Summary
For a growing business, it is imperative to maintain and manage all stores with the same level of organization and efficiency. With Branches in Zoho POS, you can add multiple branches and keep track of transactions, inventory management, and the performance of each branch, while overseeing the overall growth of the business.
Understanding inventory management, stock movement, and availability is as important as sales and service. With multiple branches, it is hard to keep track of product availability and flow. Upon introducing a centralized branching system, where the business can have one primary branch with which it can track all records, the business can automate flow and availability, which optimizes the business.
Use Cases
How a bakery can use Branches in Zoho POS
Zylker Cakes, a chain bakery, plans on opening three new branches across the state. Setting up a new POS for each branch is not only an elaborate procedure but the maintenance also becomes strenuous. By implementing Branches in Zoho POS, Zylker Cakes will have a single admin but multi-account access that lets them have it all under one roof, where the main branch (or the primary branch) will have unrestricted access and the other branches can be added with a single click. They can manage purchase orders from the head office to all the outlets using separate report parameters and filters through this centralized branching system.
Multiple branches mean a mammoth amount of data, but with Branches in Zoho POS, all they need to do is add the branches, and their POS will be set and ready for business in a few minutes. Then, they can consolidate data, get real-time business analytics, file their GST, maintain a uniform pricing system of items across all the branches, and have comprehensive reports by integrating data. These actions can be performed using the reports that would combine all the data, thus providing the business a complete view of all their transactions. All of this will also make tax filing easier.
How a supermarket can use Branches in Zoho POS
Consider another example, Zylker Mart, a supermarket with stores across different areas in Chennai. As the supermarket is opening multiple locations, a few issues they might face immediately would be keeping a track of stock availability, tax filings and payments, handling transactions, and other details pertaining to the business. Having multiple systems means a massive workload, and a dilution of the strength of the data.
With Branches in Zoho POS, Zylker Mart will be able to manage inventory with a warehouse just by enabling the warehouse and assigning it to the branch. They can also manage stock availability through dashboard data and compiled reports, and manage product flow by tracking the availability and sales order that is being placed on an item. Zylker Mart can access all comprehensive data in the form of a single report, too. With single-point security, where only the admin can manage or edit the primary branch, they can operate with centralized financial and data control without any breach of privacy and manage them with accuracy.
Apart from this, they can manage and maintain item prices from the head office, a fixed price assigned to the items can be seen and the branches can follow the same prices to maintain uniformity. This will enable them to take full control of the business flow and lets them manage multiple store fronts under one roof.
Note
To implement branching, your business should have an active GSTIN.
To activate a GSTIN
Go to Settings > Taxes.
Enter a valid GST number and the name of the organization, select the tax category, and click Save.
Enabling branches
Branches can be enabled only by the Admins of the organization. Once multi-branches are enabled, it can't be disabled. All the transactions will be mapped to a single corresponding branch. When a single corresponding branch out of the multi-branches is no longer in use, it can be deleted or made inactive. On logging into the billing application, after enabling branches, the user will have to select a branch out of the available ones in the dropdown.
To enable branches
Go to Settings > Locations.
Click Enable Branches to activate branching in Zoho POS.
Note
The branch which was enabled first is denoted as the Head Office and will be the primary branch unless another branch is assigned as the primary branch. The primary branch can't be deleted or made inactive, but all the other branches, including the Head Office, can be deleted or made inactive.
To create branches
Go to Settings > Locations. Select Branches from the tabs.
Click Add Branch in the top-right corner.
In the pop up, enter the following:
The branch name and address.
Select the GSTIN, warehouse, primary stock location, and transaction series associated with this branch from the dropdown menu. To add a new one, click +New GSTIN in the Taxes module.
Click Save.
To edit branches
Open the Zoho POS web application.
Go to Settings > Locations.
Go to the Branches tab.
Click the Edit tab next to the preferred branch and make the necessary edits.
Once done, click Update Branch.
Note
More than one warehouse can be selected out of the Associated Warehouses dropdown menu.
To mark a branch as inactive
Open the Zoho POS website application.
Go to Settings > Locations.
Go to the Branches tab.
C Click the Settings icon next to the respective branch.
Select Mark as Inactive. The selected branch will be marked as inactive.
To delete a branch
Open the Zoho POS website application.
Go to Settings > Locations.
Go to the Branches tab.
C Click the Settings icon next to the respective branch.
Click Delete.
Note
Upon inactivating or deleting a branch, all associated registers will be closed and the offline data might be lost.
Again, the primary branch can neither be marked as inactive nor be deleted.
Branches in the desktop application
In the Zoho POS desktop application, after logging in with the user credentials, the user will be given the option to select the branch and register. On doing so, the name of the selected branch will be displayed on the About page.
The branch selected will have a primary stock location and the items in the primary stock location can only be sent for billing. To change the primary stock location, the present data should be synced. On changing the primary stock location, there will be an alert pop-up.
To enable branches in the desktop application
Open the Zoho POS POS desktop application.
Log in with the proper user credentials; the page will be redirected to a pop-up.
Select the preferred branch and register out of the available ones from the dropdown menu.
Click Continue to open Zoho POS POS with the selected branch and register.
