Multi-branch businesses
Multi-branch business management software that answers which branch made money
Same catalogue, same categories, same closing schedule across every location. Multi-branch business management software built so that when two branches look different, the difference is real and not a reporting habit.
- 2 to 20 outlets
- Branch by branch reporting
- Stock transfers between locations
Two shops are not one shop twice. They are two sets of numbers that have to be comparable before either one means anything.
Across 7 branches
₦24.6M
Is this the right page for you?
- You run the same business from two or more locations.
- A branch manager holds money, stock or both, and you are not standing there.
- You cannot say which branch is carrying which, or by how much.
- Stock moves between locations and the paperwork lags behind the van.
- Head office wants one set of books and each branch wants its own.
- You have one location and a growing team.
- Your locations are separate registered companies with separate audits.
- You are the only person in the business.
What breaks the day you open the second one
Almost none of it is about the second location. It is about the fact that comparison suddenly matters, and nothing was built to be comparable.
You cannot compare branches
Each location reports in its own way, on its own schedule, so better usually means whichever manager reports more confidently.
Every branch posts to the same chart of accounts and sells from the same product list, so revenue, margin and spend line up side by side without translation.
BookkeepingStock walks between branches
A transfer leaves one location and arrives days later, or does not arrive at all. Both counts are wrong for as long as it is in the van.
Transfers are movements with a sender, a receiver and a date. Stock in transit is visible at both ends rather than simply missing from one.
InventoryCash at the branch is a trust exercise
The manager deposits takings when they can. The gap between selling and depositing is exactly where problems live.
Every sale is recorded where it happens, by staff member and payment method. Expected against deposited becomes a daily comparison, not a monthly argument.
POS & TerminalsBranch spending has no ceiling
Diesel, repairs, small purchases. Each one is reasonable on its own, and together they are entirely unbudgeted.
A card and a budget per location, with categories and limits. Overspend is refused at the point of purchase rather than discovered at month-end.
Expense CardsPrices drift
A promotion runs in one branch and not another, or an old price survives in a corner of the business for six months.
One catalogue, priced centrally, with per-location overrides that are deliberate, visible and reversible.
ProductsManagers see too little, or far too much
Either a branch manager is blocked from doing their job, or they can see the whole group's numbers including everybody's pay.
Roles scoped to a location. A manager runs their branch completely and sees their branch only, while head office sees all of them.
StaffsConsolidation is manual
Head office rebuilds the group picture every month from whatever each branch sent in, in whatever format they sent it.
The group view is the sum of the branches, live, with the branch detail sitting one click underneath the total.
BookkeepingFour branches, one set of numbers
Nobody at head office is chasing a report. Every entry below is a branch doing its normal work, recorded where it happened.
Branches open
Each one opens against yesterday's closed count, so no branch starts the day arguing about last night's takings.
A transfer leaves
Stock moves from the branch that has it to the branch that sold out. It reads as in transit at both ends until it is received.
A card is declined, correctly
A branch tries to spend past its monthly repairs budget. It is refused at the counter, and a request goes to head office instead.
Head office looks
Revenue, margin and spend per branch, on the same definitions and the same period. Comparable without anybody reformatting anything.
Close, four times
Each branch closes its own drawer against its own expected figure. The group total assembles itself out of the four.
10 stores
on Growth, with roles scoped per location. Scale removes the cap entirely.
1 catalogue
priced centrally, with deliberate per-branch overrides rather than accidental drift.
₦0
setup fee per branch. Opening a new location does not start a new negotiation.
What a multi-branch operation switches on
Three layers: what happens at the branch, what head office needs to control, and what has to stay identical across all of them.
Run each location
Selling, stock and staff at the branch itself.
Hold the centre
What head office needs to see and be able to stop.
Keep them consistent
One business, rather than several that share a name.
The question is never how the business is doing. It is which branch is carrying which, and for how long.
A group figure hides more than it shows. One strong location can fund two weak ones for a year before anyone notices, and by then the weak ones have set their habits. Comparability is the whole job: the same product list, the same categories and the same close, so that a difference between two branches is a real difference and not a difference in how they report.
Growth
Ten stores, thirty store staff each, ten logins with roles and two thousand customer records. That covers most multi-branch operations up to around ten locations.
Compare all plans- Up to 10 stores
- 30 store staff per location
- 10 team logins with roles
- 200 invoices a month
- 2,000 customer records
- 150 staff records
When you outgrow it: The eleventh location. Scale removes the store cap, and is where larger groups sit.
Questions about multi-branch business management software
Asked most often after the second location opens and the first month of comparing them goes badly.
What is multi-branch business management software?
Software that treats several locations as one business rather than several copies of a system. The test is whether you can put two branches next to each other and trust the comparison. That requires them to share a product list, a chart of accounts and a closing schedule, which is the part most businesses discover they are missing.
Can each branch have its own prices?
Yes, but as a deliberate override rather than a separate list. Pricing is set centrally and a location can carry an exception, which stays visible as an exception. That is what stops a discontinued price surviving quietly in one shop for six months.
How do stock transfers between branches work?
A transfer is a movement with a sender, a receiver and a date, not an adjustment at each end. While it is in transit it shows as in transit, so neither branch has to pretend the goods are somewhere they are not, and a transfer that never arrives is visible rather than absorbed into shrinkage.
Can I stop a branch manager from overspending?
Yes. Each location gets a budget and a card with category limits, so spending outside the rules is declined at the point of purchase. A manager who genuinely needs more raises a request, which head office approves or refuses on the record.
Will a branch manager see the whole group's numbers?
Only if you want them to. Roles are scoped to a location, so a manager can run their branch fully, including stock, staff and daily close, while seeing nothing from the other branches or from head office.
How many locations does it handle?
Growth covers up to ten stores with thirty store staff each, which suits most operations up to about ten locations. Beyond that, Scale removes the cap.
What if my branches are separate registered companies?
Then you are consolidating entities rather than comparing branches, which is a different problem with a different answer. The enterprise page covers multi-entity consolidation, group reporting and the audit trail that goes with it.
Not quite the right size?
Businesses move along this scale, sometimes within a year. The page either side of this one may describe you better today.
The simpler way to scale your business!
Start free and see it working today, or talk to us about pricing for teams and higher volumes.