Changes in Release 1.9P
Changes Coming in Version 1.9Q, estimated release date 4/15/98
Changes Coming in Version 2.0, estimated release date 6/1/98 (NOT the Windows version!)
Note: Please let us know how we can improve the release notes. The documentation accompanying these notes is similar to what we’ll be doing when we finish rewriting the ComTrac User Manual this Spring 1998.
Order Priority Codes
A. Definition
Order Priority Codes allow you to distinguish between the core merchandise which you always want to have in stock and merchandise which can temporarily be out of stock. The advantage to assigning Order Priority codes to products is that you can shrink your automatic orders if you think that you may have cash flow problems if you order everything you are low or out-of-stock of.
B. How to Create Order Priority Codes
You can maintain your own Order Priority Codes by going to:
Utilities|A-Maintain Tables|B-Ordering Tables|G-Priority Codes
We recommend that you create a minimum of two Order Priority Codes:
Code Description Comments
A ALWAYS Always in stock no matter what
NO CODE Blank code - merchandise that you don’t care about its stock level
As a rule of thumb, not more than 20% of your Skus should have an Always in Stock code. The whole idea of designating an Always in Stock group is that when cash is short you can cut back your orders for a department or group of products to the minimum without hurting base sales or antagonizing customers. The 80-20 rule applies fairly well to your sales by merchandise line: 20% of your merchandise is generating 80% of your sales.
C. See Also...
Read about Assign Priority in Orders|N-Assign Priority to see how to assign Priority Codes to Groups of Products in Comics or Specialties. (Order Priority codes don’t apply to Back Issues or High-Value Items).
Family/Genre Codes
A. Definition
Family/Genre Codes allow you to analyze or manage merchandise by related groups, especially if they stretch across departments or publishers. Here’s three examples of how you might want to use family/genre codes:
Example #1: Similar Products Across Departments
You might stock five different mugs each of which is in a different department. By assigning each mug Sku to the AMG family/genre code you will be able to track these products across departments and to order potential new mug products more accurately.
Example #2: Boutiques
You can create a boutique by assigning a family/genre code to a group of products which you want to merchandise together, such as a Star Wars boutique or a Johnny the Homicidal Maniac boutique. This will allow you to see the sales results, inventory levels, etc. for the boutique’s merchandise.
Example #3: Comics Families
You can analyze comics sell-through by families within a given publisher’s product line. Classic examples would be to create families for Marvel’s X-titles and Spider-Man titles; or families for DC’s Batman and Superman titles.
Consider the interaction of Departments and Family/Genre Codes. If you devote some thought to how you want to monitor or order your merchandise, you can use the combination of Departments and Family/Genre codes efficiently to achieve your ends. Keep it simple at the beginning and don't make things too complicated.
B. How to Create Family/Genre Codes
You can maintain your own Family/Genre Codes by going to:
Utilities|A-Maintain Tables|B-Ordering Tables|G-Priority Codes
We recommend that you create a minimum of one Family/Genre Code:
Code Description Comments
NO CODE Blank code - allows you to have merchandise with no Family/Genre code
Remember to keep it simple. Don’t add too many family/genre codes at once, since you’ll probably never take advantage of all that detail.
C. See Also...
Read about Assign Family/Genre Codes in Orders|K-Assign Gen/Fam to see how to assign Family/Genre codes to groups of Products in Comics or Specialties. (Family/Genre codes don’t apply to Back Issues or High-Value Items).
Distributor Ordering Codes
A. Definition
Distributor Codes allow you to tell ComTrac which distributor is the preferred distributor for any given kind of merchandise. You can also assign Secondary or Tertiary distributors to any product. This allows you to create automatic orders based on the distributor you want to place an order with.
B. How to Create Order Priority Codes
You can maintain your own Distributor Codes by going to:
Utilities|A-Maintain Tables|B-Ordering Tables|A-Vendor Files
We recommend that you create a minimum of two Distributor Codes if you haven’t created them already:
Code Description Comments
DIST Diamond Needed for exclusive comics titles
NO CODE Blank code - allows you to not have a distributor code in the three distributor fields
C. See Also...
Read about Assign Distributor in Orders|J-Assign Distributor to see how to assign Department Codes to Groups of Products in Comics or Specialties. (Distributor codes don’t apply to Back Issues or High-Value Items).
Defining Parent-Child Merchandise
RelationshipsA. Definition
There are some cases where there is a relationship between several different merchandise items. One of the most common cases concerns collectible card products. In this case, a case of product (with its unique barcode) will break down into a number of boxes. Each box in turn breaks down into a certain number of packs.
You can define this Parent-Child Merchandise Relationship in ComTrac so that if you run out of packs and open a box you don’t have to specifically tell ComTrac that you’ve done so. What will happen is that when ComTrac exhausts the pack inventory it will automatically seek out the parent item and debit one unit from inventory. It will then credit the junior item with the number of packs that was defined in the parent Sku.
B. How to Create Parent-Child Merchandise Relationships
When you are defining parent-child relationships, always start with the bottom of the chain. We’ll use cases-boxes and packs as our example once again. We also call this the Grandparent, Parent and Child relation. We would start with the Sku for the individual pack (the Child).
Check in the Specialties Master Title file (Specialties|A-Use SPC Master List) to make sure that you have a Sku for each item you want to link together.
If you are missing any members of the relationship, create them by using Specialties|C-Enter SPC Sales. You can create an item by selecting the Normal option and entering all or part of the Description in the prompt field which will appear on the screen. When ComTrac fails to find the entry that matches your input, respond to the Create/Pick/Quit prompt with C for Create. Enter all the appropriate data in the fields on the screen to create the missing item.
When you are ready to start defining the relationships, go to the most junior Sku and press C for change. Go to the field labeled Parent and enter all or part of the name of the item you want to link to the item on the screen. The item or the nearest match to the item will appear in a Selection Window. Put the highlight bar on the item and press Enter to select it. You’ll see the item’s description appear in the Parent field area. Press the PageDown key to exit the screen and then save your changes.
If the item you selected as the Parent also has an item that it’s linked to, go to the Parent Sku and edit it in the same way as you edited the Child. The item that you’ll link it to will be the Grandparent.
C. See Also
You can create Specialty Skus by going to Specialties|C-Enter Specialty Sales|Normal
Comics Sell Through Report
A. Definition
The Comics Sell Through report is intended to be a management tool so you can see how well your comics are selling and identify which segments of your comics merchandise mix need to be adjusted.
The basic structure of this report’s output is that it breaks down orders, sales and sell-through percentages by the size of the book’s order. Size breakdowns are 1-4 copies, 5-9 copies, 10-24 copies, etc.
As a rule of thumb, the books which are ordered in the largest quantities will have the highest sell-through levels. If you are obtaining sell-through levels of 90% or better for your larger order segments you are doing very well. If you are approaching 100% sell-through levels you are probably losing some sales due to being out-of-stock.
If you are achieving sell-through levels of 70% or more for your smaller segments (1-24 copies) you are doing very well. Remember that selling two of three copies results in a 65% sell-through level.
If you carry significant numbers of so-called alternative/independent titles the proper place for these products is in your Specialties file. All of these products are available on re-order from companies such as Cold Cut Distribution or FM Distribution and should be treated as something that you originally order 1-2 copies of and then replenish as necessary.
B. Report Options
You can generate this report with the following options:
If you haven’t generated this report before, here are some things to think about.
Generate the report for at least a period of one month, and preferably a two or three-month period. Within reason the longer the report period the more stable the numbers in the report output. Many of our users like to keep the report out put in a 3-ring binder. They generate this report at the start of each month for the past 60 or 90 days. In this way the reports represent a rolling average moving forward in time.
Generate each month’s report for all titles and with no filters. This will give you a picture of your entire comics merchandise mix behavior. Then re-run the report with filters to drill down and find out which products need further attention.
Don’t combine too many filters as most of the time it’s counter-productive. For example, if you run this report for the Superman family/genre code filter and the Superboy Title filter you’ll just slow down the reporting process.
C. See Also
...See Assigning Genre/Family Codes, Orders|K-Assign Gen/Fam
See Utilities|A-Maintain Tables|A-Folder Tables|C-Genre Codes
Best Seller Report
A. Definition
The Best Seller report allows you to identify the best selling products on a year-to-date sales basis. You can chose to rank products in terms of gross unit sales or by the percent of inventory sold. Most users find that ranking by gross sales is the more useful measure.
B. Report Options
You can generate this report using the following filters:
You can combine department and family/genre filters if you desire. Most of the time you will want to either filter by department (and not family/genre) or by family/genre (and all departments). The reason for this is that families should normally cross departments.
C. See Also...
See Assigning Family/Genre Codes, Orders|K-Assign Gen/Fam
Assigning Distributors
A. Definition
This function allows you to assign a specific distributor to any group of Comics or Specialty products as their primary, secondary or tertiary distributor.
If you choose to generate an automatic order for a distributor ComTrac will examine every active Comic Sku or Specialty Sku where the distributor is coded as being the Primary distributor. After the order has been created you can re-run the order and have ComTrac add in orders for items which this distributor is categorized as being the Secondary or Tertiary distributor. You would do this if, for example, you were very near a discount or freight threshold with your initial order for just Primary products.
Note that you can record each distributor’s unique catalog code next to the distributor code in the Comics or Specialties master file screen. While this is tedious, it can speed up the ordering and log-in process. Many of you will not want to enter this data, and will rely on QuickLog to speed up the log-in process.
B. Function Options
Go to Orders|J-Assign Dist to use this function. The first step is to select the distributor you want to assign to products from a selection window. If you haven’t created a list of your primary distributors, STOP and go to Utilities|Maintain Tables|B-Ordering Tables|A-Vendor.
When you’ve selected a distributor, choose whether you want to assign this distributor to Comics or Specialty inventory Skus. Then choose whether you want this distributor assigned to items as the Primary, Secondary or Tertiary distributor. After a moment, ComTrac will display a window with every Comic or Specialty displayed inside. Checkmark every item that you want to assign this distributor to.
You can move throughout the window by pressing UpArrow, DownArrow, PageUp or PageDown. You can also jump to a specific item by pressing the [?] key and entering all or part of the item’s Description and pressing the [Enter] key.
When you are done, press [Enter] to exit and press [Y] to confirm that you want to exit. ComTrac will update all the selected records and then return you to the Order Menu.
C. See Also
See also Assigning Distributor Priority Codes
Assigning Order Priority Codes
A. Definition
This function allows you to assign a specific order priority code to any group of Comics or Specialty products.
The purpose of assigning Order Priority codes to Comics or Specialty products is to help you manage cash flow more efficiently. If you examine your sales carefully, you will see that between 20-30% of your Skus generate 80% of your sales. These are items that you will want to have in stock continually. Other items can temporarily be out of stock without seriously damaging your sales or annoying customers.
When you write an automatic order in ComTrac you can adjust the order by Order Priority status. Let’s say that you have generated an order for a distributor and as a rule you’ll receive the order within a week of your giving it to your sales rep. Perhaps it’s end-of-quarter and payroll taxes will be due shortly. You might be unsure that your cash flow will support paying your taxes and paying for a large order.
In this case, the most sensible thing to do (in our humble opinion) is to cut your order to include only the items which are coded for Always in Stock No Matter What!
B. Function Options
Go to Orders|N-Assign Priority to use this function. The first step is to select the order priority code you want to assign to products from a selection window. If you haven’t created a list of your order priority codes, STOP and go to Utilities|Maintain Tables|B-Ordering Tables|G-Priority Codes.
When you’ve selected an order priority code, choose whether you want to assign this code to Comics or Specialty inventory Skus. After a moment, ComTrac will display a window with every Comic or Specialty displayed inside. Checkmark every item that you want to assign this code to.
You can move throughout the window by pressing UpArrow, DownArrow, PageUp or PageDown. You can also jump to a specific item by pressing the [?] key and entering all or part of the item’s Description and pressing the [Enter] key.
When you are done, press [Enter] to exit and press [Y] to confirm that you want to exit. ComTrac will update all the selected records and then return you to the Order Menu.
C. See Also
See also Ordering Priority Codes
Assigning Family/Genre Codes
A. Definition
This function allows you to assign a specific family/genre code to any group of Comics or Specialty products.
The purpose of assigning Family/Genre codes to Comics or Specialty products is to help you manage inventory and order products more efficiently. Department codes allow you to separate products into similar groups. But there are cases where products also have relationships which cross departments, such as mugs or products associated with a specific author.
An example of how you can use Family/Genre codes to analyze sales is in the Comics Sell-Through Report. If Marvel sales are falling you would want to analyzing comics sell-through figures for the X-Title family, the Spider-Man family and then the All Other Marvel family.
B. Function Options
Go to Orders|K-Assign Gen/Family to use this function. The first step is to select the order genre/family code you want to assign to products from a selection window. If you haven’t created a list of your genre/family codes, STOP and go to Utilities|Maintain Tables|B-Ordering Tables|H-Family Codes.
When you’ve selected a family/genre code, choose whether you want to assign this code to Comics or Specialty inventory Skus. After a moment, ComTrac will display a window with every Comic or Specialty displayed inside. Checkmark every item that you want to assign this code to.
You can move throughout the window by pressing UpArrow, DownArrow, PageUp or PageDown. You can also jump to a specific item by pressing the [?] key and entering all or part of the item’s Description and pressing the [Enter] key.
When you are done, press [Enter] to exit and press [Y] to confirm that you want to exit. ComTrac will update all the selected records and then return you to the Order Menu.
C. See Also
See also Family/Genre Codes
Efficient Ordering for Perpetual Inventory Products
We have developed an efficient method of ordering perpetual inventory products in ComTrac, and want to make sure that everyone knows how it works. This description is based on ComTrac 1.9O and 1.9P. Where improvements scheduled for ComTrac 1.9Q will affect the process we’ve noted them as being part of that release.
Writing Your Order
Most non-Diamond distributors do not offer their catalogs in electronic format. How do we handle this?
Logging in Merchandise
The most efficient way to log in specialties merchandise from non-Diamond suppliers is to use the QuickLog function in the Orders Menu. When QuickLog prompts you for a beginning and ending date for the Log In session, put in the date you ordered the merchandise into both date fields. If QuickLog doesn’t prompt you for these dates, exit the QuickLog spreadsheet which will appear and ZAP the spreadsheet. Then select the QuickLog function again and the date prompts will appear.
What will happen next is that only the items which were ordered on the date you entered will appear in the QuickLog spreadsheet. This makes it quick and easy to log in an order as most items won’t need any editing at all. Some items will have prices changed or arrival-quantities changed. You can also scan in barcodes if you desire.
(Version 19Q: QuickLog will be able to access a Purchase Order file which will update the QuickLog spreadsheet. You’ll be able to select an order from a window such as Cold Cut | 03/01/98 to do this).
Operational Issues
What are the advantages of following this procedure? First, every item that comes in from a non-Diamond source will have a Sku waiting to be updates. Second, your PLU Table in POS will have a reference to every item that’s on order, so you can sell it the day it’s in the store. Third, logging in products will go faster because QuickLog can build a file for you to process. With Version 19Q updating will be even faster (even for Diamond orders) because there will be a link between their solicitation number (which changes all the time) and the Sku.
Another advantage is that if you only order new items once or twice a month, someone else can handle the routine re-orders for you. This means you can take a week off once in a while.
Removing Stale Merchandise
Current versions of ComTrac (19O and 19P) are clumsy when you want to identify and remove stale merchandise from inventory.
Go to Specialties|F-Make Stale Merchandise Rpt. This will identify all products that haven’t had a sale since a specified date. Most people choose a date between 90-120 days ago. Print out the report for further use.
Decide which specialty items are to be discontinued. Go through the Specialties Master file and find each item, change the Minimum Reorder Level to zero. Reprice any items which you want to blow out, either on the shelf or at a later special sale.
Go to Orders|C-Transfer Mdse|4-Transfer Specialties|Office Transfer. Transfer any Specialty items that you want to move to the warehouse or back room for a special sale. (Version 19P: Integrates this process by the use of tagging windows. This will be much faster and easier).