Viewing Sales Information by Category

To view sales data by category types, run the Sales Category Inquiry. You can view sales in a number of different ways, such as customer type, by sales representative, or by a variety of different product selection methods. You can view revenue, costs, gross profit dollars, or gross profit percentages. In addition, you can compare any of these values between months, quarters, or years to help you analyze the growth or decline of various markets.

To view sales information for a specific category:

From the Reprts > Management Inquiries menu, select Sales Category Inquiry to display the Sales Category Inquiry screen.
In the Br/Tr/ALL field, enter the codes that identify the branches or territories for which to view sales and gross profit data. Enter commas between codes. To view data for all branches, enter ALL.
In the Date field, enter the date as of which to view the sales data. The default is today's date.
In the Category field, enter one of the following values:

Parent Customer – Shows sales from any customer that either has multiple billing and shipment addresses or that receives all bills and shipments at the same location.
Billto Customer – Shows sales from any customer that remits payment for multiple shipment addresses.
Shipto Customer – Shows sales for shipment addresses.
Customer Type – Shows sales according to the customers' type of business, such as plumbing or electrical.
Customer Select Code – Shows sales according to the customers' industry segment.
Outside Salesperson – Shows sales credited to the sales representative responsible for acquiring new customers.
Inside Salesperson – Shows sales credited to the sales representative responsible for generating subsequent sales for the customer.
Writer – Shows sales generated by the employee who wrote the sales orders.
Sales Source – Shows sales by the location or origination point of the sale, for example, inside sales, counter sales, or showroom sales.
Ship Via – Shows sales based on the method used to transport the items to the customer.
Price Line – Shows sales based on the price line of the products sold.
Sell Group – Shows sales based on the pricing rules set for the products sold.
Buy Line – Shows sales based on the buy line of the products sold.
Buy Group – Shows sales based on the costing rules for the products sold.
Product GL Type – Shows sales based on the product category, such as electrical or plumbing.
Product Select Code – Shows sales based on a user-defined product selection code.
Product Status – Shows sales based on the inventory status of the products, such as stock, nonstock, miscellaneous charge, or lot item.
Commodity Code – Shows sales based on the material type or commodity classification.
Product Budget Group – Shows sales based on the sales budget group of the products sold.

In the Display field, enter one of the following values:

Sales $ – Shows the dollar amount of the sales generated.
COGS $ – Shows the cost of goods sold.
COGS GP$ – Shows the amount of profit your company receives, based on the cost of goods sold.
COGS GP% – Shows the percentage of the sales dollars generated that your company has received as profit, based on the cost of goods sold.
Comm $ – Shows the dollar amount of the cost used to calculate commissions.
Comm GP$ – Shows the amount of profit your company receives, based on the commission cost.
Comm GP% – Shows the percentage of the sales dollars generated that your company has received as profit, based on the commission cost.

In the Columns field, select one of the following column views:

In the Sort Column field, enter the column by which to sort the information.

Note: Selections vary depending on the value selected in the Columns field.

In the Sales Type field, enter one of the following values to determine the type of sales data to view:

Net Stock&Direct – Shows sales and profit after taxes for all stock and direct orders.
All – Shows stock and direct sales and profit before taxes, less any item returns.

Note: Because miscellaneous charge items have no cost associated with them, they tend to artificially distort the profit margin upward. For this reason, they are excluded from the calculations.

Stock&Direct Sales – Shows sales and profit before taxes for all stock and direct orders.
Stock Sales – Shows sales and profit before taxes for orders shipped from your inventory to the customer.
Direct Sales – Shows sales and profit before taxes for orders shipped from the vendor's inventory to the customer.
Misc Sales – Shows sales and profit before taxes for miscellaneous charges such as restocking fees or labor charges.
Stock&Direct Returns – Shows negative dollar amounts for returned stock and direct items.
Stock Returns – Shows negative dollar amounts for items returned by the customer to your inventory.
Direct Returns – Shows negative dollar amounts for items returned by the customer to the vendor's inventory.
Misc Returns – Shows negative dollar amounts for miscellaneous charges credited to the customer.
Net Stock – Shows sales and profit after taxes for orders shipped from your inventory to the customer.
Net Direct – Shows sales and profit after taxes for orders shipped from the vendor's inventory to the customer.
Net Misc – Shows sales and profit after taxes for miscellaneous charges such as restocking fees or labor charges.

In the Sort Order field, to sort from lowest value to highest, enter Ascending; otherwise, enter Descending.
With the cursor in the Sort Order field, press Enter to display sales data based on your selection criteria.
Review sales information based on the value selected in the Columns field.
When you have finished viewing information, press Esc to exit the screen.

More Options for Working With Sales Information

The Sales Category Inquiry window also offers these options:

To...	Use this hot key...
change the branch or territory code	Branch The cursor moves to the Br/Tr/ALL field. Type the new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change the date as of which to view the sales information	Date The cursor moves to the Date field. Type the new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change the sales category	Category The Category selection list displays. Select the new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change the type of price or cost information that displays	Display The Display selection list displays. Select the new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change to a different column view	Columns The Columns selection list displays. Select the new value and press Enter. If your selection in the Sort Column field no longer applies, the Sort Column selection list displays. Select a new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change the primary sort column	Sort C The Sort Column selection list displays. Select the new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change the sales type	Sales Type The Sales Type selection list displays. Select the new value and press Enter to update the screen.
change the sort order	Sort O The Sort Order selection list displays. Select the new value and press Enter to update the screen.