Case Study: Transforming Cash Management in a Hair Extension Business

When a business handles cash transactions, efficient cash management is as crucial to its success as its core business activities.

Cash management is not just about keeping track of money, as it does not only affect financial accuracy but also operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

This case study about a hair extension business will explore how a business can transform its cash management to achieve better business outcomes.

The company:

Shally’s Hairven is a thriving air extension business that caters to a diverse clientele - from fashion-forward individuals seeking the latest trends to salon owners stocking up on inventory.

Shally’s Hairven began as a retail store that sold premium hair extensions to individual end users. But before long, it expanded and started selling hair extensions in bulk to retailers, distributors, and other businesses.

The Challenge

Cash payments are pivotal in Shally’s Hairven's daily operations, as over 80% of in-store transactions are conducted in cash.

As Shally’s Hairven grew (particularly after it started supporting wholesale transactions), the volume of cash flowing through its till increased significantly, and so did the complexity of its cash management.

The business was using manual cash counting processes. And that made managing cash flow challenging. Specific cash handling challenges that Shally’s Hairven experienced included:

Time-consuming manual counting

As Shally’s Hairven started handling large volumes of cash, manually counting bills became time-consuming and labor-intensive. This was a big problem during peak periods when transactions were more rapid.

Many times, cashiers need to count the cash more than once to avoid errors, which further wastes time.

Inaccuracy

Human error is usually a problem in any manual process. It actually was in Shally’s Hairven manual cash counting processes, as the cashiers sometimes make mistakes. Such miscounts often resulted in shortages.

Miscounts were more common:

• When counting large volumes of cash.
• When handling bills of different denomination
• During peak hours when there are many customers to attend to and cashiers need to speed up their service rate.

Difficulty detecting counterfeits

A persistent problem with Shally’s Hairven’s manual counting process was receiving counterfeit bills.

The business relied on cashiers' ken eyes to detect fake notes when counting. But that was very difficult, especially when bills are packed tightly together in bundles.

When the business goes to the bank to deposit the money, counterfeits are detected. The bank confiscates and destroys them, resulting in financial losses for Shally’s Hairven.

Impacts on Business Operations

Shally’s Hairven cash handling challenges affected every aspect of the business. The business’ poor manual cash management process affected operations, finances, and even customer experience.

Effects on operations

Manual cash counting slowed down checkout processes. To reduce the high rate of counterfeits, cashiers were instructed to spend more time examining bills when counting. Also, to avoid miscounts, cashiers often count bills more than once. All these made the checkout time longer.

Effect on Finance

Errors in cash receipts and the discovery of counterfeit bills affected the business’s financial health. There were many instances of cash shortages where the sales records didn’t accurately reflect the cash in hand due to miscounts.

There were also too many instances of counterfeits detected (by the bank) when making cash deposits, which always resulted in a lower deposit amount. Such counterfeits mean the business didn’t receive any value for the goods they were exchanged with.

In fact, one such occurrence made Shally’s Hairven decide to transform its cash-handling practices. The business had taken money to deposit into the bank only to discover that about 12% of the bills were fake, resulting in a NGN1,020,500 loss.

Effect on Customer Experience

Remember that manual cash counting is time-consuming, especially when counting large volumes of cash. Customers get frustrated when they spend more time than they expect waiting at checkout.

Besides long waiting times, customers experienced other frustrating episodes due to the business’ manual cash-counting process. An example is when a cashier counts and recounts a cash payment and says it is incomplete. The customer, who is sure the money is complete, then takes it and counts it, only to find it was complete all the while (and that the cashier was the one making a mistake). Though not an everyday occurrence, this often happened. And it irritated many of the affected customers.

So, the manual cash process of the business was negatively affecting customers’ perception of service quality.

The Solution - Banknote Counter Machine

Shally’s Hairven explored various options for addressing its cash management challenges. Then, it settled on deploying a banknote counter machine.

The search for a reliable provider of quality banknote counter machines led it to Ribao Technology - a China-based company with over 25 years of professional experience in manufacturing and exporting cash-handling equipment.

Shally’s Hairven got the Mixed Denomination Bill Counter Ribao BA-40 machine.

This banknote counter machine revolutionized the business’ cash handling system in several ways.

Efficiency

The machine significantly reduced the time it takes to count cash. This was particularly important when processing large volumes of cash for wholesale payments. What used to take several minutes now takes only a few seconds.

With the counter machine counting cash faster, checkout lines now flow smoothly, even during peak periods.

Shally’s Hairven chose the mixed denomination bill counter over the others because of the promise of being able to count mixed denominations simultaneously. Interestingly, the machine lives up to its promise. Unlike many other machines, it can count bills of mixed denominations, increasing your efficiency.

In fact, the mixed denomination bill counter machine has six counting modes. It can sort mixed notes by their denomination, process bills into bundles of customized quantity, count the quantity and amount of bills, and more.

Accuracy

Not only does the banknote counting machine process cash fast, but it is also 100% accurate, eliminating human errors in cash handling.

The instances of miscounts leading to cash shortages are now a thing of the past. The banknote counting machine accurately counts bills and provides both the quantity and amount of bills.

Counterfeit detection

One of the biggest benefits of the Ribao Technology cash counting machine for Shally’s Hairven is that it armed the business to detect counterfeit bills accurately.

The business used to suffer heavy losses because of counterfeit notes. But that is no longer the case.

The machine has six counterfeit detection features - RGB image sensor, infrared transmission sensor, infrared image sensor, infrared LED and silicon detector, magnetic sensor, and UV sensor. These check different properties of a bill, ensuring that no counterfeit bill can slip through undetected.

Since Shally’s Hairven deployed the Mixed Denomination Bill Counter Ribao BA-40 machine, there have been zero instances of counterfeit bills slipping into the business’ cash receipts.

Final Thoughts

From large global banks to small retail shops, businesses that process cash manually face many of the same challenges—the process is time-consuming, plagued by errors, and unable to detect counterfeits efficiently.

Shally’s Hairven, a hair extension business, faced these challenges, which negatively affected the business by slowing the checkout process, causing cash shortages, and dampening customer experience.

Then, the Ribao Technology banknote counting machine came to the rescue. Deploying the counting machine transformed the cash-handling processes of Shally’s Hairven. The machine enhanced counting, improved accuracy, and protected against counterfeit bills. It equipped Shally’s Hairven to offer faster and more reliable checkout services, bolstering customer satisfaction.

Suppose your business processes large volumes of cash, and you’re looking to invest in modern solutions to improve operational efficiency, financial accuracy, and security against counterfeits. In that case, you cannot go wrong with Ribao Technology cash handling machines.

Ready to transform your business with more efficient cash-handling practices? Explore the range of Ribao Technology currency counting machines today!