Digital Florists operates a Dual Inventory system.
- Products: What you sell (e.g., “The Dozen Red Roses”).
- Ingredients: What you buy (e.g., “Red Naomi Rose”, “Ribbon”, “Cellophane”).
The Ingredient Library
Your Ingredient Library is the database of raw materials.
- Stems: Fresh flowers and foliage.
- Sundries: Vases, foam, wire, ribbon.
Setting Up Ingredients
When creating an ingredient, accuracy is key for profit calculations.
- Buy Price: What you pay the wholesaler (e.g., £0.80 per stem).
- Stems per Bunch: Crucial for buying. If you buy in bunches of 20, but use them individually, the system needs to know.
- Suppliers: Link to preferred suppliers to auto-generate purchase orders.
Stock Control
Buying Lists
The system aggregates demand from all Events and Orders into a master Buying List.
- Consolidated: Instead of checking 50 order cards, see “Total Red Roses Needed: 500”.
- Buffer: Add a standard percentage (e.g., 10%) for breakage.
Wastage
Tracking waste is vital for tax and efficiency.
- Go to Inventory > Wastage.
- Scan or search for the item.
- Reason: Select “Dead/Old”, “Damaged”, or “Stem Breakage”.
- Report: The Wastage Report shows you how much money you are throwing in the bin each month.
Live Deduction: If you link Ingredients to your Web Products (via Recipes), a web sale will automatically deduct the stems from your stock counts.
Stock Control & Uploads
Adding Stock
You can add stock in two ways:
- Manual Adjustment: Perfect for rapid entry when the delivery van arrives. Scan a barcode and enter
+50.
- Invoice Upload: Upload a supplier CSV to bulk-import hundreds of stems at once.
Adjustment Reasons
When changing stock, tell the system why:
- Delivery: New stock arriving.
- Waste: Broken or dead flowers (vital for tracking loss).
- Correction: Fixing a counting error.
Stock Levels & Substitutions
Stock Checks
The system uses a “Traffic Light” system for stock levels:
- 🟢 Green: Plenty in stock.
- 🟠 Amber: Running low.
- 🔴 Red: Out of stock.
Substitutions
If you run out of “Red Naomi Roses”, you can global-swap them for “Grand Prix Roses”.
- The system updates all confirmed orders to use the new stem.
- It recalculates specific costs so your profit margin remains accurate.
