4 Useful Ways to Improve your Retail Cash Flow

by Ansar R. Blogger

Cash is without any doubt the lifeblood of every retail operation. It’s the very reason that keeps your business running and allows you to do great things for your clients. That is why it is extremely essential that you should have enough cash flow through your business not only for your survival but also to progress by leaps and bounds.

When it comes to analysing the performance of your business through cash flows, you should know that positive cash flow is extremely essential for your business growth while negative cash flow is not good news for you.

The question arises at this point is that what should be your response when you have negative cash flow and how can you enhance your positive cash flow and get your business to its best place.

It is worth mentioning that the cash flow is not only affected by increasing your cash inflows, but also putting a limit on your cash outflows. In other words, you will have to manage your expenses and also, your sales for retaining favourable cash flow results. Besides, retail pos systems can also be the right answer for you as they have been offering ease for both customers and retailers alike.

Let’s have a look at some of the practical ways to improve your cash flow and bringing your business on the right track.

1. Train your Staff on Cash Management Policies

Training your staff on cash management policies is of significant importance as it helps you to ensure that they are following procedures accordingly. Meanwhile, it will also minimise the risk of mistakes that can be avoided.

Try to review your current cash management techniques and also eliminate unessential steps while introducing efficiency. Meanwhile, if you want to revamp your cash handling methods, implement them and then train your employees. Besides, it should also be ensured that the employees know their roles regard with regards to cash handling. Let it be known to the staff that the cash management policies must be followed thoroughly and close monitoring of cash flow will also be carried out.

2. Try to Liquidate Excess Inventory

Liquidating your excess inventory will have a positive influence on your cash flow and the best way to do that is by putting them on sale. Try to bring out the slow-moving products from your stock and put them on sales while marking them down. Although this practice will minimise your profits, it would help you to free up space and cash.

Besides, if you want to add value to your revenue and get rid of your slow-moving inventory at the same time, you can also complement other products and bundle them together.

3. Get Clients to Pay Invoice Timely

Another crucial factor to enhance your cash flow is by getting your clients to pay their invoices on time. However, it is not easy as it seems and there are lots of practical strategies to enhance the likelihood of getting cash quickly.

Try to make sure that you remind your clients when their invoices will be due. Besides, you can also send email reminders a couple of days before the invoice is due, on the exact date, and also a few days later if need be.

In order to improve your cash flow, it would also be a better option to consider offering a discount to your clients who pay their invoices prior to a certain time.

Another key to enhancing your cash flow is by having a strong invoicing policy. Putting a late payment penalty into practice for clients who exceed the due date will not only help to increase the odds of getting your money, but it will also distinguish you as professional.

4. An Up-to-the-minute EPOS System will Help

The modern point of sale solution can track every aspect of your business regardless of whether it is the basic inventory or your sales in a particular shift. These sales figures can easily be split into expenses and profit per unit, or even per hour as you like. With the right kind of data, it’s convenient to see your best performers in terms of sales and sellers. Besides, with the proper setup, a point of sale system can easily help retail businesses to identify their key customers.