How Wave POS handles retail and wholesale prices
Every item has a retail price and can also have a wholesale price. In settings you choose how the wholesale price applies:
- By quantity. A line moves to the wholesale price on its own once it reaches the item’s wholesale quantity. The cashier can also switch a whole sale to Wholesale.
- By the switch only. Every sale starts at Retail. The cashier switches it to Wholesale when the buyer should get trade prices, and quantities change nothing.
Shops that serve walk-in customers and traders at the same counter, such as supermarkets and minimarts, often suit the first. A shop that gives wholesale prices only to traders it knows may prefer the second.
Wholesale prices from a set quantity
Give an item a wholesale price and the quantity it starts from, and the till does the rest. Take a 2 kg packet of sugar at KSh 290 retail, with a wholesale price of KSh 270 from 10 packets:
| Packets on the line | Price each | Line total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | KSh 290 | KSh 290 |
| 9 | KSh 290 | KSh 2,610 |
| 10 | KSh 270 | KSh 2,700 |
| 20 | KSh 270 | KSh 5,400 |
The moment the cashier types 10, the line drops to KSh 270 a packet. Nobody has to remember a price list or work it out on a calculator. Under each item the till shows its wholesale price and the quantity it starts from, so the cashier can tell a customer buying nine packets that ten cost only KSh 90 more than nine.
A Retail/Wholesale switch at the till (F3)
The cashier presses F3, or taps the switch on the screen, and every item in the sale that has a wholesale price sells at it, whatever the quantity. Items without a wholesale price stay at retail. Press F3 again and the sale goes back to retail prices.
The switch suits a trader from Machakos who buys a mixed load of goods, a few of each, for her own shop. One key gives her trade prices on everything that has them, without changing each line by hand.
Crates, cartons and bales from single units
A pack is an item that holds a set number of single units: a crate of 24 sodas, a carton of 12 bottles of cooking oil, a bale of 12 packets of maize flour. You keep stock in single units only. Sell a crate and 24 bottles leave stock; sell three bottles and three leave.
| What is sold | Price | What leaves stock |
|---|---|---|
| 500 ml soda, one bottle | KSh 60 | 1 bottle |
| Crate of 24 sodas | KSh 1,200 | 24 bottles |
The crate works out at KSh 50 a bottle against KSh 60 for a single. If you have 100 bottles in stock and sell two crates and five single bottles, you have 47 bottles left. Nobody has to “break” a crate in the system, or count crates and bottles as two different stocks.
Each pack has its own price and barcode, and it can have a wholesale price of its own, starting from a whole number of packs. Suppliers’ deliveries can be received by the crate or carton too: see purchases and suppliers.
Prices per branch
Each branch can have its own retail price for an item. Your branch in Nairobi’s CBD and your branch in Eldoret can sell the same 2 kg sugar at different prices, and each branch’s tills sell at that branch’s price. The wholesale price and the quantity it starts from are set once for the item and apply in every branch. Multi-branch explains how branches work.
See what you sold at each price
The sales report can split your sales into retail and wholesale, so you can see how much of the month’s business came from traders and how much from walk-in customers, per branch or for all branches together.
For a customer who always pays a different price, such as a hotel that buys on account, you can also set a percentage markup on their customer account. Distributors and stockists will find more on how Wave POS fits the way they sell on the wholesalers page.