Guide
How to compare an old and a new supplier price list
The new list arrives and the question is simple: what changed. In Excel that is two sheets, a lookup, and conditional formatting that breaks on the first renamed code. And even when it works, it tells you the cost moved, not what that does to the price you sell at.
Short answer
Compare the two lists by code, not by position. That gives five groups: increases, decreases, unchanged, new items and items that disappeared. Then put your current retail next to each new cost, so every increase shows the margin it leaves. That last column is what decides whether you change a price.
Pricebreeze does this against the previous price list it read from the same supplier, and against your store, so the comparison is always to the cost you actually used. Filter the example below and toggle what happens to retail.
- BL-300€19.50
- BL-301€2.95
- BL-410€11.80
- BL-455€7.20
- BL-118€43.00
- BL-119€6.10
- BL-300€21.20
- BL-301€3.40
- BL-410€11.80
- BL-455€6.90
- BL-512€15.60
- BL-119€6.55
- Increases
- 3average +10.5%
- Under 20% margin
- 1if retail stays
- New items
- 1not in your store
- Discontinued
- 1not in the new list
Bath sheet 100x150
BL-300
Cost€19.50€21.20+8.7%Retail€29.90Margin29.1%ZoneReadyTealight candles, pack of 12
BL-301
Cost€2.95€3.40+15.3%Retail€3.90Margin12.8%ZoneNeeds attentionCotton bath mat
BL-410
Cost€11.80€11.80Retail€24.90Margin52.6%ZoneReadyKitchen cloth 3-pack
BL-455
Cost€7.20€6.90-4.2%Retail€14.90Margin53.7%ZoneReadyLinen table runner
BL-512
Cost€15.60Retail€34.90Margin55.3%ZoneNew productBathrobe, size L
BL-118
Cost€43.00Retail€69.00Marginn/aZoneDiscontinuedCeramic mug 350 ml
BL-119
Cost€6.10€6.55+7.4%Retail€9.90Margin33.8%ZoneReady
Seven rows from a sample. The margin column is computed from integer cents with the same arithmetic the product uses. On the review screen the discontinued item is proposed as out of stock, never deleted.
Step by step
From two files to a decision
The comparison is automatic. The decision on each row stays yours.
Upload the new list
The previous one is already there: the last price list read from this supplier. There is no second file to prepare and no columns to line up.
Every row is compared by code
Increases and decreases are shown with the percentage. Items that were in the old list and not in the new one are listed as discontinued. Items in the new list that are not in your store are listed as new.
Rows are sorted into zones
Needs attention first: increases that push margin under your threshold, and rows the reader was unsure about. Then ready, new products, discontinued, and anything you skipped.
You decide per row or in bulk
Keep the retail, apply your rule, or set a target margin for a selection. Discontinued items are proposed as out of stock. Only what you approve is written, and it can be undone.
What it does not do
What the comparison does not do
It does not rewrite history
Every import keeps the costs as they were at that time. Comparing March to September shows March as it was, not recalculated with today's numbers.
It never deletes a discontinued product
A product missing from the new list is proposed as out of stock. Its page, its reviews and its ranking stay. Undo restores availability.
It does not trust a partial file
If the new list is much shorter than the last one, or you only just started with this supplier, discontinued suggestions are held back and you see a warning instead. A missing page is not a discontinued product.
Questions people ask before trying it
Related guides
The same price list usually raises more than one of these.
Guide
How to update WooCommerce prices from a supplier price list
The four steps from the file your supplier sent to approved prices in your store, and how each method compares.
Read the guideGuide
Getting a supplier PDF price list into WooCommerce
The five things that break copy-paste and Excel conversion, and what a reader that expects them does with each.
Read the guideGuide
When your supplier sends part numbers instead of your SKUs
How a row with no common code still finds its product, and why you only match it by hand once.
Read the guide
Try it on your own price list, not ours.
Start the 14-day trial, connect your store and upload the last file a supplier sent you. Nothing is written to WooCommerce until you approve it.
No card. Every change can be undone.