Customer Types

A customer type is a label you attach to a customer to group them, for example Retail Customer, Wholesale Customer, Distributor, or Corporate Customer. It is an independent master file: each type has a name and, optionally, a parent type, so you can nest narrower types under a broader one. The bookkeeper or accountant sets these up once, and everyone picks from the list when creating a customer.

A customer type is a reference label only. It does not post to the ledger and does not carry pricing, credit, or account settings, so classifying a customer does not change how their transactions are recorded. Its job is to let you slice your customer base:

• Customers carry a type. Each customer has one optional Customer Type, and the Customers list can be filtered by it. See Customers.
• Reports group and filter by type. On the Customer Balance Summary and the Customer Balance Detail you can add a Customer Type column and group the rows by type, so you can read the balances of each segment together. The Customer Balance Summary can also be filtered to one or more types.

Before you start

Every new business starts with ten types, already active and approved: Retail Customer, Wholesale Customer, Corporate Customer, Government Customer, Export Customer, Import Customer, Distributor, Reseller, End User, and VIP Customer. For many businesses these are enough, and you only need this screen to add your own or to retire ones you do not use.

Access is controlled by the Customer Types permissions in your user's permission profile, under Administration → Permissions (see Users, seats & permissions). There are separate switches to list, create, edit, delete, and approve customer types. You need the list permission to open the Customer Types screen.

Create a customer type

1. Open the Customer Types list

   Go to Lists → Customer Types. The table shows each Type, its Parent, its Status (Active or Inactive, and Approved or Pending), and Created By. You can search by type name, and switch to a card or list view.

2. Start a new type

   Select Add Customer Type. The Create New Customer Type panel opens from the right.

3. Enter the type name

   Type the Type Name (required), for example Wholesale Customer. Each name must be unique.

4. Choose a parent type (optional)

   Use Parent Customer Type (Optional) to nest this type under a broader one, for example placing Key Accounts under Corporate Customer. Search for the parent and select it, or leave it blank for a top-level type. Only active, approved types are offered. A type cannot sit under itself or under one of its own child types, and a type can be nested at most five levels below a top-level type.

5. Set the status flags

   Two checkboxes control whether the type can be used:

   Field	What it does
   Active	On by default. An inactive type stays for history but is not offered when classifying a customer.
   Approved	Off by default. A type is only offered for selection once it is both Active and Approved. Ticking this needs the approve permission. Once a type is saved as approved, the box is locked and cannot be cleared.

6. Save

   Select Create Customer Type. The type appears in the list and, once approved, in the Customer Type dropdown on the customer form.

You can also add a type without leaving the customer form: open the Customer Type dropdown and select Add Customer Type. The same panel opens, and the new type is selected on the customer straight away if you saved it as both Active and Approved.

Import or export the list

If you have the create permission, the list also has Export and Import. Export downloads the types currently shown in the list as a CSV file, with each type's name, parent type, Active and Approved flags, who created it, and when. Import also needs the edit permission. It loads types from a CSV file: you match its columns to Type Name, Parent Type Name, Active Status, and Approved Status, and choose whether to skip or update types whose name already exists. Type Name is required on every row. A parent is matched by its type name, so list a parent above its children in the file.

Edit, deactivate, or delete

Select the edit icon on any row to rename a type, change its parent, or change its flags, then select Update Customer Type. Renaming a type changes the name shown on every customer that carries it. To stop a type being used without losing its history, clear its Active flag rather than deleting it.

Related

• Customers: where you assign a customer type to each customer.
• Supplier Types: the equivalent classifier for suppliers.
• Users, seats & permissions: where the Customer Types permissions are granted.