Saturday morning, tickets still wet from the printer
The big sale starts on Saturday. On Friday evening, the showroom team are printing new tickets for every floor piece, working from a spreadsheet the buying team sent on Wednesday. The website team are updating sale prices separately, from a different version of the spreadsheet. The till prices are changed by someone else.
On Saturday, a customer points at a ticket saying one price. The website on her phone says another. The till says a third. The sales person has to decide which to honour, in front of the customer, and it happens several times over the weekend. When the sale ends, some tickets stay up for a week, and the website still shows a few sale prices.
Why prices clash
- Sale prices are prepared in a spreadsheet and entered into each system separately.
- Last-minute changes reach some systems and not others.
- Tickets are printed by hand, and some floor pieces are missed.
- There is no single moment when prices change everywhere.
- Ending the sale is as manual as starting it.
What clashing prices cost
| Problem | Cost |
|---|---|
| Ticket, till and website differ | Arguments on the shop floor and lost trust |
| Missed tickets | Pieces on sale with no sale price shown |
| Late reversal | Sale prices honoured after the sale |
| Hours of work | Staff printing and checking tickets late on Friday |
Displaying prices accurately also matters for consumer law, and what applies to your sale pricing is for you and your advisers. One source of prices makes it much easier to get right.
How we keep prices in step
- Sale prices are prepared in one place, with start and end dates, and approved by the buying team.
- At the start time, prices change in the retail system, the tills and the website together.
- Showroom tickets are printed from the same data, per branch, for the floor pieces recorded at that branch. A check lists any floor piece without a ticket.
- Tickets carry a small code that staff can scan to check the live price on a phone, so any doubt is settled in seconds.
- Late changes during the sale go through the same system, and new tickets for affected pieces are printed automatically.
- At the end time, prices revert everywhere, and a list of tickets to remove is produced for each branch.
The next sale weekend
The buying team finalise the sale prices on Wednesday. On Thursday, each branch prints its tickets from the system, and the check shows two floor pieces missing tickets, which are added. On Saturday at nine, prices change on the tills and the website at the same moment. A customer asks about a price, the sales person scans the ticket, and the phone confirms it. When the sale ends, prices revert overnight, and each branch has a list of tickets to take down on Monday morning.
Branches and floor stock
Retailers with several branches often have different floor pieces in each. Tickets are printed per branch, based on what is on each floor, so nobody prints tickets for pieces they do not have. Ex-display pieces with their own prices are kept separate, so a sale discount does not accidentally apply on top of an ex-display price, unless you want it to.
Electronic shelf labels are an option for some retailers, and if you use them, the same price data drives them. For most furniture showrooms, printed tickets from a single source are enough.
Promotions that are not simple price cuts need the same care. Free footstool with any corner sofa, a discount on a second item or an upgrade to a better cushion fill are easy to promise on a ticket and hard to apply consistently at the till and online. Each promotion is set up once as a rule, the ticket wording is printed from it, and the till and website apply the same rule, so a customer who asks for the free footstool gets it whichever way she buys.
Signs your sale prices clash
- Tickets, tills and website show different prices during sales.
- Sale tickets are printed by hand from a spreadsheet.
- Some floor pieces have no sale ticket.
- Sale prices linger on the website after the sale.
- Staff decide on the spot which price to honour.