An alternate unit of measurement used alongside the primary unit for an item
A secondary unit is an alternate unit of measurement assigned to an inventory item in addition to its primary unit. It allows businesses to buy, sell, and track the same item in two different measurement units with a defined conversion factor between them. For Indian small businesses, secondary units are practical because goods are often purchased in one unit (like kilograms or boxes) and sold in another (like grams or pieces). For example, you may buy rice in 50 kg bags from a wholesaler but sell it in 1 kg packets to retail customers. The secondary unit feature lets you maintain stock in both units simultaneously, with automatic conversion. This eliminates manual calculation errors and provides flexibility in billing — you can create purchase invoices in bags and sales invoices in kilograms without confusion. Secondary units are also useful for businesses dealing in liquid goods (litres vs. millilitres), length-based goods (metres vs. feet), or packaged goods (boxes vs. individual pieces).
You sell cooking oil in Coimbatore. Primary unit: Litre, Secondary unit: 500ml Bottle. Conversion: 1 Litre = 2 Bottles. You purchase 200 Litres (= 400 Bottles) at Rs. 150/Litre = Rs. 30,000. A retail customer buys 6 Bottles — the system calculates this as 3 Litres and bills Rs. 450 (6 x Rs. 75 per bottle). Your stock reduces to 197 Litres or 394 Bottles. Both units stay in sync automatically.
Yes, you can set prices for both units independently. For example, cooking oil might be priced at ₹150 per litre (primary) and ₹80 per 500ml bottle (secondary). The app handles the billing correctly based on which unit you select during invoicing.
Stock Register supports decimal conversion factors. For example, if 1 box = 144 pieces (gross), or 1 kg = 2.2 pounds, you can enter the exact ratio and the system will calculate conversions accurately.
Typically, you can define one secondary unit per item with a conversion factor to the primary unit. If you need to track a third unit, you can use the primary-secondary pair that covers your most common buying and selling scenarios.
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