Quick answer: Schemes, trade discounts and customer-wise price lists belong in your billing software's item and party master, so they apply themselves at the counter. Marg ERP and GoFrugal are the tools distributors and retailers usually shortlist for this, and Busy is a strong accounting-led option with customer-wise pricing. Vendors differ widely, so test your own scheme on a demo before you sign.
Why discount handling decides your margin
A distributor who gives "10+1" on a carton, a retailer who runs a weekend offer, a manufacturer who gives a different rate to every dealer: each one is quietly leaking money when discounts live in a salesman's head. Three failures repeat:
- The wrong rate. A bill is raised at last season's price, or at the wrong dealer's rate.
- A scheme given twice or never. The free goods are forgotten, or applied to two bills.
- No way to see what the discount cost. You know sales, but not how much margin the scheme gave away.
Good software turns each of these into a rule the system applies, and a report you can read.
The vocabulary, kept simple
Different trades use different words, so settle the terms before you demo.
- Price list: a set of rates, for example retail, wholesale, dealer, distributor. Each party is attached to one.
- Trade or cash discount: a percentage or amount off, often by party, item or invoice value.
- Scheme: a promotional rule, such as "buy 10 get 1 free" or a slab discount after a quantity.
- Special rate: a rate that applies to one party and one item only.
- Rate history: the record of what you charged a customer last time.
Ask every vendor to set up one of each in front of you. If they cannot, assume you will do it by hand.
What the vendors say
I could open some vendor pages and not others, so here is exactly what is and is not confirmed.
Busy: Busy's website describes GST invoicing with WhatsApp sharing, e-invoicing, e-way bills, multi-warehouse stock and a mobile app. It mentions customer-wise pricing. The vendor's website does not detail schemes or price-list handling, so ask Busy to show you slab discounts and scheme rules specifically. Per Busy's pricing page (checked October 2026): Start ₹5,000 per year, Smart ₹8,000 per year and Power ₹12,000 per year, GST extra, with a 15-day free trial.
GoFrugal: its site describes products for retail, restaurants and distribution, with inventory features like GRN and stock counting, multi-store operations, mobile POS, and omnichannel selling. The vendor's website does not spell out scheme and price-list mechanics, so request a scheme demo. Pricing is quoted by the vendor. See also GoFrugal POS.
Marg ERP: Marg's pharma page says its software controls MRP and schemes, its FMCG page lists a purchase and sale claim feature to track purchase benefits and claims, and its homepage lists a My Shop QR code to show products, schemes and offers (checked October 2026). Ask for a demo of scheme, free-quantity and rate-slab handling on your own items.
A demo script that exposes the gaps
Bring three real cases from your last month.
- A simple trade discount: customer A gets 5% on all items. Create it and bill ₹10,000 of goods.
- A quantity scheme: buy 10 cartons, get 1 free. Bill 25 cartons and check how many free cartons appear and whether stock reduces correctly.
- A slab rule: 2% off above ₹50,000 in an invoice, 3% above ₹1 lakh.
- A special rate: one dealer pays a fixed price on one item for 30 days.
- A change: edit a rate and check what happens to old invoices. They should not change.
Score each tool on whether it did the rule correctly, how many clicks it took, and whether the cashier or salesman can override it (and whether an override leaves an audit trail).
Where this sits in your whole system
| Need | What to check |
|---|---|
| Different rate per party | Party-wise price list or special rates |
| Offers at a retail counter | Scheme and discount rules applied at billing time |
| Salesmen on the road | Mobile ordering with the same rates |
| Seeing what discounts cost | Report of discount given by party, item and period |
| GST correctness | Tax computed on the value after discount, as your CA advises |
The last row deserves a note: how discounts interact with GST is a tax question. Ask your CA how your discount types should appear on the tax invoice, then check that the software prints it that way.
Rollout in four weeks
Week 1: write down every scheme and price list you actually use. Include informal ones. You will discover that "the same rate for everyone" is not what you do.
Week 2: set up masters. Create price lists, attach parties to them, and load special rates. Clean up before importing.
Week 3: shadow. Bill live in the new software and compare against the old process for a few days.
Week 4: switch and review. After a month, run a discount report and look for the biggest giveaways. This review is where the software starts to earn its fee.
Reporting on what discounts cost you
Setting rules is only half the job. The other half is reading what they cost. Ask every vendor to produce, from your demo data, these four views: discount given by customer, discount given by item, free quantity given under schemes, and sales and margin by price list.
Look at them monthly. You are hunting for three patterns. First, a customer who receives the maximum discount but buys low volume. Second, an item whose scheme is so generous that it sells at near-zero margin. Third, a salesman whose bills always carry the highest discount. None of these shows up in total sales, which is why owners often discover them only at year end.
When you find one, change the rule, not the person: adjust the slab, cap the discount, or move the customer to a different price list. Then check next month whether the number moved. This loop of rule, report and adjust is where a billing system pays for itself, regardless of which product you choose.
Who this guide is not for
If you sell at one price to everyone and rarely discount, basic billing tools such as Vyapar or myBillBook are enough, and an ERP-grade scheme engine would only add complexity. Equally, if your schemes are heavily manufacturer-driven (claims from the company, scheme settlement with the stockist), ask specifically about claim tracking, because many tools handle the sale but not the settlement.
For wider options, read best billing software for small businesses and browse our inventory software and ERP software categories.
One more caution on rollouts: do not migrate every scheme at once. Start with the five that generate most of your volume, run them for a month, then add the rest. Over-ambitious setups produce scheme rules nobody understands, and a rule nobody understands will be overridden at the counter. Keep a one-page list of active schemes with start and end dates, and retire expired ones promptly so that they do not apply by accident.
Check how the software prints it. Customers read the invoice, not the master. Make sure a scheme appears as a clear line, for example free quantity shown separately from the paid quantity, so that the customer's own accountant can reconcile it without a call. Ask for a sample printout of a scheme bill during the demo, and keep it for comparison when you go live.
FAQs
What is the difference between a scheme and a discount?
A discount reduces the price; a scheme is a promotion rule, such as free goods or a slab. Some software treats them separately, so ask how yours does.
Can billing software keep different prices for different customers?
Many tools describe customer-wise pricing. Busy's site mentions it explicitly. Confirm how it works in a demo.
Which software is best for distributors with schemes?
Distributors usually evaluate Marg ERP and GoFrugal, and some use Busy. Test your own scheme on each before deciding.
Does discount affect GST?
It can affect the taxable value. Follow your CA's advice and verify how the software prints it.
How do I stop salesmen giving unauthorised discounts?
Look for a rule that caps discount per user or needs approval above a limit. Ask each vendor whether it exists.
Next step: get a free matched shortlist, or compare more in billing software.
