Why Product Catalogs Break First at Scale
Product catalogs seem simple—until pricing, taxation, suppliers, and regional differences collide across locations and markets.
Product catalogs look simple—until a business starts scaling.
At one location, products are local, pricing is intuitive, taxes are straightforward, and suppliers are consistent.
At scale, none of this holds.
Where generic POS systems fail
Most POS platforms assume:
- ✕ One global catalog
- ✕ Minor regional price overrides
- ✕ Uniform tax logic
- ✕ Static product definitions
This collapses when reality sets in.
When catalog assumptions collapse
- • Products vary by country
- • Ingredients differ by supplier
- • Pricing changes by region or city
- • Taxation depends on product composition
- • Availability is local, not global
The result is duplication, workarounds, and inconsistency.
The reality of modern operations
Serious operators manage:
- • Shared products with local variations
- • Country-specific ingredients
- • Region-based pricing models
- • City or neighborhood-level taxes
- • Location-specific availability
Sometimes, entire catalogs differ within the same brand.
The architectural mistake
Treating the product catalog as a flat list.
In reality, a catalog is a hierarchy of rules:
- • What is the product?
- • Where is it available?
- • How is it priced?
- • How is it taxed?
- • Which ingredients and suppliers are valid?
Generic POS systems are not built to model this complexity.
What a scalable POS must allow
- ✓ Multiple catalogs in the same system
- ✓ Shared or isolated products by design
- ✓ Rule-based pricing and taxation
- ✓ Ingredient and supplier abstraction
- ✓ Local overrides without duplication
This is not configuration convenience.
It is operational survival.
Key takeaway
When catalogs start multiplying manually,
your POS has already stopped scaling.