Builders Merchants and Trade Counters

The counter, the yard and the wagon, on one system.

A merchant is three businesses at once: a shop for whoever walks in, a credit operation for the accounts that keep you going, and a haulier. Gydon runs the counter, holds the yard stock properly, prices each account the way it was agreed, and plans the drops from the same orders.

The counter

Scan it, put it on the account, next

The trade counter is a full point of sale: scan a barcode or tap a product tile, take cash or card through a Stripe Terminal, or put it on the customer's account at their price. The same products, the same stock and the same prices the rest of Gydon uses, because there is only one of each.

  • Price lists per customer or group, applied without anybody remembering to
  • Walk-in sales and account sales through the same till
  • Stock moves as it goes out of the door, not in an overnight batch
  • Card payments on the counter, and payment links on the invoices that follow
The Gydon trade counter point of sale on a wide screen. A barcode or SKU box sits across the top with a product search beside it, then a grid of product tiles each showing a name, a price and a SKU. The left hand side shows the customer set to walk-in, an empty basket, subtotal, VAT and total, cash and card buttons, a tendered box and change, and a pay button.

The counter, using the same products and prices as everything else.

The yard

Stock in bays, not one company-wide number

A merchant's stock is spread over a shop, a warehouse and a yard, and "we have twelve" is useless if nobody knows which of the three they are in. Gydon holds stock by site, area and bay, and the warehouse handset reads and writes the same locations.

Holds matter even more here than in a workshop. Stock put aside for Thursday's delivery should not be sellable at the counter on Wednesday, and with holds in place it is not.

  • On hand and genuinely available shown as two different numbers
  • Counts that freeze what is being counted and post a reasoned adjustment
  • Replenishment levels per line, so reordering is suggested rather than remembered
  • Part deliveries from suppliers handled without closing the order
The stock screen in Gydon, listing items with quantities on hand and their locations.

What is where, rather than one number for the whole business.

The wagon

Site deliveries planned the day before

Drops come from orders that are ready to go, get sequenced into a round, and land on the driver's phone as today's work with navigation to each site. Proof of delivery is captured at the drop and comes straight back onto the order, which settles most delivery arguments before they start.

Where you use a third party carrier as well as your own wagons, both sit alongside each other rather than one of them living in a spreadsheet.

A delivery route in Gydon shown on a map, with the stops numbered in the optimised order and the round's distance and estimated time alongside.

A round sequenced before anybody gets in the cab.

Modules

What merchants usually switch on

Inventory and Purchasing
Multi-location stock, holds, counts, suppliers, purchase orders and goods receipt. The centre of gravity for a merchant.
Point of Sale
The trade counter, with card payment through Stripe Terminal and account sales at the customer's own prices.
Logistics and the Driver App
Rounds from real orders, run from the cab, with proof of delivery back on the order.
Warehouse App
Barcode lookups, goods in, moves, counts, and picking straight from the bays.
CRM and sales documents
Always included. Accounts, quotes, orders, invoices and statements on your own paperwork.
Worth knowing
Gydon is not a credit control system. It raises and tracks the invoices; chasing and reconciliation stay in Xero, which it syncs with both ways.

Bring a busy hour at the counter

Tell us what a Saturday morning looks like and we will run it: a walk-in, an account customer on special prices, and a delivery booked for Tuesday.