Products are specific objects that are created in the system. Each product must be given a name, a unique product code and a price. To allow customers to find your products more easily, products should also be assigned to the relevant categories. These categories are also set-up by you and are little more than a list of category names. Products can of course be enhanced by uploading images and detailed descriptions. The "promotion" checkbox also enables you to identify specific products that you would like to promote or feature. The "Promo Products" control can then be placed anywhere on your site and will automatically show those products that you have "promoted".

Customer Discounts

Discounts can are set-up and managed in one area. The flexibility of this structure means that discounts can be assigned to specific member roles, countries or products - and can be a nominal or percentage discount. For example, if you were launching a new product, then you could configure a 10% or a £10.00 discount for all members, or maybe just those ordering from the UK. All discounts can also be given a validity period so that the discount rule automatically becomes active and/or expires at a certain point in time. Furthermore, a discount rule can be configured with a unique "promo code". This code is simply a keyword reference that activates the discount. If a promo code has been entered, the discount will not be automatically applied to a customer's basket... they must enter the promo code at the basket stage to receive that discount. Promo codes are especially useful when creating off-line promotions such as an advert in a magazine because it helps identify what triggered or drove the customer's visit and purchase.

Taking Payments

You can currently choose between two SagePay Payment options; SagePay Server and SagePay Direct - both of which require that you have a merchant account. The latter option requires a SSL certificate and that you are PCI compliant. Please read the SagePay guidelines very carefully before choosing which integration technique you want to use.

Order Processing

Every time a new order is placed on your website, an email will be generated and sent to the notification email address stipulated in the site settings and will enter the order management system. The order management system is there to help you manage your orders and ensure that you know, at any time, what status each particular item in any each order is at. The blueBlocks Shop module operates on the basis of 5 unique states. These states are listed below:

Incomplete = this is default state when an item is added to the basket and until the basket has been paid and submitted
Pending Payment = this is the state of all the items in the basket when the basket has been submitted BUT not paid (e.g. proforma orders)
Submitted = this is the state of all the items in the basket when the basket has been submitted AND paid
In-Picking = this state indicates that the item has been downloaded as part of the supplier order file and passed to the relevant supplier for fulfilment
Dispatched = this state indicates that the item has been fulfilled and is the final state of any item

It is important to note that these states represent the status of an item within the basket, not the basket as a whole.

On the dashboard (shown on the first page of the admin area) you are provided with a count of all the items at each of the mid-states (i.e. pending payment, submitted, in-picking)... as these are the items that require attention or some sort of action.

The concept of the supplier order files is that some (or all) items may be passed to a third-party supplier for fulfilment. For example, you may be operating as an agency where ALL products are out-sourced and where the fulfilment is handled by those out-sourced companies. In this scenario, the system is acting like an broker, collecting orders, segmenting them by who the products should come from and managing the fulfilment through those suppliers. At the point of creating the supplier order file, all items for that specific supplier are grouped and the status of those items are moved from "Submitted" to "In-Picking" - indicating that the items have been passed to the relevant supplier for fulfilment. Normally, you would then download the CSV file and send it on to whoever manages the fulfilment for that supplier.

Having passed the orders to the relevant party for fulfilment (that maybe internal or external depending on your circumstances), the system holds those items at the state; "In-Picking". At any point, the relevant user can return to the system and mark off which of those individual items have been dispatched.

We recognise that the exact requirements for the order management system will vary between businesses, so the system can be configured to skip certain stages of the process.

website built & managed using blueBlocks Editor