ERP for retail: the register, stock and fiscalization in one chain
In retail, regulation dictates the architecture. The register must issue a receipt even when the internet is down, and stock must be right even while three locations sell at once.
- Published
- Author
- Konis Software
Retail is the one industry where the choice of system is made not around what the company wants but around what regulation demands. E-fiscalization is not a feature to be added — it is a condition without which a location may not trade, and any architecture that treats it as an add-on collides with that on day one.
Serbian fiscalization law requires every retail sale to pass through an electronic fiscal device: an ESIR that issues the receipt and a fiscal receipt processor with a security element. The local processor (LPFR) exists precisely so that a connection to the tax authority is not a precondition for issuing a receipt — the receipt is issued immediately and reported once a link exists.
What retail needs beyond a register
| Element | Why it is required | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| Stock by location | The same item has different stock at each location | A central figure that matches no actual shelf |
| Inter-store transfers | Goods move between locations constantly | Transfers posted late, so stock diverges |
| Dated price lists and promotions | A promotion starts and ends by itself, on every register | Manual price changes per location, with errors |
| Stocktaking per location | Shortages and surpluses tie to a location and shift | The discrepancy exists but its origin is unknown |
| Link to the web shop | The same stock sells online and at the register | Sold online, missing from the shelf |
| Daily takings and deposit | Shift close with a record of cash | A cash discrepancy surfaces at month end |
Why the register must be part of the same system
Good standalone registers exist and they do their job. The problem arises at the boundary: if the register sends its sales to the ERP once a day, then for a whole day there is a stock figure that is not accurate — and that is exactly the figure seen by whoever orders goods or promises a customer.
- A sale at the register must reduce stock immediately, or the same goods get promised to an online customer.
- A return at the register must put the item back into stock at the same location, linked to the original receipt.
- A promotion starting at midnight must start on all registers at once, without manual work per location.
- Sales per item must reach procurement the same day, because ordering is based on it.
Omnichannel without the marketing fog
The word is used loosely, but for a retailer it means something very concrete and checkable: one stock, one item and one customer, regardless of channel. If the web shop has its own stock synchronised every fifteen minutes, that is not one channel but two systems with a fifteen-minute error window.
The same holds for the customer: a loyalty card, an online purchase and a complaint handled in store must be the same record, or the company has three different customers with the same name and no view of the history of any of them.
Questions before choosing
- How does the register work without internet, and what happens to receipts until a link exists?
- Is stock per location the same figure the web shop sees, and with what delay?
- How is stocktaking performed, and is the discrepancy tied to a location, shift and person?
- How is a promotion released across all locations, and can it be scheduled in advance?
- How is the security element managed, and what happens when a device is replaced?
- What does shift close look like, and where is a discrepancy in takings visible?
NG One keeps fiscalization as an integration with its own lifecycle rather than as something sewn into sales — so a change of regulation or of device does not touch the sales and stock core. Stock meanwhile is a single record, by location, and the register, the web shop and procurement all see the same one.