You Could Use a Big Hygge

With the right software, a c-store can function in a harmonious, balanced way.

Feng Shui gets all the love, but Hygge is pretty cool, too.

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese practice. Hygge is a Northern European concept. Both seek to create an improved living environment, a positive approach to life that creates a sense of contentedness. (See the included sidebar for more examples. In California, by the way, we call this, “Good Vibes”).

While Feng Shui concentrates on less concrete goals like balanced energy and achieved harmony, Hygge is more tangible: it focuses on a cozy and comfortable atmosphere to create a sense of well-being. You can touch it, feel it. The word “hug” comes from it. A physical environment can help develop it. It’s fireplace warm.

Of course, if you are a c-store operator and are seeking a Hygge-inspired piece of mind, a good back office system is pretty good at creating a harmonious environment, too. Let’s see how this works:

• • The calming effect of efficiency. Okay, a lot goes on in a store, every minute, and it can be stressful and very un-Hygge-like. But nothing is more calming than a software program that streamlines day-to-day operations. Take a few more deep breaths during the course of your work day. Get things done faster. Create more time to channel your inner Hygge.

• • Contentment at end of shift. The end of a shift is full of calculations and data movement. If something doesn’t add up, you’re on pins and needles, wondering what’s going on. With a back office system to manage, organize, and direct your information to where it belongs, however, you get the kind of contentment that only financial clarity brings.

• • Tightly-knit collaboration. If everyone is looking at the same data delivered to decision-makers with a minimum of lag time, communication between staff and management improves, task delegation and teamwork rise, the back office knitting together daily work efforts and building a confident team comforted by the warmth of great reporting.

• • Harmony at the register. Ringing up the customer at the POS is go-time for the operator. It’s the experience your customer is going to remember above all others, and it has to be satisfying. It shouldn’t be marred by price checks, voids, overrides, or other confusion. Because the CDB Back Office and POS system align their information consistently, and communicate with each other often, the latest information is always available at the POS, creating impressed customers that can’t wait to return.

So let’s finish by asking a question: Does your operation create a sense of retail well-being for you, the kind of warm comfort Hygge (and success!) are known for? And, if that’s not the case, what needs to be added?

We’d guess increased efficiency and profitability to be at the top of that list, which from our experience creates an entire set of warm and fuzzies. If that sounds interesting, you might take a look at SSCS’s Computerized Back Office software. It takes time and guesswork out of making more money, and that leads to a lot of potential Hygge.

Please call us at (800) 927-7277. See if we can add a little well-being to your day.