Cosmetics store POS for beauty and perfume shops

Why a cosmetics shop needs tight stock control

A beauty counter holds hundreds of small, valuable items in a space the size of a wardrobe. A lipstick fits in a pocket, a 100 ml perfume costs more than a pair of shoes, and a few missing pieces a week add up to real money. The shop needs to know what is on the shelf, who touched the numbers, and which staff can give money back.

PointLit records every sale, delivery, refund and count as a line in an append-only ledger, so a missing piece can be traced to the day it went missing.

Many small items, each with its own barcode

A foundation in eight shades or a perfume in 50 ml and 100 ml is one product with variants, created once with a grid. Each shade or size gets its own stock, price and barcode, and colours can carry swatches, so the cashier picks the right shade by sight. A scan adds the exact item, and the product search finds items by name, barcode, colour or size.

Blind counts against shrinkage

Shrinkage hides inside counts that were nudged to match the system. Tick Blind count and the system quantity stays hidden while staff enter what is on the shelf, so nobody copies the expected number. Posting the count writes each difference to the ledger, and every count stays in the count log, so a shelf that keeps coming up short shows as a pattern. Testers opened for the counter and broken bottles are written off in Stock adjustments, where a Reason is required.

Staff permissions that protect the till

Refund a sale, Void a sale in full and Apply a discount to a line or a bill are separate permissions. The Owner and Manager roles hold them by default; the Cashier role does not, so each of these needs a second person unless you decide otherwise. View product costs, stock value and margins is a permission too, so a sales assistant can sell all day without seeing what you paid. Each member's Locations setting limits the branches where they can sell and read stock, and New role builds a role for a job your shop has, such as a senior cashier.

An audit trail for every bottle

The Stock movements report, filtered to one item, is its stock card: When, the Event, the Direction, the Quantity, the Branch, the Document it came from, the Unit cost and By whom. Because a ledger line can never be edited or deleted, the history it shows is the one that happened. The Audit log lists privileged actions, Staff activity shows who is signed in and where, and the Refunds and voids, Discounts and Cash variances reports put the same story in numbers.

Barcode labels for small packaging

The Barcode Printer prints price and barcode labels from a basket you fill by scanning, from Products, or from a whole goods receipt. Set the label size to fit small packaging, choose the fields, such as the name, shade or size, price and barcode, and print through the PointLit Windows app or the browser's print dialog. Arabic names print correctly because the label is turned into a picture before it reaches the printer.

Loyal customers

Beauty customers come back. Customer accounts and loyalty points let a regular earn points and spend them on a later bill, and a refund on her bill takes back the points earned on the returned items and returns the points she spent, in proportion.

How it works in PointLit

1. In Products, create each line with what it varies by, such as shade or size, and fill the grid.
2. In Roles, check what the Cashier role may do, and in Members set Locations for each person.
3. Book deliveries in Goods receipts and send them to the Barcode Printer for labels.
4. Write off testers and breakage in Stock adjustments with a Reason.
5. Run a Blind count each month and read the Stock movements of any item that comes up short.