The number he reads off the old part is not the number you file it under. Tens of thousands of lines, a counter that cannot wait while somebody checks three systems, and a customer who wants it today on account. What decides the sale is how fast the right line is found and whether the figure beside it is true.
A superseded number, a vehicle and three descriptions all resolve to the right lines, because your code, the OEM number and the description sit on the same record.
With tens of thousands of lines, the thing that decides the sale is how fast the right one surfaces with a true stock figure beside it.
Two price books in front of one availability figure, so the counter cannot sell what the fleet order has already been promised.
In deep-catalogue trades the catalogue is not an asset, it is the obstacle. Nobody wins on having the part if nobody can find it inside a minute, and the codes the customer uses are rarely the codes you file under.
This is what arrives. Not a form, not a structured order. An email written by somebody in a hurry.
Need these today, on account
Morning, Got three bakkies in the shop. Need today if you have it: - 4x brake pad set front (Hilux, the old number was BP-2214) - 2x oil filter spin-on - 1x alternator, remanufactured - 20x engine oil 15W40, 5 litre Put it on the account, we will collect. Riaan, Boksburg Fleet Services
He has given you a superseded number, a vehicle, and three descriptions. None of them is your part code.
Found by whatever he gave you
Your code, the OEM number and the description all point at the same line, so nobody has to translate between them mid-enquiry.
Fitment written on the line
The vehicle and position are carried on the line itself, so the quote and then the invoice say what went where.
Priced to the account, not the counter
A fleet account and a walk-in draw on the same stock at different prices, applied by the account rather than chosen by the person quoting.
The reman unit ordered in
The alternator is not on the shelf. It goes onto a purchase order with a real date while the other three lines are confirmed immediately.
From a list of parts to money in the bank. Six steps, and nothing is typed twice. The quote becomes the order, the order becomes the invoice, and the figures cannot disagree.
The enquiry arrives as a list of parts
A customer sends a request, usually as prose with part numbers buried in it. It lands in one inbox and is read into lines the catalogue recognises, rather than retyped by whoever picks it up.
Priced against stock you actually hold
Each line is checked against the floor: what is available, what is already allocated to another order, and what is in transit. A quote does not promise a part that is spoken for.
What is short goes onto a purchase order
A shortfall raises a purchase order against the supplier who carries that part, with its lead time on it. The customer is told a real date rather than an optimistic one, and receiving closes the loop when it lands.
The quote goes out, and is chased
A quote that nobody follows up is a discount you already gave away. Quotations carry an expiry and sit on a follow-up list, so the ones going cold are visible while there is still something to save.
Accepted, it becomes an order to pick
The accepted quote turns into an order with the same lines and the same prices, stock is allocated against it, and it drops into the picking queue. Nothing is captured a second time.
Despatched, invoiced, and watched until paid
Proof of delivery closes the order and raises the invoice off the same lines. From there it sits on the aged debtor until it is settled, so what is owed and how long it has been owed is one number, not a spreadsheet.
One part number, four prices, none of them wrong. A parts distributor does not have a price list. It has a price per account, per quantity and per fleet agreement, and the counter has to get the right one without leaving the enquiry.
- Cash / walk-inR 845.0042%Retail, over the counter
- Trade accountR 718.0032%Held against the part
- Fleet / wholesaleR 668.0027%Held against the part
- Volume break, 20+R 608.0020%Applied at the quantity quoted
- CostR 486.00On every line, so margin is never a guess
The tier decides the price
Retail, trade and fleet are held against the part itself and applied by the account being quoted, so a new person on the counter cannot pick the wrong one.
Three ways into the same line
Your code, the supplier’s and the OEM number all point at this record, because the customer will use whichever one is printed on the old part.
Fitment travels with the price
The vehicle and position are written on the line, so the quote, the order and the invoice all say what went where.
Margin is visible while it matters
Cost sits against sell as the quote is built, so a thin line is seen before it is sent rather than found at year end.
Auto Parts & Spares, Boksburg. 27 catalogue lines, with the quotes, orders, purchase orders and debtor book behind them.
Turnaround, win rate, orders in fulfilment and the SKUs that have dropped below their point across a deep catalogue.
This trade does not lose money on one big thing. It loses it four small ways, every week, and none of them shows up until the year end.
The part you had, under a number nobody searched
The customer gave the superseded code, the counter found nothing, and the sale went to the shop down the road that stocks the same part.
Your code, the supplier’s and the OEM number all resolve to the same line, and so does the description.
The quote that aged out on a workshop
Sent to a busy workshop who meant to come back. Nobody chased, and the job was done with somebody else’s parts.
Every quote out carries its value and its age, and the ones going cold surface while there is still something to save.
The fleet price given at the counter
A deep catalogue means many hands quoting, and a fleet rate applied to a walk-in is margin given away silently.
The account carries its tier and the line prices itself against it, rather than the person quoting choosing.
The slow mover nobody noticed buying
Reordered on habit rather than movement, until working capital is sitting on a shelf in lines that turn twice a year.
Reorder points are held per line against real movement, so what gets bought is what is actually selling.
Nothing runs out quietly. Reorder points are held against real movement, so a shortfall is raised as a purchase order before it becomes a lost order.
Held against actual movement, rather than a number somebody set two years ago and never revisited.
The date the customer is given comes from the supplier who carries that part, not from optimism.
Stock booked in lands against the order that was waiting for it, and the short line on that job clears itself.
The screens on this page are the live platform, captured as it renders. The company, its customers, suppliers and every figure are generated for demonstration. No client of ours appears anywhere on this page.
Nothing that already works has to move. The finance team keeps their ledger, the branches keep their stock, and the counter keeps its speed. This sits over the top of all of it.
Your accounting package
Sage, Pastel, Xero or whatever the year end runs on stays where it is. Invoices raised here reach it, and the bookkeeper is not asked to learn a new ledger.
Your branches
Stock sits per branch and is quoted per branch, with what is available at the counter separated from what is sitting at another store or already in transit.
Your part numbers
Your own code, the supplier's and the OEM number all sit on the same line, so nobody has to translate between them mid-enquiry.
Your terms
Credit limits, payment terms and settlement discounts are held against the account and enforced when the order is taken, not discovered at month end.
Your counter
A walk-in is served at the same speed as before. The system is behind the counter rather than in front of it.
Your reps
What a rep quoted, what it was worth and whether it landed is on the account rather than in their own notebook.
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Or see the distribution overview.
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