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Purchasing for Store Stock

Items which are in demand frequently, and which are available from one or more vendors, are purchased for store stock.

The choice for this is on the "To Do" menu, since it is a task that is done daily.

If inventory reorder levels have been set, or if usage for a three month period exceeds quantity on hand, the item will be listed as a candidate for stock ordering. You are not required to make an order, and in fact, conservation of inventory of inventory dollars may argue for waiting, but you will still be presented with the opportunity.

Step One:

Right Arrow to the "To Do" Menu

Step Two:

Down Arrow to "Store Purchase Orders for Stock". Press Enter

Step Three:

You are now in the Main Purchasing Menu. The first choice," Buy Product for Inventory" is selected, Press Enter to issue a purchase order.

You are now at the Main Purchasing Choice. Purchasing may be done either by inventory item number, (Once you have set them up) or by vendor. Since this is the first time through, choose V for Vendor.

Step Four: Press V

You are now at the list of vendors. This list is in a "box" on the screen and is "scrollable" in several ways. To make the choice of vendor, scroll through the list with the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys or the mouse, or type the first letter of the vendor's name to move near it, and then "home in" with the arrow keys. Press < Enter > to choose.

Step Five: Use Arrow Keys/Mouse. To select, press < Enter >.

In the event that the vendor is not listed, use" Add New Vendor",which is usually the first choice on the list. The procedure with the new vendor is described in detail on page....

For all existing vendors, including "At Store Stock", go on to the steps below.

Step Six: (For New Item) Choose "Not On List". Press < Enter >

A box appears (In color, it's red and blue). This is where you enter the information for the item(s) you will be adding to inventory.

The information you will add includes:

  1. Vendor Item Number - The number used by the vendor to identify the item (If "At Store Stock", you can just retype the Stock Number here).
  2. Desc - Description of the item. Put the term you are most likely to use as the "look up" first, such as Disks for any diskettes.
  3. Retail Price - Put the selling price here;
  4. Location - use this to place the item physically in your inventory. You can set up your location names any way you want;
  5. Product Cat - Choose the category of product from the list appropriate to your business.
  6. Cost - put your cost from your vendor here;
  7. Ship Direct to Customer - this stays as N, unless you are shipping this item directly.

Step Seven: Enter the typed information - Press < Enter >.. Type Y if OKAY.

A new screen appears (In color, it's aquamarine). The first entry is Quantity. Type the quantity you will be ordering, or adding to inventory. Then you put in the delivery date. If it is on hand, press Enter, and today's date will appear.

The TAG information maybe specific to a customer, a purchase order number, or STOCK which is the "default", and will appear if you press Enter.

If there are no options, skip the next field, which defaults to N, "No".

Step Eight: Enter the typed information - Press < Enter >.. Type Y if More, N at Question "More?"if done.

At the Main Purchasing Choice, exit by pressing Q; or choose I for Inventory lookup, or V to order from another vendor.

Step Nine: Choose I, V or Q as appropriate.

The process described above is is the way to add individual items or groups of items for store stock or for purchase.

Items in stock which are not to be reordered from vendors are added in a bulk manner (see below), not through purchasing.

Adding Existing Inventory, or a "Bulk Purchase"

When setting up your store inventory, among the first steps you will take is entering the records of your existing stock of inventory into the computer. You need to do this so you can sell items, and have their sale properly recorded. Of course, you don't need to purchase them (since you have done so already), but you do need to "receive" them into the HOPE inventory,

A similar situation arises when you make a "bulk purchase", such as buying a "lot" of inventory when a competitor goes out of business. This can be also handled in the same way as is described below.

Adding this inventory to your base of data is simple, and will give you training in receiving new items as you continue to buy.

Menu Steps are:

From the Main Menu:

Right Arrow to Maint - The Maintenance Menu

Down Arrow to Choice .... Receive Items. Press Enter. The Screen will ask:

"Do you wish to review customer orders while you are recording the receipts?" Since this merchandise is for stock, the choice is N, for "No", which is the default. Just push enter, and N will be selected.

The next step is important. The vendor for adding existing inventory or a bulk purchase is "At Store Stock". This vendor should be chosen, since the stock is already at the store.

In response to the QUANTITY? question, enter the quantity of the item in stock, then press < Enter >.

A box will "pop up" on the screen (in red, if you have color).

Enter the vendor item number, if known; (if you don't know it, don't bother looking for it. Just type the Stock Num shown below as a repeat here. You can not, however, leave a blank).

Then enter your selling price, and a brief description. An inventory stock number is assigned automatically.

The product category and type are chosen from "drop down" lists.

Use the Down Arrow key to choose the category, then press Enter. Do the same for the product type.

The Competitive Item (COMP) and Related Item (REL) categories are for your use in giving yourself and other sales people reminders when you go to make a sale. If you are out of stock on an item, the competitive item field can show another item or vendor from which you may select to meet the customer's needs. The related item "field" shows something you should also suggest to the customer when selling this item. You may enter a brief name, or an item number, into these fields.

Since these items are coming into store inventory, not being shipped out, leave the send direct to customer box checked as "N", and press Enter. A question as to whether everything is OK will show. If the entry is correct, press Enter, since the answer is already set to "Y". If you need to make changes, press N, then Enter, and you may change anything that needs to be corrected (except stock number).

The next question will be "MORE?". Answer Y until you are finished, and to "SAME VENDOR?", Y, as long as you are entering store stock. When done, simply enter N to the MORE question, and everything will be saved and ready for your sales use.