XpertPackage Module (tm)

    XpertMart (tm) allows you to group a series of items so that you can sell them as a package. These items can have special pricing as a package. Most important when deciding the contents of the package you can decide which items are to be discounted and you can discount some items more than others. To do this you use the XpertPackage Module (tm).

    If you wish to use the XpertPackage module you will most likely want to see on Invoices and Sales Orders screens the packages column so that you can know if an items was entered as part of a package. To be able to see the package column you need to go to Station Configure as show in this screen shot:



    Once you are in the Configure Station window, you need to select the Document Screens options on the left. Then on the right you want to check the box that says "Show Package". This can be seen in this image:



    To define the content and pricing of each package you will want to open the Packages Catalog. You select the Packages option from the Catalogs menu as show in this screen shot:



    Once you select the Packages catalog it will open and it will look like:



    The Packages catalog is unique. It is actually a mix of a documents type screen and a catalog. Since it has the catalogs buttons on top and not the transaction type buttons, you will enter, lookup, and change entries just as you would for any other catalog.

    Just as in a sales transaction screen you can specify the price list you wish to use for the items in the package. You also should specify a name or code for the package and enter this in the Package field. XpertMart (tm) will automatically assign a number to the package. The package numbers will be between 122,000,001 and 122,999,999 so they will not be confused with item numbers or prepack numbers.

    To enter items you need to click on the Number column. (There is no F5 button to get you to this spot as there is on the transaction screens.) You can type anything you wish in the Number column just as you can on a sales transaction. Once you have added one or more items to the package you can specify the quantities in the package, and the discount percent if any for each item or the net price for each item.

    Keep in mind that what you are basically doing is preparing a series of items that will be added to a sale or sales order just as they appear in the Packages catalog. Once the items are to your liking be sure to save your changes.

    You can see the total number of items in the package as well as the Subtotal for one package. There is no global discount option. This is due to the fact that these items will be added to sales documents that may have other items on them and may or may not be subject to a global discount.

    NOTE: In multi-store operations you should be careful when changing packages once they have been synchronized out the the stores. If you wish to remove an item from a package, rather than removing the item it is best to put a zero quantity on it. In the same fashion if you want to remove a whole package then it is best to put all its quantities to zero rather than remove it. Any package you delete from the packages catalog at the main will not be removed at the remotes, in the same way any line deleted from a package at the main will not be removed at the remotes. You can use the Rebuild Catalogs option at the remotes to erase all the contents of the Packages catalog and replace it with the contents of the Packages catalog at the main.

    Once you have defined your packages you can enter them at the point of sale quite simply. One option is to enter a "+"  (plus sign) on the scan line and then the name of the package or the number of the package. Here is an example of entering a package that is simply called "pack":



    You can also enter the plus sign and the package number. If the name of the package is not the same as the name of any style, item code, EAN/UPC code or item number,  you can also just enter the name of the package without the plus sign at the beginning. In the same way if the package number is unique then you can just enter the package number. If speed is a consideration then adding the plus sign at the beginning will allow XpertMart (tm) to recognize the entry as a package and display it faster.

    Once XpertMart finds the package it will ask you how many of this package you want to add to the sales transaction. It pops up a dialog window as the one show here:



    At the top of the dialog window you can see that it shows the name of the package and the number of the package for confirmation purposes. If you only want one of the packages then you can just hit Enter. If you want more than one then you type in the quantity you want and then click on OK. If the package displayed is not the one you want then you can click on Cancel.

    Once you have indicated the quantity of the package you chose then the contents of the package will be added to the sales transaction. If you have configured XpertMart to display the Package column then you will see that the items added from the package have the package name in this column as shown in this example:



    Once the package has been added to the sales transaction, the items are just like any other items on a sales transaction. The only difference is that they are flagged as having come from a package. You can change the quantities, prices and discounts of these items. You can also delete these items. If you wish to delete a package from a sales transaction then you need to delete each one of the items that came from that package.

    Internally XpertMart also stores in the column called "INFOQTY" the number of packages that were entered onto the sales document. Thus you can run reports to show you which packages were sold

End.