Cost Sell Agent & Retail Explained

What do the terms Cost, Sell, Agent and Retail mean in Tourplan?

 

Product Markup

In Tourplan NX there is a Product Cost and Sell . The simplified equation for this costing is:

Product Cost + Product Markup = Product Sell

The product Cost is what you owe your suppliers, and the Sell is the amount you are selling the product for, therefore the markup or margin is your profit for the service.

Product Discount

Some Tourplan users have business practices which require the system to apply discounts instead of markup at a service level. Tourplan can apply a discounted cost using a Discount Matrix Rule, i.e. the variation to the Markup term outlined above allows a discount % or value to be applied to the Product Sell rate. How you receive your rates from suppliers and the contract arrangements you have will determine which method suits your organisation.

Product Sell – Product Discount = Product Cost

Product Discounts are not commonly used. They are useful in the situation where you want to present a single rate book to all agents, across all suppliers and products, and then negotiate discounts off that on a per agent basis.

Retail Amount vs Agent Selling Price

Additional selling terms used in Tourplan NX refer to the selling prices given to your agents (your clients) and are equally important to understand prior to implementing your Discount Markup Commission methods.

There are two rates which can be provided to your agents:

• the first is the Retail amount - this is the amount the travelling client will be paying their agent for their travel arrangements;

• the next is the Agent amount - this is the value your organisation expects to receive from your agent.

In short the Retail amount is the Gross selling price given to the travelling client. Your booking agent then deducts their commission amount and gives your organisation the Agent selling price.

Simplified Equations

The simplified equations for these terms are:

Product Sell + Booking Markup = Booking Retail Amount

Booking Retail – Agent Commission = Agent Selling Price

The terms and methods used will depend on who you are selling to. Do you have clients booking directly? Do you sell to wholesalers and agents – do you have tiers of agents or affiliated agents who might receive more commission? Each business scenario is unique and Tourplan is equipped to handle all of these scenarios.