Working with Vendor Discounts

Working with Vendor Discounts

Summary

This article describes how to update and add vendor discounts in Solatech Focus. Solatech does not maintain vendor discounts after initial setup. 

More Information

During the initial setup of your Focus account a discount file was created and uploaded to your site, based upon vendor discount sheets provided.  This csv file will be the starting place for updates.

Step 1: Downloading existing discounts and understanding the comma separated value (csv) file

  • Begin by going to your Admin page
  • Click Discounts
  • Under Export Discounts, click on the Download button to download your existing vendor discounts

  • Once the download is complete, open the downloaded csv file (if prompted, open with Excel)
  • The file will have 4 columns:  vendorname,discountlevel,productname,style,optionname,optionvalue,discount.  Do not change these headings. 
  • The vendorname is the name of the vendor for the product.  This typically will not change
  • The discountlevel column allows you to identify the level of discount which will apply.  1=Product level; 2=Style level, 3=Option level
  • The productname column contains the name of the product.  This must be entered exactly as it appears in your Focus site
  • The style column contains style name (this field may be blank and will only contain data if the discount level is set to 2 or 3)
  • The optionname column contains option names (this field may be blank and will only contain data if the discount level is set to 3)
  • The discount column contains your vendor discount as found on the cost factor sheets provided by your vendor(s).  The discount should be entered in the following format:  (1-vendor multiplier). For example, if the multiplier on your vendor cost factor sheet= .345, the value entered in the discount column will be .655.  

Step 2: Adjusting your vendor discount sheet

  • To change an existing discount, simply click in the discount field for the product to be changed and enter the new number
  • To add a style or option level discount, first change the discountlevel number to the appropriate value
  • If the discount is a 2 (style level) you must insert rows into the document that match the number of styles contained in the product
  • These new rows will be filled out with the same vendornamediscountlevel and productname as the original line
  • The style column will be populated with the style name for each product style
  • The order and name of the styles must match the order/name found in your Focus Products list
  • For this fictitious example. we'll look at how we would  assign a style level discount for the product GRA-Perfect-Vue Shades
  • On our vendor cost factor sheet, we see that this product has a multiplier of .34 and that the style cordless has a multiplier of .3
  •  First, we'll go to Products on our focus site
  • In the Vendors section, click on Graber
  • In the Products section, click on GRA-Perfect-Vue Shades
  • In the Styles section, we see that there are 3 styles:  Standard Corded, Cordless Life and Standard 2 on 1 Headrail 
  • We will make a note of the order and  exact name of each style, as we'll need it in our .csv file


  • On our csv file, we'll insert two rows after the existing product GRA-Perfect-Vue Shades
  • We'll change the discountlevel to 2
  • We'll enter the stylename for each product style
  • The optionaname column will remain blank
  • We'll enter the appropriate discount for each style
  • The completed section of our csv file will look like the example below



 

  • The process for adding an optionlevel discount is similar.  The style name and option name must match the data found in your Focus Site. To find the option names and the exact order, begin a new quote in Focus and then look at the option list. 
  • For our example, we have added an option level discount for the Hunter Douglas product HD - Décor Metal Blinds
  • Our vendor cost factor sheet shows that the Décor blinds have the following factors, based on slat size: 1" slat= = .4; 1/2" slat = .45
  • We would change our discountlevel to 3
  • By starting a new quote, we can see that the only style for this product is Decor
  • The option name is called Slat Size
  • The options are listed in this order: 1 inch Slat, 1/2 Inch Slat



  • The data would be entered into our csv file as shown below


  • To add a new product, simply insert a line into your document.  Tip: the product name must match exactly. 
  • Fill in the vendorname, discountlevel ,productname and discount field

NOTE: Products should NOT be removed from this sheet.

Step 3: Importing the updated discounts into your Focus account

  • Save all changes made to the csv file. (note: even though the editing is perform in Excel, the file must be saved in the csv format)
  • On your Admin tab, we'll return to the counts page
  • Under the Import Discounts, click the Choose File button
  • Navigate to the location of the saved csv file and click on the file name, then click the Open button
  • Click on the Apply button in Focus
  • Click OK on the pop-up confirmation message
  • You will receive notification once the update is completed.  This should take under 1 minute.
NOTE: If you are adding a discount to a new product, make sure to also add a margin. 

Additional Information:

  1. Updating or adding margins
  2. Managing your Vendor Discounts (video)

Applies To:

  1. Solatech Focus
  2. Solatech DOS

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