Notes on better shelves

A planogram only works when its numbers match the real fixture. What to measure, which gondola sizes are common, and the mistakes that throw a plan off.

Facings decide how much a shelf holds and how long it lasts between restocks. Here is a simple way to set them from your own sales, and how to check the result fits.

Eye level, the lowest shelf, the highest shelf and the end of a run each do a different job. A practical guide to placing products on a gondola and keeping the layout consistent.

A reset goes faster and causes less disruption when the plan, the stock, and the checklist are ready before anyone touches the shelf.

How long your stock will last, and the level at which to place an order, both worked out from your own recent sales.

What to send before a new hire starts, what to cover on day one, which federal forms have deadlines, and a 90 day plan with a table you can copy.

What to do when someone leaves a small business: the handover, keys and logins, final pay and benefits, and a list of steps you can copy.

A column layout with example rows, the habits that keep stock counts right when staff share one file in Excel or Google Sheets, and the signs that a shop has outgrown it.

What to record, where stock lives, how to handle deliveries and moves, and how often to count, with a routine table for a shop with one to a few locations.

What share of your stock sold over a period, how to work it out from opening stock and deliveries, and how to use the result to decide what to buy again, mark down or drop.

When a chart starts to save the owner time, how to draw one with roles before names, and example layouts for a single shop and a business with several stores.

How a small market can receive, rotate, count and restock its shelves: dated products, staples that empty first, a throwaway record, and counting while the store stays open.