A return does not always have to end the customer relationship. When appropriate, a retailer may offer store credit for a future purchase, providing a traceable alternative to an immediate cash refund. The new voucher feature in the ERP offered by SERVICEINFO supports this workflow without creating an accounts-payable entry for the voucher itself.
Retail managers and checkout teams need to understand not only how credit is issued but also where it can be redeemed, how it affects sales records and which restrictions apply.
What a store credit voucher represents
A voucher records a balance assigned to a specific customer. It may be created following a return or entered manually for an advance payment or gift voucher. It is not a universal payment instrument and is restricted to the issuing store.
For example, a customer with 150 units of credit making a 220-unit purchase may apply the credit and settle the remaining 70 through another accepted payment method. These amounts are illustrative.
Issuing credit after a return
Identify the return and customer, verify the amount, and choose the voucher option instead of a cash refund where the circumstances and applicable rules allow. Check the issuing store before saving the transaction.
Explain the terms to the customer and keep appropriate records. Store credit must not be imposed where consumer law requires a refund or another remedy.
Redeeming credit in sales, service orders and POS
The balance can be used for full or partial payment in sales, service orders and point-of-sale transactions. In the POS interface, the announced shortcut is F9.
Confirm the customer, balance and issuing store. For split payments, verify both the credit applied and the outstanding amount before completing the sale.
Creating vouchers manually
Go to Returns and exchanges › Store credit vouchers to create vouchers for advance payments or gifts. The actual interface label may vary by language configuration.
Record the business reason, authorized employee and customer details to keep these entries separate from return-related credits.
Monitoring balances by customer and store
Balance monitoring helps staff find available credit and check redemption history. Because redemption is limited to the issuing location, store-level visibility matters for multi-branch operations.
Assign responsibility for issuance and reconciliation, and review exceptions rather than relying on informal notes.
Invoicing and sales commissions
For Brazilian NF-e transactions, the portion paid with a voucher uses the “Crédito em loja” payment classification as described for this feature. Accounting and tax teams should validate the fiscal setup before use.
The voucher-paid portion is excluded from the salesperson commission calculation in this workflow. Make that rule clear in internal compensation procedures.
Restrictions and common mistakes
Vouchers are not accepted in quotations and cannot be redeemed at a different store. Do not treat a quotation as a completed sale, or promise cross-location redemption.
Avoid assigning credit to the wrong customer, mixing voucher balances with cash refunds, or overlooking mandatory consumer remedies.
Operational rollout checklist
Review return policies, legal and tax requirements, cashier permissions and customer communications. Test voucher issuance, manual creation, full and partial redemption, store restrictions and the F9 shortcut.
Reconcile initial transactions and update training material whenever the ERP configuration changes.
Conclusion
Store credit vouchers can make return and payment workflows more consistent when balances are controlled and restrictions are communicated. They complement, rather than replace, lawful refund processes.
How SERVICEINFO can help
SERVICEINFO supports businesses in using their ERP and organizing retail processes, including checkout operations and voucher workflows.
Contact the SERVICEINFO team to review your sales procedures, staff training and appropriate use of the store credit feature.
