Electrical Wires and Fittings Distribution in Nepal: Price Changes, Lots and Electrician Networks
Wire prices move with raw material costs, electricians decide the brand, and buildings buy in stages. Here is how to run a wire and fittings business around those three facts.
gamitrack team · · 6 min read
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An electrical shop in a Nepali bazaar may carry a dozen wire gauges in four colours, switches and sockets from several brands, MCBs, conduit pipes, holders and lights, each in many variants. Wire prices can move with raw material costs, the electrician on site often decides which brand goes into the wall, and a building buys its wiring in stages over months. Those three facts shape the trade more than anything else, so this guide is organised around them: handling price changes, keeping coil and lot stock honest, working the electrician network, and supplying projects stage by stage, with the gamitrack steps for each.
When raw material prices move: a price-change routine
A wire distributor's worst week is when prices change and half the team keeps quoting last month's rate from an old WhatsApp message. The fix is boring discipline.
- Decide the new rates and the effective date in one meeting. Not on the phone with each officer.
- Update the price list in gamitrack. Prices resolve in order: a party's own override, then its party type, then the default list. Change the default and type lists; touch overrides only where a negotiated account is affected.
- Tell the team to book only from the app. Every new order picks up the new price automatically, so nobody has to remember which rate is current.
- Review stock bought at the old cost. If prices fell, old stock may become hard to sell at its margin. Look at which SKUs you hold most of and decide whether to push them with a scheme.
- Record why overrides exist. Use party notes for the agreement behind each special price. Dealers do not see these internal notes.
Run the same five steps every time, and price changes stop being a source of invoice disputes.
Coils, metres and boxes: a catalog that counts right
Most stock confusion in this trade starts with names. One person enters "1.5 sq mm red", another "Red wire 1.5", and the stock report shows two half-empty products.
| Product family | Suggested SKU pattern | Unit to sell in |
|---|---|---|
| House wire | Brand, size in sq mm, colour, coil length | Coil (decimals if you sell part coils) |
| Cable | Brand, cores, size, armour type | Metre or drum |
| Switches and sockets | Brand, series, type, amps, colour | Piece or box |
| MCBs and DBs | Brand, poles, rating | Piece |
| Conduit and accessories | Material, diameter, length | Length or bundle |
| Lights | Brand, type, wattage | Piece or box |
Agree the pattern before you import anything, group SKUs into categories so counts are faster, and set weights in kg where you track load. Each warehouse or showroom becomes a branch, and low-stock views per branch tell you where to reorder and where slow stock is sitting.
Lots and complaints
Receive each consignment of wire as a batch with its lot reference. Stock movements in gamitrack are append-only, so when an electrician reports a problem with a coil, you can see which dealers received that lot and when. The one thing you cannot do is add the lot afterwards, so make lot capture part of receiving, not an optional extra.
The electrician is the real customer
Households rarely ask for a brand of wire by name. They ask the electrician, and the electrician asks the dealer for what he trusts and what is in stock. A distributor that only visits dealer counters is talking to the middle of the chain.
A workable plan:
- List active electricians and contractors by area as parties with their own type and location.
- Put them on routes alongside the dealers they buy from. A route might be: dealer counter, two electricians nearby, one building site, next dealer.
- Record each visit properly. Visits are checked against the party's geofence with a photo, and the outcome holds orders, no-order reasons and notes, such as which brand they are using now and why.
- Keep reward arrangements in writing. Dealer schemes run in gamitrack with tiers on fulfilled secondary sales, and approved rewards are credited to the dealer's ledger. Electrician rewards are your own programme; note the terms on the party and keep them consistent.
Visits outside the geofence, very short visits and visits without a photo are flagged for the manager. That matters for electrician visits, which are easy to claim and hard to check otherwise.
Following a building: stage-wise project supply
Wiring a building happens at points in the construction, not all at once. Treat a project as its own party with a price override and supply it by stage.
| Building stage | Typical items | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| Slab and wall work | Conduit, boxes, bends | First order at project price, delivery to site |
| Wiring | House wire by size, cable | Larger order, lot recorded on dispatch |
| Finishing | Switches, sockets, MCBs, DBs | Order matched to the chosen series |
| Handover | Lights, replacements | Returns of unused or wrong items |
For each delivery, assign a delivery person. They see the amount due, the location and directions, and they record proof of delivery with GPS, a photo and the receiver's name, then collect payment if it is due. Dispatch is all-or-nothing, so a site never receives a half-recorded load. Payment due days run from dispatch and stay fixed, which helps when a contractor says the bill came later than it did.
A hypothetical project
Suppose a distributor supplies a four-storey house in Butwal. At the slab stage it delivers conduit at the project price. Two months later the wiring order is booked, and the dispatched coils carry their lot. During finishing, the owner switches to a different switch series, so one box comes back as a return and a credit note is issued. When the project closes, the manager reviews the party: four orders, one return, and payment received a few weeks after the last delivery. That history makes the next quote quicker. The details are invented for illustration.
Credit across many small counters
Electrical dealers are numerous and each balance looks small. Together they become the distributor's biggest risk. In gamitrack, payments by cash, eSewa, Khalti, Fonepay, bank or cheque are allocated to the oldest invoice first, the party statement and aging show exactly who is overdue, and a weekly collection plan gives each officer a list for the week. Invoices follow the IRD format, numbered per fiscal year with Bikram Sambat dates, and VAT applies only to taxable lines.
Your first 30 days
- Week 1. Agree the SKU naming pattern. Load your fastest 100 SKUs, current stock by branch, and lots for wire.
- Week 2. Add your top dealers and the electricians around them. Build two routes and train the officers on day start, visits, photos and orders.
- Week 3. Enter opening balances so aging starts from the truth. Set monthly officer targets.
- Week 4. Review flagged visits, low stock and the first collection plan. Add the next routes and your active projects.
Mistakes to avoid
- Mixed naming. One pattern from day one, or the stock report lies.
- Skipping lot capture. It cannot be added after dispatch.
- Price changes by phone. One list, one effective date.
- Ignoring electricians. They decide the brand on site.
Related reading and next step
Related reading: pipes and sanitaryware distribution, steel rods and construction steel, and the building materials industry page.
Start with one warehouse, your top dealers and the electricians who buy from them. See pricing for plans and the free trial, or contact us to talk it through.
Frequently asked questions
Wire is sold in coils and by the metre. Can I track both?
Quantities are stored with decimals and weights can be set on products, so you can define SKUs by coil and record sales in the unit you use. Decide one unit rule per product and keep it consistent in the catalog.
How do I apply a price change without disputes?
Update the price list once, with a clear effective date, and tell the team to book from the app. Every new order uses the updated price, and negotiated accounts keep their own overrides.
Can I trace a wire lot if a complaint arises?
Receive each lot as a batch into a branch. Every movement of that batch is recorded and cannot be edited later, so you can see which dealers received it.
Can I manage electricians as a network?
Add electricians and contractors as parties with a type, put them on routes, and record visit outcomes and notes. Reward arrangements for electricians are tracked under your own rules.
Put this playbook to work
gamitrack gives your salespeople, delivery staff and dealers one app — and you one place to see sales and stock.