Special Pricing (SP)
Accredo’s Special Pricing (SP) module allows you to solve pricing problems simply, flexibly, transparently and powerfully.
Use SP to deliver consistent pricing across your organisation – no more relying on staff to remember what products are on special this week, and no more depending on the boss to tell staff about ad hoc pricing agreed with individual customers. Once a special pricing rule is added, it is automatically applied every time a transaction meeting the rule’s criteria is added. And if there is more than one rule, priorities and background scripting give you complete control over which one takes precedence.
If your customers demand the best prices, you need to deliver – or risk losing their business to your competitors. Accredo’s SP makes it easy and foolproof to ensure that your customers get the deal you promised them, and still protect your bottom line.
“Using SP has given the Sales Manager total control and flexibility, without causing a headache for Order Entry staff …”
Pam Burnside, Pam Burnside Software Consultancy
Accredo Qualified Support Person
Make minimum effort for maximum results
Decide on your criteria Accredo’s SP rules are based on just a few key dimensions – Who is getting the special price (customer or customer group); What is the special price for (product or product group); and When does the special price apply (day, week, month or other period). If you use Accredo Saturn, you can also specify a Where dimension (branch, department or location). Within each dimension, you select only the criteria relevant to you, minimising the work required from you and the system to apply special pricing.
Minimise your input Whether your pricing structure is very simple or very complex, Accredo will help you to manage it. If you only offer monthly specials on products, set up your system to base special pricing on product and date only, bypassing the other criteria available. If you don’t use quantity breaks, just turn them off. If you have a complex special pricing structure which takes multiple criteria, quantity breaks and other factors into consideration, simply tell Accredo what is important to you, and the system will apply your rules precisely with a minimum of effort and time.
Maximise your options In addition to specifying criteria, you can also specify the type of special pricing you want for each individual rule. For example, you may add a percentage to base cost prices for staff; deduct a percentage from base sell prices for monthly specials; and set a fixed price for certain product-customer combinations. And because Accredo is a full open period system, special pricing is automatically based on the document date when you enter an order or invoice.
Inform and be informed
Get what you need It’s easy to add special pricing to your Accredo system, and it’s also easy to extract everything you need to know about those prices from the system. Provide essential information to your customers, then use this information and more to not just report on your special pricing rules, but analyse the effect of these rules on your business.
Give it to your customers Use the sophisticated SP reporting tool to pull off a price list for any individual customer or customer group, for any range of products, as at any date. Filter the list to include only special prices, or include prices for all of the products your customer buys. Put in today’s date and fire the list off in an email; put in next month’s date to let customers know about upcoming specials; or put in last month’s date to confirm prices on an invoice or statement. And if you use quantity breaks, list prices for each quantity in a new column to provide your clients with a clear overview of any volume discounts.
Make the right decisions Within your own company, include cost prices and margins on your price list reports and use them to analyse profits. Provide sales staff with information about margins and upcoming weekly or monthly specials, to allow them to work effectively to provide your customers with competitive prices. Or filter your reports to show only prices which fall below a minimum margin, allowing you to easily asses and manage your pricing.
“The basic concepts of Accredo’s SP are really simple –
most users will be able to manage it themselves,
even with complex price breaks …”
Lyn Hamon, Hamon & Associates Ltd
Accredo Qualified Support Person
Protect your bottom line
Find out “Where did THAT come from?” Accredo makes it easy to monitor special pricing and margins as you work. Whenever a special price is applied or disallowed in an order, invoice or job, a helpful message displays the rule reference. To query the price, simply click a button and a separate window displays detailed information about the decision, including candidate rules that were not selected. If you want to change a rule, it’s just another single click from the price query window to open the rule maintenance window with the rule displayed. And once you are happy with the rule, select reprice to instantly update your order, invoice or job prices.
Avoid costly mistakes If your business relies extensively on special pricing, or you are involved in importing or exporting, make sure you remain profitable when suppliers’ prices and currency values change. Set a minimum margin for special prices in Accredo and the system will automatically disallow any price which falls below your specified margin. And for the odd occasion when you just want to get rid of stock regardless of the profit (or loss) involved, just allow individual rules to bypass the minimum margin.
