Set minimum margins

A minimum margin is the least a price should earn you. Once you set one, Margin watch lists every price below it, and in Kila’s words: “Below the minimum, a price can still be set with a reason (owners are told), and a cashier’s discount or price change at the till needs a manager.”

Kila measures the margin on the price before VAT: “(price before VAT − cost) ÷ price before VAT”, using each branch’s average cost.

Steps

1. Open Products › Margins

   Tap the Minimum margins tab. While no minimum is set, Kila opens there by itself.

   Zoom

   Steps 1 to 4 on one screen.

   

2. Find the category

   Type its name in Find a category. A category minimum “Replaces the branch minimum for everything in the category and its subcategories.”

3. Type the minimum under All branches

   For example 15 for Whisky. To set one minimum for everything you sell, type it under Whole business instead: it “Applies everywhere nothing more specific is set.”

4. Tap the tick

   Kila says Minimum set to 15%. You can also press Enter.

5. Set a different minimum at one branch, if you need one

   Tap At a branch on the category’s row, choose the branch, type the minimum and tap Save. The row then shows the branch and its minimum, such as Westlands (Sarit) 18%. Under Branches you can also give a whole branch its own minimum: it “Replaces the business minimum at that branch.”

   Zoom

   Steps 5 and 6 on one screen.

   

6. Give one product its own minimum, if it needs one

   Under Products, search in Add a product with its own minimum, choose the product, type the Minimum and tap Save. “A product’s own minimum replaces every other rule, at every branch.”

7. Check Margin watch

   Tap Margin watch. Prices below minimum counts the prices that earn less than their minimum, with the price that fixes each one.

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Which minimum applies

When more than one could apply, “The most specific minimum wins: a product’s own, then its category at that branch, its category everywhere (a subcategory before its parent), the branch, then the business.” At Baraka Wines and Spirits, Highland Reserve 12 Year Whisky is held to 18% at Westlands (Sarit) and 15% at Kilimani (Yaya Centre), and Glen Akili Single Malt to its own 12% at both.

What if

You are not the owner

Kila shows:

Only owners set minimum margins

You can see them here and fix prices on Margin watch.

Ask the owner to set or change a minimum. People who manage prices can still fix the prices below it: see Fix prices below the minimum.

You want to take a minimum away

Tap the cross next to it. Kila says Minimum removed, and the prices it covered fall back to the next rule.

Margin watch says No cost yet

A product without a cost “Cannot be checked until a cost is known”. Give it its cost: Fill in missing costs.

Good to know

Kila keeps every change: under the minimums it shows who changed them last, and “Every change is in the audit log.”

Related

• Fix prices below the minimum: raise the prices Margin watch lists.
• Decide a price suggestion: when branch staff think the market will not take the price that meets the minimum.
• Set up a promotion: promotions are checked against the minimum too.
• Give a discount: what the cashier sees at the till.

Next: fix the prices below your new minimums: Fix prices below the minimum.