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 products 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 you can record supplier code and price information for each supplier per product and order products 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 # more. Retail POS will dynamically display an additional supplier 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 products 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:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Suppliers.

   

2. Click Add supplier.
3. Enter the supplier information.

   

   Details

   • Supplier name: Name of the supplier that will be displayed in your supplier list and on any invoices addressed to this supplier.
   • Default markup: Used for record-keeping purposes and does not have any effect on your products.
   • Description: Used for any additional information needed about the supplier that isn’t covered elsewhere. This field can be used to capture additional contacts, secondary phone or emails, or any other information needed.

   Contact info

   • First name, Last name, Company, Phone, Mobile, Fax, Website, Twitter: Standard fields for your supplier's official contact name, primary phone number, fax number, etc.
   • Email: This field automatically adds the supplier’s email address to any orders emailed from Retail POS.

   Addresses

   • Street, Suburb, City, Postcode, State, Country: Used to track supplier location for orders and records. These are optional but 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.
4. Click Save.

Assigning and editing suppliers on individual products

To assign or edit multiple suppliers on your products:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. Click Add product to create a new standard or variant product, or locate an existing product, click to expand the row, and click Edit.
3. On the Product page, under Inventory, find the Supplier information section.

   

4. 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 as a new supplier.
5. If applicable, enter the supplier code into the Supplier code field.
6. Enter the supplier price into the Supplier price field.

   

7. To add additional suppliers, click Add another supplier.

   

8. Repeat the above steps to add additional suppliers as needed.
9. Click Save.

Importing suppliers in bulk

Suppliers can be imported, but not edited or exported, via spreadsheet. Once imported, suppliers need to be edited individually in Retail POS.

Exporting the product list

1. Navigate to Catalog > Products.
2. You can either export your entire catalog or a portion of it using the filters. Click Export list and select XLSX or CSV format.

   

3. Open the file in Google Sheets or Excel.
4. Delete all inventory columns (including headers) to prevent unwanted changes to inventory levels when re-importing.
5. 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 headers 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, etc.

   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 spreadsheet file will have no effect on the supplier order in Retail POS.

   

6. 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 be ignored for that specific product when imported.

   When adding suppliers to products with variants, all variants must 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 have errors.

   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 or all information for that supplier will be ignored.

7. Save your spreadsheet file.

Importing the spreadsheet file

1. When the spreadsheet has been completed, navigate to Products and click Import.
2. Click Choose a file to upload... and select the file you just created. The spreadsheet 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 to view any unmatched columns. You can fix them by selecting the correct column from the dropdown menu or clicking Don't Import to ignore the column.

3. When the unmatched columns have been matched or ignored, scroll down and click Continue.

   

4. If no errors are identified, click Continue with Import.

5. Once the import is complete, you will receive a notification stating "Your product import has completed. # records were added, # records were updated and # 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 Catalog > Products.

Updating suppliers in bulk using the Retail Imports team

To edit multiple suppliers in bulk, you can submit a request to the Retail Imports team.

1. Navigate to Catalog > Suppliers.
2. The Retail Imports team uses Supplier name data to make updates, so make sure there are no duplicate names in your suppliers list. To update a supplier name, click the pencil icon (Edit), make the changes, and Save.
3. Submit a request to the Retail Imports team for an export of your supplier list.
4. When you receive the file, open it in Google Sheets or Excel.
5. Remove all rows and columns you don't need to edit to avoid unintended updates to product and supplier data.

   Blank cells will erase the information that was previously in that field.

6. Save your spreadsheet as an XLSX (preferred) or CSV.
7. Send your file back to the Retail Imports team.

The Retail Imports team will use your file to update your suppliers in bulk.

What's next?