Should salespeople see furniture cost?

The associate glances at the sofa’s cost and suddenly the customer’s price feels negotiable. In this example, the screen shows $1,140 against a $2,600 selling price. The difference looks generous until someone asks what else the store must pay from it.

For most showroom roles, a useful starting point is to hide cost, teach discount consequences, and give the approving manager the margin view. Cost visibility should follow responsibility, not curiosity. Build that decision into the store’s roles and permissions.

Hiding cost keeps the selling conversation on the piece

A supplier-cost figure can become an unhelpful negotiating anchor. It does not, by itself, explain freight treatment, overhead, service work, or the return the business needs. An associate who sees a large gap may assume the gap is available to give away.

There is also the screen itself. Showroom iPads are often held where customers can see them. The associate should be free to show the fabric, dimensions, and price without navigating around information meant for purchasing.

Hiding cost is not a substitute for training or careful access elsewhere. A role that cannot see costs in OrderPilot may still have access to vendor paperwork or another system. Review the whole job and give each source of information a purpose.

Showing cost can help people responsible for margin

A manager who approves price exceptions needs an informed view of the sale. Purchasing and accounting also need cost information to do their work. Keeping costs hidden from everyone would create unnecessary delays and poorly informed decisions.

Margin-based pay can make cost relevant to understanding earnings, but that does not automatically require raw cost access for the whole floor. Explain the formula and provide an appropriate commission statement. The commission-base guide separates the calculation from who can see its inputs.

Industry reporting illustrates why margin deserves attention. In Business of Home’s 2024 account of furniture retail, an interviewed executive described independent-store margins as being in the 40s. That is an interview observation, not a measured benchmark for every showroom.

Teach the effect of a discount with the arithmetic

Use a clearly defined sale to show why a small percentage off price can remove a larger share of gross profit. Continue the worked examples with a $4,000 piece carrying $2,400 of the costs included in this calculation.

Before a discount, gross profit is $1,600, or 40% of the selling price. A 10% discount removes $400 from revenue. With cost unchanged, gross profit falls to $1,200: the discount has removed 25% of the original gross profit.

This example is different from the opening sofa, whose figures produce a different margin. Keep the arithmetic attached to its actual price and cost. “A discount always removes a quarter of profit” would be the wrong lesson.

The associate can understand that relationship without opening a live vendor-cost column. Use showroom discount rules to turn the lesson into a consistent customer conversation.

Give the floor a usable middle path

A practical policy gives associates approved prices, clear authority, and a manager who can review an exception. The manager sees the margin information needed to decide; the associate explains the outcome to the customer.

Commission on net merchandise after discounts also makes the effect visible in the associate’s earnings. Say the rate is 5%: $4,000 produces $200, while a $3,600 discounted base produces $180. That does not replace the store’s approval policy, but it avoids paying as though the discount never happened.

Agree the discount authority matrix before the next busy weekend. Include cover when the manager is away, so sensible restrictions do not stall ordinary quoting.

Keep cost access separate in OrderPilot

OrderPilot treats viewing costs as a role permission. Without that access, cost figures are kept out of the Admin screen, and saving the record preserves stored costs. Supported exports for those roles omit cost columns. Supplier costs do not appear on the POS register. Associates can work with the customer’s chosen options and selling prices without bringing the purchasing view into the conversation. Personal commission visibility has its own permission, so an associate can review their earnings without receiving cost access. Give managers who need the underlying margin the appropriate Admin permissions.

Decide with five practical questions

Ask these questions when reviewing a role:

1. Does this person make a decision that requires actual cost?
2. Could the customer see the screen during normal use?
3. Can the person explain what the cost figure includes?
4. Is discount approval available when the person needs it?
5. Can an earnings statement answer the pay question without broader cost access?

Hiding cost should not slow a normal quote: the associate still has configuration and selling-price information. The task that needs a manager is the exception, not choosing walnut legs.

Leave the elaborate comparison to the fabric books. Make the authority simple, then use the discount approval guide to put the handoff into practice.

Sources

1. Are furniture stores dying, or just changing? — Business of Home, March 20, 2024.