Retailer Sales and Margin Analysis Template

There's some information you just to have to run your retail business. Sales and gross margins, in dollars and percentages, for each brand and product category are at the top of that list. This spreadsheet will help you get that information. There's no magic in this particular format- it's just one I've used with some success. The magic comes from having the discipline to collect and analyze the information regularly.

I've set it up for monthly. Weekly or quarterly may fit your circumstances better. How many brands and categories you want to track is up to you as well. Depending on the quality of your accounting, it can be quite a bit of work to set up and maintain. Once you're using it regularly, it gets easier. And it also gets more valuable. You'll find you develop a certain intuition about what changes are meaningful.

You might go to the articles part of this web site and check out “Conversations With a Skate Retailer” under Skate Biz articles and “Business by the Numbers” and “Minding Your Own Business” in the Snow Biz articles. They address the issue of collecting and using financial information.

Click here to get the tool.

Monthly Cash Flow Template

You have to have a cash flow. I think it's the most important management tool a business can have, especially when the cash isn't flowing the way you'd like. This template is typical of those I have used. It's kind of generic, and can be modified for use by either a retailer or a supplier. There's no magic to the line items I've chosen to use. You have to figure out what works for your business and style of management.

The more you use it, the more valuable and easier to use it gets. You learn to internalize it and develop almost a sixth sense for changes. As your business grows, it becomes ever more important because you're ability to keep everything in your head declines.

The way I use it is to print it out, stick it on the wall, and make written changes as they occur, or as I think they are going to occur. When it starts to get messy, and I no longer have a good feel for where I am, I make the changes on the computer and print it out again.

I've written about cash flow several times. Go to the Snow Biz articles and check out, for example, the article called “A Living Breathing Thing.”

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Retail Owner's Institute

The financial tools above are good and simple to use, and you can't beat the price. I like to think they're worth a bit more than you're paying for them. But if you are a retailer, and are willing to spend a few bucks, go to www.retailowner.com and buy their financial management software. It's cheap and easy to use. You don't need to be an accountant or trained in finance. Look, it's really good. Actually, it's the best I've ever seen. It's better than more expensive, complex and detailed software because you can get good results with it immediately. Go get it.

Board Retailer's Association

And if you want to buy it, you might as well go to www.boardretailer.com and buy it through them, because you'll get a discount if you're a BRA member. While you're there, check some of their excellent resources for running your retail business better. Better yet, join BRA if you aren't already a member. Check out my article on BRA and why you should join. The articles getting a bit dated and the benefits of memberships have increased. If it was a good idea then, it's a no brainer now.

Vision Worksheet

In the simplest things in our lives, we decide what we want to accomplish before we start trying to figure out how to do it. We do this unconsciously and instinctively because it's the approach that works best.

With larger issues of greater significance, like building a business, we often don't take this approach. For whatever reason, we start to work without deciding specifically what we want to have accomplished when we are through with that work. The business draws us in. There's so much to do that there's no time to think.

How can you decide what to do if you don't know where you want to be after you've done it? Begin with the end in mind.

A company's owners need to share a common vision that will meet their goals. They need to specify what they want out of the company. All owners' visions need not be combined into one statement, but it is important that they not conflict significantly.

The process of writing the vision forces you to think rigorously about your goals for the business and for yourself. In the process, you can expect some surprises, and to learn about yourself. Its hard work, but it will expand your perspective and help identify what is really important to you.

Writing a vision is a very individual activity. It can't be rushed or done by a strict schedule. Come back to it as your thoughts evolve. Both your emotions and your intellect are important to the process.

The vision is the first step in the strategic planning process. It is the basis for establishing the company's mission statement and goals. This clarifies how the company operates for the management team and is critical to developing a flexible, responsive and open organization that is critical in today's competitive environment.

The outline on the following pages will give you some ideas about what a vision statement might contain, but don't be constrained by it. There are no right answers about what should be included. Remember that your answer to one part may affect your answer to others.

Click here to get the vision worksheet


Retailer Sales and Margin Analysis Template
Monthly Cash Flow Template
Vision Worksheet
Board Retailer's Association