Getting the data into the system

To get started with selling, you first need to get all required data into the system.

In most scenarios there are three (3) alternatives to get started:

1. I have an ERP system: If you already have an ERP system or PIM system with much of the data

2. I have an old POS system: Do not have If you do not have an ERP system, but you have an existing POS system you are replacing with Flow Retail

3. I have nothing: You basically have nothing, and need to get started from scratch

1) I have an ERP system

If your organization has an ERP system today and which you will continue to use, you will most likely want for that to be integrated directly with Flow Retail.

We have several ERP integrations and partners supplying ERP integrations, and very concrete recommendations on integrating an ERP system with Flow Retail, and so if that hasn't been settled yet, then simply contact us to get that ball rolling.

With an ERP integration, the work load required in Flow Retail is very limited, as most of the product maintenance and post-order management is being handled through the ERP system.

2) I only have an old POS system that I will replace with Flow Retail

If you already have some sort of POS system that you are replacing with Flow Retail, you will most likely want to get as much of the existing data as possible migrated over to Flow Retail.

In most cases, you would want to migrate the following data as a minimum:

• Products

• Prices

• Stock

• Suppliers

• Brands

• Customers

We normally do not recommend migrating previous orders, both to get a 'clean cut' and also as order data are often very unstructured and difficult and complex to migrate in a good way.

We support importing all these data from Excel spreadsheets, and will assist in getting the data migrated as best as possible.

3) I have nothing, and will start 'blank'

In this scenario you will either want to manually register all data like products "one-by-one", or you will want to prepare Excel spreadsheet import files to quicker get the data into the system.

Our general recommendation is to use the Import functionality when dealing with more than 200 'records' (one record can be seen as one product or one brand). With fewer records it is often quicker to simply register dem one-by-one.

What is a price list?

A price list is a collection of selected products where there is a set price, and optionally a start time.

Use Backoffice to configure stuff

And use Retail to sell as hell

You can also use Assistant to sell from anywhere

And Checkout is also somewhere

What is the purpose of a price list?

The purpose of a price list is to be able to have pre-defined or custom prices on various levels in the system.

A price list can be defined on both the chain itself, on each individual store, and on each individual customer.

This is another section for this docs.

Connecting the store to the net

• Connect the card terminal to the USB

• Insert something somewhere

If there are price lists active, on for example both the store and on the selected customer, then it is always the price on the "nearest" price list to the customer that will be used. So, in this case the price on the price list attached to the customer is the one being used, even if the price on the store might be lower.

Creating a new price list

Price lists are created in Backoffice.

1. Navigate to Products > Price lists

2. Create new Price list

3. Add products to the price list by searching on the SKU or name. Optionally set a start time

4. Save the Price list

Once the Price list has been created, it can be attached to either a store and/or a customer.

The Flow Retail POS platform consists of a total of three clients:

1. Backoffice (browser)

2. Assistant (mobile phones or handheld devices)

3. Client (desktop computers (Windows/Mac) or tablets (iOS or Android)

Accessing Backoffice

Backoffice is available directly in the web browser, and so to access it you simply need to navigate to https://backoffice.flowretail.com

Installing the Assistant app

1. Go to Google Play on your Android device, or go to Apple AppStore on your iPhone

2. Search for "Flow Retail Assistant" and install the app

3. Start the app, and choose "Flow Retail Platform". Make a note of the 6-character authentication code

4. Create a new terminal in Flow Retail Backoffice, by navigating to > Stores > select the relevant store > Tills > Add new till

5. Fill in all required fields, hit Save, and go back into the defined till to add the 6-character authentication code

6. You will now be automatically authenticated in the app, and can proceed to log in with your given username and PIN (4-6 digits)

Installing the Client on Windows

1. Download and install the latest version on https://dl.flowretail.com/dist/flowretail/production/windows/flowretail-latest.exe

2. Follow steps 3-6 from above

Installing the Client on Mac

1. Download the latest version on https://dl.flowretail.com/dist/flowretail/production/macos/flowretail-latest.zip

2. Move the application file to the Applications folder on your Mac

3. Hold in the control button while starting the Flow Retail application, and allow/grant the permission coming up. You might need to do this twice

4. Follow steps 3-6 from above

Installing the Client on iPad tablets

1. Go to Apple AppStore marketplace

2. Search for "Flow Retail Client"

3. Install the app

4. Follow steps 3-6 from above

Introduksjon

Dette dokumentet beskriver varetelling i Flow Retail. Merk at varetelling medfører oppdateringer av lageret og det er derfor viktig at det gjøres så nøye som mulig.

Hvorfor må vi ha varetelling?

For mest mulig effektiv drift

Lagerbeholdningen i en butikk er alltid i bevegelse, med produkter inn (innkjøp) og ut (salg) hver eneste dag, og der det kan oppstå avvik dersom man ikke gjør det skikkelig hver eneste gang. I tillegg kan det forekomme svinn i form av produkter som går i stykker eller blir stjålet.

For å kunne operere mest mulig effektivt i det daglige er det viktig at lagerbeholdningen systemet sier det skal være, stemmer.

For et mest mulig korrekt regnskap

I tillegg er det et regnskapsmessig krav at lagerverdien registreres som en del av balansen i årsavslutningen. Kostprisen (varekostnaden) på alle produktene summeres opp og gir en lagerverdi. Varetellingen vil gi ut rapport på hva lagerverdien var før tellingen, og hva den er etter tellingen når beholdningen er oppdatert til det reelle antallet. I Norge føres varelageret (eiendel) på debet konto 1460 mens beholdningsendringen (differansen, i praksis tapet) føres på kredit konto 4090 (beholdningsendring). Debet 7800 brukes til å føre på beholdningsavvik/svinn, mens debet 7805 brukes til nedskrivning av varelager.

Varetellingen består av tre steg

1) Opprettelse av tellingen (Flow Backoffice), 2) Selve tellingen (Flow Asisstant), og 3) Verifisering og oppdatering av telleresultatet (Flow Backoffice).

Nedenfor er beskrevet de forskjellige stegene i detalj.

1 - Opprette ny telling

1. Gå til Backoffice

2. Opprett ny varetelling

   1. Gå til Produkter > Varetelling, og velg butikk og lager du ønsker å telle på

   2. Velg Ny varetelling

      1. Skriv en informativ beskrivelse, f.eks. “Telling TV Samsung w52 2025

      2. Velg type

         1. Alle produkter = Velg denne når du skal telle HELE butikken. Såfremt man ikke skal ha en komplett varetelling av hele butikken mens den er stengt, frarådes å velge denne. Du kan eventuelt velge å kun ta med varer som har beholdning i systemet fra før, men da vil du potensielt ikke få talt de produktene som i praksis finnes i butikken men som står til 0 i beholdning.

         2. Utvalgte = Velg utvalgte produkter, fra enkeltprodukter, til spesifikk(e) merke(r), til spesifikk(e) produktgruppe(r)
         3. Når alle produktene du ønsker å telle er lagt til, velger du “Start” øverst. Når du har bekreftet at du ønsker å gå i gang med tellingen vil videre arbeid skje i Flow Assistant appen på en håndterminal eller mobil (Android / iPhone).

2 - Den fysiske varetellingen

Den praktiske fysiske varetellingen utføres med Flow Assistant på håndterminaler eller mobiltelefoner med appen installert.

1. Start Flow Assistant appen på en håndterminal eller mobiltelefon der den er installert.

   1. Appen finnes på Google Play og Apple AppStore. Søk på “Flow Assistant”. For å onboarde klienten på din butikk må du få hjelp av en bruker med tilgang til Backoffice og som kan opprette nye terminaler/devicer.

2. Velg Mer > Varetelling

3. Velg aktuelt lager, og velg deretter den tellingen du ønsker å jobbe med

4. Tell varene ved å scanne dem eller skrive varekoden. Registrer det aktuelle antallet enten ved å skrive tallet eller bruke +/- til å justere.

Merk at du kan velger filter-ikonet ved søke-feltet, og for eksempel skjule alle produktene som er registrert på din telle-enhet.

Registrere avviksmelding under telling

Du kan også registrere en avviksmelding mens du teller, for eksempel dersom du har talt 20 stk men ser at den ene er ødelagt.

Legg da inn 20 og skriv melding at den ene er ødelagt.

Den som ser over og kontrollerer tellingen i Flow Backoffice etterpå vil da kunne se denne meldingen, og ta en vurdering på om den skal tas med eller droppes.

Fullfør tellingen ved å registrere telleresultatet

Når du er ferdig med å telle, velg “Registrer”.

Dette vil sende det talte resultatet inn til tellelisten i Flow Retail.

3 - Kontroll + oppdatering av lagerbeholdning

Inne på lagertellingen i Backoffice kan man se hva som er talt, diff og liknende. Merk at Assistant-klientene må trykke "Registrer" for at man skal se den talte beholdningen i Backoffice.

Sett tellingen i Kontroll

Når man mener man har talt alt må tellingen settes i kontroll ved å velge “Sett i kontroll”. Ingen kan da gjøre videre telling på den aktuelle tellingen. Du kan når som helst gjenoppta en telling som er satt i kontroll ved å velge "Gjenoppta".

Filtrer ut de som har diff, eller last ned PDF/Excel (“Last ned som fil” oppe til høyre) for å se gjennom om tellingen ser grei ut.

Fullfør tellingen

Når man har registrert aktuell beholdning på alle produktene innenfor en varetelling må man oppdatere lagerbeholdningen i systemet.

Velg "Fullfør" for å gjøre dette.

Omtelling

Før du velger "Fullfør" i forrige steg kan du velge å flytte de produktene som virker ut til å potensielt være enten talt feil eller som av andre årsaker må sjekkes over på en ny telling, en såkalt omtelling.

Dette er i praksis en ny telling, men da med et mindre antall produkter.

Marker de aktuelle produktene, og velg “Opprett en omtelling med x vare(r)”.

Omtellingen bør ha langt færre produkter.

Tell deretter produktene i omtellingen på vanlig måte, ved å sette tellingen til “Start”, og hente den opp i Flow Assistant.

Noen tips når man teller

• Fordel tydelig hvem som teller hvilke hyller og/eller produktgrupper

• Samme produkt kan i mange tilfeller ligge på forskjellige steder (ikke nok plass i hyllene eller kunder "flytter" produktene rundt i butikken ved at de angrer og bare legger produktet ifra seg en tilfeldig plass). Systemet håndterer dette fint, dvs at forskjellige personer kan telle samme produkt, og så summeres det opp når de er registrert inn, men det kan være at man ønsker å rydde og flytte varene når man først teller, og at en annen person da teller dette ekstra

• Merk produktene eller hyllene når de er ferdig talt, for eksempel ved å feste en Post-it-lapp på de hyllene eller kassene som er talt

• Unngå å utføre varetelling mens butikken er åpen. Det blir raskt uoversiktlig når kunder samtidig henter produkter fra hyllene

Flere spørsmål?

Varetelling er noe mange bare gjør èn gang i året (ved årsavslutning), og således glemmer man litt hvordan det gjøres. Les dokumentasjonen èn gang til, og dersom du fortsatt behøver hjelp er det bare å kontakte kundeservice. De som har utvidet serviceavtale kan også ringe vår vakttelefon som er betjent på helligdager.

Quick version

Simply navigate to Flow Retail Backoffice using your favorite browser, then go to Users > New User, and fill in the required fields.

Make sure to choose the correct account type and access level for each user, as you will be charged depending on the account type, and as users with more access than strictly needed is normally not a good idea.

First, what is a user?

A user is a person, and a person is one specific and totally unique human on earth.

Every user needs a user account, and each user account is set up with different permissions depending on the needs for each particular user (person).

Account types

An account type is one of these: Regular employee, Employee with Backoffice access or Integration.

Below is a list of the various account types:

For each user, the following fields are available:

Access level

For each user, a general access level has to be defined.

Store-specific access

If a user should only have access to one of a few selected stores, then one can define which stores and which access level they should have in each store, respectively.

Pricing

Flow Retail is licensed on a per-user basis.

The licensing differs between the various Account types. Check our website on www.flowretail.com for more details on pricing.

To be able to sell products, you first need to create the products.

There are several ways to create products in Flow Retail:

1. Adding the products manually

2. Importing the products from an Excel spreadsheet

3. Integrating an external system (for example an ERP or PIM system) which already has all the necessary product data with Flow Retail

In this article we cover alternative 1 - manually add the products.

Products must be added in the Flow Backoffice client.

1. Log in to backoffice.flowretail.com

   1. Make sure your user has Backoffice access and minimum Department manager

2. Go to Products > Products > New Product

3. Fill in all relevant fields and hit Save, or Save and Create New

Fields

Welcome to the official documentation of Flow Retail Commerce, a leading POS commerce platform for professional retailers.

What you will learn in this documentation

• Set up Flow Retail for your store or chain

• Add or import products

• Sell and handle returns

• Add various sorts of discounts

• Handle customers and loyalty

• Delivery and sending orders

• Connecting your store(s) to your online store

And much more.

Some text goes here

Flow Retail has a total of three clients, each supporting a vast number of different types of devices.

Each client is optimized for its use-cases, and should be used where they fit the best. This for example means the Backofflice client should NOT be used in the till, and the Assistant app should NOT be used for product maintenance.

("The") Client

This is the main client, and which most store staff use every day.

The Client handles all sorts of sales, refunds, order handling, purchase ordering from suppliers, receievements, till management and much more.

The Client runs on most operating system and devices, including:

• Windows (native Windows installer)

• Mac (native Mac OS installer)

• iPad (native iOS installer in the Apple AppStore)

• Android tablets (native Android installer in the Google Play store)

Assistant

Assistant brings Flow Retail into your pocket, letting you create sales and refunds from literally anywhere. Assistant also gives quick and efficient product lookup for stock details, it handles stock taking, order handling and delivery, basic reporting and more.

The Assistant is a mobile-optimized client, running on basically any sort of mobile and handheld devices, including:

• iPhone (native iOS installer in the Apple AppStore)

• Android (native Android installer in the Google Play store)

Most handheld devices including the world's most popular, the Zebra TC51/52, runs entirely on Android, and so Assistant works seamlessly on all such devices.

Backoffice

Backoffice is where most of the maintenance is done, from products to users and stores. General employees like sales staff normally do not need access to Backoffice.

• Backoffice is a browser-based "client", running in any modern browser.

Other clients

All the clients utilize the Flow Retail API, which is available for anyone, and so if someone would want to develop their own specific clients, then that is simply just a matter of creating an API key in getting started.

We are working on a Self-Service client, for stores which wants to offer its customers self-service (e.g checking out themselves).

What are the requirements for each of the clients?

Below is a list of all available clients, including both our requirements and recommendations.

Flow Retail Client

This is our main client, covering most features in the platform, from purchasing products and receivement, to doing the actual sales. The client also has various reports, product maintenance, and larger features like the Service system is being run through this client.

The client is available both on Windows, Mac and tablets.

Requirements

• The Windows version requires Windows 10, 11 or later

• The Mac version requires MacOS 11 or later

• The tablet version for iPad requires iOS 15 or later

• The tablet version for Android requires Android 11 or later

Flow Retail Backoffice

This client is a 100% web-based client that runs completely in your browser, and covers all general maintenance like creating or importing products, maintaining the stores, the terminals, users and much more.

Requirements, operating system

• Windows version 10, 11 or later

• MacOS version 11 or later

Requirements, browser version

• Chrome (version 90 or later)

• Firefox (version 88 or later)

• Microsoft Edge (version 90 or later)

• Safari (version 14 or later)

Flow Retail Assistant

Flow Assistant is a mobile app, installed on either your smart phone or a handheld device.

The app supports most day-to-day features like product lookup, selling, reports, inventory and product receievement.

Requirements

• Apple iOS 15 or later

• Android 11 or later

A supplier is important for all products, as its used on purchase orders and blbla.

Searching for a product is very easy.

When selling products, it is very important to understand contribution margins (🇳🇴 dekningsbidrag), and the mechanisms around it, both to understand which sales price should be set on each product, and also to help understanding how much discounts you can offer on a specific product.

Example

In this example we follow a product all the way from being purchased to being sold, and where we will also look at how much discount you potentially can offer.

Preparations

• You purchase the product ZEISSVICTORY for NOK 1.000 ex. VAT from your supplier Zeiss Watches. Your total expense is then NOK 1.000, and everything on top of that is your profit.

• You decide to sell the product for NOK 10.000 incl VAT to your customers.

• The product has a VAT of 25%.

Finding the contribution margin: (🇳🇴 dekningsbidrag 1 or DB1)

1. To find the contribution margin we first need to remove the VAT: Net Sales Price = (Sales Price (incl. VAT) / 1 + VAT rate) = NOK 10.000 / 1,25 = NOK 8.000

2. Next we need to get the contribution margin, which is basically your profit: Contribution Margin = Net Sales Price - Cost Price = NOK 8.000 - NOK 1.000 = NOK 7.000 This means that for each product sold, NOK 7.000 is available to both cover fixed costs and generate profit.

Finding how much discount you can offer

This of course heavily depends on various factors, like how efficiently the business is being run, etc., but lets try with a relatively general example:

Since the product costs NOK 1.000 ex. VAT, you will need to add the VAT to the price, as you have to pay the VAT. The break-even price is therefore NOK 1.000 + 25% = NOK 1.250.

This means you can sell the product for NOK 1.250 and basically earn nothing. Which is normally pointless, and so you would want to add a minimum contribution margin on top of this, for lets say NOK 2.000 (to cover fixed costs, etc.). This means the lowest price you can sell for is NOK 1.000 + NOK 2.000 = NOK 3.000, and with the added VAT on top of that you get NOK 3.000 + 1,25 (25%) = NOK 3.750.

So, to ensure a certain contribution margin, you should at maximum discount the product down from NOK 10.000 to NOK 3.750, which will cover internal costs (house rental, salary, Flow Retail license, etc.) for a total amount of NOK 2.000.

Where and how can I see this in Flow Retail?

1. Add one or more products to an order (to become a sale)

2. Press cmd+b / ctrl+b in Keyboard-mode, or tap and hold DG in Touch-mode

3. You can now see the contribution margin per product, both as an amount and also as a percentage

What is a good contribution margin?

A contribution margin of 40% means that practically 40% of the revenue will go into covering the fixed costs like house rental, salary, etc., and the remaining 60% will be for variable costs, which includes purchasing the product, shipping from your supplier, and so on - and also hopefully to generate some profit on top.

The higher the contribution margin percentage, the more is left for profit.

Summary

Dintero is a PSP (Payment Service Provider), which delivers a very easy-to-use and flexible payment solution that lets any merchant/store receive payments from its customers from many of the popular payment methods, including:

• Vipps (Norway)

• Vipps MobilePay (Denmark)

• Visa (both EU consumer cards and non-EU consumer cards)

• Mastercard (both EU consumer cards and non-EU consumer cards)

• Klarna

• Swish (Sweden)

• Apple Pay

• Google Pay

• Walley

• Billie

Dintero is great as a payment service to offer payment solutions like Vipps and Klarna in your store, and also as a backup-solution should your regular physical card terminals stop working.

How does it work?

When a customer comes to the store, or calls in by phone or chat, you can create a standard sale in Flow Retail, and choose Dintero as the payment method.

You will then need to enter at least either the mobile number and/or email address to the customer.

The customer then receives an SMS and/or email with a link to a Dintero payment page where they complete the payment. In the Dintero payment page, the customer choose which payment method they want to use from a list of the payment methods you as a merchant/store has decided to have enabled (this is set up in the Dintero Backoffice by yourself).

When the customer has confirmed the payment, the order is completed.

How do I get started?

1. Sign up with Dintero on their website. Remember to choose Flow Retail as your partner, so that we automatically get access to do the configuration.

2. Contact our support, and inform us which store(s) you want Dintero enabled on. This is normally done within 1-2 days. For this we will need access to your account.

   1. We will create the necessary API key and add to the Dintero extension

   2. We will configure the API keys on the relevant store(s)

   3. We will do one test sale to confirm everything is working, whereas you need to do at least another actual sale to cross-check and confirm everything works as expected

What does this cost?

The Dintero extension in Flow Retail is free of charge.

From Dintero there will be both a monthly fee and ongoing costs, depending on transaction volumes and more. Contact Dintero for more details.

What about accounting?

All payments going through Dintero is 100% handled by Dintero, so you will only receive one payout from Dintero, even though some of your customers choose to pay by Vipps, some by Klarna, and maybe some by the built-in card payment solution.

In Flow Retail there is a dedicated payment method for Dintero, and which can be assigned an accounting number, so that it is very easy to "balance out" the payments vs payouts. If you have any questions related to this, please contact either Dintero (for payouts or reports details), or us (for accounting number setup).