Shopping Basket Workflow

The shopping basket in Merchanter is a versatile tool designed to simplify the process of gathering products before finalising a sale or purchase transaction. Much like a physical shopping basket, it allows users to compile items for sales, purchasing, or draft orders in a structured and efficient manner. This guide provides a thorough explanation of its features, benefits, and step-by-step usage for first-time users.

Locating and Identifying the Shopping Basket

The shopping basket or cart can be found within the Merchanter menu, positioned along the top row of buttons. When empty, it appears as a grey button adorned with a small shopping cart icon. As soon as items are added, the button transforms into a blue colour, displaying both the number of items in brackets and the total monetary value of the contents. This visual cue ensures users can quickly assess whether their basket holds products and the approximate cost before proceeding further.

The Advantages of Using the Basket

One of the primary benefits of the shopping basket is its ability to pull together items a customer shows an interest in, before you know what they want to do with them (quote, order, collected, delivered, etc.). Rather than processing each item individually, users can compile multiple products in one place before committing to a quote or order. This is particularly useful in fast-paced retail environments where speed and accuracy are essential. The basket also offers flexibility, allowing adjustments to quantities, the removal of unwanted items, or the application of whole order discounts before finalising a transaction.

Additionally, the basket serves multiple purposes. It is not limited to retail sales but can also be used to create draft sales orders (and quotes) or compile purchase orders for suppliers. This adaptability makes it a valuable tool across different departments, from sales teams to purchasing staff. Another key advantage is the real-time updating of totals, including VAT breakdowns and individual line prices, ensuring transparency and helping users make informed decisions before completing a transaction.

Please note the basket displays base pricing as it is not associated with a customer to pull in specific pricing information.

Adding Products to the Basket

The shopping basket in Merchanter provides four primary methods for adding items, each serving different operational needs and catering to different workflows. Understanding these approaches will help you work efficiently whether processing sales, creating orders, or managing inventory.

Adding from the Product Record

The most comprehensive method involves adding items through the full product record. This approach is ideal when you need to verify detailed information before adding to an order. After locating your product (through search or category browsing), open its complete record where all specifications are visible. The blue "Add to Basket" button in the header section triggers a quantity pop-up when clicked. This method proves particularly valuable when handling products with multiple variants, batch-tracked items, or when precise quantity entry is required.

Adding Directly from Search Results

For faster operations, Merchanter allows adding items directly from search results without opening full records. When searching for a product (by name or code, etc), matching items appear in a list view, singular or multiple items and can be added to the basket at once with an "Add to cart" button that is above the search results. Clicking this automatically adds one unit to your basket, streamlining high-volume transactions. Multiple units can be added either through repeated clicks or by adjusting quantities later in the basket.

Adding from a Customer Record

When in a customer record, the ‘Products’ tab shows a list of all the products the customer has purchased over the last 12 months.  By highlighting a product and clicking the ‘Add to Basket’ button that item can be sent to the basket.

Adding Items From the Basket

If you click the shopping basket and go into it, you can populate the cart directly from this screen on the left-hand side, there is a search and product category filters. Prefiltering a search is particularly useful when dealing with a broad inventory or when exploring related items for a customer.

For businesses equipped with barcode scanners, the process becomes even quicker. Scanning a product barcode into a search automatically adds the item to the basket, provided the barcode has been correctly linked to the product record within the system. If the same item is scanned again, the quantity in the basket increases accordingly, eliminating the need for manual adjustments. if the customer has got 10x an item, you can just scan it once and then adjust the quantity.

Managing Items Within the Basket

Once products are in your basket, Merchanter offers several management tools. Each product line features an editable quantity field for direct adjustments. Whatever method you use to start your order, remember the basket has an integrated search function, with built-in scanner support, which allows for quick addition of products without leaving the basket interface, perfect for when customers request last-minute additions during checkout.

If a product is no longer required, clicking the red cross next to the item removes it entirely from the basket. 

For situations where a customer is deliberating over certain items, users can temporarily exclude a product by unticking its checkbox. This action removes the item from the current total without deleting it from the basket, allowing for easy price comparisons or negotiations.

To view additional product details without leaving the basket, users can click the ‘eye’ icon next to an item. This displays useful information such as stock levels, pricing history, and sales activity. If further investigation is needed, clicking the ‘View Product’ button opens the full product record, though this will navigate away from the basket temporarily.

The basket's real-time updating immediately reflects any changes to quantities or additions, showing updated totals, VAT calculations, and line prices. This makes it easy to modify orders while maintaining complete visibility of the financial impact.

Choosing the Right Approach

• Product records provide maximum detail for complex items
• Search result adding offers speed for routine transactions
• In-basket management allows order refinement with scanning convenience

By mastering these three methods, you'll handle everything from simple sales to complex orders efficiently. Merchanter's basket system adapts to your preferred workflow while maintaining accuracy and speed. The integrated barcode scanning within the basket search combines the convenience of quick entry with the flexibility of order adjustments, all within a single interface.

Please note that the shopping cart works from the base price. Its intended use is as a retail sale at RRP. If you build a sales order from the basket, customer-specific pricing will be picked up when you process the basket and pick your customer.

Finalising a Transaction

When the basket contains all the desired items, users can proceed to checkout by clicking the green "Checkout Retail Sale" button. The next steps depend on the type of transaction being processed.

For retail or trade counter sales, users first select the appropriate trade counter if multiple locations are available and then click the checkout button. This opens the order wizard. A customer reference can be added, and users can specify whether the goods are being taken immediately, collected later. delivered later, or supplied directly from a third party. Order Discounts can be applied at this stage, and the final total is displayed for confirmation. Since Merchant does not process card payments directly, users must complete the payment externally—via cash or a card machine—before clicking "Pay Now" within the system. You can then select the tender type and confirm that the payment has been taken. Once payment is confirmed, you Dispatch the items in the next screen, and then the system will generate documents such as email receipts, printed invoices, or till receipts, depending on your setup.

If you wish to raise a sales order, add your Items in to the basket and then click the “New Draft Sales Order” Button. you will be taken into the normal sales order wizard where you pick your customer and references etc. but you you confirm the header information the items from the basket will already be on the order.

You can turn off trade counter sales in the system settings if required. (Settings → T25 Only → Business settings) The basket can still be used to create a draft sales order. Clicking the "New Draft Sales Order" button transfers all ticked basket items to a new order, where users can select a customer, adjust pricing, add notes, or allocate stock before finalising. This method is ideal for businesses that operate on a quote-and-order basis rather than immediate retail sales.

Purchasing with the Basket

The shopping basket is not limited to sales; it also serves as a useful tool for the purchasing team. After adding the required products, users can click the "New Draft Purchase Order" button to generate a purchase order. The system prompts the selection of a supplier, and any reference numbers or additional details can be entered at this stage. Once confirmed, the basket contents are transferred to the purchase order, where further adjustments—such as adding shipping costs or modifying quantities—can be made before submission.

Additional Features and Customisation

For users who need to start afresh, the basket can be completely emptied by clicking the red "Clear" button located near the total display. This removes all items in one action, saving time compared to deleting products individually.

The basket also includes a "Recent Sales Orders" tab, which displays the last ten sales orders processed in the system. This feature allows for quick access to previous transactions, whether for reference, editing, or reordering purposes.

Businesses that do not require retail functionality can disable trade counter sales via the Settings menu. Navigating to Business Settings > Basket Section and toggling "Allow Trade Counter Sales" to "No" removes the retail options while retaining the basket for draft orders and purchasing.

Why the Basket Improves Workflow

The shopping basket is more than just a temporary holding area for products; it is a central hub that streamlines multiple processes within Merchanter. By reducing the need to navigate between screens for each item, it saves time and minimises errors. The real-time calculations and flexible management options ensure accuracy, whether for quick counter sales or detailed purchase orders. Mastering the basket’s features allows users to work more efficiently, adapt to different transaction types, and provide better service to customers and suppliers alike.