What columns should a cracker price list have?

Serial number, product name, packing (such as 10 pieces per box), MRP shown struck through, discount percentage and net rate. The trade’s customers expect all three price numbers side by side, and the serial is what they order by.

Why do cracker price lists show MRP and then a huge discount?

Because in this trade the discount is the price mechanism, not a promotion. MRP is a nominal printed figure and the standard discount of 60 to 90 percent produces the net rate, so every list, order and bill shows MRP, discount and net rate together.

Can customers order and pay through an online price list?

They can order, not pay. Supreme Court orders bar e-commerce sale of crackers, so the accepted pattern is an enquiry link: the customer picks items and submits name and phone, the shop confirms by call, and payment happens off the page.

How many price list versions should a shop keep per season?

One, with a validity date printed on it. If rates must change mid-season, reissue the list with a new date and withdraw the old print. Running two versions at once is the fastest route to counter disputes.

What order should products appear in on the pamphlet?

The order families shop in: sparklers, chakkars, flower pots, bombs, rockets, aerial fancy, then gift boxes at the end as fixed-price single items. Arrange your stock racks in the same sequence so serials line up physically.

A season price list customers can actually order from

Season Playbook · 15 August 2026

The price pamphlet is a cracker shop’s real storefront. Customers pick it up in the first week of October, sit with the family, circle items, and send you a WhatsApp message that reads like a telegram: 2 of serial 48, 5 of serial 12, one gift box. If your pamphlet supports that message, orders flow. If it does not, every order becomes a phone call full of which one do you mean.

The trade settled on a format long ago, and every Sivakasi list follows it. Your job is not to invent a better one. It is to produce a clean version of the standard one and keep it consistent for the whole season.

The format the trade already understands

Six columns, one row per product. Here is the shape, with sample figures for illustration:

S.No	Product	Packing	MRP	Disc %	Net rate
12	15 cm Electric Sparkler	10 pieces per box	₹130	80%	₹26
48	Flower Pot Big	10 pieces per box	₹500	80%	₹100
63	30 Shot Aerial Fancy	1 piece per box	₹2,500	80%	₹500

Every element earns its place. The MRP is shown struck through because the trade’s standard discount, 60 to 90 percent off a nominal MRP, is the actual price mechanism, and customers expect to see all three numbers together: MRP, discount, net rate. The packing column, 10 pieces per box, 100 packets per case, is what stops a piece price being read as a box price. Lists that hide any of these numbers read as untrustworthy to a customer who has three other pamphlets in hand.

Serials do the selling

The serial number looks like decoration and is actually the load-bearing column. Customers do not order by product name, because product names in this trade are long, similar and spelt six ways. They order by serial. On WhatsApp, over the phone, on a slip handed across the counter: 2 of 48, 3 of 12.

Serials also speed up your own counter. Staff find serial 48 in a numbered rack far faster than they find Flower Pot Big among forty pots, and a bill written by serial is unambiguous when a dispute comes back later. Number every product, print the serial first on the row, and arrange your stock racks in the same order.

Keep the numbering simple: one running sequence through the whole list, in the same order as the categories. Do not restart numbering per category, because two serial 5s on one pamphlet is an argument waiting at the counter. Write the serial on the rack label too, so the pamphlet, the rack and the bill all speak the same language.

Print it, and share it as a link

The printed pamphlet still matters: it travels to households, sits on the tea table and gets circled in pencil. But a printed list cannot take an order back for you. The pattern the trade has settled on is an online price list where the customer picks quantities and submits an enquiry with name and phone, and the shop calls back to confirm. Note the word enquiry: Supreme Court orders bar e-commerce checkout for crackers, so the link must capture orders for confirmation, never take payment like a cart. A billing app built for the trade, like Crackers Billing Software, generates that order link straight from the same price list you print, so the serials and net rates match to the paisa.

One version per season, with a validity date

Wholesaler lists carry validity dates, and your retail list should too, printed plainly at the top: rates valid till Diwali, this season only. What you must not do is run two versions at once. When the printed pamphlet says ₹100 and the counter charges ₹110, the customer holding the paper wins the argument, loudly, in front of a queue.

If costs genuinely change mid-season, reprint or reissue the link with a new date on it, and pull the old paper from the counter. One list, one version, one date.

Order the categories the way families shop

A family works down a pamphlet in a fixed order: the children’s items first, the noise last, the showpiece somewhere in between. Match it. The category sequence the trade’s lists follow, and the one your racks should mirror, runs:

Sparklers
Chakkars (ground spinners)
Flower pots
Bombs and crackers
Rockets
Aerial fancy and multi-shot
Gift boxes

Gift boxes go last and get their own section, each box one serial at one fixed net price. A sealed assortment sells on trust and convenience; do not itemise its contents on the pamphlet.

The mistakes that cause billing disputes

Reusing last year’s serials for different products. A regular customer orders serial 48 from memory, gets this year’s serial 48, and you have a return, a refund and an annoyed party. If the product changed, the number should change.
Hand-corrected rates. A struck-out price with ink over it invites every customer to negotiate, and two staff will read the correction two ways. Reprint instead.
Missing packing on the row. If the row does not say 10 pieces per box, someone will pay a box rate expecting a case, and the dispute lands at your counter during the rush.
Names without serials on bills. A bill that says Flower Pot proves nothing in a rate dispute. Serial on the pamphlet, serial on the bill.

Never reuse a serial for a different product, even across seasons. Regulars order from memory, and a swapped serial turns your most loyal customers into your October complaints queue.

Frequently asked questions

What columns should a cracker price list have?: Serial number, product name, packing (such as 10 pieces per box), MRP shown struck through, discount percentage and net rate. The trade’s customers expect all three price numbers side by side, and the serial is what they order by.
Why do cracker price lists show MRP and then a huge discount?: Because in this trade the discount is the price mechanism, not a promotion. MRP is a nominal printed figure and the standard discount of 60 to 90 percent produces the net rate, so every list, order and bill shows MRP, discount and net rate together.
Can customers order and pay through an online price list?: They can order, not pay. Supreme Court orders bar e-commerce sale of crackers, so the accepted pattern is an enquiry link: the customer picks items and submits name and phone, the shop confirms by call, and payment happens off the page.
How many price list versions should a shop keep per season?: One, with a validity date printed on it. If rates must change mid-season, reissue the list with a new date and withdraw the old print. Running two versions at once is the fastest route to counter disputes.
What order should products appear in on the pamphlet?: The order families shop in: sparklers, chakkars, flower pots, bombs, rockets, aerial fancy, then gift boxes at the end as fixed-price single items. Arrange your stock racks in the same sequence so serials line up physically.

Sources

This guide is general information for the crackers trade, not legal, tax or safety advice. Rules change by state and by year; confirm the current position with your licensing authority or accountant.