Buying smarter: the true cost of every purchase, duty and shipping included
Turns supplier price lists into purchase orders, works out what each line really costs once duty and shipping are added, and follows each order to delivery.
- 10 yearsand counting
- LiveUK import duty rates
The client
A UK online retailer buying from UK and overseas suppliers. Built together with the retailer's in-house team.
The challenge
A good price on a supplier's list can become a poor buy once freight, insurance and import duty are added. Each order then has to be followed through part deliveries, payments and goods in. Doing that in spreadsheets meant re-keying, lost history, and buying decisions made without the sales and profit data the business already had.
What we built
- Import of supplier price lists and order sheets, checked before anything is saved
- A costings grid showing what each line really costs once import duty, insurance and haulage are added, using live UK duty rates
- The full purchase-order process: approval, supplier emails, delivery booking, part deliveries, payments and an audit trail
- Automatic reminders for overdue orders and missing product data
- A range planner and buying desk that put sales history, stock cover and profit beside each decision
- Goods-in screens that check deliveries against the order
- A supplier portal where suppliers who ship direct to customers download orders and upload stock levels and tracking
Technical details
Purchase orders support parent and child orders for splits, with per-line delivery and payment records. Import duty comes from the UK Trade Tariff API. Deliveries post quantities and landed values to Linnworks, followed by a re-levelling of stock value.
A documented JSON API with shared-secret authentication lets other systems look up products and profit and create purchase orders; a build check keeps its documentation up to date.
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