Reading the Kit home dashboard: net sales, gross profit, stock
What each figure on the Kit POS home dashboard means, which period to pick, how to filter by location, and what to ask Kit AI when a number looks wrong.
The home dashboard is the first screen a Kit POS user sees, and it is designed to answer the owner's morning question in one glance: how did we do, and is anything wrong? This guide explains each figure, the period and location filters, and how to go one level deeper when a number does not look right. It is written for the owner or manager, not the accountant, and it assumes nothing beyond a day of sales in the system.
The top row: today
The top of the dashboard shows "total sales, transactions and average sale for today". Read them together.
- Total sales is the value of everything sold today, before returns are netted off.
- Transactions is the number of receipts. A day with high sales and few transactions is a few big baskets; the reverse is a busy counter with small purchases.
- Average sale is the first divided by the second, and it is the figure that tells you whether staff are selling the second item. If it drifts down over a month, that is a training conversation.
The period block: net sales, gross profit, expenses, net position
Below today's row the dashboard shows "net sales, gross profit, expenses and net position for the period you pick". The period options are "Today, yesterday, last 7 days, this month, custom".
- Net sales is sales less returns and discounts. It is the honest revenue figure.
- Gross profit is net sales less the cost of the goods sold, taken from each product's purchase price. It moves when suppliers raise prices and you do not, when staff discount, or when the mix shifts toward low-margin lines.
- Expenses are the costs you have recorded for the period: rent, airtime, transport, wages.
- Net position is gross profit less expenses. For a single-location shop it is close to the operating profit for the period; the full accounting view lives in Kit Accounting's P&L.
The habit that pays: set the period to "last 7 days" every Monday and to "this month" on the first of the month, and compare both with the same period before.
Filter by location
Every figure on the dashboard can be filtered by location. With two or more shops, the all-locations view tells you how the business did; the per-location view tells you which shop did it. Read the per-location gross profit side by side. Two shops with the same sales and different gross profit are buying or discounting differently, and the difference is usually fixable within a week.
Revenue against expenses, and payment methods
The dashboard charts "revenue against expenses and payment methods". The first chart is your trend line; the second is your float planning. If mobile money is now half of takings, the cash drawer needs less cash and the mobile money reconciliation needs more attention.
One level down: the reports
When a dashboard figure looks wrong, the reports behind it are one click away. The stock report shows "closing stock at purchase and sale price by location and category, potential profit, and the items that have not moved". The items-sold report breaks sales down "by product, category and brand". Sales can be read "by day, product, category, customer and cashier", and there are reports on purchases, expenses, tax and profit. Every list has a column picker and saved views, and exports to Excel and CSV. Kit Accounting, free in every plan, adds the "P&L, balance sheet, trial balance and ageing", live rather than month-end.
Three questions for Kit AI
Kit AI is included in every plan with a weekly token allowance and answers from "your own records", under your own role. When a dashboard number surprises you, three questions get to the cause quickly:
- "What sold best this week?" If gross profit fell while sales held, the answer usually shows a shift to lower-margin items.
- "Which items are below reorder level?" If sales fell, empty shelves are the first suspect.
- "Which cashier gave the most discounts this month?" If average sale fell, discounting is the second suspect.
Each answer points to a report you can open and a conversation you can have.
The same numbers on your phone
Kit Business, free with every Kit plan on Google Play and the App Store, shows "total sales, transactions and average sale for today, this week or any range, per location or all of them", with alerts you choose per location: "low stock, big sales, approvals and end-of-day summaries". The end-of-day summary gives "sales, transactions and payment mix for the day", ready to share with a partner or the accountant. Roles apply exactly as on the web: "a branch manager sees their branch, a cashier sees their own sales, the owner sees everything".
A routine worth keeping
Open the dashboard with the day's first coffee. Read today's row. Switch the period to last 7 days and look at gross profit beside net sales. Filter by location if you have more than one. Ask Kit AI one question about whatever surprised you. Ten minutes, every day, and the month end stops being a surprise.
Sources
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