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Not all sales are straight forward cash and carry sales where the customer leaves with the goods directly after purchasing them. The Fulfilment tab is extremely powerful for tracking inventory when the stock is provided to the customer at a later date e.g. laybys, or ordering stock in.
In this article:
Retail Express will even allow you to select a different Source and Fulfilment location entirely. This is ideal for when the product is available in another store, and the customer wants to purchase the stock immediately so it's set aside for them (allocated in the system) and they will go to collect it.
Using POS you can:
- Change the order Fulfilment method e.g. layby, delivery, pick-up
- Change the Source and Fulfilment Locations (creating a Transfer within Retail Express)
- Check for an ETA date of stock on inbound Purchase Orders
- View progress of stock awaiting Fulfilment (if linked to a Purchase Order or Transfer)
- Enter a Due Date for customer delivery
- Fulfil the stock to the customer
Note: Before continuing with this article it is recommended that you first familiarise yourself with the different Fulfilment methods. Refer to the POS - Fulfilment Methods Overview article for more information, including the Inventory movements associated with each method.
To access the Fulfilment tab:
- Log into POS
- Create a Sale
- Click on the orange Fulfilment tab
Changing the Fulfilment Method
The Fulfil Method column is used to:
- Display the current Fulfilment Method per product (represented by an icon)
- Select an alternative Fulfilment Method e.g. if the product is to be delivered
- Select the type of sale "Process As" (Sale or Special Order)
Tip: For information on each of the Fulfilment Methods refer to the POS - Fulfilment Methods Overview article
When changing the fulfilment method you can do this either individually or for all products on the sale together.
- Click the Fulfil Method icon on the left of the product, or on the Pencil icon to bulk edit all lines
- Select the different Fulfilment Method as required
Tip: You can change the sale type if you want to flag the sale as a Special Order; otherwise to select Cash & Carry the sale type will need to be Sale - The product will be updated
Fulfil and Source columns
The Fulfil and Source columns are used to display information about the stock and the process it will take to be delivered to the customer.
- Source - Where the stock originates from. If the Source and Fulfil locations are different this will create a Transfer in Retail Express
- Fulfil - Where the product will be dispatched to the customer from e.g. this could be the store if the customer is picking up the product from there, or the warehouse if the product is being shipped to the customer
To change the Fulfil and Source locations:
- For individual products double click on the product row, for all products click the Bulk Edit All button at the bottom of the screen
Tip: If using a touch screen or mobile device press and hold on the line - The Fulfilment Details window will open
- A list of Outlets and their Available stock levels will be displayed (the outlets displayed are determined by the permissions for that user); if Bulk Editing this column will be blank
- Select a new Source From outlet
- Select a new Fulfil From outlet i.e. where the product is dispatched/picked up from
- Update the Due Date,
- Click Done
In addition to Outlets, the Source & Fulfil columns will also display:
| PO Details |
If the sale is waiting on the arrival of a Purchase Order, the PO ID and status will be displayed, along with the ETA date the PO will arrive. ETA dates can be set against Purchase Orders from the Back Office |
| Transfer Details |
If the stock will be fulfilled from a Transfer, the Transfer ID and status will be displayed between both the Source and Fulfil columns:
|
| Due Date |
The date the stock needs to be fulfilled to the customer
|
| Lead Time |
An indicator of how long the product will take to arrive. Lead times are manually set against each product. For more information refer to the Products - Lead Time article.
|
| Stock Indicator |
A warning sign will be displayed if the product on the sale is currently out of stock. Hover over the icon to display additional detail
|
Entering a Due Date
To enter a Due Date:
- Double click on a product
Tip: On mobile devices or touch screens press and hold on the line - The Fulfilment Details window will open
- Click the Due Date field
- Enter a date in the format dd Mon YYYY e.g. 11 Feb 2019
Note: If the information isn't in the correct date format the field will become blank when you exit the field and the data will not be saved - To display a calendar picker click the Calendar icon and select a date
- Click Done
- The date will be displayed in the Fulfilment column
Quantity columns - Qty, Filled and Balance
The Qty, Filled and Balance columns are all used to display the quantities for the order and their status in being provided to the customer.
| Column | Details |
| Qty | Number of products ordered |
| Fulfilled | Number of products already provided to the customer |
| Balance | Number of products remaining products to be dispatched |
Fulfilling Stock
At any time during the sale you can manually dispatch stock to your customer. This will update the inventory levels in Retail Express for the product.
To fulfil products:
- To fulfil the full balance for a single product click the Arrow on the product line
- To dispatch only a specific quantity click into the Dispatch field and type in the number required
- To fulfil all products click the arrow in the Column Heading
- The Fulfil Now value will be updated to match the Balance (number of products remaining to be dispatched)
- Finalise the sale to save the changes
Retail Express has a report showing the inventory changes for a product (when a product is ordered, received, purchased and more) called the Inventory Movement Log. This report is helpful in tracking the increase and decrease of each status for an inventory item including during the product transfer process. For more information refer to the Reports - Inventory Movement Log (New) article.
When a sale is placed the following inventory movements take place, and will be displayed in the Inventory Log:
- Cash & Carry:
- The Available stock is reduced and the Allocated stock is increased
- The Allocated stock is reduced straight after (as the stock has departed with the customer immediately)
- In all other sales:
- When the sale is placed the Available stock is reduced and the Allocated stock is increased (until the product is dispatched it remains in Allocated to ensure an accurate Stock On Hand level)
- When the stock is fulfilled to the customer the Allocated stock is reduced
Partial Fulfil
If the customer is to receive products on multiple occasions (for example if something is in stock earlier than another product) tick the Partial Fulfil box in the bottom left-hand corner.
Tip: To view the Fulfilment Status for multiple orders use the Fulfilment Report in the Back Office of Retail Express. This powerful report offers extensive filtering and detailed information, and can be used to print Labels and Picklists if required. Refer to the Reports - Inventory - Fulfil Products from the Fulfilment Report article for more information.
Example Scenarios
Scenario: A product is out of stock in the current location (store A) but available in another location (store B). The customer would like to order the product, have it transferred to the current store and pick it up.
| Selection | Details |
| Fulfilment Method | Layby/Pickup (as the customer is returning to the store to collect the item) |
| Source Location | Store B |
| Fulfil Location | Store A |
| ITO Created | Yes |
Scenario: A product is out of stock in the current location (store A) but in stock in the Warehouse; the product will be delivered to the customer's home.
| Selection | Details |
| Fulfilment Method | Delivery (if the customer was collecting the stock from the Warehouse it would be "Warehouse Pickup") |
| Source Location | Warehouse |
| Fulfil Location | Warehouse - as the product is being dispatched to the customer from the Warehouse and not the store, the Warehouse is the Fulfilment location as well |
| ITO Created | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
On occasion you may be asked "Have you given any more of the below items to the customer?" when adding additional payments against a sale in POS - typically during laybys.
This prompt is a reminder to update the inventory if there have been any changes during the process of editing the sale. There are specific circumstances on when this prompt appears, and when it's bypassed.
What triggers the prompt to display
In order for the prompt to be displayed the order must meet all of the following criteria:
- The sale was previously finalised - the easiest way to check this is if the red button in the bottom right-hand corner of the order shows "Update" instead of "Finalise"
- There are products with a Fulfilment method other than Cash & Carry (as Cash & Carry assumes the customer is taking it with them immediately)
- The Dispatch Quantity (the Dispatch column on the Fulfilment tab):
- Is editable for one or more items i.e. there are still products to be dispatched
- Is zero for all items i.e. if the user has added a Dispatch quantity of 1 or more for a product it's assumed that the user has considered the remaining other items in the sale
- There has been a payment added against the sale since the order was last finalised i.e. the payment was entered during the current transaction and can be edited by clicking on it (the Payment is "unlocked"). The easiest way to see this is if there is a trash can icon along side the payment:
Note: The prompt will only be displayed once in a single session when editing a sale; if the sale is updated, reopened and modified the prompt will display again.
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