How Product Pricing Works & Pricing Models

Overview

Zulu uses a flexible, multi-layered pricing system that supports:

• Multiple price tiers (retail, wholesale, bulk) (default)
• Cost tracking with weighted average calculations
• Quantity-based discounts (Price Breaks)
• Client-specific pricing (custom price books)
• Automatic markup calculations (CostPlus mode)
• Full audit trail of all price changes

Base Price Fields

Every product has the following price fields:

Selling Prices (User-Editable)

Cost Prices (System-Managed)

These fields are automatically updated by the system and cannot be directly edited:

Wholesale Price Tiers (User-Editable)

Note: Wholesale tier labels can be customized in Settings > Products > Manage Pricing Tiers. You can rename tiers to match your business (e.g., "Trade", "Distributor", "VIP").

Decimal Precision

Cost prices use higher precision to maintain accuracy during currency conversions and weighted average calculations.

Zulu will in due course adopt likely 4-decimal precision across all pricing.

Average Cost Calculation

The price_average field uses the weighted average cost method for inventory valuation.

Formula

When new stock is received:

New Average = (Existing Stock × Current Average) + (New Quantity × New Unit Cost)
             ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                              Existing Stock + New Quantity

Example

Special Behavior

• When stock is first received and average price is NULL, it inherits the purchase price value
• Only NULL triggers inheritance (a value of 0 is treated as valid)
• Average cost is only recalculated when adding stock, not when selling

Price Breaks (Quantity-Based Pricing)

Price Breaks allow you to offer tiered pricing based on quantity purchased.

How It Works

Define quantity ranges with corresponding prices:

When a customer orders 35 units, the system matches to the "10-49" tier and applies $90.00 per unit.

Configuration

1. Navigate to Products > Edit Product
2. Click the Price Breaks button
3. Add quantity tiers with min/max ranges
4. Set the price for each tier
5. Optionally add a Special Price for promotional break pricing

Price Break Fields

Inheritance

• Parent products can define breaks that apply to all variants
• Child products can override or disable parent breaks
• Use the Price Break Disable toggle to disable breaks for specific products

Price Selection Logic

When calculating price, the system: 1. Finds the matching quantity tier 2. Compares break price vs base product price 3. Uses the lower of the two prices 4. If Special Price exists on break and is lower, uses that instead

Cost Based Pricing Model

Cost Plus is an automatic markup system that calculates selling prices based on your cost price.

How It Works

1. Set the cost price (purchase price)
2. Define markup percentages for each price tier
3. Selling prices are automatically calculated

Formula

Sell Price = Cost Price + (Cost Price × Markup%)

Example

Configuration

1. Navigate to Settings > Product tab
2. Set Pricing Model to "Cost Based Pricing"
3. Configure markup percentages for each price tier in the Manage Pricing Tiers popup window

CostPlus vs Flexible

Tip: You can switch between models at any time. Existing prices are preserved. Please note though that when switching from cost based / cost-plus back to flexible the pricing will remain at what it was last saved as.

Client-Specific Pricing (Price Book)

Create custom pricing rules for individual clients at the product or category level.

Pricing Hierarchy

When determining a client's price, Zulu checks in this order:

1. Product-Level Rule (direct price override)
   ↓
2. Product-Level Rule (price group + margin)
   ↓
3. Category-Level Rule (applies to all products in category)
   ↓
4. Client Default Settings (price group + margin on client record)
   ↓
5. Base Product Price (fallback)

Rule Types

Fixed Price Override

Set a specific price for a client: - Price Sell: Direct price (e.g., $85.00)

Price Group + Margin

Use a base price tier with an optional markup/discount: - Price Group: Which price tier to use (e.g., "Wholesale 1") - Margin %: Adjustment percentage (positive = markup, negative = discount)

Margin Calculation

Final Price = Base Price + (Base Price × Margin%)

Example

Product: Widget - price = $100.00 (retail) - price_ws1 = $80.00 (wholesale)

Client Rule for "Acme Corp": - Price Group: price_ws1 (Wholesale) - Margin: 10%

Calculation: $80.00 + ($80.00 × 0.10) = $88.00

Acme Corp pays $88.00 per Widget.

Setting Up Client Pricing

Per-Client Default

1. Navigate to CRM > Clients > Edit Client
2. Set Price Group (which tier they use by default)
3. Set Margin % (adjustment to apply)

Category / Product-Specific Rules

1. Navigate to CRM > Clients > Edit Client
2. Click Price Book button
3. Add a rule for specific product or category
4. Choose between fixed price or group + margin

Price Logging & Audit Trail

All price changes are automatically logged for audit purposes. These are accessible on the product page to view pricing history.

What's Logged

Viewing Price History

Price history is available on the product edit screen and via API queries.

Quick Reference

Price Field Summary

Pricing Priority (Highest to Lowest)

1. Client-specific product rule (fixed price)
2. Client-specific product rule (group + margin)
3. Client-specific category rule
4. Client default price group + margin
5. Price breaks (if applicable quantity)
6. Product price_special (if set)
7. Product price (base retail)