Model, colour and size: how to organise clothing and shoe items in a POS system

In short: in clothing, shoe and electronics stores, make every combination that sells with its own stock a separate item, and make what distinguishes it (model, colour, size) attributes with fixed select lists rather than part of the name. The cashier then searches by a short name, the manager filters the list by colour and size, and the label prints what the customer needs. Sahl ships with model, colour, size and volume ready, and you add whatever else you need.

The long-name problem

The common approach is to put everything in the name: "men's sports shoe black 43 model AX-200". It works until you have a thousand items: search returns dozens of results, reports sort names alphabetically and scatter the models, and the cashier reads a long line on screen and on the receipt. Worse, one person writes "Black" and another "black", and the filter is gone.

The rule: one item per combination, attributes on every item

• One item per thing with its own stock: the white shirt 42 and the white shirt 44 are two items because you want each size's balance, and each has its own barcode.
• A short, stable name: "classic cotton shirt", repeated on every combination.
• Attributes carry the difference: colour = white, size = 42, model = 7731.
• The group for broad classification: Men, then Shirts. The manufacturer in its own field.

The result is a clean items list you filter by one or more attributes in a second, and a sales report by size or colour whenever you want.

Select list or free text?

How to set it up in Sahl

1. Open Items, then Catalog settings and "Item attributes". Model, colour, size and volume are ready. Add one with the "Attribute" button, write the label and type, and for lists type each option and press Enter.
2. Open the item and its Attributes tab: a dropdown for each select list and a text box for free text. Leave what does not apply empty.
3. Above the items list the select-type attributes appear as filters. Pick "black" and "43" to see only black shoes in size 43.
4. The search box finds items by attribute values too: type a model number or "red 42".

Every step is detailed in the item attributes guide. One important note: each attribute has a fixed Latin key derived from its label; rename the label freely but never change the key after values are saved on items.

On the label and the receipt

In the barcode label designer any attribute becomes a text element: the hang tag on the shirt carries the name, then "white · 42 · 7731", then the barcode and price. The receipt and the cashier screen show the name only, so if the customer must see the size on the receipt, keep the size in the name and put the rest in attributes.

Entering clothing items in bulk

A new season means hundreds of combinations. Import them from a CSV file with name, barcode and price per combination, then complete attributes from the item window for the items you need to filter. And do not forget the barcode: suppliers often put one code on every size, so generate an internal barcode for each combination to tell them apart.

Organising items this way is not extra work but a saving: faster stocktakes, returns settled against the right size, and a report that tells you which colour actually sells before you order the next batch.