Subsidy

This is an advanced feature in Flow Retail, intended primarily for experienced retailers or for use after a thorough walkthrough with one of our specialists. Incorrect use may lead to serious issues, which is why proper understanding and setup is strongly recommended.

What is a subsidy?

In Flow Retail, a subsidy is a financial support provided by a supplier or partner that reduces the cost price of a product for a limited period of time, without changing the selling price.

This makes it possible for the retailer and seller to gain improved margins on selected products during the subsidy period.

Unlike traditional discounts, subsidies in Flow are not visible to the customer and are purely a back-office mechanism.

The selling price remains unchanged, but the internal cost basis is temporarily improved.

A product can have multiple active subsidies at any given time, however we do recommend limiting it to only one subsidy at the time.

Key benefits

• Improved gross profit on subsidized products

• Better collaboration with suppliers

• Tracking and reporting for subsidized periods

• Transparent display of subsidy on a product for sellers in POS

• Can be configured per product, per store, with a date range

How it works

1. A supplier agrees to subsidize a specific product with a fixed amount (e.g., NOK 100 per unit) for a given time period.

2. The retailer sets up the subsidy, linking the subsidy to one or more products.

3. Selling the subsidized product during the subsidy period:

   1. Selling a subsidized product with immediate delivery

      1. The seller adds the subsidized product to the order

      2. The subsidized amount is copied onto the order line

      3. The customer pays for the order, and the seller delivers it out immediately from Flow

      4. Flow sets the final cost price on that order line to the Average Cost minus the subsidized cost

   2. Selling a subsidized product with later delivery

      1. The seller adds the subsidized product to the order

      2. The subsidized amount is copied onto the order line

      3. The customer pays for the order, and the seller does NOT deliver out the product from Flow

      4. When the order line is later delivered out, Flow finds the current Average Cost, and substracts the subsidized cost, and adds that total onto the order line as the final cost

      5. Flow sets the cost price on that order line to the Average Cost minus the subsidized cos

4. The selling price remains unchanged.

Subsidy attributes

Each subsidy record includes:

• Label: A short description shown to sellers in POS (e.g., “Supplier campaign - extra margin”)

• Amount: Fixed value (e.g. reduced cost) in local currency (e.g., NOK 100) that is subsidized

• From date / To date: Time period when the subsidy is active

• Store(s): One or more store locations where the subsidy applies

• Product(s): Selected by SKU or through filtering (e.g., brand, category, tags)

Subsidy logic

• The subsidy is applied directly to the cost price on the relevant product on an order.

• This cost override is only active during the selected time range.

• The subsidized cost price is used in all margin calculations, seller views, and profitability reports.

• The original cost price is still stored for auditing and reference.

Setting up a subsidy

In Flow Backoffice:

1. Navigate to Products > Subsidies.

2. Click Create new subsidy.

3. Fill in:

   • Label: Short name shown in POS (e.g., “Vendor Support April”)

   • Amount: Fixed subsidy per unit (e.g., 100)

   • From / To: Dates for when the subsidy is active

   • Stores: One or more stores where it applies

   • Products: Add manually by SKU or use filters

4. Save and activate the subsidy.

After the subsidy period

• The cost price returns to its original value.

• Reports will reflect:

  • Total number of subsidized items sold

  • Total subsidy used

  • Gross margin improvement

• Data can be exported for supplier reimbursement if needed.