Stock Terminology
Stock No: This is the stock number allocated to the item from Swim. It is also the Swim barcode number.
Supplier: This is the name of the supplier/vendor who provided the piece or a component within the piece. Suppliers are always shown as their full name (not abbreviated or given a code or number). New suppliers are entered into the system through the supplier menu
Supplier Code: This is the model number/stock number or id that the supplier gives the piece or component. If you needed to re-order the piece off the supplier, it is the code you would use so they knew what piece you were ordering.
Metal: This is the metal type of the item. You can edit/add/modify metal under utilities, lists, metal
Department: The department is the high level grouping of the item. You want to group products into relevant departments for reporting purposes. You can create your own departments and group in a way that is appropriate for your store and your reporting. To enter, modify or delete departments, go to utilities, lists, departments.
Category: The category is the second level grouping. This is a sublevel to the department. If you had a department Diamond Rings, then an example category would be Solitaire. You can edit/add/modify categories under utilities, lists, category
Web Item: This indicates whether you want the stock item to be an item eligible to be shown on the web. If you then use the web services integration to your website or the web stock listing report, the item will appear as part of the list. By not ticking this box, this feature enables you to exclude items from being shown on your website.
Components: This tab shows the cost details of the item and lists all components that make up the piece.
Main Supplier (on components tab): As Swim uses unique numbering (see below), and allows you to have multiple components on each product, the main supplier is the main component of the product. For most items this will be the casting component or a component that give the item a model or design number. The main supplier is set by ticking 'main supplier' when the component of the stock item is entered. If you only have one supplier for the item (i.e you purchased the item as a finished piece), then that one supplier and supplier code will automatically be the main supplier.
Stock Tag Details, Line 1, 2, 3: The tag lines are used to print onto the stock tags. You can set default values for the tag lines by going to stock menu, stock tag defaults. You can choose what tag lines print and design your stock tag layout by going to utilities, printing, manage stock tags
Location: The location is the area within the store that the item resides. The default location is 'in stock'. You can set more specific locations such as counters, safes and hold boxes by going to utilities, lists.
Store: This is the store in which the stock item resides. This field is only relevant if you have multiple stores.
Location: This is the location within the store where the stock item can be found. You can be very specific with locations and also set whether a location is considered in stock. You can edit/add/modify locations under utilities, lists, locations
Lowest Selling Price: This is the minimum price that staff should sell the item for. You can set the default percentage value in utilities, stock. You can the override the default price by entering a new price in the field.
Fast Seller Indicator: This is the number in days that you would like the item to sell to be considered a 'fasstseller'. If an item sells within two times the indicator it is slow, and longer than two times is dead. The items are shown in reports, particularly the fast seler reports. You can set the default fast seller index by department under utilities, lists, departments.
Serial Number: You can enter the manufacturers serial number into this field. Watches are the most common items that have serial numbers. You can also use this field to enter your own formated stock number. You can search using the serial number on the find stock screen.
Markup: The cost price multiplied by the markup will give you the tax free price of te item. You can set default markups by department and cost brackets in stock menu, markup.
Stock Numbering
Swim allows you to have a new stock number for every single item, and also allowsyou to have one stock number with a quantity on hand. The former we call unique stock and the latter quantity stock. You can use both in your Swim system The stock number format lets you know what type of item it is.
Normal stock items in Swim are unique. If you have two stock items that are exactly the same (eg citizen watch 00234) then Swim will have two unique stock numbers (eg G1051, G1052). If you open one of these items it will tell you that you have two in stock.
Unique stock numbers begin with a one letter prefix and then several numbers. The stock 'pre-fixes' serve no other purpose than to show what form type the UNIQUE stock number should appear on. The prefixes are found under 'utilities', Stock, 'Stock Number Prefixes'. The default prefixes are 'R', 'G', 'P', 'W'. To learn more about form types see Form Types, but all you need to know for now is that stock numbers that begin with these prefixes are unique.
There are also two other prefixes: 'A' and 'Q':
- 'A' is used for consignment (also called appro or memo) stock. These items are still unique, but the 'A' tells Swim that the item is consignment rather than stock. Consignment items do not appear as part of your stock holding and will not show on stock reports. There are separate consignment reports under the reports, stock menu. These items can be returned to supplier, sold or made into stock items.
- 'Q' is used for quantity stock items. These are items that you have a lot of. We recommend you only use quantity stock for items of little value and that you carry tens or hundreds of. 'Q' numbers are created by selecting the form type 'quantity stock'. A 'Q' number has a quantity on hand that increases when more items are added to stock and decreases when items are sold or assembled into another item.
For more information on Quantity stock refer to the knowledgebase article: 03. Quantity Stock Basics
Form Types
When stock details are shown on the screen, you only want to see fields that may be relevant to that type of stock item. For example, for a gold necklace you don't need to see the bandstyle or finger size fields. For this reason Swim has 'forms'.
Form Types are there so you only see fields that are related to that item. When entering stock for the first time, you select the form type to use. Then, each time you want to view that item, Swim will open in the correct form for you. The form types are: ring, watch, pearl and general.
Use the form type that corresponds to the item you are entering into stock. Use the 'general' form type when the item does not fit into any of the other form types.
Important: The form type is not related to departments and categories. The form type is only affecting what fields are shown on the screen. The departments and categories affect the break up of your stock for reporting and searching. You can have an unlimited number of departments and categories.
