Direct answer
Set a maximum discount for each sales role and require manager approval above it, so a salesperson can move a deal without giving away the margin on it. Discounts can be applied to a single line item or to the invoice total, as a percentage or a flat dollar amount, and anything over a salesperson's limit routes to a manager who can approve it from their own dashboard instead of being tracked down on the floor. Pre-built bundles do the same job in advance: a complete bedroom package or a kitchen suite carries a packaged price you set, so nobody has to improvise a discount to make the numbers work. Financing belongs in the same conversation, presented on every ticket rather than saved for the customer who flinches at the price.
Discounts and financing are powerful tools for closing sales, but they need to be used correctly. Here's how they work in RetailGenie.
Applying Discounts
Click the discount icon on any line item or on the invoice total. You can apply a percentage discount or a flat dollar amount. Your manager sets the maximum discount level for your role. The system won't let you exceed it without manager approval.
Discounts over your authorization level will trigger a manager approval request. The manager can approve it remotely from their dashboard.
Pre-Built Bundles
Your store may have pre-configured bundles, like a 'Complete Bedroom Package' that includes a mattress, base, pillows, and sheets at a packaged price, or a 'Kitchen Suite' that bundles a refrigerator, range, and dishwasher. These appear in the product search under the 'Bundles' category. Adding a bundle auto-fills all included items with the correct pricing.
Submitting Financing
When a customer wants to finance, click 'Apply for Financing' on the invoice. You'll see available lenders (Synchrony, Progressive, Acima, etc.) based on your store's configuration. Enter the customer's information and submit it to the lender for review.
- Click 'Apply for Financing' on the active invoice
- Select the lender
- Enter customer details (or they auto-fill from the customer record)
- Submit the application
- If approved, the financing terms are attached to the invoice automatically
Present financing on every transaction, not just when a customer hesitates on price. Financed customers tend to spend more, because the monthly-payment difference for add-ons is small: a protector and a couple of pillows might come to only a few dollars a month.
Frequently asked questions
How much discount authority should I give my salespeople?
Set the limit by role, not by person, and set it at the level where a normal negotiation can close without anyone else getting involved. Anything above that should route for approval rather than be flatly blocked, so the salesperson can still ask and the customer never hears a hard no. Make the approval remote: a manager approving from their dashboard keeps the customer in the chair instead of waiting while someone goes looking for a key holder.
Are bundles better than discounting items one at a time?
Bundles decide the discount in advance, at a price you set with your margin already built in, instead of leaving it to a negotiation at the counter. They also add every included item to the ticket at once, so the pillows and the sheets in a bedroom package do not get dropped the way they do when a salesperson assembles the package by hand. Build them for the combinations you sell most often and let case by case discounting handle the exceptions.
Does running a financing application slow down closing the sale?
It should not, as long as the customer record is attached to the invoice first, because the application pulls those details instead of making a salesperson rekey them. The application runs off the active ticket, so the order and the amount being financed travel together, and approved terms attach back to that invoice rather than being written down and entered a second time. Which lenders appear depends on the store's configuration, and live lender connections are enabled per store as they are ready.
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