
The first automation is typically built in one to two weeks and run alongside your current routine before it goes live, so you can check its numbers against your own.