Welcome to Cardross, a small rural town with a population of roughly 847 people. Nestled near Victoria’s border with New South Wales, the small community that calls Cardross home is tight knit and vivacious.
No more is this true than on the footy field and netty court. Cardross FNC is the home of several AFL and netball teams, made up of dedicated local legends and a crew of volunteers.
While Cardross FNC may be small in comparison to a retail chain, that doesn’t diminish their need for reliable management of cash flow, stock control and sales reporting. With the club staffed by volunteers, Treasurer Nikkii McCarthy needed a retail platform that was easy to use and could give her accurate data to gain a holistic view of the club’s retail operations.
Welcome to the Cardy Party
Football and netball play a huge role in the Cardross community. Not only are the teams bringing it home on match days, but the club is buzzing with community events throughout the season as well.
For Nikkii, that means there’s a lot of cash moving for each event in addition to match days, as well as volunteers she needs to coordinate to keep things running smoothly. That may seem pretty hands-on for a Treasurer, but for Nikkii that’s just how she does things.
“I am the Treasurer by title, but hold many positions within the club,” says Nikkii. “Being a more mature person I like to help guide and encourage our people to be better people in all aspects of their lives.”
That dedication to helping uplift members and volunteers in the community was at the heart of her challenge of modernising the club’s retail operations.
Nikkii had a lot of challenges to overcome
There were no shortages of challenges Nikkii was facing. Payments was the big one, particularly when it came to carrying cash, sales errors, inability to track the club’s money and poor sales recording.
On top of that there were challenges with stock control and poor record management, which was exacerbated by the reliance on pen and paper record keeping. All of which resulted in a harder experience for volunteers.
“The club had cash flow issues prior to COVID and no one could tell where or why it was so, resulting in finger pointing at volunteers,” reflects Nikkii.
In order to streamline the club’s operations and ease the pressure on volunteers, Nikkii knew she needed a retail platform that not only gave her better stock control and accurate reporting, but also embedded payments.
That’s why Nikkii trusted Lightspeed to support Cardross FNC.
How Cardross FNC uses Lightspeed’s POS and Payments platform
Modernising their retail operations was a major shake up for the club. Even Nikkii, who was determined to reduce errors and improve volunteer experience, was cautious about the switch.
Thankfully, using Lightspeed proved to be a huge benefit to the club, with Nikkii finding the embedded Payments solution, the easy to use POS and straightforward setup proving it was the retail platform for them.
“When I put forward the POS system, I myself was a bit sceptical of putting it in as the club has always worked on a cash only system, but with COVID and our younger generation having accepted and moved to EFTPOS on their phones or watches it was much easier.”
“The cost was another issue, but I like that we can put it in hibernation mode in the off season which will reduce the cost to the small club.”
Lightspeed helped Nikkii bring Cardross FNC into the modern era
“I was also time poor and didn’t want to be carrying large loads of cash around or having to take time off from my work to go to the bank. The embedded system with EFTPOS was the perfect system, the money is paid directly into the bank account, there’s less money to handle and helped bring the club into the current era.”
“The volunteers in the canteen and bar love it as they don’t have to add up sales, we have used pictures on the platform so it is much easier for them.”
“As we master the system going forward we will use it for stock control as well as sales, and integrating the sales into our XERO accounting program.”
Lightspeed Payments saves time and keeps better track of revenue
Leveraging Lightspeed Payments has proven to be a game changer for Cardross FNC on multiple fronts.
With the initial setup of the system quite simple, Nikkii could focus on refining and improving how the club’s canteen and bar could process payments. Not only did Lightspeed Payments help make operations more efficient, but it also improved the experience of volunteers and customers.
“It made it easier for them to follow. There are less errors in sales and ease of use with EFTPOS. We used it for the Finals series and took it around to the other clubs. It was so good for us.”
Payments has made Nikkii’s role much easier
Time is of the essence for Nikkii. In the old days of cash, she would be burdened with banking and trying to reconcile sales reporting. Since Payments is embedded in the POS, the sales data is accurate and takes a lot of manual work off her plate.
“The funds go straight to the bank account, there’s no need for having to run around and go to the bank with the cash.”
“I am relatively time poor, I don’t need to chase up cash or take time off to do banking. Sales are more accurate so it was much easier to do my reconciliations, hopefully even easier next year when I can integrate it straight into XERO.”
Team work makes the dream work
With Lightspeed’s POS and Payments platform giving Nikkii the support she needs, Cardross FNC are set up for bigger and better things for 2024 and beyond.
With the retail platform firing on all cylinders, Nikkii is now able to ensure the club’s revenue is solid moving forward and Cardross FNC can continue to support local legends on and off the field.
Long live the Cardy Party.
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