A broad floor split into departments with tills that have to be quick. Buying follows the calendar rather than any one trade's rhythm.
System Five is built around how a general retail business actually runs — the operating mechanisms below, each backed by documented capabilities. System Five on Cloud is the standard delivery; on-premise deployment is available by request.
System Five includes 59 capabilities this trade draws on directly, within 171 that apply to how it operates — a selection from the full documented set, not a ceiling.
Getting a queue through — touch screen, scanning, line busting, parked sales.
Stock with a season or a lifespan — buy early, mark down late, account for what does not survive.
More than one site or department reading and writing the same records.
Selling what you do not stock — ordered in against the customer's name and tracked until it lands.
One product in many forms — colour, finish, size, wattage — without a part number nobody can find.
The unit comes back — under warranty, for credit, or to the supplier — and the money and the stock both have to land right.
Getting the goods to the customer — booked from the sale, loaded, routed and proved delivered.
A different price for the trade than for the public — levels, schedules, allowances and accounts that remember them.
Money before the goods move — a deposit, a layaway, a finance company, or the lender financing the units on your floor.
Ordering and pricing straight from the people who make it — catalogues, price files and order feeds.
Several items sold as one thing — a room package, a build, a bundle — while the stock behind it still moves correctly.
Sales a regulator cares about — age prompts, tobacco and liquor reporting.
This page is the capability reference. Read the General Retailer trade story →
Every capability behind this page is documented in the System Five capability index. Capabilities outside the standard set are optional.