As part of our overview of Advanced Inventory, we have previously looked at the modular functionality available in QuickBooks Enterprise that allows users to purchase just the features that are relevant to their business. QuickBooks Enterprise 2016 has two features that are available only as part of a Platinum support subscription: Advanced Inventory and Advanced Pricing. The two features work hand-in-hand for wholesalers and retailers. The two most common questions when it comes to QuickBooks Advanced Pricing are; “What are the advantages or benefits of Advanced Pricing in QuickBooks” and “Why would I need Advanced Pricing -can’t I just use the standard QuickBooks pricing?”
Why Would I Need QuickBooks Advanced Pricing?
So, lets start buy answering the question of “why” as we will explain the advantages next. Once your business accumulates a catalog of several hundred or (more likely) several thousand products, manual price updates become a nightmare. The cost involved (whether in your time or an employee’s or contractor’s labor) can add up quickly, and the risk that one or more changes will be missed (or entered incorrectly) grows with every additional entry that must be made. Advanced Pricing provides the answer by automating price changes.
The Benefits: Automate Your Pricing
This automation can take several forms. Quantity discounts can be established at whatever breakpoints you choose, and the setup screen will show the new price (based on a percentage discount), markup, and margin as you make changes. You can create manufacturer-specific markdowns, even establishing a date range for those markdowns to be effective if needed. Special promotions can be set up well in advance by entering start and end dates and applied to all customers or (by setting up appropriate rules) only to certain customers. Finally, depending on how your business uses the class functionality in QuickBooks, you can create specialized discounts tied to class. Tying pricing to a margin or markup on cost means that when a supplier changes your wholesale cost, your retail pricing will change automatically. This is how QuickBooks regulates pricing consistently and accurately without the need for manual updates.
Creating Pricing Rules With The Rule Editor
Advanced Pricing achieves this level of control through its Rule Editor. While it might sound intimidating, the editor is actually straightforward to use. Creating a rule means establishing one or more conditions, although if the rule is simple—a 10% promotion for all customers and all products during the week of Spring Break, for example—no conditions will be required, merely a discount amount and date range. Using multiple conditions allows the creation of extremely specific rules if needed, with available distinctions based on customer, item, sales rep, and/or class.
The rule editor employs drop-down menus, making it intuitive and easy to use. Naturally, subsequently editing a rule is just as easy, much like editing an item. Also, QuickBooks Enterprise 2016 gives you the option to override any pricing rule at the time of a specific transaction should there be a need. Another convenient feature of the Rule Editor is the ability to make rules exclusive. Look at most coupon or promotion offers, and you will probably see a condition in the fine print akin to “Discount cannot be combined with other offers.” So if, for example, you normally provide a 10% discount to certain high-volume preferred customers but decide to run a tax season inventory clearance promotion with a 20% discount, you can make the promotion rule exclusive so that the two discounts will not “stack.”
The Bottom Line
In short, QuickBooks Enterprise 2016 provides a powerful tool for automating pricing, discounts, and promotions. The savings you generate between labor saved and pricing errors avoided might even pay for your Platinum subscription.
Have Questions? Need Help?
Have more questions or would you like help with QuickBooks? Just give us a call at 866-949-7267 or click here to send us a message. We understand how to make QuickBooks manage your pricing needs and can help show you how to use it to ultimately make your business run more efficiently.
