The second branch: everything that was informal now has to be written down

The first branch works because you are in it. Decisions happen because you make them, standards hold because you are watching, and problems are solved because you notice them.

The second branch breaks all three at once. Everything that was informal has to become explicit, and most of it lands on the point of sale.

One catalogue, not two

The most common early mistake: setting up branch two as a separate account with its own product list.

Within three months you have two catalogues that have drifted, two sets of prices, and reports that cannot be combined.

What you want: one catalogue, shared, with the ability to override per branch where it genuinely differs — a product not stocked at branch two, or a price that varies by location. Overrides as exceptions to a shared master, never two masters.

Transfers, not car boots

Stock will move between branches from the first week. Without a transfer function, it moves on WhatsApp and both branches' numbers become fiction.

Seetransfers. The essentials: raised in the system before the stock moves, received against at the destination, discrepancies recorded at receipt.

Branch-scoped permissions

A branch manager needs to run their branch and should not see or affect the other. Requirements:

• Users assigned to a branch
• Reports scoped to that branch by default
• The owner sees everything
• Transfers require both ends

Do this before you hire the second branch manager. Retrofitting permissions after someone has had wider access is awkward.

ZATCA: every terminal, separately

Each terminal at the new branch needs its own onboarding and its own certificate. Seedevice onboarding.

Keep a register: device, branch, onboarding date, expiry. With two branches this feels unnecessary. With five it is essential, and the habit is easier to start now.

Consolidated reporting, with branch comparison

What you need on one page:

• Revenue and margin per branch
• The same metrics side by side for comparison
• Stock by branch and in transit
• Labour percentage per branch
• Shrink per branch

Branch comparison is the point. With two branches you get your first real benchmark: the same products, the same prices, two different sets of results. The differences are your learning — and they are usually about people and process, not location.

What has to be written down

Things that lived in your head must now exist as documents:

• Opening and closing procedures
• Cash handling and drop thresholds
• The returns policy — seereturns
• Discount limits by role
• Who to call when something breaks
• The outage procedure — seedowntime procedures

One page each. The test is whether a new supervisor could run a shift from them.

The ten-day plan for the new branch

Days 1–3: catalogue overrides for the new branch, staff accounts, permissions, hardware ordered.

Days 4–6: ZATCA onboarding for each terminal, printers and receipt template configured, a test invoice printed and its QR scanned.

Days 7–8: staff training, three short sessions. Seetraining.

Day 9: rehearsal day. Fifty fake sales, a shift close, a drawer count.

Day 10: open, with a manager on the floor all day and an opening stock count entered as counted quantities.

The mistake nobody warns you about

Assuming the second branch will behave like the first.

Different footfall pattern, different customer mix, different peak hours, different product mix. Rostering, ordering and stock levels copied from branch one will be wrong, and the wrongness will look like poor performance rather than a wrong plan.

Give it eight weeks of its own data before concluding anything about it.

What to check weekly in the first quarter

1. Branch comparison: revenue, margin, average basket
2. Transfers open longer than a day
3. Stock variance per branch
4. Cash variance per branch
5. ZATCA rejections per branch

Anything appearing at one branch and not the other is a process difference, and that is exactly the kind of finding that makes a third branch easier than the second.