AI consultancy Nelson

Retail, online shops and wholesale

Costs are up and margins are thin, so every hour of re-keying hurts

Rent, insurance, freight and wages are not ours to change, and cheap overseas parcels set the price people compare you with. The hours spent keying the same stock, price and invoice details into several places are within reach. We build software that takes each change once, with a person approving it.

1 · Where the money and the hours go

Thin margins, and the same details keyed into five places

Insurance renewed higher again, the lease went up, freight costs more, and a customer holds up a phone showing the same item from an overseas site for less. You cannot match that price, so you have to be better on stock you really have, a quick answer and someone who knows the product. But the website says in stock and the shelf says otherwise, a supplier invoice sits in the inbox until Sunday night, and reordering is done by walking the shelves with a notepad. Shrinkage only shows up at stocktake, and if you wholesale, a trade account is 14 days past terms while you still pay your own supplier on the 20th. Software will not lower rent or stop theft. It can give the owner back some evenings and show where margin is leaking.

A shop, online store or wholesalerTodayWith the software in place
Margin and supplier price risesThe supplier's cost goes up on an invoice and the shelf price is updated weeks later, if at all. Margin after freight and card fees is a guess.Supplier invoices are read and compared with the last order, so a cost rise is flagged before the item sells at the old price. The owner decides what to change.
Stock and websiteStock is entered in the till system, the website and a spreadsheet. The website says in stock and the shelf says otherwise.Product and price changes are entered once, checked by a person, then sent to the places that need them. Stock mismatches are listed for review. How well this works depends on the systems and rules agreed.
Keying in supplier invoices and accountsTyped in at the weekend, so bills are late and the owner works after hours.Invoices are read, matched to orders and prepared for Xero. Anything odd goes to a person.
Customer questions, orders and returnsAnswered between customers. Delivery date and returns questions arrive by email and Facebook.Routine questions about hours, delivery and returns policy are answered from your own policy text, and order status messages go out. Anything unusual goes to a person with the details.
Trade accounts and overdue invoices (wholesale)Chasing late payers depends on someone remembering. Payments are matched by hand.An overdue list, reminders you approve, and payments matched to invoices in Xero. It cannot make a customer pay, but late invoices stop slipping through.
Reordering and shrinkageWalking the shelves. Losses show up at stocktake.A suggested reorder list from sales and stock on hand for the buyer to adjust. Count differences and incident notes are kept so patterns are visible. This records losses; it does not prevent theft.

We cannot lower the rent, the insurance or the freight, and we cannot stop theft. We can give the owner back some evenings and show where margin is leaking. A person approves every change.

Watch it happen Try it yourself

2 · Automate the process

Watch a shop job from booking to paid

A customer books an e-bike service with a bike shop. Watch it go from the website booking to the payment matched in Xero, with a voice-over. Or have one written for your own shop. The businesses, people and prices are made up.

  1. Booking: the customer fills in the form on the website.
  2. Chat: the AI assistant asks the questions a good office person would ask.
  3. Plan: the chat becomes a job sheet with tasks, materials and a time estimate.
  4. Quote: priced from the price list, approved by the owner, then sent.
  5. Schedule: booked into the first free time and confirmed by the customer.
  6. Updates: texts go out as the work moves.
  7. Paid: the payment is matched to the invoice in Xero.

Try it yourself

Live demos set up for your kind of business

Each demo opens on an example that fits this page. They are illustrations: a business version needs your own rules, information and agreed connections.

Enquiries for a shop

Ask a fictional shop about opening hours, click and collect or returns and see what the assistant collects. Live stock or order information would need a separately scoped connection.

Try it as a shop

Invoice inbox with a wholesaler's invoice

See a wholesaler's stock invoice read, checked and prepared for your accounts.

Try the invoice inbox

Delivery run

Arrange a shop's deliveries around Nelson Tasman into a run sheet.

Try the scheduler

3 · Stand apart

Then add something the others do not have

Once the routine work runs by itself, the same records can do more for you and your customers. These are possibilities we can scope around your shop.

Local-stock promise that stays true

Show customers what is really on your shelf in Nelson, with click and collect or a local delivery run. Staff-checked counts mean the site only says in stock when the count supports it. This is what an overseas parcel cannot offer. It depends on count discipline in the shop, and we would say so.

Margin watch on supplier price changes

Read each supplier invoice, compare unit cost with the last order, and list lines where cost moved and the shelf price did not. The owner approves any price change. Built around your suppliers, freight and pricing rules.

Stock count by scanning, with variance log

Staff scan or dictate a count and review the proposed adjustment. A dated log of differences by product and area shows where shrinkage sits. It records and reports; it does not accuse or prevent.

Trade account tracker for wholesalers

Overdue invoices by customer, reminder drafts the owner approves, payments matched to invoices in Xero, and a simple pick and delivery run sheet for Nelson Tasman and the top of the South.

First step

A sensible first project

Choose one repeated transfer of information, such as reviewing supplier invoices or preparing product updates.

Check how the information is entered today, what the destination needs and which exceptions a person should review. Test the workflow on a small set before extending it.

Questions

Questions before you start

Do we need a new website or shop system?

We first look at the systems you already use. An improvement may be a connection or workflow change rather than a replacement.

Can stock update automatically everywhere?

That depends on your systems, supported connections and rules for handling changes. We establish the source of truth and check the proposed behaviour before launch.

Can staff approve changes first?

Yes. The workflow can be scoped around staff review of information such as product updates, invoice details or customer replies.

See all industries · See all live demos

Based in Nelson, working with businesses across Nelson Tasman and the top of the South. Meet the team