1. Display is a large part of the capital
Customers choose a WC, a basin or a tap by seeing it, which means a working showroom with fittings mounted and lit. That is capital producing no turnover and it grows with every brand you take on. Start with two or three brands displayed properly rather than six displayed badly, and track which displayed models actually sell — a mounted fitting nobody buys is costing you both space and money.
2. Sets, components and the stock trap
Much of the trade sells as a set — a WC with its seat and cistern fittings, a basin with pedestal, tap and waste — but stock arrives and moves as components. Keeping components as separate items gives you an honest figure and shows which parts run short first. Shops that stock at set level routinely find they have three basins and no pedestals, which is a lost sale rather than a stock difference.
3. Brand, model and finish on the bill
Sanitaryware is chosen from a catalogue by a customer or an architect who compared options, and the invoice has to say which one was supplied. Brand, model number and finish belong on the item, because that is what a warranty claim, a replacement or a second-phase order will be matched against — and it prevents billing a premium model at a similar-looking cheaper one's rate.
4. Plumbers decide where the material is bought
As with most of the material trade, the person choosing the shop is often not the person paying. Plumbers and contractors direct their customers, and they choose on stock availability, consistent rates and whether you make their day easier. Building relationships with twenty or thirty of them does more for turnover than any advertising, and the sundries they buy weekly is what brings them in.
5. Builder credit and staged supply
Fitting out a building means orders in batches over months with staged payment. That needs deliveries recorded against the site, receipts allocated to specific invoices rather than a running balance, and a credit limit set before the first load. Builders are good customers when the account is managed and expensive ones when it is not, and the difference is entirely in the record-keeping.
6. What to stock first
Start with the price points your local market actually buys — a mid-range WC and basin set, standard taps and mixers, and the plumbing sundries that move daily. Add premium ranges once you know your customer. Premium sanitaryware that does not move is among the most expensive stock mistakes available, because the individual pieces are large and the money is real.