Whatever the size of your antique centre, you've probably already considered the switch from pen and paper to a point-of-sale system. You may have even tried one and switched back.
The best solution depends on how many dealers you have, whether you have dedicated shop assistants or rely on the dealers to cover the sales desk, and whether you have barcoded items for sale such as chalk paint or occasion cards.
We’ve listed three solutions and their pros and cons to help you find the best solution for your antique centre or emporium:
1. Good-old Pen and Paper
Sometimes simple is best. Noting down your sales on a sheet of paper can be the easiest approach if you have a smaller number of dealers and a single sales desk. It is often used when dealers are asked to cover point-of-sale as it requires little technical understanding or training. However, reporting is very manual and handwriting can be difficult to translate, so whilst there are no technology costs you may be spending hours per week inputting data into spreadsheets and correcting errors.
2. Off-the-shelf Retail EPOS
There are point-of-sale solutions available for retail stores which can be adapted for Antique Centres. These systems have a wide range of features including staff management tools, barcoding, and multi-cashier log-ins. They are useful if you have a larger volume of dealers and a team of shop assistants who can be trained to use the technology. However, none are completely customisable to suit the needs of antique centres. Often, you will need to ‘hack’ the set-up to track sales by dealer and there will be an element of manual reporting required to pass on sales information to your dealers. You will need to dedicate time to setting up the system to suit your needs and it requires a commitment from the team to learn how to use, but once in place it could save you time compared to noting sales by pen and paper.
3. Antique Centre Point-of-sale – Antiquely
Antiquely is a point-of-sale designed specifically for Antique Centres and Emporiums. Launching in early 2023 you will be able to download the app onto any mobile or tablet device. Set-up is simple and you can upload and manage a list of dealers with ease.
Antiquely enables you to track sales by dealer by inputting the item description and taking a photo of the item. The app includes live reporting, and you will receive an automated report at the end of the day. Your dealers will receive a list of their sales too, so they can keep your store stocked. Antiquely is designed to be simple to use so your team can quickly learn to use it. At launch it won’t have features such as staff management or multi-cashier log-in, but these are all planned to be added soon.
Every antique centre or emporium is unique and your needs may change over time. What’s important is you find the best solution to save time, reduce costs and make business simple.
If you would like to know when Antiquely is live, and to receive your first 30 days of premium for free, you can join the waiting list.
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