The week so far

What does this tour show?

It shows the end of a working day spent on the numbers rather than the counter. At six o'clock Priya opens Electronics analytics and asks three questions about the past week: what sold, what earned, and how are trade-ins and warranties going? The page answers each in one panel, and Export sends the lot to the accountant.

A phone shop can feel busy and still earn very little. Flagship handsets bring in large revenue on thin margins, while cases, screen protectors, extended warranties and refurbished phones often earn more per pound taken. A weekly look at revenue and profit side by side is how an owner sees which kind of week it really was.

What does the week look like in numbers?

The sample shop's revenue by brand for the last seven days:

On the trade-in side, the shop paid £495 for devices, an average of £165 each, so three phones came in. Two warranty claims are open: a charging fault on a 128 GB phone logged today and a screen fault on a tablet from Tuesday.

Brand A brings in nearly half the revenue. That is worth knowing before the next order, and worth checking against profit: if Brand A's margin is thin, half your revenue may be earning much less than half your profit.

Step by step

1. Open Reports, then Electronics analytics. The page's own line sums it up: what sells, what earns, and how trade-ins and warranties are going.
2. Set the period to Last 7 days. It is the default view in the tour. Use 30 or 90 days for a monthly or quarterly view, and Last year for the big picture.
3. Read the four headline figures. Revenue, devices sold, profit and average sale. Average sale is revenue divided by devices sold; if it rises, customers are choosing dearer handsets or adding more to each sale.
4. Compare revenue and profit. If revenue is up but profit is flat, look at discounts and at which models sold.
5. Read Revenue by brand. The bars show which brands bring the money in. Set it against Stock by brand on the Home: a brand with high stock and low revenue is tying up cash.
6. Open the trade-ins panel. Paid for devices, average paid and how many are still to value. Trade-ins waiting to be valued are customers waiting for an answer.
7. Read the warranty claims panel. Each open claim with its problem, the device and when it was logged. Two open claims is manageable; ten would point to a supplier or model problem.
8. Export for the accountant. One tap makes a file with the figures for the period you chose.
9. Decide one action for next week. Reorder a brand, chase a supplier on a claim, adjust trade-in offers. A report is only useful if something changes because of it.

What do the headline figures tell you?

In the sample week the shop sold 23 devices for £10,790, an average sale of about £469. That average is worth watching from week to week. If it falls while devices sold stays steady, customers are choosing cheaper models, perhaps because a flagship is out of stock or a refurbished handset is priced attractively. If it rises sharply, check whether a few large sales are hiding a quiet week. Profit sits right beside these numbers for a reason: the same £10,790 could earn very different amounts depending on how many of those 23 devices were new flagships, mid-range phones or refurbished trade-ins, and how many sales carried an extended warranty or a case. Look at all four figures together before you decide anything.

How should you use revenue by brand?

As a question, not a verdict. A brand that tops revenue may also top returns or warranty claims. A brand near the bottom may have sold out on Tuesday and simply had nothing to sell. Read the brand chart beside the Home's stock by brand and the open claims: together they tell you whether to order more, order less, or speak to a supplier. If you want a deeper look at margins by product, the stock value and margin reports note explains the wider reports.

Tips for the weekly review

• Do it on the same day each week, so weeks compare like with like.
• Look at profit before revenue. It stops a big week of thin-margin sales from feeling better than it was.
• Watch the average trade-in paid. If it creeps up without resale prices rising, offers are getting too generous.
• Follow up any warranty claim that has been open more than a week or two.
• Keep exported files in one folder by date. Your accountant will thank you at year end.

Common mistakes

• Comparing a 7 day view with a 30 day view. Switch both to the same period before drawing conclusions.
• Reading revenue as profit. They are different numbers on the same page for a reason.
• Ignoring trade-ins "to value". They are customers waiting, and phones losing value while they wait.
• Exporting without checking the period. The accountant gets the wrong week.
• Reviewing without deciding anything. If nothing changes, the review was only reading.

What should you do next?

Tomorrow the day starts again with the opening tour and the cabinets. Over the next few weeks, a pattern will appear in these numbers, and that pattern is what should guide ordering, pricing and trade-in offers. For the margin side, read markup vs margin. For why profit and cash in the bank are different, especially with trade-ins paid out in cash, the cash flow guide is the place to start.

How EasyTaskr helps

EasyTaskr's Electronics analytics shows revenue, devices sold, profit and average sale over 7, 30 or 90 days or the last year, revenue by brand, what was paid for trade-ins and how many are still to value, and open warranty claims, with Export for your accountant.