Create a Product Line

Use product lines to group your inventory items into high-level categories.For example, Accessories, BBQs & Grills, Chemicals, or Covers.

• Product lines are similar to kit categories because they are the highest level of organization in the inventory tree, but they are created in the Items folder instead of the Kits folder.

• You need to set up product lines before you can create inventory items.

How do product lines impact accounting (Sales, COGS, and Returns)?
Product lines control which GL accounts are used when items are sold, returned or adjusted in a physical count. These GL accounts should be set up in the Chart of Accounts before creating the product line.

• GL Sales Account: When an item is sold, this account is credited for the amount of the sale.

• GL COGS Account: When an item is sold, this account is debited for the unit cost amount.

• GL Returns Account: When an item is returned, this account is debited for the contra-revenue amount.

• GL Physical Count Account: When an item is subtracted from inventory in a physical count, this account is debited for the unit cost amount.

There is generally one Sales account, one COGS account, and one returns account for each product line, but you can also roll multiple product lines into a single sales account, COGS account or returns account.

How do product lines impact marketing?
When setting up product lines, you should also set up marketing interests. Marketing interests allow you to link a lead and their purchases to a specific interest. For example, when a customer interested in BBQs comes into your store, an employee selects the BBQ & Grill marketing interest when they input the lead. You can then follow up with a marketing campaign to encourage a new purchase.

• The system also knows when a customer purchases an item in a marketing interest

• When setting up a marketing interest, you associate a product line with each marketing interest. The item with the highest price on the quote or order determines the marketing interest based on the product line the item is located in. For example, if a customer purchases a Traeger grill, and the grill belongs to the product line that is associated with the BBQ & Grill marketing interest, the order is automatically assigned the BBQ & Grill marketing interest.

• We recommend that you set up a marketing interest for each product line.

Product lines also impact reports

• Most sales reports are filtered by marketing interest, not product line. The exception is the Money Tree. For example, the Invoice Register, Order Profit Register, and Commission - Register all display sales based on marketing interest.

• Marketing reports, campaigns, and lists use marketing interest, not product line.

• Service Revenue by Tech report can be filtered by product line.

• Inventory reports can be filtered by product line.

• Financial reports display sales and COGS by accounts associated with product lines.

Create a Product Line:

1. Open the Product Lines tab on the Administration - Inventory screen (Administration > Inventory > General Setup > Product lines).

2. Click Add. The Product Line screen appears.

3. Input the name of the Product Line.  This should be one word.

• The product line name should not be a product name. It should be something generic, like Chemicals, or Spas.

1. (optional) Input the default retail margin.

• If you enter a default retail margin, the system will automatically calculate the retail sales price for all items under this product line. If a retail margin is set up on an item, the margin on the item overrides the margin on the product line. 

1. Check Round Up Cents on Margin Price if you always want to round up to a specific amount, for example, 95 or 00.  Enter the cent amount in the field.

• For example, if the price of the item is $1.67 and you enter 95 in this field, the system will round the price to $1.95. If the price of the item is $.99, the system will still round up to $1.95.

1. Check Enforce Max Discount Limit % to limit the percentage amount items can be discounted. Employees will get an error message if they try to discount an item above the maximum.

• The employee cannot discount over this amount unless they have the Order - Can exceed max discount set for item security permission.

1. GL Sales Account - When an item is sold, this account is credited for the amount of the sale. Sales accounts can also be assigned at the sub-department level so that the specific Sub Department in the Product Line will post to a separate Sales Account. Click Add Account to create a new account.

2. GL COGS Account - When an item is sold, this account is debited for the unit cost amount. Click Add Account to create a new account.

3. GL Returns Account - When an item is returned, this account is debited for the contra-revenue amount. Click Add Account to add a new account.

4. GL Physical Count Account - Select the GL Physical Count Adjustment account from the pull-down window.  This is the default account used during Physical Counts when an item from this Product Line is adjusted.  The normal default is the Inventory Adjustments GL account, but you are free to set up the accounts by product line or sub-department. Click Add Account to add a new account.

5. Add departments to the product line.

• Departments are added to the inventory tree just below the product line. For example,  if the product line is BBQs & Grills, you could input Traeger and Big Green Egg as departments.

• You can only add seven departments to the product line, but once you save the product line, you can use the Departments tab on the Product Line screen to add additional departments and sub-departments.

• Each department can have a specific retail margin.  Entering a retail margin at the sub-department level will override the retail margin set at the Product Line level.  You may also set a retail margin for a sub-department even if you did not set one at the Product Line level.  If you need to add additional sub-departments, save the Product Line and then click [Update] and go to the Departments Tab.

1. Click OK to save the new product line.

Update an existing product line:
Click Update or double click the highlighted Product Line to update the Product Line information.

Use the Inventory Tree Mapper if you want to reorganize your product lines, but you already have inventory items in the product lines. The Inventory Tree Mapper allows you to quickly move groups of items from one product line to another.

1. Open the Product Lines tab on the Administration - Inventory screen (Administration > Inventory > General Setup > Product lines).

2. Double click on a product line. The Product Line screen appears.

3. Click Mark All As Corp Buy to mass update all items in this Product Line to be Corporate Buy. A person must have proper security to order Corporate Buy items on Purchase Orders.

4. Click Mark All As Open to Buy to mass update all items in this Product Line to be Open to Buy. A person only needs security permissions to create Purchase Orders to order Open to Buy items.

5. Use the Departments tab to set up all of the folders under the product line.

• To add a department, navigate to where you want to create it and click Add Department. The New Product Line Department screen appears.

• Department: Enter the name of the department.

• Retail Margin: The system automatically calculates the retail sales price based on the margin. If a retail margin is set up on an item, the margin on the item overrides the margin set up here.

• GL Sales Account: When an item is sold, this account is credited for the amount of the sale.

• Repeat the steps above to add additional departments to the selected location. You can add up to 9 departments at one time.

• Click ok when complete. The Product Line screen appears.

1. Click OK to save the product line.

Delete a product line

You cannot delete a product line that is associated with a price group. 

• To remove a product line from a price group, go to Inventory > Pricing > Customer Price Groups and remove the product line from the price group. 

Security Permissions Required

 Implications

• Inventory: Adding new product lines will change the look of your tree. It will add another branch within your inventory tree.
• Accounting: Changing product line default accounts will redirect the posting of sales, returns and COGS for that product line.