Sections
Track sales and profitability per part of the shop, without setting up multiple branches
What sections are for
A section is a logical partition within a single shop. Examples: an electronics counter and a pharmacy counter inside the same outlet; a grocery / hardware / stationery split in a general store; a butchery section run by a partner on commission. Each section gets its own sales, expenses, and P&L.
Available on Starter, Business, and Enterprise. Manage your sections at Settings → Sections.
How it's different from…
| Concept | What it separates | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Branch | Physical location | Westlands shop vs CBD shop |
| Warehouse | Stock location | Backroom vs Front floor |
| Category | Product taxonomy | Beverages vs Snacks |
| Brand | Manufacturer | Coca-Cola vs Bidco |
| Section | Reporting partition / who runs that part of the shop | Electronics Counter vs Pharmacy Counter within one branch |
The same product can sit in category "Phone Accessories" and section "Electronics Counter" — categories describe what something is; sections describe which P&L it belongs to.
Setting up
- Go to Settings → Sections and click Add Section. Give it a name, an optional description, and a colour (used for chips and report charts).
- Assign products to sections via the Section field on the product form (or inline create from the same dropdown). Every sale of a product inherits its section automatically.
- Optional: override the section per invoice line for one-off cases (e.g. an electronics customer also picks up a tube of toothpaste — the line for the toothpaste can be reassigned to the pharmacy section).
- Tag expenses with a section as they happen — fuel for the electronics-counter rep, display stand for the pharmacy. This is what gives you a real P&L per section, not just sales.
Reports
- Sales by Section (Reports → Sales by Section) — revenue, COGS, gross profit, and margin per section, with the “Unassigned” bucket capturing sales of un-tagged products.
- Existing reports (Sales, Sales by Item, Finance, etc.) can be filtered by section to dig into a single partition.
Concessions and commission scoping
The classic use case: a partner runs the electronics counter on commission. Create a commission rule scoped to the Electronics section, and only invoice lines in that section will count toward their payout. The general shop's salespeople keep their commissions clean of the partner's sales.
Frequently asked
- What happens to products I don't tag with a section?
- They sell normally; their revenue rolls up into the “Unassigned” row in section reports. You can tag them later — historical sales remain unassigned but new sales get attributed.
- Can I delete a section?
- No — only deactivate. Deletion would orphan historical invoice lines that reference it. A deactivated section disappears from new dropdowns but its past sales remain visible in reports.
- Does stock track per section?
- No — stock balances are per warehouse, not per section. If two sections truly need separate stock, give each its own warehouse.