Okay, so you have your Thrive account. It's all synced up, and you can see your sales history and inventory.
Now what?
Here's a checklist to take you from newbie to guru:
1. Watch this video:
For a full guided video tour, click here.
2. Rename your default location
We're going to take a wild guess you don't refer to your business as "Location 1." To fix that, just pop over to your Locations & Integrations page, and if it says "Location 1" in blue, click on it. Then you can name it something more accurate, like "Main Street."
While you're at it, you can put in a phone number and address too! This will make it easy to fill out Purchase Orders later on.
NOTE: The timezone that's set in the Locations & Integrations page is what will be used to generate your reports, so make sure the timezone is accurate.
Read more about setting up your locations here!
3. Connect additional locations
If you have more than one location for your business, add them now!
After you create an additional location and fill in the basic info, you can add an integration (e.g. a Square or Clover account) to track your sales.
Now we can help you manage your inventory across the board.
If you have a warehouse or storage space for which you'd like to track inventory, you can add those, too!
Just create a new location, and don't worry about adding an integration. You can still have products and quantities there, and even complete transfers between the two!
4. Set your Alerts to get notified when products run low
This is one area where Thrive can really give you a hand.
If you're tired of finding out too late that a product is out of stock, let's get you ahead of the game!
The first thing to decide is what qualifies as "low inventory."
This is different for each business. If a product is fast-moving or you need a lot of time to order replenishments, "low" might mean a higher quantity.
If you only have a few of a product to begin with, or it tends to sell only occasionally, you might not want to be notified until inventory hits 2, 1, or even 0.
When you've decided how you want to be notified of low inventory, methodically go through your inventory and create your alerts accordingly.
Read more here, or dive right in and create your first alert!
5. Update inventory quantities
If you're an old pro at tracking inventory and your integrations are up to date, you're good to go!
In case you don't really know what's on the shelf, have no fear!
We have the tools to help with cycle counts and reconciliation called Stocktakes.
After you have your numbers, you can update your quantities all at the same time (see how).
Inventory freedom, here you come!
6. Add new products
Are you selling something that's not in your POS? It's easy to create new products in Thrive. If you want your inventory to be as accurate as possible, make it a priority to get those new products in Thrive this week!
7. Start managing your vendors
It's time to eliminate the sticky note pile.
First, head to your Vendors page and start creating entries for each company that sells to you. Put in as much information as possible, including which location(s) they sell to and all the contact info you can find.
Feel free to leave yourself reminders in the Notes section about who it is you generally deal with, when is a good time to call or order, etc.
Once your vendors are created in Thrive, you'll need to assign products to each vendor. To do this:
Click the vendor you want to start with.
Click the "Edit Products" button in the bottom-right corner.
Select the products you purchase from the vendor in the All Available Variants" column, and move them to the "Variant for this Vendor" by using the blue plus sign.
When the list is complete, hit "Done," and "Save."
See more of the details here!
8. Keep track of incoming inventory with Purchase Orders
Now that your inventory is accurate, all your vendors are set up, you have alerts to remind you when products are getting low, ordering more products is a cinch.
Keep your purchase orders uniform and maintain a record on your Purchase Order page. When it's time to put in an order, just hit "Create PO" and fill it in.
You've already done most of the work, so it's just a matter of specifying what you want.
9. Download the actual checklist:
If you've made it this far, you're in great shape to manage your business more effectively and with less effort than ever before. Stick with it, and we have no doubt you'll see the returns on your investment continue to grow.
Keep up the good work!
And remember:
Thrive is your new inventory home base. Make your changes here, and everything will be reflected in your point-of-sale automatically.
Come back to the help section as you need it. It’s the best place to find quick answers!