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Intermediate Certificate on pass

Pricing, Discounts & Promotions

Set prices once, discount with control, and keep margin visible — instead of giving away profit by accident.

4 lessons 35 min 5-question assessment 70% to pass

What you’ll learn

  • Explain how catalogue pricing keeps selling consistent
  • Apply line and sale discounts that are recorded and visible
  • Protect margin with controlled, authorised discounting
  • Use price lists and promotions for different customers or seasons

Course content

4 lessons · 35 min of reading
01
Lesson 1 of 4 Reading 8 min

Where price comes from

In AWRA an item’s price lives in the catalogue, not in the cashier’s head. Setting a price once means every till, quote, and invoice applies it consistently. This is the foundation of trustworthy revenue: the same item sells for the same price unless someone deliberately and visibly changes it.

Cost is tracked alongside price, which is what makes margin calculable. If you only know the selling price you know turnover; knowing cost too tells you whether a sale actually made money.

Watch the trap of the “fast mover” that earns nothing: an item priced at KES 500 against a KES 480 cost moves volume but barely covers handling. Because AWRA holds cost next to price, that thin margin shows up in the catalogue before it shows up as a disappointing month — review margin per SKU, not just sales rank, when deciding what to push.

Key takeaways

  • Price lives in the catalogue and applies consistently everywhere.
  • Setting price once prevents inconsistent, ad-hoc pricing.
  • Tracking cost alongside price is what makes margin visible.
  • A high-volume SKU can still be a poor earner — judge what to push on margin per item, not sales rank.
02
Lesson 2 of 4 Practice 9 min

Discounts that are recorded

Discounts can be applied to a single line or to a whole sale. The key principle in AWRA is that a discount is recorded — the system keeps what was given, not just the final figure. Leadership can later see how much was discounted, on what, and by whom.

A discount that is invisible is a leak. Because AWRA captures discounts as data, "we sold a lot" and "we gave away a lot of margin" can no longer hide inside the same number.

Run the discount report by cashier every week and you will quickly spot the pattern AWRA is built to surface: one till giving 15% “to be nice” on most sales while the rest hold the line. That is not a pricing problem to fix in the catalogue — it is a coaching conversation, and the recorded data is what makes it specific rather than a vague suspicion.

Key takeaways

  • Discounts apply at line or whole-sale level.
  • Every discount is recorded, not just the net price.
  • Recorded discounts make margin giveaway visible to leadership.
  • Reviewing discounts by cashier turns a vague suspicion into a specific coaching conversation.
03
Lesson 3 of 4 Reading 9 min

Protecting margin with controls

Free discounting erodes profit quietly. Controlled discounting means limits and authorisation: who can discount, by how much, and when approval is required. Combined with visible margin, this lets a business be generous on purpose rather than by accident.

The goal is not to stop discounts — it is to make them decisions. A small approval step on a large discount turns a reflex into a choice someone owns.

A practical threshold to start with: let cashiers grant up to 5% on their own, require a supervisor for 5–15%, and push anything beyond 15% to a manager. Set the limits where most legitimate discounts clear without friction, so the approval step only fires on the few that genuinely deserve a second look — otherwise staff learn to resent it and route around it.

Key takeaways

  • Controlled discounting sets who can discount and by how much.
  • Larger discounts can require authorisation.
  • The aim is deliberate generosity, not accidental margin loss.
  • Set discount thresholds so routine discounts clear freely and only large ones trigger approval.
04
Lesson 4 of 4 Reading 9 min

Price lists and promotions

Different customers or channels may warrant different prices — wholesale versus retail, a contract customer, a seasonal offer. Price lists hold these alternative prices cleanly instead of overriding the base price by hand every time.

A promotion is a time-bound price change. Because it is configured rather than typed at the till, it starts and ends predictably, applies consistently, and is reportable afterwards: did the promotion lift volume enough to justify the margin given up?

The pitfall to avoid is the promotion that never ends because nobody typed the stop date — staff keep honouring the “sale” price for weeks. Configuring an end date fixes that automatically, and afterwards you compare units sold and total margin during the window against a normal week: if volume rose 30% but margin given away was bigger than the extra margin earned, the promotion lost money even though it felt busy.

Key takeaways

  • Price lists hold alternative prices for customers or channels.
  • Promotions are time-bound, configured price changes.
  • Configured pricing is consistent and measurable after the fact.
  • Always set a promotion end date and judge success on margin earned versus margin given up, not on how busy it felt.

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