Switching without closing
The question most shop owners do not ask out loud: how much disruption is this going to cost me? Here is exactly what happens, and what we need from you.
You keep trading the entire time. Your current system stays running until the day you decide to stop using it, and the changeover happens on a morning you choose - not on a date we hand you.
How it goes
We set your stores up
Still tradingBefore your team touches anything, we build your stores in the admin console and configure them to match how you already work.
- Loyalty rates set per store, so an existing points scheme carries over at the same value
- Delivery fees configured per distance band, matching what you charge today
- VAT and payout settings per store
- Staff added with the right role and store, so nobody sees more than they should
Your catalogue goes in
Still tradingProducts, categories, pricing and vendor records get loaded, then checked against what is actually on your shelf.
- Weight-based and unit-based products both supported, so flower priced per gram and edibles priced per unit sit in one catalogue
- Categories ordered the way you want customers to see them
- Vendor records with licence type, number and expiry, if you run consignment
- An opening stock take gets your counts straight before anything sells through the new till
Your team learns it
Still tradingTraining is built into the app itself, so staff learn on the system they will actually use rather than sitting through a session and forgetting it by Friday.
- Lessons are scoped by role - a cashier sees till and stock lessons, an owner also sees the back office
- A start-here lesson covers accounts, roles and navigation on day one
- The library stays available, so a new hire in six months gets the same onboarding
Go-live, on a morning you pick
You start ringing sales through Budstack. That is the whole changeover - there is no cutover window where neither system works.
- Start the first shift, open the till, take the first sale
- Your old system stays available for as long as you want historical records from it
- The first cash-up at close of day tells you immediately whether the float and takings reconcile
Who does what
We handle
- Store and settings setup - loyalty, delivery bands, VAT, payouts
- Catalogue and vendor loading
- Staff accounts and role assignment
- Your branding applied across the customer app and storefront
- Support after go-live
We need from you
- A current product list with prices and categories
- Staff names and roles, and which store each works at
- Your logo and brand colours
- Vendor details and licence info, if you run consignment
- A few hours of one person's time to check the catalogue is right
- A go-live date that suits your trading week
The things people actually worry about
What happens to my historical sales data?
It stays in your old system. Budstack starts fresh from go-live rather than importing years of another system's records, which keeps your new reporting clean and your old records intact.
What if my staff hate it?
The till is the part they touch most, and it is built for a counter - search, category filters, and a walk-in customer created straight from the cart. The training library means they can look something up mid-shift instead of phoning you.
What if something is wrong on day one?
Your first cash-up surfaces it the same evening rather than at month end - expected cash, card and EFT against what you actually counted. Stock takes do the same for your shelf.
I have more than one store. Do I have to move them all at once?
No. Stores are added to the same console one at a time, so you can move one shop, run it for a few weeks, and bring the rest across once you are happy.
What happens to my data if I ever leave?
It is yours, and it is exportable. Every table in the system exports to CSV, and every report to PDF. Your data sits on your own servers, not pooled with any other client.
See it against your own setup
Tell us how many stores you run and what you are using now, and we will walk you through what moving across would look like.