The counter is theirs.
The numbers are ours.
Roughly a third of running a store is screen work, and it is the third most independent owners do worst — because they are behind the till. That is the part we take.
Eight lines of work.
Scope is set per venture in a service schedule. This is the full menu; your agreement names which of it applies.
Buying & price files
Supplier terms negotiated and reviewed, cost price changes caught before they erode margin, promotional allowances claimed, and retail prices maintained against margin targets line by line.
Range & space
What earns its shelf and what does not, decided from EPOS sales and margin data rather than habit. Slow lines retired, new lines trialled and measured.
Promotions
Promotional calendar planned, supplier funding claimed, and performance measured afterwards rather than assumed. A promotion that does not pay is stopped.
Ordering support
Order suggestions generated against sales history, seasonality and stock cover, so the manager is checking a list rather than guessing at it.
Online grocery listings
Where the store lists on delivery platforms: catalogue, pricing, availability, photography and promotions maintained. A genuine second revenue line that most independents run badly or not at all.
Shrinkage & exception analysis
Stock loss tracked by category, shift and time of day. Till exceptions — voids, refunds, no-sales, discounts — reviewed for pattern. Waste and date-code losses measured against the ordering that caused them.
Compliance calendar
Licence renewals, age-restricted sales training records, refusal register audits, food hygiene where applicable, insurance and inspection dates, tracked with escalation before deadlines.
Accounts & reporting
Daily banking reconciled against till, supplier invoices matched to deliveries, and a monthly pack covering sales, margin by category, waste, shrinkage, labour percentage and cash, plus a quarterly review call.
A good manager runs a shop floor well. Almost no manager will renegotiate supplier terms, claim a promotional allowance, spot that a category's margin has slipped two points over six weeks, or notice that voids spike on one particular shift. That work is continuous, it is in the data, and it is where a thin margin is actually defended.
What a desk cannot do.
Written into the agreement. In retail this boundary is wider than in any of our other ventures, because most of the business happens across a counter.
Six verbs
The desk can coordinate, verify, record, communicate, monitor and report.
- Negotiate supplier terms and maintain the price file
- Decide range and space from sales and margin data
- Plan promotions and measure whether they paid
- Maintain online grocery listings and availability
- Analyse shrinkage, waste and till exceptions
- Track every licence, renewal and training record
Anything across the counter
- Serving customers, handling cash or banking takings
- Making or refusing an age-restricted sale
- Holding the alcohol licence, or acting as the named premises supervisor
- Receiving deliveries, merchandising or counting stock
- Opening, closing or securing the premises
- Giving legal, tax, immigration or licensing advice
- Deciding to dismiss a member of staff
Each of these is mapped at setup to the store manager or a licensed provider, with a documented handoff and a stall rule if it is not actioned.
What we can decide without asking you.
A schedule to the management agreement, so nobody is guessing when a chiller fails on a Saturday.
| Decision | Akontec may act | Reserved to you |
|---|---|---|
| Routine spend | Up to an agreed per-item and monthly limit | Anything above the limit |
| Retail pricing | Within agreed margin bands | Changes outside the bands |
| Delisting a slow line | Yes, on sales and margin evidence | Exiting a whole category |
| Adding a new line | Within the agreed range framework | New categories or fixtures |
| Promotions | Within an agreed monthly investment | Increasing the investment |
| Changing a supplier | Yes, on price and service evidence | Primary wholesaler change |
| Emergency repair | Up to an agreed limit, immediately | Replacement or major works |
| Opening hours | Recommend, with the labour cost modelled | Decide |
| Hiring or dismissing staff | Source, screen, recommend | Decide |
| Licensing matters | Prepare and coordinate | Applicant and licence holder |
| Legal proceedings | Never | Always |
Measured on what we control.
Measures are classified before they are agreed, because holding a desk to account for something it cannot influence produces theatre rather than performance.
Controllable
Entirely ours. Price file accuracy, cost-change capture, promotional allowances claimed, listing availability, compliance deadlines met, reporting delivered on time. Service credits attach to these.
Influenceable
We affect the outcome but do not decide it. Gross margin percentage, waste, stock cover, category mix, online order volume. Reported and reviewed, not credit-bearing.
Observable
Reported because you need to see them, outside our control entirely. Footfall, weather, a competitor opening, local roadworks, supplier price inflation, staff turnover.
Worth stating plainly: we can identify where stock loss is happening and when, often down to shift and category. We cannot stop it from a desk. Acting on it — supervision, layout, process, and occasionally a personnel decision — happens on the floor.
See what the desk would cover for your store
Scope, hours and reporting are set per venture. We map it on the first call.