ERP for retail & pos. Counter, cash drawer and back office on one product.
Every sale, every drawer and every pound of the day's takings on one set of books, checked before the shop shuts.
From early 2027How does Kinnow help a retailer? A counter sale takes stock off the shelf and puts the takings into the books by itself. A person counts the drawer and any difference is recorded, not hidden. Drawer Watch then looks for the till or the cashier that is short again and again. This edition is from early 2027; nothing here is running in the UK today. Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person.
Your business in one paragraph
A shop earns its money in small pieces: a few hundred bills a day across cash, card, wallets and vouchers, each store with its own drawer, its own discounts and its own shelf. The books, the stock list and the bank statement are usually written up later by someone who was not at the counter, and the gap between the counter and the books is where stock goes missing and arguments start. Three things keep a retail owner awake.
The drawer that is short, and nobody knows when
A shortage found at week end cannot be traced to a shift.
Discounts with no trail
Each store gives its own discounts. Margin leaks at the counter and shows up only as a lower month.
A shelf the books cannot see
One store stocks out while another sits on the same item. Without stock figures for each store, the reorder is a guess.
If one of these is your month, we can show the same three problems on a store like yours.
How your month runs on Kinnow
The month is made of many small days.
| # | Step | Who | Application | Where a person signs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link each counter to a store and its warehouse | Store manager | Sell (till) | Counter code is fixed once set |
| 2 | Open the drawer; one open shift per counter | Cashier | Sell (till) | Opening is recorded with the cashier |
| 3 | Ring up the basket. Kinnow prices each line and works out VAT on the discounted amount; the basket is refused if the payments do not add up | Cashier | Sell (till) | A sale above a value you set waits for approval |
| 4 | Stock comes off the counter's warehouse; the takings go into the books by payment type | Automatic | Stock & Ship, Account | None; every entry can be traced to the sale |
| 5 | Void a wrong sale before the count, or refund after it; both put stock and books back | Cashier, then manager | Sell (till) | Manager above the limit; approver recorded |
| 6 | Count the drawer. Kinnow works out the expected cash from the shift's own sales; the person types in the count | Cashier | Sell (till) | The shortage or excess is posted when the shift closes; a manager signs it off |
| 7 | Tie up the day: takings against cash counted and against the card totals typed in; any open drawers named | Store manager, accounts assistant | Sell, Account | This only prepares the figures; a person signs off the day |
| 8 | Restock: forecasts and slow sellers drive reorders and moves between branches | Purchasing manager | Buy, Stock & Ship | Purchase orders above the limit need approval |
| 9 | Month end: books closed and the VAT return draft (groundwork completed before launch), payroll for store staff | Finance manager, adviser | Account, Comply, People | VAT return and close signed by a person |
What the industry setup includes
The ready-made setup for retail & POS (we call it an industry pack) has 7 safeguards, 4 lists of who signs off, in order, 9 reports, 11 starter questions for Ask Kinnow, 9 agents and 21 ready-made routines. For the UK it adds extra VAT rules with 3 VAT registers and 13 starter questions. Every limit is a value set with you.
| Safeguard | Effect | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Counter invoice above a value you set | Needs approval | Either a genuine bulk order or a keying error |
| Sales order above a value you set | Needs approval | A bulk deal, not a walk-in |
| Campaign budget above a value you set | Needs approval | Online spend is the most elastic cost in retail |
| Campaign with no audience | Blocked | A campaign with no audience has no record of consent (needed under PECR, the UK marketing-consent rules) |
| Manual journal above a value you set | Needs approval; a second person reads it | A journal posted by hand can break the digital link between the invoice and the VAT return |
| VAT return before it goes | Needs sign-off | A return that has been sent is put right by telling HMRC, not by editing it |
| Large VAT invoice | Read before it is raised | A credit note puts it right, not a re-issue |
| Overtime beyond the working-time average | Warning | The opt-out on record matters when store hours stretch |
The ready-made routines include Counter to day close, Till to banked, Price change to shelf and Stock count to write-off.
Ask us to run the day close on a week of your own bills.
Agents for retail & POS
Drawer Watch
Looks across shifts, not at one day. It tells apart a till that is short in the same way every time, a cashier who is short on different tills, and a till that is never out by a penny, which is more often a drawer balanced to the screen than one counted.
Stock Forecaster
Forecasts demand for the next 30, 60 and 90 days for each item and warehouse, with a suggested safety stock and reorder point. It never acts on its own.
StockSlow-mover Detector
Finds stock that has not moved for a set number of days and ranks it by the money tied up in it, so you can review it.
BuyReorder Planner
Recommends how much to reorder and when. It skips an item that already has a draft reorder open, and it never raises a PO by itself.
ReachReactivation / Winback
Finds buyers who have gone quiet, using your ledger, and drafts a message to win them back for a person to send.
ReachCampaign Strategist
Designed to draft a campaign brief from your goal and your own data, such as gaps in your sales pipeline, customers who have gone quiet and the time of year.
AccountCash-flow Forecaster
Builds a rolling cash forecast for the next 30, 60 and 90 days from post-dated cheques, bills due and how customers have paid in the past, with a range around each figure to show how sure it is.
Each agent is validated with each client before it works on their books, and every output waits for a person. Also included: a day-sheet check and a cash-limit alert for a drawer holding more than your limit; both prepare and post nothing.
VAT and compliance calendar for a retailer (UK)
Kinnow prepares the working; a person confirms and files. Your adviser confirms every date. The UK has no rule requiring invoices to be cleared by the tax authority first, so Kinnow does not build one.
| Obligation | What Kinnow prepares | Who confirms |
|---|---|---|
| VAT return (nine boxes) | Groundwork to build the return and a file from your sales and purchase records, completed before launch. Boxes 2, 8 and 9 apply to Northern Ireland only. A person files through recognised software or HMRC. Your adviser confirms each box before first use | Finance manager, adviser |
| VAT filing calendar | Due dates follow your HMRC stagger group (the quarter pattern HMRC gave you), which you set; Kinnow will not guess it. Monthly filers are supported | Finance manager |
| VAT invoices and counter receipts | Checks the supplier VAT number, date, running number, customer name, VAT in sterling and tax point. Simplified invoices are allowed up to £250 including VAT | Accounts assistant |
| VAT registers | Sales register, purchase register and rate summary, with rates of 20%, 5% and zero. Item rates come from a starter list, so your adviser confirms any line outside it | Accounts assistant, adviser |
| Marketing consent | Campaigns need a recorded audience. UK GDPR and PECR rules, including consent and one-click unsubscribe, shape what you send; deleting someone's data does not break the financial records you must keep | Marketing lead |
| Payroll for store staff | PAYE income tax (tax taken from pay each month), employee and employer National Insurance, pension contribution and student loan, worked out in the pay run on an annual basis, so a mid-year joiner can differ from HMRC. Rates are verified before use | HR lead, adviser |
What the owner can ask
Typed into Ask Kinnow, each answer shows its source report and what it will cost before it runs.
- What were today's sales, store versus online? (Sales register)
- What did we take at the counter today? (Till shift reconciliation)
- Which tills are short at the end of the day? Which cashier's drawer never matches? (Till shift reconciliation)
- Which products are running out of stock? (Stock valuation)
- How did the last campaign convert, and what did it cost? (Campaign list)
- What VAT did I charge this quarter, by rate? (VAT sales register, rate summary)
- When is my next VAT return due? (VAT filing calendar)
Illustration · sample data
| Till · cashier | Expected cash (£) | Counted (£) | Variance (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counter 1 · Hannah | 1,248.00 | 1,248.00 | 0.00 |
| Counter 2 · Callum | 986.00 | 978.00 | -8.00 |
| Counter 3 · Callum | 721.00 | 715.00 | -6.00 |
Numbers that matter
| Number | Report | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Cash variance by till and cashier | Till shift reconciliation | Where the money is leaking and whether it follows the machine or the person |
| Daily sales by store and channel | Sales register | What the day made, store versus online |
| Stock value and age | Stock valuation, item-age valuation | Money sitting on the shelf, by how long it has sat |
| Sales by item group, year on year | Item-group yearly sales | Which groups grew and which shrank |
| Output VAT by rate | VAT sales register, rate summary | What the next return will say before you build it |
| Campaign cost and delivery | Campaign and message delivery lists | Whether the spend reached anyone |
See the difference table above on your own stores, not on sample numbers.
Applications switched on
| Generic term | In your Kinnow |
|---|---|
| sale | counter sale |
| payment mix | split payment |
| till session | cash shift / drawer |
| end of day | day close |
Questions
Does the counter keep working if the internet drops?
No. The counter needs a connection to Kinnow. What the till does guard against is a double entry: each sale carries a reference from the counter, so if the same sale is sent again after a dropped connection it is recorded once, not twice. There is no offline mode.
Does a till sale update stock and the ledger automatically?
Yes. When a sale is completed, stock is taken off the counter's warehouse and the takings go into the books, each payment type in its own holding account, with the VAT in the tax payable account. A void or refund puts both back. If a line is sold with no stock on hand in that warehouse, the sale stands and that line is skipped for stock, so a count or a correction fixes the shelf.
Can head office control discounts?
Partly. Kinnow asks for approval on a sale, order or invoice above a value you set, and every discount is listed on the day sheet with the till and cashier. The counter itself takes the price and discount the cashier enters.
What happens when the drawer is short?
The shift closes anyway and the shortage is recorded against the till and cashier, and posted to Cash Shortage. A person signs off the shortage, and Drawer Watch looks for a pattern across shifts.
Who can void or refund a sale?
A void is possible only while that shift is still open; after the count the answer is a refund, paid out of the shift open now. Above the limit your company sets, a manager has to do it, and the approver is recorded. If no limit is set, every void and refund needs a manager.
Does Kinnow file my VAT return?
No. The groundwork to prepare the nine-box VAT return and a file from your own sales and purchase records is completed before launch. A person then files it through recognised software or HMRC itself. Kinnow does not send anything to HMRC, and your adviser confirms how each box is filled before first use.
How long to set up a store, and when does the UK edition start?
The UK edition starts from early 2027 and is completed with early-access customers. For one company, about two weeks to first results; several stores start one at a time, alongside your current software until the month-end numbers tie.
Does it work on a phone?
It works in the phone browser. There is no separate mobile app.
Show me Kinnow for retail & pos.
Answer three questions. Get the applications, the agents and a two-week plan for your business.