Ian Oldrey, Managing Director at Ten-25 Software, asks “are merchants missing out on easy sales opportunities?”
Running a merchant business has never been easy. Early starts, chasing deliveries, keeping customers happy, juggling suppliers — it all adds up. What I see time and again is that even with all this hard work, many merchants still miss out on sales they could be winning.
It’s rarely about lack of demand. More often than not, it’s things like stock figures not matching reality, clunky systems slowing people down, or a process that makes life harder than it should be for staff and customers alike.
These aren’t “nice-to-haves” — they’re the small gaps that add up to lost orders, tighter margins, and frustrated teams.
“Customers want speed, accuracy and reliability. If your systems create friction, you’re giving competitors the advantage.”
Stock visibility: The bedrock of sales
Stock is at the heart of every merchant. Get it right and you can deliver quickly, keep customers coming back, and free up cash to reinvest. Get it wrong and you’re dealing with overselling, dead stock, or frustrated customers who don’t come back.
I still see too many businesses relying on spreadsheets or finance systems like Xero to manage stock. Those tools are fine for balancing the books, but they’re not designed to cope with units, packs, lengths, and multiple locations. That’s where problems creep in.
If your team doesn’t have confidence in stock data, every sale becomes a risk. You either promise something you don’t have, or miss out on selling something that’s sat there ready to go. Either way, it’s money lost.
Why efficiency matters
When we talk about efficiency, some people think it’s just about cost-cutting. But in a merchant environment, efficiency is really about winning business.
If a builder phones two merchants to check stock and place an order, who wins? The one who answers instantly, confirms the stock, and gives a clear delivery time. The one who hesitates, asks the customer to wait, or has to call back later often loses out.
Customers have high expectations now. They want speed, accuracy and reliability. If your systems create friction, you’re giving competitors the advantage.
The problem with outdated systems
Plenty of businesses are still leaning on spreadsheets, old accounting software, or systems that were never really designed for how a merchant works day-to-day. On the face of it, things get done — orders are entered, stock is tracked, invoices are sent. But inefficiencies creep in:
Staff waste time re-keying the same details into different systems
Stock reports don’t line up with what’s actually in the yard
Customers wait while someone digs out the answer to a simple question
Individually, these issues don’t sound huge. But add them up across a week, a month, a year… That’s a lot of lost sales and lost time. The good news is they’re fixable.
Small wins, big impact
The encouraging thing is that small improvements can make a big difference. I’ve seen businesses turn things around just by:
Automating repeat orders
Identifying and clearing slow-moving stock
Tracking customer buying patterns for smarter follow-ups
Linking finance, stock, and sales to cut down on double-entry
Each one of those changes removes waste, saves time, and captures sales that might otherwise have slipped away.
Where do you stand?
Information is the oil that keeps the sales engine turning. We all buy from businesses that easily give us the answers we’re looking for — Do you have it in stock? Is it a good price? When can I have it? Can I get more of what I ordered last month?
If your team can answer those questions instantly, the sale is yours. If not, opportunities slip away.
To help, we’ve put together a quick Sales Efficiency Check — just 20 simple questions that highlight where your sales operations are strong, and where there’s room to improve.
At the end you’ll get a personalised report with practical next steps to help you capture more of the sales you might be missing. It only takes a few minutes — and could uncover opportunities worth far more.
Click here to take the Ten-25 Sales Efficiency Check or scan the QR code:
Ian Oldrey has worked with independent merchants for over 25 years, helping hundreds of businesses in timber, plumbing, and building supplies to streamline operations and uncover new sales opportunities.
At Ten-25, his focus is on building practical ERP systems that reflect how merchants really work – helping them sell more, stock smarter, and buy better.
