Store Grouping

What is this?

Store grouping lets a multi-store business treat several stores as one for pricing. Stores in a group share one zone, so they receive the same vendor zone prices, and the Summary can be read By Group instead of store by store. It is an advanced feature: most stores never need it, and single-store databases cannot use it.

Turn it on only when you deliberately price a set of stores together - the same market, the same competition, the same price list on the shelf.

Turning it on

1. Open the Store Manager.
2. On its Options menu, tick Use Store Grouping.
3. A Store Group column appears in the grid, and the Zone Override column becomes Group Zone # - zones are now managed per group, not per store.

Assigning stores to groups

In the Store Group column of a store's row, pick an existing group or choose New to create one by name. Every store in the same group shares the group's zone. Save with the Save button or by closing the window.

After changing groups

Group membership changes what rows are built, so rebuild afterwards:

• Data > Rebuild Store Groups (shown only when grouping is on) rebuilds the group tables;
• then Data > Rebuild Data if the grid still shows the old layout.

What changes elsewhere

Tips

A store can belong to only one group. A store with no group is priced on its own zone as before.

Keep group names short and meaningful - they appear in the Summary and in selection boxes.

Common Questions

Q: Can I use groups without changing zones? A: Grouping is about sharing a zone and reading results together. If you only want to select a set of stores, use the Store Number selection box or a saved selection instead.

Q: I turned grouping off and my zones changed. A: With grouping off each store returns to its own zone (or Zone Override). Check the Store Manager rows and run Data > Rebuild Data.