In Retail POS, you can create supplier profiles and add multiple suppliers to your products. These can be captured on standard products and products with variants, and each records supplier-specific product codes and supplier prices.
When ordering stock, the recorded supplier information is dynamic and will change depending on which supplier you've selected on the stock order form.
Understanding suppliers
A supplier is where you source your product(s) from. Different products can have different suppliers, and some products may have multiple suppliers that the product is sourced from.
Being able to create supplier profiles and record multiple suppliers for each product means that you can record supplier code and supplier price information, for each supplier, against your products, and quickly and easily order your product(s) from that supplier in Retail POS.
Once added to a product, a product's supplier information will be displayed on the Catalog page in the Supplier column.
The first supplier entered will be displayed in the Supplier column, with additional suppliers denoted by and X more, however, Retail POS will dynamically display an additional suppllier in place of the first supplier, when the additional supplier is searched for using filters.
You can also click to expand the product and select the Details tab to see each supplier name, supplier code, and supplier price recorded for that product.
When ordering stock, a product with multiple suppliers recorded will default to the supplier code and supplier price for the Supplier that has been selected on the order.
If a different supplier is selected after the product(s) have been added, the supplier code and supplier price will dynamically change to match what is recorded for that product.
Supplier information can be viewed for each product from within the stock order by clicking the product to expand.
Creating suppliers in Retail POS
To create a supplier profile that can be assigned to your products, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to Catalog > Suppliers.
- Click Add supplier.
- Enter the supplier information.
- Click Save.
Details
Supplier name: This is the name of the supplier that will be displayed in your supplier list, and on any invoices addressed to this supplier.
Default markup: This is used for record-keeping purposes and it does not have any effect on your products.
Description: This field is used for any additional information needed about the supplier that isn’t covered elsewhere. This field is can be used to capture additional contacts, secondary phone or emails, or any other info needed.
Contact info
First name, Last name, Company, Phone, Mobile, Fax, Website, Twitter: These are standard fields for your supplier's official contact name, primary phone number, fax number, etc.
Email: This field will automatically add the supplier’s email address to any orders emailed from Retail POS.
Addresses
Street, Suburb, City, Postcode, State, Country: These fields are used to track the location of the supplier for orders and records. They do not have to be filled out, but are useful for records.
Mailing address same as store address: Check this box to use the information entered into the Physical address fields for the Mailing address fields. If you uncheck this box, you can enter alternative address information for the Mailing address fields.
Assigning and editing suppliers on products individually
To assign or edit multiple suppliers on your products, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to Catalog > Products.
- Click Add product to create a new standard product or product with variants, or locate an existing product, click to expand and click Edit product.
- On the Add or Edit Product page, under Inventory you will find the Supplier information section.
- Select the Supplier from the dropdown. If the supplier has not been created in Retail POS yet, enter the name of the supplier into the Search all suppliers field and click Add "X" as a new supplier.
- Enter the supplier code (if applicable) into the Supplier code field.
- Enter the supplier price into the Supplier price field.
- To add additional suppliers, click Add another supplier
- Repeat steps 4-7 until all suppliers are captured
- Click Save.
Importing multiple suppliers in bulk via CSV/XLSX
Before beginning
It is important to note that while Retail POS supports bulk importing of multiple suppliers via CSV/XLSX, it does NOT currently support editing or exporting via CSV/XLSX.
We strongly recommend reading the below guide carefully and ensuring that all steps are followed accurately to prevent any errors from occurring.
Once imported, the suppliers will need to be edited on an individual product basis within Retail POS. Refer to the Adding and editing multiple suppliers on a single product section above for instructions on how to do this.
You can now import multiple suppliers in bulk using CSV/XLSX. This allows you to quickly and easily capture multiple suppliers for each product across a large catalog.
Export a product list
To begin, navigate to Catalog > Products.
The first thing you'll need to do is export your current product catalog as a CSV/XLSX. You can either export your entire catalog, or a portion of it using the filters.
Once you have identified the desired products, click Export list and select CSV format or XLSX format.
Open the downloaded CSV/XLSX file in Microsoft Excel, or use free spreadsheet software such as Google Docs, Open Office or Libre Office.
Formatting the CSV/XLSX file
Once open, you MUST delete all of the inventory columns (including their headers) to prevent unwanted changes to inventory levels when reimported.
The existing supplier_name, supplier_code, and supply_price columns are for your product's default supplier. If this has already been populated in Retail POS, the supplier information will be displayed in the file, otherwise, these columns will be blank.
You can add additional columns for each of the suppliers you wish to add to your products using the column header formatting below:
- add_supplier_1_name
- add_supplier_1_code
- add_supplier_1_price
If you are adding more than one additional supplier, the next set of columns should be:
- add_supplier_2_name
- add_supplier_2_code
- add_supplier_2_price
The numeric indicator for each column header should increase with each supplier that is being added to the product(s). The first additional supplier is 1, the second is 2, the third is 3, and so on.
The supplier populated in the supplier_name, supplier_code, and supply_price columns will always form the default supplier for a product and display first.
The order will then be formed in numerical order using the add_supplier_X_name,add_supplier_X_code, and add_supplier_X_price columns. To change the order, change the numerical value in the column header.
Changing the column position in the CSV/XLSX file will have no effect on the supplier order in Retail POS.
(Click to enlarge)
Populate the cells under each header with the relevant supplier information for that product. Each product can have none, one or more of supplier name, code and price. If the cell is left blank, the information for that supplier will simply be ignored for that specific product when imported.
When adding suppliers to products with variants, all variants need to have the same supplier name. If one of the variants doesn't have the same supplier name as the rest of the family, the import will error.
You must populate the three add supplier columns (add_supplier_X_name, add_supplier_X_code, and add_supplier_X_price) for each additional supplier, otherwise, all information for that supplier will be ignored.
Import the CSV/XLSX file
When the CSV/XLSX has been completed, Products and click Import.
Click Choose a file to upload... and select the file you have just created. The CSV/XLSX validator will read all columns and assign them to the corresponding data fields within Retail POS.
If the validator detects any errors you will be taken to the column matching screen. Here you'll be able to view any unmatched columns and fix them by selecting the correct column from the drop-down menu or clicking Don't Import to ignore the column.
When the unmatched columns have been matched or ignored, scroll down and click Continue.
If no errors are identified, click Continue with Import.
Once the import is complete, you will receive a notification stating "Your product import has completed. X records were added, X records were updated and X were ignored."
If any records were ignored, click View ignored products (CSV) to determine what needs to be corrected.
Your import will be successful if no records were ignored. You can now see the imported suppliers for each individual product on the Edit Product page in the Catalog > Products section.