Account Customizing « DistributorCentral Updates and Tips

What is the “My Account” Page for on my Website

January 26, 2010

Your website in DistributorCentral has a built-in shopping cart which allows your customers to place orders to you. Whenever they go through the ordering process, the system will automatically generate a username and password for them, which they can then use to login to view their order history. Furthermore, you customers can view their order status as well as quotes and invoices from the My Account page on your site (see image below).

Whenever visitors go through the ordering process, they will also be added to your Customer List in your DistributorCentral account. From within your account, you will have the ability to review and edit their information as well as send them their username and password if they happen to forget it.

The My Account page will also allow your visitors to register or sign up on your website. Additionally, if you enter in a customer or place orders for a customer in your DistributorCentral account, you can then send them a username and password to your website as well.

Many of the premade templates already incorporate the My Account page; however, you can remove this page if you prefer to not have this feature on your website. You can also set a website preference to not have the system generate a username and password for your customers when they go through the ordering process. To find this preference, go to the Websites Menu >> Add/Edit Websites >> then click on the Preferences link. From here, select No for the Send New Customer Registration Email preference. Click on Save and then Publish your website.

NOTE: The My Account page is intended to be used by your customer and is not intended for “you” to sign in to your own DistributorCentral account. Instead, if you want to login to your DistributorCentral account, go to www.DistributorCentral.com.

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Suppliers – Easily Create A File Upload Website

December 10, 2009

With the addition of the File Upload tool, DistributorCentral makes it easy for Suppliers to create an “end user friendly” file upload website. This is a valuable feature since Distributors would be able to send their customers directly to the “blind” file upload website where the customer can then upload large artwork files. Suppliers can easily assign the uploaded artwork files to orders in their account as well.

To view an example, go to www.checkart.com

To add this feature to a website:
- Edit the website page that you would like to have uploader on
- Choose File Uploader from the content drop-down menu
- Indicate the email address that you would like the artwork upload notification sent to (see image below)
- Click Save at the bottom of the page and then publish your website to apply the changes

If you would like a file upload notification on the Home page of your DistributorCentral account that indicates that you’ve have received new uploaded files:
- Go to the Account Menu
- Select Preferences and then Account Preferences
- Click on the Orders menu on the left side of the page
- then select Yes for the file upload preference (see image below)

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Payment Options Available for Shopping Cart

November 30, 2009

Every website that utilizes DistributorCentral’s Product Catalog will also have a shopping cart for ordering.

The shopping cart allows for the seller to enter all the payment options that they would like to offer to their customers.

The available payment methods are:

Credit Card – Collect Info Only – No Processing
Credit Card – Authorize.net Merchant Account
Credit Card – Paypal Payflow Pro Merchant Account
Check / Money Order
Paypal
Bill To Account
Purchase Order
“We will call you for payment information”
“I will call you with my payment”
Pay Later
Proof Request Only
No Charge
Commission Deduct
Bill to Department Number

Click here to view a guide that lists all of the available options along with an explanation of those available and where you can make those changes.

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Use DistributorCentral For Your Online Order Management

November 30, 2009

Why use DistributorCentral for your online order management system?

The Promotional Product industry can be fierce and it’s constantly changing, with no shortage of competition. Distributors need ways to reduce cost while continuing to be efficient and maintaining a high standard of quality and business ethics. DistributorCentral has an online order management system that is distributor focused, and just so happens to be a utility that can help you achieve this. DistributorCentral’s online ordering system provides an alternative solution that can help streamline your business and present you with far more product information than paper catalogs could ever provide. With the advent of the internet, e-commerce, the growing evolution of the paperless world and the mobile office, there is no better time than now to take the leap to DistributorCentral order management.

It Will Save You Time!
- DistributorCentral’s online ordering system alleviates the need for you to have to navigate to multiple supplier websites and learn their ordering system. Having an online ordering system that is distributor focused allows you to have a central location to place and manage your orders, as well as keeping your orders consistent.

Accessibility and Convenience!
- One central location to place all of your orders. Instead of trying to find products by going through stacks of paper catalogs or navigating from website to website, you can use your DistributorCentral account to research and compare products, and place all your orders.

- By keeping things electronic and stored online, you cut down on paper waste in your office as well as save space and memory on your computers hard-drive that can easily get cluttered by orders and artwork files. When orders are placed online they along with artwork files and proofs are stored on our server and will be available for as long as you have your DistributorCentral account.

- The availability to run reports for your orders will help you track your accounts receivable/payable and other accounting numbers. When everything (orders, payments, etc.) are recorded online, reports are literally a few clicks away.

Accurate Orders!
- DistributorCentral allows all of the product information (artwork, proofs, shipping info, etc.) to be presented along with every product. This helps reduce errors and ensures more accurate orders. You also will have the ability to place custom orders for vendors and products that are not listed in DistributorCentral. Once an order is submitted, the information is kept all together in one place, making it easier for you to manage.

Have a Mobile Office!
- Work from home or virtually anywhere with a laptop and a wireless internet card. Using DistributorCentral as your order management system lets you perform all your necessary duties for managing your orders online, allowing you to keep everything accessible from a computer with an internet connection.

Lets Get Started!
Click on the button at the top of your account to view our newly revised videos regarding order management. They’ll help you get on the fast track to using DistributorCentral for your online order management system.

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Control Your Minimum Order Total

November 11, 2009

Distributors, you have the capability of controlling the minimum order total that you will accept from your DistributorCentral shopping cart.

There have been some Distributor concerns regarding the minimum order that they want to accept.

There is a preference in your account where you can set that amount.

To find this preference:

1. Log in to your DistributorCentral account.

2. Go to Account Menu>> Preferences>> Website Preferences.

3. Pick your website that you would like to set a minimum order amount by selecting “Website Preferences” to the right of that site name.

4. Then click on Orders in the left, white column.

5. Here scroll down towards the bottom and find “What is the minimum order total you will process?”

6. Type in the minimum order you will process. This is the retail total amount.

7. Select Save at the top of the page in the right corner.

8. Now you need to Publish your Website to make those changes live on your DC shopping cart.

If a customer goes to your website and tries to complete an order that totals under the amount that you have specified, it will not allow them to submit the order and it will give them this message at the top of the Order Review Page:

They also don’t have the “Finish” button for the order, they can only “Add Another Product” or “Cancel Order.”

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New Feature! Send Quick Reorder Reminder Emails

November 3, 2009

We have added a new feature that allows you to quickly send your customers “reorder reminder notices” for orders that they have placed from your website.

To take advantage of this feature:
- You can set a reminder date from summary page of each order

ReorderReminder-5

- Or, you can set a reminder date for all of your orders at once, by clicking on the number link in the Customer Reorder Reminders area on the home page in your account

ReorderReminder

- Next, you can customize a message that will be emailed to your customers regarding the reorder reminder, and send it to your customer(s)

- The email that you customer will receive will look similar to the image below. They’ll be able to click on the Place Your Order Today! link which will send then directly the the order confirmation page for that product. Note, if you test this feature, you’ll want to log out of your DistributorCentral account prior to clicking on the Place Your Order Today! link.

ReorderReminder-3

You can also setup preferences in your account for your reorder reminders. To do this, go to the Account Menu >> Preferences >> Account Preferences, then click on the Orders tab.

You can put in the amount of days to control how often orders display on your reorder reminder list. For example, if you would like orders reminders to show up once a year for each order, put 365 in the reorder reminder date field (see image below).

You can also create a default message that will automatically display for your reorder reminder emails (see image below).

ReorderReminder-4

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New Payment Type Available / Proof Request Only

August 13, 2009

DistributorCentral has added a new payment type “Proof Request Only” which you can add in addition to “Credit Card” which can help get orders from your website closed at a higher rate (see image below). If you apply this payment type, you will have to ask your customer for credit card info after the proof has been approved. Some distributors have decided it is better to get to a proof than to require credit card info on all orders.

Payment-ProofOnly-cart

To apply this new payment type:
- Go to the Account menu
- Select Payment and then Payment Setup
- Move over the Request Proof Only preference (see image below)
- Click on Save, you will not need to publish your website

Payment-ProofOnly

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How to personalize your DC account with your logo!

January 19, 2009

You can now add your logo to your DistributorCentral account in the place of the DistributorCentral logo in the top left of the screen.

Go from this…

to this…

To do this, simply follow the instructions below
(please note that you must be logged in as the administrator to accomplish this)

1. Hover over Account

2. Go to Misc

3. Click on Customize Admin

4. The requirements for the picture are that it should be named “logo.jpg” and it should be no larger than 250 x 250 pixels.

5. Once you have met these requirements, Click on Browse and find your logo on your computer.

6. Click on Submit.

Congratulations, you have personalized your DistributorCentral account for your company!

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New Feature: Search Display Preference

June 2, 2008

New Search Display Preference for your DistributorCentral Account and Website.

You asked and we have listened!
When you conduct a “keyword” search in your DistributorCentral account or on your website, it defaults to search by the product name, number and description.

Depending on what keywords you are searching for, this can bring back many results. For example, using the keyword “bag” will bring back results for any products with the word “bag” in the product description, which can show results that may not be relevant to what you are looking for.
We now have a new search display preference that you can enable in your account to search only by the product name and number by default, as opposed to searching for the description as well. This can help initially narrow down search results.

To set this preference for your DistributorCentral account and website, follow these steps:
1. Go to the Account Menu
2. Select Preferences from the drop-down list
3. Select Account Preferences to change the setting
within your account / Select Website Preferences
to change the setting for your website

4. Select Catalogs on the left side of the page
5. Change the search fields preference to your liking

6. Click on Save
Note: You will have to publish your website if you have changed this setting for your website preferences.

A Special Note To Suppliers:
Be diligent in naming and describing your products in DistributorCentral. Use this product search optimization website to see exactly how your products show up to Distributors in DistributorCentral searches.
www.DistributorCentral.com/websites/pso
Also, please make sure that you only include your products in the Categories and Industry Catalogs that they relate to. This helps Distributors and their customers get accurate and reliable searches everytime.

Leave a Comment » | Account Customizing, Catalogs, New Features, Tips, Websites | Permalink
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Upload a Universal Credit Application to your account for Suppliers to view

April 1, 2008

As a Distributor, you can download a Universal Credit Application from your account, fill it out, and upload it for Suppliers to view in DistributorCentral.

This might allow you to spend less time filling out seperate suppliers credit information and more time selling promotional products.

Please remember that all Suppliers do reserve the right to ask for their own application but you may also let them know that you have uploaded a general application to your DistributorCentral Account for them to view. As more Distributors fill this Universal Application out and upload it, more Suppliers will use it.

Below are directions to find this application in your DistributorCentral Account:

1. Log in to DistributorCentral

2. Go to the Account Tab

3. Select Account Maintenance

4. Move to the lower section of this page to “Edit” beside State Sales Tax Numbers

5. At the top of the next screen you will see the UPIC Universal Credit Application available to download

6. Click on the document link “Upic Universal Credit Application“

7. You will select to Save it to your computer

8. After it has downloaded, you can open it with Microsoft Word to enter in your information

9. When you are finished, save the document

10. Move back to DistributorCentral and follow directions #1-4 to get back to the page where you found the Credit Application.

11. Now you will Click Browse and find your updated application on your desktop and hit Save directly below.

You have now uploaded your General Credit Application to your DistributorCentral Account!

Leave a Comment » | Account Customizing, Credit, Suppliers, Tips | Permalink
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DistributorCentral Updates and Tips