Opening a second branch: what changes in your till and your numbers

The first shop is run by the owner's eyes: you know what sold, who was late, which shelf is empty. The second branch breaks that. You cannot be in both places, the stock you thought you had is in the other shop, and the numbers you used to keep in your head now need to be written somewhere both shops can see.

Here is what changes, and what to set up before the second shop opens.

One business, two places

Decide first what is shared and what is separate:

• Shared: the product list, prices (unless one branch sells at different prices), customers and their accounts, suppliers, your reports.
• Separate per branch: stock, tills and shifts, cash in the drawer, and usually the staff on the rota.

A system where each branch is a separate shop forces you to maintain two product lists and add up two sets of reports by hand. Avoid it.

Stock per branch

Each branch needs its own stock count. When the new branch opens, receive its opening stock as a delivery, with costs, rather than copying numbers. From then on:

• Transfers move stock from one branch to the other and are recorded on both sides. A transfer is not a sale and must not count as one.
• Low stock and reorder suggestions are per branch: what sells in Al Barsha may sit on the shelf in Karama.
• If one branch must never sell what it does not have, block negative stock for that branch only.

People

• Each person signs in with their own PIN. Staff who work in only one branch should only be able to sign in there.
• A manager for each branch; the owner sees everything.
• Attendance and shifts are per branch, so a short drawer is traced to the right place.

Tills and receipts

Each branch prints its own name, address and phone on the receipt. If the branches are registered under one VAT registration, the TRN is the same; your accountant will tell you. Move the tills you already have, or add one for the new counter.

Numbers you can compare

The useful questions now are comparisons:

• Sales per branch today, this week, this month.
• Average receipt and items per receipt per branch.
• Gross profit per branch, after transfers at cost.
• Cash differences per branch and per cashier.

Look at them weekly. A branch that sells the same as the other but earns less usually has a price, a waste or a staff problem, not a sales problem.

Seeing both from one phone

The owner's day changes most. You need each branch's sales, the cash in each drawer and anything unusual — a void, a big discount, a till that went offline during opening hours — on your phone, with the branch named. Owner alerts and a daily summary per branch replace the visits you no longer have time for.

Before opening day

1. Create the branch with its address, phone and tax details.
2. Move or pair its tills, set its printers and drawers.
3. Receive opening stock with costs.
4. Give staff their PINs and limit them to the branch.
5. Ring up ten test sales and a transfer from the first shop.
6. Check that both branches appear on your phone.

In CreekPOS

Branches come with the Chain plan of CreekPOS Online (two branches included; each extra branch is added to the monthly price, see pricing). In Settings → Branches you add a branch, move a till to it, limit a user to one branch and block negative stock per branch; each branch has its own stock, Inventory → Transfers moves stock between them, Today shows one branch or all, and Reports → Branches report compares them. See branches in the manual.