General Trade guide

This page walks you through the General Trade (GT) way of selling in Field Pro, from the start of your day to the order and payment at each outlet.

General Trade (GT) means selling to independent, owner-run shops — the small kiosks, dukas, and corner stores that buy directly and pay as they go. If you serve these outlets, this is your daily rhythm. (For organized chain retail, see Modern Trade overview.)

Who General Trade is for

GT is built for independent and small outlets: one owner, one buying decision, frequent top-up orders, and credit that builds up between visits. Your job each day is to work a planned route, stop at each outlet, take an order, and collect what's owed.

Note: An outlet is any place you sell to — its record in the app is its customer profile. See the Glossary.

Your GT day at a glance

The GT day is one repeating loop: follow your beat, visit each stop, book an order, collect payment, move on.

flowchart TD
  A[Clock in] --> B[Open today's beat]
  B --> C[Drive to next stop]
  C --> D[Start the visit]
  D --> E[Check credit & suggested basket]
  E --> F[Take the order]
  F --> G[Collect payment]
  G --> H[Mark visit complete]
  H --> I{More stops?}
  I -->|Yes| J[Optimize remaining route]
  J --> C
  I -->|No| K[Check nearby-due drop-ins]
  K --> L[Clock out]

Clock in to start your day and begin route tracking.
Open today's beat — your planned list of outlets for the day.
Drive to the next stop.
Start the visit at the outlet (your location and time are captured automatically).
Check the outlet's credit and the suggested basket before you sell.
Take the order.
Collect payment against what's owed.
Mark the visit complete.
If stops remain, optimize the remaining route and continue. If not, check nearby-due drop-ins, then clock out.

📷 [SHOT: gt-guide-1] — mobile — Today screen with beat plan card and "Next on beat" list — caption: "Your beat for the day, with progress and the next stops."

The beat: your planned route

A beat is your planned route of outlets for one day. Open the Today screen to see your beat card (route name and progress) and the Next on beat list, with the next stop highlighted. Tap a stop to start or continue its visit.

Tip: No beat planned for today? The Today screen falls back to a "Due for a visit" queue — outlets you've never visited (shown first) or that are overdue based on how often they should be visited. See Your day on the Today screen.

The visit, order, and payment loop

At each outlet you run one offline flow: visit, order, payment. It all works without signal and syncs later.

Start the visit. Your location and the time are captured automatically. Pick your purpose, add photos, and jot notes if you like.
Take the order. Tap catalog items to build the order. Each order is dated for when you made it on your device — not when it later syncs.
Collect payment. Record what the outlet pays against its balance. The paid portion of an order automatically creates a cash payment, so you don't double-enter it.
Mark the visit complete.

Note: Choose Van Sale to deliver the goods now, or Booking for a planned order with a future delivery date. See Taking orders.

📷 [SHOT: gt-guide-2] — mobile — Order composer with catalog items and a line sheet open — caption: "Build the order by tapping catalog items; set cartons, price, and credit per line."

Credit and outstanding on every outlet

Every outlet card shows what that outlet still owes, so you always know where you stand before you sell more.

Outstanding money — the unpaid balance (what's been billed minus what's been collected).
Outstanding cartons — for outlets that settle in cartons, the unpaid cartons (order cartons not yet paid for, minus carton payments), shown as "N ctn".

Best practice: Glance at the outlet's outstanding before taking a new order. Collecting on old credit first keeps the relationship healthy and your books clean.

The suggested basket: reorder-due and must-sell gaps

As you build an order, Field Pro suggests items so you don't miss easy sales. The suggestions are advice — you tap to add them.

Reorder-due (history) — products this outlet buys again and again are flagged "due" once enough days have passed since the last order. The app also suggests the outlet's usual quantity.
Must-sell gap — any product the outlet is supposed to stock (from its must-sell list) that isn't on the current order. A must-sell list (MSL) is the set of products an outlet must always carry. See Must-sell lists.

Tip: The suggested basket is a memory aid, not a rule. Add what makes sense for the outlet in front of you.

Route optimization: a shorter drive

When you still have stops left, Field Pro can reorder your remaining beat into a shorter sequence and show you the distance saved. It works on your phone, offline, and gives you a multi-stop map link to follow.

Open Beats from the menu (or the beat card on Today).
Tap one-tap route optimization to reorder the remaining stops.
Review the distance saved, then tap Navigate route to follow it.

📷 [SHOT: gt-guide-3] — mobile — Beats screen showing optimized remaining stops and distance saved — caption: "Reorder your remaining stops for a shorter drive."

Nearby-due drop-ins

While you work your route, the app spots outlets that are due for a visit and close by but not on today's beat, and suggests them as opportunistic drop-ins. These suggestions are temporary — only the visit you actually do gets saved and synced.

Tip: A nearby-due drop-in is a free extra sale. If you're passing one anyway, stop in.