Rate lists run on forwarding. Someone makes a PDF in March, the sales team sends it to dealers, the dealers forward it to their buyers, and by August three versions are going round on WhatsApp. When a rate changes, the new PDF joins the pile — it does not replace the old one.
The rate list problem nobody solves with a new PDF
The usual response is to make a fresh file and send it again. That takes a design job every time and still leaves the real gaps:
- Old rates keep circulating. A dealer quotes from the March file because it was the one saved on their phone.
- Descriptions drift. The catalogue says one specification, and the invoice says another.
- Discontinued items stay visible. A pack you stopped selling is still being asked for.
- Different buyers need different rates. Dealers, institutions and direct buyers each get a separate file to maintain.
- The menu is out of date. A laminated restaurant card is wrong the day a price changes.
The gap is not design. It is that every PDF is a copy of the item master, and copies go stale.
What changes when the catalogue is a view of the master
Items are written once
Description, specification, image, HSN and unit of measure are written once on the item master. The catalogue, the quotation and the invoice all read that same record, so there is one description to maintain.
Variants, not duplicate rows
Pack sizes, portions and sizes are set up as variants of one item, not five near-identical rows. The catalogue shows them the way a buyer thinks about them — one product, several packs.
Rates live in one place
The rate is kept on item pricing, with a history of every change and who made it. Price lists give dealers, institutions or regions their own rates as named lists, not separate files.
One link, always current
Product Catalog publishes the items as a shareable link and as a PDF, against one chosen price list. Change the rate, and every dealer holding the link sees it on their next open. Stop selling a pack, and it stops being published — which a forwarded PDF can never do.
What this looks like in practice
Consider a polymer distributor selling HDPE granules in 25 kg and 50 kg packs to about sixty dealers.
The item is set up once, with its HSN, specification and image, and the two pack sizes as variants. A dealer price list holds the dealer rate. The sales team shares the catalogue link with every dealer and sends the PDF to buyers who prefer a file.
In September, the raw material cost rises and the dealer rate moves:
- The rate is changed once on the price list.
- Every dealer who opens the link sees the new rate.
- The item pricing history shows the old rate, the new rate, and who changed it.
- The next quotation reads the same price list, so what the buyer saw matches what the invoice says.
Nothing here makes the rate more attractive. What it does is stop old rates circulating — which is where most quotation arguments quietly start.
A menu a guest opens on a phone
For restaurants, the POS menu can be published as a public page, so a table can carry a printed QR code instead of a laminated card. Variants and portions appear exactly as they are set up at the counter, so the page and the till never disagree about what is available today. The till, the kitchen display and the QR menu share one configuration.
Where this meets the rest of the business
A catalogue is only useful if it matches what the business actually bills.
- Sales: quotations and invoices read the same price lists as the catalogue.
- Stock: the catalogue is built from the same item master that stock uses.
- Field sales: reps share the current link from the road instead of an old file.
- POS: the published menu reads the same configuration as the till.
That is the practical argument for the catalogue sitting inside the same system as items, pricing and sales rather than in a design folder.
A note on what a catalogue is not
The catalogue and the menu are not an online shop. They show what you sell; they do not take an order or a payment. Orders are raised in Sales or at the POS counter. The catalogue link is meant for customers and dealers, so treat it as public and publish only the items and rates you are happy for anyone to see. A dealer price list and a general catalogue can be kept apart.
Unnati's catalogue covers the shareable product catalogue, the published menu, item pricing, price lists and variant management. The catalogue and menu feature page shows the screens, and the inventory page covers the item master behind it.
Key takeaways
- Every forwarded PDF is a copy of the item master, and copies go stale.
- A shared link built from live data shows the current rate on every open.
- Items should be written once and read by the catalogue, quotation and invoice.
- Pack sizes belong as variants of one item, not as separate rows.
- Named price lists replace separate rate files for dealers and institutions.
- A catalogue shows what you sell; it is not an online shop.