How to make a price list in Excel (and when to move beyond it)

Excel is where most price lists start. It is already on most computers, everyone knows how to type into a cell, and a simple list of products and prices takes minutes. With a few extra steps you can turn that list into something customers can read easily and print cleanly. This guide shows how to make a price list in Excel step by step, the formulas that save time, how to export it as a PDF, and the point at which a spreadsheet starts to hold you back.

What to include on a price list

Before you open Excel, decide what each customer needs to see. A useful price list answers the buyer's questions without a phone call.

Add your business name, contact details, the date the prices apply from, and your terms (payment, minimums, delivery) at the top or bottom of the page.

Step 1: Set up the columns

Open a new workbook. In row 1, type your column headings, for example SKU, Product, Size, Unit, Wholesale price, Retail price and Category. Then enter one product per row underneath.

Keep one product per row and one piece of information per cell. Do not merge cells or put two prices in one cell. A clean structure makes sorting, formulas and importing into other tools much easier later.

Step 2: Turn the range into a table

Click any cell in your list and press Ctrl + T, or choose Home > Format as Table, then confirm that your list has headers. Excel turns the range into a table, which gives you:

• banded rows that are easier to read
• a filter button on each heading
• formulas that automatically copy down when you add a new product

Step 3: Format the prices

Select the price columns and apply the Currency or Accounting number format from the Home tab. Use the same number of decimal places throughout. Inconsistent formatting, such as $12 next to $9.5, makes a list look careless and is harder to read.

Step 4: Let formulas do the math

If your retail prices follow a rule, calculate them rather than typing them.

• Retail at keystone (double the wholesale price): in the first row of the Retail price column, enter =E2*2, assuming the wholesale price is in column E.
• Retail with a custom multiplier: put the multiplier in a separate cell, for example K1, and use =E2*$K$1 so you can change every retail price at once.
• A price increase: to raise all prices by 5%, calculate them in a new column with =E2*1.05, check the results, then copy and paste them back as values.
• Margin check: if you add your cost per unit in column H, =(E2-H2)/E2 shows the margin on each product (format it as a percentage).

Formulas prevent the typing mistakes that creep into long lists, and they make annual price updates a few minutes' work. Our wholesale price calculator and markup calculator explain the math if you need to choose the numbers first.

Step 5: Sort and group by category

Customers find products faster when the list is grouped. Click the Category heading's filter button and sort A to Z, or use Data > Sort to sort by Category and then by Product. If you have many categories, you can insert a heading row above each group and make it bold.

Step 6: Add photos (optional)

Photos make a price list far easier to order from, especially for products that look alike. In current Microsoft 365 versions of Excel you can use Insert > Pictures > Place in Cell so each image sits inside its row and moves with it when you sort. In older versions, pictures float over the sheet and must be resized and aligned by hand, which becomes slow with more than a few products.

Step 7: Set up the page for printing

A price list that looks fine on screen can print across several pages with columns cut off. Before you send it:

1. On the Page Layout tab, choose Orientation > Landscape if you have many columns.
2. Under Scale to Fit, set the width to 1 page so no column spills onto a second sheet.
3. Use Print Titles to repeat the heading row at the top of every page.
4. Add a header or footer with your business name, the date and page numbers.
5. Hide internal columns such as cost before printing.

Check the result with File > Print before saving.

Step 8: Export it as a PDF

Customers should receive a PDF, not the spreadsheet. A PDF looks the same on every device, cannot be edited by accident, and hides your formulas and costs. Use File > Save As (or Export) and choose PDF. Name the file with the date, for example "Price list 2026-11.pdf", so customers can tell which version is current.

Using Google Sheets instead

The same steps work in Google Sheets, with a few differences worth knowing:

• Photos: the =IMAGE("link") formula shows a picture inside a cell from an image link, which keeps photos aligned with their rows when you sort.
• Sharing: you can share a view-only link instead of a file, so customers see changes without you resending anything. Anyone with the link can see every tab in the file, so keep costs and internal notes in a separate spreadsheet.
• PDF: use File > Download > PDF and adjust the page orientation, scale and margins in the export settings before downloading.

Whichever you use, keep one master product list and create customer-facing versions from it, rather than editing several copies by hand.

Price list checklist

• Business name, contact details and the date prices apply from
• Product code, name, size or variant and unit on every row
• Prices formatted consistently, with the currency shown
• Products grouped by category
• Minimums, payment and delivery terms stated
• Prints on the page without cut-off columns
• Sent as a dated PDF, not the spreadsheet

Where an Excel price list falls short

Excel is a great place to keep your product data. It is less good at being the document your customers use, and the gaps grow with your range.

• Old versions spread. Every PDF you send is a snapshot. Customers keep ordering from the one they have, even after your prices change.
• Photos are fiddly. Images in spreadsheets are slow to place and make files large, so many price lists end up without them.
• It is hard to read on a phone. Wide sheets and small text are uncomfortable on a phone, which is where many customers will open it.
• Ordering is manual. Customers type their order into an email or message, and you retype it into your own records.

A dedicated price list tool fixes these while keeping your spreadsheet as the source. With CatalogKite you can paste rows from Excel or upload the XLSX or CSV file, check how the columns are matched, and get a formatted, category-grouped price list. You can download it as a PDF or share a link that always shows your current prices.

Read how to create a wholesale price list for more on what buyers expect, or browse price list templates by industry for layouts with real sample products.