Converting your Quotes to Orders- Orders to Quotes

January 23, 2012

DC offers a  feature  that allows you to convert a quote that you have created into an order. There is also another feature to convert a previous order into a new quote for a customer.

Converting a quote to an order:

-Once you have created a new quote, (click here to learn more about creating quotes) you can convert the quote by going to the top right of the quote area and opening the drop down menu next to “What would you like to do?”

-Here find Convert to Order and hit Go

-You have just converted this quote to an order.

Remember that this eliminates the quote and makes that Quote number the new order number.

 

Converting an order to a quote:

allows you to convert and existing order back into a quote where you can then have your customer review and confirm before committing to an actual order.

- First, look up your previous order in your DistributorCentral account

-  Then click on the Reorder button on the right side of the page

- From here, you can indicate the order type; An exact reorder, A reorder with changes, or Rework of previous order (see description of these below), and then select the check box for Convert Reorder into Quote 

- Then click on the Create Reorder button (see example image below)

- From here, you can revise the quote if you like, and then click on the Finish button officially save the quote, where you can then send it to your customer…if you customer approves the quote, you can then convert that quote back into an order. (see above)

 

Comments Off | General, Order Management | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

How to remove pricing from your website.

November 22, 2011

The DistributorCentral product catalog does include the standard retail pricing offered by each Supplier for products. Each Supplier does have the responsibility to update and maintain that pricing data. DistributorCentral also asks each Supplier to honor the pricing. There are some Distributors that still prefer not to offer the price at all on their website. This can be turned off using “Website Preferences”. You should note that if you turn off your pricing, you are also turning off the ordering process or shopping cart for your site.

This is a preference that is set in your “Website Preferences” area.

1. Go to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites.

2. Under “Websites List“, find your website and click on “Preferences” to the right.

3. First click on “Searching” and find the preference called “Display price range in search results?”. Set it to “Never” and Save on the top right.

4. Then go to “Orders” in the menu on the left and find the preference titled “Display order button on your website?” and set that to “No“. Then Save on the top right.

5. Now click on “Catalog” in the menu on the left and find the preference titled “Display pricing on individual catalog pages?” and set that to “Never”

6. Scroll down to one final preference in the same section (the Catalog section) titled “Show Options Tab?” and set that to “No” then Save at the top right of the page.

5. Now click on “Published” link at top center and then click on “Publish New Changes”.

This will remove pricing and remove the ordering option from your website in DC. Customers will be able to view the products and research but they will not know the cost.

Comments Off | General, Websites - General, Websites - Shopping Cart | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Suppliers – Get your Products updated for 2012!

October 31, 2011

Don’t forget to make any pricing or product changes needed in DistributorCentral. It is easier than ever for you to make your updates in your DistributorCentral account.
See this blog for complete instructions:
http://blog.distributorcentral.com/2011/07/26/suppliers-control-your-own-data-on-dc-with-spreadsheet-exports-and-uploads/

Comments Off | General, Products, Suppliers | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Create a Marketing Survey

September 23, 2011

You can create a marketing survey to add to your ordering process when a Customer/Distributor is ordering a product.

This is a great way to ask them “Where did you hear about us?”

You can then keep track of the number of different responses that were given during the order process.

This survey will show up at the end of the shipping area in the order process.

To set this up:

  • Log in to your DC account
  • Go to Account Menu> Misc> Marketing Survey Admin
  • Here you can create a Marketing Question. Type out your question in the Question field
  • Then Select “Active“
  • Now select ”Add Marketing Survey Question“
  • Next you can add your responses         

      

  • Click on “Add New” to the right of the lower box – The “Response” box
  • A new window will open that you can enter in your first possible response.
  • Click on “Add Response” and then continue to follow this procedure until you have entered in all responses.
  • Now go to your site and order a product to test the survey

All your responses will be recorded under Account Menu> Misc> Marketing Survey Admin.

Comments Off | General, Websites - Extras, Websites - General | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Add in standard text to your PO’s

August 5, 2011

If you are using DistributorCentral for your order management system, you can add in general text to show up on all your purchase orders to customers, or all to Suppliers.

This makes it more convenient for those that have standard directions or disclaimers regarding most of their orders. No need to retype for each order!

PO’s to Customers

Add in stock language to order confirmation to your customers:

  1. Go to Account Menu> Preferences> Account Preferences
  2. Here Click on “Orders” on the left
  3. Scroll down to the preferences titled “Would you like to include stock language on order confirmations to your customers?”
  4. Type in the text that you would like to appear on that order to your customer
  5. Save your changes.

That text will appear on all new PO’s here:

PO’s to Suppliers

Add in stock language to order confirmation to Suppliers:

  1. Go to Account Menu> Preferences> Account Preferences
  2. Here Click on “Orders” on the left
  3. Scroll down to the preferences titled “Would you like to include stock language on order confirmations to Suppliers?”
  4. Type in the text that you would like to appear on that order to the Supplier
  5. Save your changes.

That text will appear on all new PO’s here:

Invoices to Customers

Add in stock language or directions on invoices to your customers:

  1. Go to Account Menu> Preferences> Account Preferences
  2. Here Click on “Invoices” on the left
  3. Scroll down to the preferences titled “Would you like to include stock language on all invoices sent to your customers?”
  4. Type in the text that you would like to appear on that invoice to your customer
  5. Save your changes.

That text will appear on all new invoices here:

Other Resources:

DC Order Management and QuickBooks

Paypal and DC Order Management

Invoices with Promotional Information

Adding your Logo to Invoices

General DC Order Management Info

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Posted by distributorcentral

Suppliers – Control your own Data on DC with spreadsheet exports and uploads.

July 26, 2011

Did you know that you can export and upload your DC spreadsheet for importing back into your Product Database from your own DC account? Then you can track that update and you will be notified upon the completion of the product update. Export your data: You can export your Product, Option and Choice data from your DC products. Most Suppliers only need to export their Products data though for pricing update purposes. You can do this in 3 places:

1. On your home page, under Shortcuts on the right side.

 

2. You can also go to Products Tab > Product Data Export > Excel Data Export 3. Finally, you can access this same export from the Product Editor at the bottom of your product list. Once you click on Export, you will have the opportunity to export certain fields and criteria. Then “Submit” the file and you will receive an email with a link to download it for editing. Learn how to work with the Data in the spreadsheet here: Upload your File: When you have edited your file and saved your changes, you can then upload it again for importing. You can upload it in 2 places: 1. You can upload it under Shortcuts on the right side of the home page. 2. It can also be uploaded in the product editor at the bottom of the product list. Once you click on “Upload Product Data Updates” there will be some basic data questions to answer and a file upload at the bottom of the page . Once the file is uploaded, you can track the upload and you will receive an email when we complete it. Watch this video to download your spreadsheet and upload it back to DC: Learn more about exporting your data for other service providers: http://blog.distributorcentral.com/2010/12/03/exporting-contact-information-for-other-service-providers/ Once you have your data imported, make them display with this guide: http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/ProductCompletionGuide.pdf

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Posted by distributorcentral

New Feature – Drag and Drop Blocks for Websites

July 11, 2011

Attention DC Website Users – You can now move webpage blocks in the website editor by simply dragging and dropping them into the order that you would like them arranged.

This should make it much easier to move around the content on each of your pages.

This feature is available under Website Editor > Add/Edit Webpages.

Edit the page and then click on a block and drag it to move it around. 

Comments Off | General, New Features, Websites - General, Websites - New Features | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Top Support Questions:

May 26, 2011

See our most commonly asked support questions and answers:

1. I made changes to my website, but I don’t see the changes?

Commonly, website editors will see a new change on their “Preview” of their website but not on the live site that customers see. When you edit your website, saving your changes is not the final step. You also have to “publish” the site to push those changes to the live site.

Publish your Website:

  • Log into your DC account
  • Click on Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites
  • Click on “Edit” next to your website
  • Here click on “Website Publisher“
  • Now click on “Publish New Changes“
  • Changes will take place in less than 15 minutes

2. Why do I see Retail pricing on my order?

DistributorCentral will allow you to view Retail and Net pricing during your Distributor Order Process. You can switch back and forth in the top left corner of the order. See image below:

3. Can I change my username and password?

Yes, you will receive a default username and password when your account is first generated and you can change it after you log into your DC account for the first time.

See this video and this guide.

4. I received an order from my website. What do I do now?

You should always test your ordering process on your website so that you are not surprised and unprepared when you receive your first online order. 

Here is a video to learn what to do with your first order.

5. How do I change my contact information?

You will always manage your own contact information that correspondence is sent to from inside your DC account. You can customize it by following these steps:

  • Log into your account
  • Click on Account Menu> Account Maintenance
  • Click on Contacts tab on the left
  • “Edit” or “Add Similar” to customize your contact information
 View the video here.

6. How do I find the Supplier of a product that my customer found on my website?

Your website is meant for your customer to do research, so you won’t find the Supplier or net pricing there. You can log into your DistributorCentral account at www.distributorcentral.com to find the Suppliers information.

  • Log into your account
  • On the home page, type the item number in the “Product Search” field and hit go.
  • You will see the Supplier of each product above the product image in the search results.

7. How do I pay my Suppliers?

You will be able to enter the type of payment that each Supplier offers to you when you create an order. If you would like to pay the Supplier with a type of payment that they are not currently accepting through DC, you will need to contact the Supplier directly to pay them.

8. How is freight handled?

Each Supplier does have the opportunity to enter in freight data for their products. Not all Suppliers are currently taking advantage of this feature though. If the Supplier offers freight it will automatically calculate on any orders that your customers place. If the Supplier does not offer freight, you will not have freight calculated on the order. 

As a Distributor, you can utilize a freight preference to customize the way freight is calculated on your orders.

Click here for a blog entry explaining that preference.

9. Who do I ask product questions?

Each Supplier is responsible for entering and maintaining their product data in the DC system. They have an account where they log in and use the product editor. Each Supplier also processes their own orders. It is best to contact the Supplier directly with any product or order questions.

10. How does tax calculate on orders?

DistributorCentral does calculate tax automatically on customer orders for Distributors. It is based on the local tax rates and only charges in-state based on the customer’s address.

You can set a customer to be tax-exempt as well:

  • Click on Customers menu
  • Find that customer
  • Click on ”Info” and then on “Terms“
  • Select “Yes” next to Tax exempt question.

11. How do I do a reorder?

You can easily create a reorder of any previous order in your DistributorCentral account. 

  • First, find the original order.
  • You can do this by entering in the original order info on the home page under “Order Search.”
  • Then you will see a “Reorder” button on the right of the Customer Order and also the Supplier Order Summary. 
  • Click on “Reorder” then choose the type of reorder. Click here to learn about the reorder types.
  • Make your changes and Save/Send the Order along.

12. Why is DistributorCentral FREE for Distributors?

DistributorCentral is a service that has been provided by each of our participating Suppliers. They have invested millions of dollars so that you can access their products and market them to your customers without being charged.

13. Can I use my own website address or do I have to use a given DC website address?

When you create a website using the DC web editor, you can use your own domain name and DistributorCentral will host that domain name as well as email free of charge. 

You do have to purchase your domain name from a registrar like Godaddy.com first though don’t purchase any hosting with them.

Click here to view our blog entries regarding adding a domain name to any website that you have created.

Note: you will also be able to access your site from our DC given address in addition to your domain name if you used that address. If a customer accesses your website using your domain name, then they will only see that domain name as they navigate your site – until they get to the secure portion of the shopping cart.

14. My website disappeared from the website list in my account.

If you have previously had a website listed under the Websites List area but now it is gone, you probably selected to make that website a Template on the Website Publisher Page. To see that site, you would now scroll down to the bottom of the Websites List area and click on “Custom Templates” to see that site.

You would select “Use” if you would like to make a copy of this new template to use and that will list under the Websites list section for you to access.

Note: you cannot give it the same name as the website that you made a template from.

Comments Off | General, Resources, Websites - General | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Join us for the Show!

April 22, 2011

 Attend the “DC Show” Tradeshow for Distributors and Suppliers – No Charge! 

Did you know that DistributorCentral offers an Online Tradeshow for viewing by Distributors at anytime?

You can view this by following these steps:

  1. Log into your account
  2. Hover over the Education Menu
  3. Click on “DC Show”

Easy as 1-2-3!

Suppliers, you can contribute to our Online Tradeshow:

Upload your own video:

  1. Log into DC
  2. Hover over Education and click on DC Show
  3. Click on “Add  New DC Show”
  4. Either upload your show here or enter in the URL to the video on another website.

It will add  to your account and be available for all Distributors to review.

Suppliers, once uploaded, these same videos will also be available under “Sales Tools” in your product information.

Remember that ANY Supplier can add these at No Charge!

Comments Off | General, Products, Suppliers, Tradeshows | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

New Website Templates Added

March 24, 2011

DistributorCentral has added a few new templates to our list of those available in your website editor area:

You can view these and our other templates by going to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites and scroll down to Premade Templates.

Our templates are a great way to get started with DistributorCentral’s website feature. Once you choose the template that you would like to use, you can then add your logo and contact information. You can also make any other changes that you would like including uploading your own graphics and changing colors.

These templates include the same products and shopping cart feature available on all DC websites.

Here is a video to learn more about how to customize a pre-made template:

Comments Off | General | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Suppliers – Host your website with DistributorCentral!

February 23, 2011

Did you know that you have a website editor available to you with your existing Supplier account in DC at no extra charge?

Your product data is already here and that information will flow into the website you design. There is no need to update your information in multiple places, just use DistributorCentral.

Here is a demo site: www.dcsupplierdemo.com
Our easy-to-use website creation software is incredibly versatile and will accommodate the needs of users with no website design experience and professionals with years of website design knowledge. This simple demo website only uses the design tools that are included with your account, and shows how you can create a website to represent and market your line of products in the DistributorCentral program without the need of a professional website designer though you can utilize advanced website design with our editor as well. We also provide domain and email hosting at no additional charge. 

Your site would only display Retail formatted pricing, however, it would be equipped with a login feature where industry Distributors would be able to sign in an view your Net pricing. Furthermore, your website will be equipped with a shopping cart feature, where Distributors can also order your products online. If you would like to see this functionality, you can login to this site using testdcdistributor as the Username and Password.

When you setup your products and create your website in DistributorCentral, you consolidate your product information in one centralized location, which takes the hassle away from having to update and maintain multiple product databases. For example, if you update your products in your DistributorCentral account, it updates that product information not only on your website, but it also on 1000’s of Distributor websites which are being hosted by DistributorCentral (click here for an example). Furthermore, you can export your DistributorCentral product information in Excel or XML format which can be used by other industry service providers.

 

Comments Off | General, Suppliers, Websites - General | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Change in the End User Shopping Cart Process

January 18, 2011

There has been a slight change in the order process for end users on Distributor websites.

Before this change the customer was asked for their payment before they had the opportunity to see the summary of their order. After some research here at DC, we see a benefit to changing that process for better results and more completed orders.

Now, the payment request is on the same page as the order review and the customer can see their items before they enter their payment.

Comments Off | General, Websites - Shopping Cart | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

PPAI Expo 2011- Contest Results

January 17, 2011

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the DistributorCentral booth last week at the PPAI Show!

We really enjoyed meeting everyone face to face and answering your questions. There were also some great suggestions and comments.

DC spent time with Distributor’s showing them how to integrate their business by using DC for product research, order management, sales presentations, websites and more.

DC worked with Suppliers to show them how to integrate their product data and work with the DistributorCentral interface to make more resources available to all Distributors.

DC representatives also had the opportunity to see the new trends in the industry for product and services.

There were a number of events available at the PPAI Expo including  the Thursday night show at the House Of Blues. The Molly Ringwalds Concert was a great time!

There was overwhelming participation in our iPad drawing and we are excited to announce our winners. 3 Distributors and 3 Suppliers were drawn from the collected business cards.

and the results are…..

Distributors:

Lev Promotions (San Diego, CA) – Rama Beerfas

 MagneticAdConcepts, Inc ( Mt. Prospect, IL) – Louie Piazza

Corporate Advertising & Incentives (Maple Grove, MN) – Loni Spence

Suppliers:

Digispec / Visstun ( Las Vegas, NV) – Brooke Crumpler

ProRose (Stamford, CT) – Ron J. Rosencrans

Innovation Line (Culver City, Ca) – Irma F. Contreras

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who participated!

Comments Off | General, Tradeshows | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Add Videos to your DC Website

December 21, 2010

Learn how to add videos from YouTube.com to your DC website. You can create your own website presentations introducing your company or possibly giving some suggestions for use of your promotional products.

Once you upload your videos to a free youtube.com account, just watch this video to add your video to your DC website:

Comments Off | General, Websites - Extras | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

Product information for Distributor hosted websites

December 3, 2010

Distributors that already have websites hosted elsewhere can still utilize the DistributorCentral product data.

You can utilize a link to the product data on your website or integrate our Product data XML on your website.

For most Distributors, the link to our product catalog is the way to go. You can add this link in any way that you would like to your outside website.

To get the link to the product catalog:
1) Go to the Websites menu in your account
2) Select Add/Edit Websites
3) Click the Edit link beside your website
4) Click the Website Publisher tool.
5) The catalog link shows at the bottom of the page in the Users with Existing Websites section.

Click here or watch below to see a short video about adding the DC product catalog to your existing website.

Experienced Website Designers can use our XML feed to add DC products to their outside site:

Please note that you should work with a Website Designer that is experienced with XML feeds if you would like to use this feature. DistributorCentral does not provide support with integrating these feeds to your site.

The DistributorCentral product XML data feed is designed for developers wishing to design their own website, but still use DC product data. You will still create a basic website and catalogs using existing tools within your DC account, but the output will be pure XML …

See this guide to read about this feature:  
XML Guide



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Posted by distributorcentral

Exporting Product Information for other Service Providers

December 3, 2010

Suppliers, did you know that you can export the product information that you have entered into DistributorCentral and send it to your other service providers? This is one way we are helping you maintain product information in one place!

This eliminates the need for double entry of your information. Just enter your products once into DistributorCentral and you will not need to spend any more time and labor on this again for other providers.

Here is how you export your product information:

1. Log into your DC account and hover over “Product Data Export” Menu and click on “Excel Data Export”

2. The next screen you will see is this one below:

Here you will select the “Additional Fields” that you want to include in your export, double check your Email address to send the file to and select “Save File“

Now you will receive an email with a link to download this file from DC.

This spreadsheet will include all of your product information. You can also export your Option and Choice information to send to Service Providers if needed by going to “Products” Menu and Add/Edit Options or Add/Edit Choices.

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Posted by distributorcentral

Exporting Contact Information for Outlook

December 3, 2010

You can export your Customers from your DistributorCentral database to import into your Outlook software if needed. You can also import contacts to your DistributorCentral account. This report makes your Customer data available for any other software that allows import as well.

To export Customers from DistributorCentral:

1. Once logged into your DistributorCentral account, click on Reports Tab

2. Here, find the “Customer List” report and click on it.

3. Now select the fields that you would like to include in your report and select “Submit” at the bottom.

(if you are exporting for your email program, you will only need the basic fields like Name, Email, Address)

4. Select “View” to the right of the report that you just created

5. Now you can change your parameters at the top of the page.

First set your start and end date to pull your customers

Then set the contact type (usually the main contact)

Then Select “yes” for Active accounts

6. Now select “View Report”

7.  Now you can export the report in csv format by selecting csv from the format drop down and select “Export” to save it to your computer

8. Now go to your Outlook software and select “File > Import/Export” to import your contacts to your Outlook Software.

To Import Customers to DistributorCentral:

Distributors can send their customer lists to info@distributorcentral.com along with the account number to import the customers. DC can bulk import those contacts for you.

The excel file that you send should include these fields in different columns which are clearly defined:
Customer name
Email
Street address
City
State
Zip
Phone

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Posted by distributorcentral

Exporting Order Information for QuickBooks

December 2, 2010

Distributors – Did you know that you can export your Orders & Invoices to Quickbooks from your DistributorCentral Order System?

This feature eliminates the need for double entry from DC to your QuickBooks system.

Exporting Purchase Orders & Invoices to QuickBooks

Create and Save your QuickBooks Import File:

1. After logging in to your account, click on the Orders tab, and then on the QuickBooks Download link.

2. Choose whether you are going to create an import file for invoices to your customers or purchase orders to your suppliers.

3. Select the dates for which that you would like to download transactions – *Note – please limit your download file to one month of data at a time. Also, note that if you try to import a file into QuickBooks that contains an invoice or purchase order that was contained in a previously imported file, QuickBooks will not import that transaction again.

4. Choose whether or not you intend to print the invoices or purchase orders from QuickBooks. If you have sent your purchase orders or invoices electronically from DistributorCentral, or you have printed a version from DistributorCentral and sent those to your customers or suppliers, you can choose “No” for this question. Otherwise, if you intend to send the invoice or purchase order after importing it into QuickBooks, select “Yes”.

5.If you have specific accounts setup in your QuickBooks file with which you would like to associate the transactions, specify them in the Accounts fields. For invoices, the defaults are ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE for the accounts receivable account, SALES for the line items, and SALES TAX PAYABLE for the sales tax account. For purchase orders, the defaults are PURCHASE ORDERS for the accounts payable account and SALES INCOME for the line items.

6. Once you are satisfied with your selections, click Submit.

7. When the import file is generated, you can click on the QuickBooks link to view the file, or “right-click” on the link and choose “Save Target As”, choose the appropriate location on your hard drive to save the file (default file names are generally in the format youraccountno_mm_yyyy_InvoicesORPOs_downloaddate.iif (eg. 100006_Feb_2004_Invoices_03-Feb-04.iif).

Import the file into QuickBooks:

1.Once you have saved the import file, open your QuickBooks file, choose File -> Utilities -> Import -> Import IIF Files.

2.Browse to the location on your hard drive where you saved the import file when you downloaded it from DistributorCentral.

3.Once you have found the file, click “Open”.

4.At this point, your data has been imported into QuickBooks. If you choose “yes” for the “Print from QuickBooks” question when you downloaded the file from DistributorCentral, you should see the list of invoices and/or purchase orders to print in your “reminders” list if you have setup your QuickBooks file this way.

5.From this view, you can edit the order, which allows you to can add options, edit pricing, change color choices, etc.
    You can now run reports or print your documents from QuickBooks.

Important points to note
-If the Customer or Vendor names exported from DistributorCentral do not match those that have been setup in your QuickBooks file, they will be added to your Customer and Vendor lists as new records.

-The accounts to which the transactions are posted must match those in your QuickBooks setup; if you choose to specify your own account names, please be aware that if those accounts do not exist in your QuickBooks file they will be created.

-Avoid importing duplicate transactions into QuickBooks by deleting your old import files, or moving them to a different location on your hard drive.

-DistributorCentral’s application creates ePSA-compatible purchase orders and invoices; the data included in DistributorCentral’s transactions is significantly more complex than that allowed in a QuickBooks import file. As such, your purchase orders and invoices in QuickBooks will not have the same level of detail as those created by DistributorCentral. As such, we highly recommend using DistributorCentral’s powerful purchase order and invoice tools for your business needs; DistributorCentral cannot be responsible for or support any errors arising from the importing of data into QuickBooks.

-For additional help, hints, or support for QuickBooks please see http://www.quickbooks.com/support/sindex.html.

Comments Off | Exporting Data From DC, General, Invoicing | Permalink
Posted by distributorcentral

My Account page for Distributor Websites – New Look

November 3, 2010

If you are already using the My Account feature, you might notice that it has a new look for your customers.

What is the “My Account” feature?

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 invoices and even reorder 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.

How do I turn off the Customer Registration Email?

  1. Go to the Websites Menu > Add/Edit Websites 
  2. Click on the Preferences link
  3. Select No for the Send New Customer Registration Email preference
  4. 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.

How do I add the My Account Page?

  1. Log in to your DistributorCentral account at www.distributorcentral.com
  2. Go to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites
  3. Edit your Website by clicking on “Edit” to the right
  4. Now, go to Add/Edit Web pages
  5. Scroll down to the section titled, “Pages you may add to your website“
  6. Click on “Add This Page” next to the “My Account” page
  7. Now Save the page at the Bottom
  8. Publish your site under Website Publisher

View this video for visual help:

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How To Create a “Customized Featured Product” Website

October 8, 2010

There have been many requests for customized product websites recently. So we thought that we would offer a “How To” guide for creating your very own Featured Product Website in DC.

We recently added more features to make it even easier for you to customize products for your website.

There are many advantages in creating a site that is featuring only one or only a few customized products:

  • Search Engine Optimization is easier
  • No searching required for your customers
  • No confusion over the order process
  • Marketing is easier
  • and more!

So here it is:

1. Pick out a product or type of product to feature on your site.

a. To get started, decide the who, what, where, and how of your future site. This could also be considered the logistics of the site. This is usually the boring part where you lay out your plans.

  

2. Now you will need to create a fulfillment account in your main DC account:

a. Log in to your DC account at www.distributorcentral.com

b. Go to Products Menu > My Products (Fulfillment Account)

c. Once in the account Fulfillment Account, go to Products Menu > Add / Edit Products

d. Click on “Add Similar from Supplier Product” link on the bottom right

e. Pick the Supplier and the product that you are going to feature on your website

f. Now change the Product name and number and Save the product at the bottom.

g. You can now customize this product by changing the pricing, the description, the image and so on to match your needs.

Click here to view detailed information regarding  how Fulfillment Accounts work, and how to setup up your own products. 

 

3. Create your website

a. Log into your MAIN DC account and go to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites

b. Scroll down to the Pre-Made Templates and select the template titled “Customized Featured Product” Template by selecting “Use” to the right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c. Name the template and Create the website

d. Now Click on Product Catalogs and Click “Add/Remove Catalog” at the top right. Find your Fulfillment account catalog from the box on the left and move it to the right and Save. Now hit “Save Changes” again at the bottom of the next page.

 e. Now continue customizing the website by uploading your logo and switching out the product on the home page with your product.

1. Go to  Add/Edit Pages and click on “Edit” next to the Home page. Change the Supplier field to the default selection with no Supplier name selected and enter in your exact item number in the Product field. Then hit “Search” and “Save” at the bottom.

Learn more about editing your website here:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/dc_tips.cfm

f. Now Publish your Changes under the Publisher section

g. Now you can purchase a domain name and map it to your new site to market to your customers. See this guide to learn about adding a domain name:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/domainname.pdf

You can repeat these steps to create other websites as well or you can add more “Featured Product” blocks to the website to feature more products too.

Good Luck!

DC Team

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Posted by distributorcentral

Fulfillment Account Users- Copy Supplier Products

September 20, 2010

Now Fulfillment account users can copy basic Supplier product data into their DistributorCentral Fulfillment account to edit and create their own products. This is a great feature for those Distributors that have company stores in DC.

As a Distributor, you have already had the ability to use a Fulfillment account to create  your own product information and add it to your DistributorCentral site and shopping cart. We have added to those features and now you can even copy Supplier product information to create your own product based on their data.

This feature will copy the Product images, descriptions, pricing, etc on the product information but it will not copy over options and choices. Those options and choices would include selecting the product colors, imprint options and so on throughout the shopping cart. You will need to recreate those. This will give you the opportunity to customize your own options to your customers, which is especially important with company stores.

To copy from a Supplier’s product data to your fulfillment account:

1. Log in to your Fulfillment account.

2. Click on the “Add Similar From Supplier Product” link on the product list page.

3. Pick a Supplier product and click the “Add Similar to your Fulfillment Account” button.

4. Now you will need to go through the product and add a production time, packaging weights (if needed) and add it to your private catalog, line name and add any needed options for the product to start displaying.

5. Once you have copied the base product information over, the product is yours to edit. You can change any piece of the product information for your website.

6. You can also add/change/delete the mapping of your product to the Suppliers product if you are logged into a fulfillment account under the “Add’l Info” tab. 

It would be helpful for this product to be mapped back to the Suppliers product if you plan on sending the order to the Supplier through DistributorCentral.

If you leave it mapped in your fulfillment account and you receive an order, when you change the Supplier on the purchase order, it will automatically change the product to the correct supplier product.

Note: This does not change pricing currently and that will need to be manually changed.

See our previous blog regarding switching Suppliers on PO’s here:

http://blog.distributorcentral.com/2010/09/20/editing-supplier-purchase-orders-changing-suppliers

See the Fulfillment account Guide here:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/fulfillmentaccount.pdf

See a guide about product setup here:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/ProductSetupMap.pdf

See a video about product setup here:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/SupplierSeminars/Product_Setup_Tour.htm

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Editing Supplier Purchase Orders- Changing Suppliers

September 20, 2010

You can now change the Supplier and the product on a Purchase Order before you send the order!

This can be helpful in situations where you receive an order from your website for a product, but you want to use a different Supplier for any reason. It is also helpful for those Distributors utilizing Fulfillment accounts to change fulfillment products to actual Supplier products after they receive an order.

To edit the Supplier Order BEFORE it is sent to the Supplier, follow these instructions:

1. After the purchase order is created, click the “Switch supplier” link from the Summary page under the “Purchase Order to Supplier (net).

 

2. Select the new supplier from the drop down list, and click the “Switch Supplier” button.

Note: Switching the Supplier on the purchase order will change your product information to “custom”.

 

You now may edit the Supplier purchase order to change the product information if needed:

This will allow you to match up your order with the Suppliers actual product in the DC system.

1. Click on Edit to the right of the Supplier purchase order.

2. Click on “Change Product” next to the product name.

3. Search for a product manufactured by this Supplier and click “Save”.

Note: The pricing will have to be manually entered into the product pricing fields for the new product. At this time, the product will just show as $0.00 net until you change it.

4. The Distributor can then remove the extra option by clicking the checkboxes on the left to remove them.

5. Then add the correct options using the Add new option drop down on the right.

5. Then save your changes at the bottom right.

6. Now you can make any changes needed to the Customer PO by editing it separately. This is at the top of the Order Summary page. In many cases, you will not need to change the Customer order if you utilize fulfillment accounts.

Once everything looks correct, you can send the order over to the Supplier by selecting the “Send” button on the right of the Supplier Purchase Order (net) section.

For more instruction regarding order management see these guides:

Distributor Order Management:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/Distordermanagement.pdf

Fulfillment Account Guide:

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/fulfillmentaccount.pdf

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New Feature: Use Compare Tab to Create Custom Catalogs

September 15, 2010

Most of you know about the “Compare” feature that DistributorCentral offers while doing product searches. With this feature you could previously create collections, create an email flyer and quotes of multiple products. Now, you can also create a custom catalog to add to your DistributorCentral website in the same way!

To create a custom catalog using the “Compare” feature:

1. Login to your DistributorCentral account

2. Go to Products Menu> Product Search

3. Now do a search for the first product that you would like. (ex: type “Magnets” in the keyword search area)

4. You will see “Compare” under each product to the right. Click on that “Compare” link to start collecting your products. As you click on each product, the “Compare” tab will accumulate those products. Feel free to do additional searches, the system will save the products you have already compared. You will be limited to 75 products total for your catalog.

5. Once you have compared all of your products, Click on the “Compare” tab above the Product search area on the right side.

6. Now select “Create Custom Catalog” button from the bottom right.

7. You will now have the opportunity to rename your catalog.

8. Then select “Update” and then “Add catalog to my website”. If you have multiple websites, you will be asked to choose which website that you would like to add the catalog to.

9. Now click on ”Save Changes” at the bottom of the screen.

10. Click on “Publisher” at the top right of the Website Editor and then click on “Publish New Changes”. You should start to see your catalog on your Product Catalog page of your website within 15 minutes.

You can also see this blog entry below for more information about our “Compare” feature.

http://blog.distributorcentral.com/2010/05/12/new-feature-save-product-research-collections/

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Posted by distributorcentral

Easily Create a Website from a Template

August 30, 2010

There is a feature in the DistributorCentral website editor that will allow you to create a quick, easy website based on any of the DC templates.

This feature is called our “Visual Editor“, and it is available on any of your website editor pages in the top right corner next to the “Preview” button.

 

With this tool, you will be able to view your website template and click on the components of the actual website to make edits like uploading your logo or changing your contact information. This makes it super easy for you to customize your template with minimal knowledge of the location of components in the editor.

Check out this PDF Guide to get the steps to create your website today!

http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/easywebsitesteps.pdf

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Posted by distributorcentral

Searching by Supplier locations

August 27, 2010

 We, here at DC, have had a lot of questions regarding searching for products by location lately. We wanted to make sure that you are aware of our feature that allows you to view Supplier locations on a map when you do a product search in your DistributorCentral account.

To use this feature:

- First conduct a product search.
- Once the search results display, click on the “Suppliers” tab.

- Next, scroll down to the bottom of the list of Suppliers and you will see the Supplier Map.

- The Suppliers for the corresponding search results will then display geographcally on the map. Click on a location to view the Supplier’s information.

- Now that you have found the Supplier that you would like to research further, scroll back up to the Suppliers’ list and select that Supplier’s name. You will now see the search results for your keyword search filtered by this Suppliers products only.

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Posted by distributorcentral

Attention Suppliers: Good Product Descriptions = Maximum Visibility

August 19, 2010

The DistributorCentral product search engine searches for your product information based on the keywords that you enter in for the product Names, Numbers and Descriptions. 

It is essential that you put relevant, detailed product descriptions for your products in DistributorCentral, so that you get maximum visibility for your products as well as making it easier for Distributors and End Customers (via Distributor websites) to find your products based on keyword searches. However, don’t get too carried away and put terms that are not relevant to that specific product. For example, you should not put a list of other products that you carry in the description of a product.

Regarding terms for products that can be perceived in different ways, make sure to put common interpretations in your product descriptions as well.

Example 1 – If you have a Two Tone ceramic mug, you may want to add the keyword 2 Tone in your product description as well, so that your product comes in both searches. For example, you can say in your description, “Our popular Two Tone (2 Tone) ceramic mugs, are available in six vibrant color combinations”.

 Example 2 – If you have product that includes a Carabiner clip, you may want to include, “also known as Karabiner”, in your product descriptions as well.

Take in consideration that your product information is not only populating the DistributorCentral search engine for Distributors, but is also populating 1000’s of Distributor websites for End Customers to view. So it is imperative that you keep your descriptive product information (this includes Options and Choices) End Consumer friendly. This will increase Distributor confidence and help them to better sell your products via their DistributorCentral websites.

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Posted by distributorcentral

Website Feature- Copy Blocks from a page

August 16, 2010

You can now copy all the blocks on a page in your DC website to another page on that same site.

This could be helpful in any situation in which you would like to recreate a page’s design.

To copy the blocks on a page to a new page:

  1. Create the new page that you would like to copy the blocks into
    • Once in the website editor, click on Add/Edit Web Pages
    • Now click on “Add This Page” at the bottom next to “Custom Page“
    • Here you will see that you can name your page at the top
  2. Now in the second section you can open the drop down menu “Copy Blocks From” and select the page that you would like to copy the blocks from. (See image below)
  3. Then Save your changes. You will be able to make changes to these copied blocks now on the new page that you created.
  4. Publish the Changes in the Website Publisher when you are ready for the page to be on the live site.

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Posted by distributorcentral

“Copy” link available for your website

June 30, 2010

Did you know that you have the opportunity to copy any website that you have created in your DistributorCentral website editor?

It is as simple as hitting copy to the right of your website. Go to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites and find your site and look to the right of it.

Once you copy the site, you will name it and it will list under your Websites List for editing and use.

This could be useful in creating multiple targeted sites with the same look and design.

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