Organizing a Distributor with Divisions
How It Works
Many merchants work with one large distributor whose catalog is split across multiple sales reps or "divisions" — for example, a wine division and a spirits division of the same house. Divisions let you model that inside a single distributor: each product the distributor supplies can be assigned to one division, sales rep contacts can be scoped to a division, and each purchase order can be tagged with a division so the product picker only shows that division's items. At delivery time, several POs from the same distributor can be received in one session, with the scanned invoices routing each line to the right PO automatically.
Key things to know:
A product belongs to at most one division per distributor. Adding it to a second division moves it rather than duplicating it.
Divisions are optional on a PO. A PO with no division simply draws from the distributor's whole catalog.
The division shows on draft POs only. It isn't displayed on the read-only view of an ordered or completed PO, and there's no division column on the PO list. The assignment still exists behind the scenes.
Where to Access Each Feature
To… | Go to |
Create, edit, delete, or export a division | Stock management → Distributors → open a distributor → Divisions panel (right side) |
Set the division on a purchase order | Stock management → Purchase orders → open a draft PO → Order information → Division |
Tie a sales rep to a division | The Create distributor contact modal (from a PO's Sales rep field) or the distributor's contacts |
Receive one or many POs together | Stock management → Purchase orders → Start receiving |
Creating a New Division
Step 1
Go to Stock management → Distributors and click into the distributor.
Step 2
In the Divisions panel on the right, click "Add." In the Add division modal, leave "Create a new division" selected.
Step 3
Enter a Division name. It's required, must be unique for this distributor, and can be up to 100 characters.
Step 4
Optionally tick products in the grid to organize them under this division. It lists this distributor's products, and you can also add products later.
Step 5
Click "Create division." A "Division added" toast confirms, and the new division card appears in the panel.
Converting an Existing Distributor into a Division
Use this when you've been keeping separate distributor entries for what are really divisions of one distributor. If there's no parent yet, create the parent distributor first, then convert the others into it one at a time. Converting can't be undone — the original distributor entry is removed for good — so check you've picked the right one before you confirm the conversion.
Step 6
Open the parent distributor and click "Add" in the Divisions panel, then select "Convert an existing distributor."
Step 7
Enter the Division name to use.
Step 8
In Find a distributor, search and select the distributor to convert. Only distributors that are active and don't have divisions of their own appear here — one that already has divisions can't be converted.
Step 9
Click "Create division." A "Division added" toast confirms.
Converting migrates everything to the parent under the new division, then removes the original distributor entry:
Products move to the new division. If the parent already carried a product, the duplicate is merged, not doubled.
Contacts transfer over; contacts with the same email as an existing parent contact are merged.
Purchase orders, including historical ones, move to the parent distributor, tagged with the new division.
Item IDs (the distributor's own product codes used for automated invoice matching) are preserved; where both entries had an ID for the same item, the parent's is kept, and blanks are filled from the converted entry.
The conversion is all-or-nothing: if anything fails, nothing changes and an error shows in the modal.
Moving Products Into and Out of a Division
A product can be in at most one division per distributor.
Step 10
On the distributor page, click a division card (or its ⋮ menu → Edit).
Step 11
In the Edit division modal, use the two tabs under Manage products:
Add products — this distributor's products not currently in the division (including ones in other divisions).
Remove products — products currently in the division.
Tick products in either tab, and use the "Search catalog…" box to filter. The status line at the bottom tracks pending changes.
Step 12
Click "Save changes." A "Division updated" toast confirms.
Removing a product from a division only unassigns it — the product stays with the distributor. Adding a product that's currently in another of this distributor's divisions moves it over. You can also rename the division here via the Division name field.
Exporting a Division's Product List
Step 13
On the division card, click "Export." The Export product list modal opens. If you have more than one store, pick the Store to generate the list for, since stock figures are per store. Under Only, the Active, Orderable and Sellable boxes are ticked to start with — untick one to widen the list to products that aren't set that way. Click "Export" and the PDF opens in a new tab.
Deleting a Division
Step 14
On the division card, click the ⋮ menu → Delete. There is no confirmation prompt — deletion is immediate.
Deleting is non-destructive to your data: the division's products stay with the distributor (just unassigned), and its POs and contacts keep existing but lose their division tag. A "Division deleted" toast confirms.
Creating a Purchase Order for a Division
The key thing to know: the new-PO form has no Division field. The division goes on after the PO is created, or comes along automatically with the sales rep.
Step 15
Go to Stock management → Purchase orders and create a new PO (pick Store, Distributor, Ordered by, optionally Sales rep, and Order date).
Step 16
If you pick a Sales rep who is tied to a division, the PO automatically inherits that division. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
Step 17
On the draft PO page, expand Order information and use the Division dropdown to pick a division. It auto-saves. With a division set, the add-products picker only shows that division's products; lines already on the PO stay visible even if they're outside the division.
The Division, Sales rep, and Distributor fields keep each other consistent: changing the distributor clears an incompatible division or rep, changing the division clears a rep who belongs to a different division, and picking a rep fills in their distributor and division. The Sales rep dropdown shows each rep's division in parentheses and offers division-specific reps plus reps not tied to any division.
Tying a Sales Rep Contact to a Division
Step 18
On a PO, open the Sales rep dropdown and choose to create a new contact, which opens the Create distributor contact modal. (You can also manage contacts from the distributor page.)
Step 19
In the modal, use the Division dropdown (placeholder "All divisions") to scope the contact to one division, or leave it blank for a rep who covers the whole distributor. Creating a division-scoped contact from a PO sets that PO's division to match.
Troubleshooting
A distributor is missing from the "Find a distributor" convert list. Only distributors that are currently active and have no divisions of their own can be converted. Deactivated distributors and ones that already have divisions never appear.
You see "A division with that name already exists" or "Name has already been taken." Division names must be unique within a distributor. Rename, or reuse the existing division.
A distributor disappeared after a conversion. This is expected — converting removes the original entry after migrating its products, contacts, item IDs, and POs (including historical ones) to the parent. Look for its history under the parent distributor, filtered to the new division.
A division was deleted by accident. The Delete menu item has no confirmation prompt, so this happens. Nothing is lost except the grouping: products remain with the distributor and can be re-added to a recreated division, and old POs keep their data but lose the division tag.
Invoice lines landed on an unexpected extra PO instead of the division PO. Routing depends on the product being assigned to a division for that distributor. Products with no division assignment (and any line that didn't match a product) go to the placeholder PO. Fix the product's division assignment for next time; for this session, move the lines during Finalize.
Invoice items didn't match products at all. Automated matching uses the distributor's item ID (product code) on file for each product — it does not match by UPC. If you haven't recorded the distributor's item IDs, lines come in unlinked and must be matched by hand.
You hit "You can upload up to 6 invoices at a time." That's a hard cap per session. For deliveries with more invoices, split into multiple sessions (receive some POs in each).
You get an error starting receiving. The messages map to the multi-select rules: POs must be draft or ordered, all from the same store, all from the same distributor, and not already in another receiving session. A PO stuck "in receiving" is attached to another session — finish or cancel that one first.
You can't finish receiving. Completion requires every line linked to a product, a Received by person, and a received date no more than 30 days in the past.
You can't move a line between POs. Line moves only work during the Finalize step of a session with multiple POs. On a single PO or outside receiving, there's no move option.
You can't see the division on a completed PO. Known gap: the division shows on draft POs but isn't displayed on the read-only view of ordered or completed POs, and there's no division column on the PO list. The assignment still exists.
You changed the sales rep on an existing PO but the division didn't follow. A PO only inherits the rep's division at creation. On an existing PO, set the Division field yourself — a mismatched rep is cleared automatically when you do.