Cost zones are used to handle multiple front-line prices for the same item, and are normally set up during implementation. A provider (supplier) assigns subscribers (retailers) to the desired zones and then assigns the correct cost information to each zone.
Zone setups differ from customer to customer. Zones are normally based on geographic areas, channels, retailers, or stores that have unique front-line costs.
For example, some pricing for alcoholic beverages is fixed for a particular geographic area, such as a county. Other beverages are priced to be consumed “on premise.” Non-alcoholic beverages may be priced individually for each retailer or retailer store.
We use two types of zones in Item & Cost.
A cost zone is based on the cost of an item to a subscriber.
A retail zone is based on the retail price of an item to a subscriber.
In turn, each type of zone will fall into one of two categories:
Regular zones
A regular zone can consist of geographic areas, franchise areas, economic areas, groups of stores, and so on. More than one retailer can be authorized to receive costs and retails in a regular zone.
Store zones
Also called store-level zones, a store zone will apply to one particular store that is associated with a retailer. Only one retailer can be authorized to receive costs or retails in an individual store zone. The name of the zone should reflect the name or number of the store.
Cost and retail zones can be cross-referenced or translated so that subscribers receive zone information based on their business needs. This is set up through the service agreement between the provider and subscriber.
A provider’s cost or retail zone can be cross-referenced or translated to a subscriber’s cost or retail zone. This can supply the cost-identification needed for the subscriber’s pricebook.
A provider’s zone can be translated to a subscriber’s vendor number or ID. This is useful if a single provider is split by the subscriber into more than one vendor. For example, a dairy sells both milk and cheese, but the subscriber is set up to handle milk as one vendor and cheese as another. A separate zone can be set up for each vendor the subscriber requires.
If you would like more information about zone translations, please contact Advanced Commerce Support at 1-888-842-5465 option 1.
08/13/2009