In retail and wholesale businesses, a detailed analysis of customer purchases is essential for building effective loyalty programs and monitoring staff performance.
The «Purchases» tab in the customer card is a tool that automatically accumulates the complete history of transactions with the customer, recording every interaction with the store.
However, as the number of promotions and marketing tools grows, business owners often need a more detailed breakdown of this data. Business owners usually ask support specialists the following questions:
"How can I clearly understand and explain why this particular discount was applied to the customer during a previous purchase?",
"How can I find out at which particular store in our chain the customer made the purchase?",
"Why does the amount in the customer's purchase history differ from the amount used to calculate their cumulative discount?", and
"Can access rights be configured so that the salesperson can see only the list of purchased products but cannot see the customer's purchase amounts?".
The answers to these questions lie in the flexible settings for displaying information in the columns of the «Purchases» tab. Below, we will explain in detail how to analyze this data.
Discount details: the «Promotion», «Discount type», and «Control barcode» columns
Previously, when analyzing the sales history in the customer card, it could be unclear what kind of discount was applied and why the salesperson applied it. To provide the owner or manager with a clear understanding and explanation of the actual discount, the functionality of the customer card was significantly expanded.
The «Purchases» tab contains special information columns:
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«Discount type» — shows the basic mechanism used to reduce the price, such as a discount card, manual discount, bonuses, and so on.
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«Promotion» — displays the exact name of the marketing campaign if the product was sold under the terms of a specific promotion.
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«Control barcode» — shows the unique identifier, or promotional code, that activated the discount. This is particularly important for tracking individual coupons or marketing campaigns.
These columns make the sales history fully transparent. A manager can open the customer card and immediately see whether the customer received a discount using their discount card, took advantage of a seasonal sale, or was given a manual discount by the salesperson.
Tracking activity across a store chain: the «Accounting center» column
For retail chains consisting of several stores, it is essential to understand where customers make their purchases. Business owners often noted that the general purchase list did not contain information about the particular store in the chain where the customer completed the transaction. Salespeople and managers working with the customer database need this information to provide high-quality service.
To address this need, the «Purchases» tab contains the «Accounting center» column. You can analyze whether the customer prefers one particular location or visits different stores in your chain. This helps you configure local marketing campaigns more effectively and understand how customer traffic is distributed. This feature makes it possible to determine exactly where the customer purchased the product.
Answers to common business owners' questions about purchase history
When analyzing the «Purchases» tab, users often encounter two specific business-related issues that can be easily resolved by understanding how Torgsoft works.
1. Why does the customer's purchase amount in the history not match the amount used to calculate their cumulative discount?
Business owners often ask: "Why does the customer purchase list show one amount, while the sale displays a different value as the «amount for discount calculation»?".
The answer lies in the marketing settings. Most likely, the customer purchased certain products under promotions for which the «Participates in the cumulative discount system» option was not enabled. The software records the product sale in the history, on the «Purchases» tab, but deliberately excludes its value from the customer's cumulative balance to prevent the customer from receiving a double benefit. You can check the promotion under which the product was sold in the Promotions column on the same Purchases tab.
2. Can financial purchase amounts in the customer card be hidden from staff?
Owners often want salespeople to see the customer's purchase history, for example, to advise the customer about sizes or models purchased previously, but not see the customer's total purchase amount. The question is: "Can the purchase amount be hidden in the customer card? In other words, can the product and quantity remain visible while the amount is hidden?".
Yes, this can be configured. You can use the column display settings in the «Purchases» form and simply hide the columns containing financial data for specific employee roles. Alternatively, you can restrict access to these columns through Role settings, which completely prevents access to this data.
Using all these tools together turns the «Purchases» tab from a simple list of receipts into a powerful analytical center that helps the owner monitor discounts, analyze customer behavior, and prevent potential staff misuse.
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