Distributor / Trader

For a wholesaler or distributor supplying retailers on beat routes. Wholesale tax invoices with case and piece units, schemes and party rates, customers filed by beat and route, delivery challans and delivery runs, van sales with an evening settlement, and collection from the shops you supply.

Best forWholesaler, distributor, stockist or agency supplying shops on routes

Pick at setupDistributor / Trader

LoginsOwner, billing clerk, store / purchase, delivery boy, accountant

AppsSKS Market on the billing desk and on phones; the delivery boy's phone too, on a cloud business or with SKS Server

Switch on as you growWarehouse and van sales, Delivery Run (Premium), e-Invoice and e-Way Bill, more territory levels

Set up before your first invoice

The owner does these, in this order.

Check units and rates. Case, box, bag, packet, dozen, kg, litre and pcs are ready under Master > Unit Types. Products carry more than one sale rate, so you can quote retailers and wholesalers differently.
Add your products under Master > Products, with brand, the company you buy from, unit and rates.
Lay out your routes under Master > Territory: beats and the routes through them (Route 1 and Route 2 are there to rename). Town, district and state can be switched on above them from the same screen's settings.
Add your customers under Master with their route and GSTIN, and the companies you buy from as suppliers.
Set schemes and special rates under Master > Price Rules: per party, per group or per slab. Free quantity and product schemes are switched on under Settings > Transaction > Sale.
Add your salesmen as staff. The salesman is picked on every invoice, so commission and sales per salesman read off it.
If you sell off a van (Premium): switch on Warehouse under Settings > Master, add each van as a warehouse, then switch on Sell From Warehouse (van sales) under Settings > Transaction > General.
Create a login for each person (see Who signs in).

How the work flows

Stock comes in from the companies, goes out on invoices, and the money comes back route by route.

Buy from the company

Book the company's bill as a Purchase Invoice; the stock lands in your godown.

Store / Purchase

Take the order

Orders come by phone or from your salesman on the beat. Book one as a Sales Order when it will be billed later, or bill it straight away.

Billing clerkOwner

Bill the retailer

The Sales Invoice (called Tax Invoice when Counter Sale is also on) takes case and piece units, free quantity, schemes, the party's rate and the salesman. Generate the e-Invoice and e-Way Bill from it.

Billing clerkTax invoicee-Invoice / e-Way Bill

Send the goods out

A Sales Delivery Challan goes with goods that are not billed yet. The Delivery Run (Premium) tracks each bill as packed, shipped and delivered; a delivery boy works it from their phone. The Delivery Summary totals what went out, product by product.

Billing clerkDelivery boyDelivery challanDelivery Summary

Sell off the van

Load the van in the morning with a Stock Transfer to its warehouse. Bill all day with the van picked under Sell From on the invoice. In the evening, Reports > Van Settlement shows what went out, what was sold and for how much, and what should still be on the van.

Store / PurchaseOwnerVan Settlement

Returns

Damaged or unsold goods coming back are a Return/ Credit Note; goods sent on a challan and not kept are a Sales Delivery Challan Return.

Billing clerkCredit note

Collect the money

Filter the customer list by route before a collection round, take each payment as Payment In, or a whole round's in one go with Multi Payment In. Receivable Parties and Receivables Ageing show who owes, and for how long.

Billing clerkOwner

Close the period

File from the GST reports, check TDS / TCS, and read commission per salesman.

OwnerAccountant

The whole journey on one page:

flowchart TD
    O[Order: phone / salesman on route] --> SO[Sales Order]
    SO --> I[Sales Invoice
case + piece · scheme free qty · rate per party]
    I --> DC[Delivery Challan · Delivery Run
packed · shipped · delivered]
    P[Purchase Invoice from company] --> W[(Warehouse stock)] --> I
    W --> VT[Stock Transfer to the van]
    VT --> VS[Sell From the van all day]
    VS --> VR[Van Settlement
out · sold · still on the van]
    I --> T[(Bill lines: free · scheme · unit)]
    T --> G[GST Reports · e-Invoice · e-Way Bill]
    I --> R[Receivables · Payment In per retailer]

Invoice, send it out, settle the van, collect. The route is what a collection round is planned around.

Who signs in

Give every person their own login; never share the owner's. A distributor has no seat picker: you choose a role, then tick switches. A User is offered only the counter switches; purchase, stock, price and report switches are offered to a Manager alone.

Open the users list Tools > Settings > Users, then add a user. Only a full-access login sees Settings.
Set the login: User Name and Password (on a cloud business, the person's email address).
Pick the Role Type: Admin, Manager or User; Delivery Boy and Accountant appear only where they can work.
Link the Staff contact if you pay commission or keep attendance for this person.
Tick the switches and save. The person gets the change at their next sign-in.

Typical logins for a distributor:

Full access

Owner / Admin

The owner, or a partner who runs the business with them.

Role: Owner (whoever created the business) or Admin
Opens on: Dashboard
Phone bar: New Sale · Payment · More
Starts with: Everything, including Settings, Users and the Territory map

Billing clerk

Raises invoices, challans and returns, and takes payments.

Role: User
Opens on: Dashboard
Phone bar: New Sale · Payment · More
Tick: Payment Entry, Add Contact, Show only user created voucher if they should see only their own bills
Leave off: Edit Voucher and Delete Voucher (Edit Voucher also opens the Delivery Run). Price edits, purchase, stock and reports are not offered to a User

Store / Purchase

Books company bills, keeps stock right, loads the vans.

Role: Manager
Opens on: Dashboard
Phone bar: New Sale · Payment · More
Tick: Manage Purchase, Stock Adjustment (it opens Stock Transfer too), Add Product, Edit Product, Payment Entry, View Reports
Leave off: Delete Product, Salary, Voucher Less

Delivery boy

Takes the goods to the shops.

Role: Delivery Boy
Opens on: Delivery Run, and nothing else: find a bill (typed or scanned), mark it packed, shipped or delivered
Offered: Only on a cloud business or one running SKS Server, where the phone can reach your data
Not given: Any switches: the role owns one screen

Accountant

Your auditor or tax consultant.

Role: Accountant
Offered: Cloud businesses only
Not given: Billing, stock or settings

Salesmen do not need a login. A beat salesman is a staff contact picked on the invoice, which is what commission and sales per salesman read. SKS Field Sales, the reps' app, is for Field Sales and Manufacturer businesses, so it does not open a distributor's business.

If a manufacturer you buy from runs its channel in SKS Market, it may give you a login inside its business for your own stock and orders with them; that login is described on the Manufacturer page. The full switch list is in Users, Roles & Permissions.

Reference · the rest of this page is for looking things up: every menu, screen, switch and report.

Where it is in the app

The POS main page (see Supermarket & Grocery). On a computer the menus run Dashboard, Master, Sales, Purchase, Vouchers, Reports and Tools. The sale is the Sales Invoice under Sales (named Tax Invoice when Counter Sale is also on), and Sales carries a Delivery group: Sales Delivery Challan, Delivery Run (Premium, for logins holding Edit Voucher) and Sales Delivery Challan Return. Territory is under Master for a full-access login. Van Settlement is a report under Reports.

What matters for this trade

Wholesale invoice - case and piece units, free quantity and scheme columns on the line, several sale rates and Price Rules per party or slab. See Sales.
Routes - customers filed on beats and routes; the customer list filters by route.
Delivery Run and Van Settlement - the delivery run moves each bill along packed, shipped and delivered; van settlement compares what was loaded onto a van warehouse with what was sold from it and what should still be on it.
Outstanding - Receivable Parties, Receivables Ageing, Customer Statement, and Multi Payment In to take a round's collection in one screen.
Transport - lorry freight is billed on the invoice, which also takes the delivery address and the customer's order number.
Compliance - e-Invoice IRN and e-Way Bill from the invoice; TDS / TCS report. See GST.

The collection cycle

flowchart TD
    A[Invoice a retailer on credit] --> B[Balance on their ledger, filed by route]
    B --> C[Collection run along the beat]
    C --> D{Paid?}
    D -->|full| E[Cleared]
    D -->|part| F[Balance carried]
    D -->|no| G[Receivables Ageing]
    F & G --> H[Which route owes the most?]
    H --> I[Send the collector · hold supply]
    I --> C
    E --> J[Retailer buys again] --> A

Distribution runs on other people’s money — the route, not the customer, is the unit a collection is planned around.

Reports

Sales Register, Sales by Product, Product Partywise Summary, Customerwise Sales, Delivery Summary, Van Settlement (with warehouses and van sales on), Warehouse Stock, Stock Transfer Register, Receivable Parties, Receivables Ageing, Payables Ageing, Customer Statement, GST Reports, TDS / TCS, Commission.