DistributorCentral Updates and Tips

Product Research Part 1- Search for a product by Keyword and see each of the Supplier’s locations:

Are you aware of our feature that allows you to conveniently 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, click on the See suppliers on a map link.

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

With the DistributorCentral order system, each Distributor and Supplier has access to a proofing system.

A Distributor or Supplier can upload proofs to any order in DC and send those through the system to the Distributor from the Supplier or to the Customer from the Distributor.

The proof should be uploaded to the order as a pdf file. Once it is sent to the Customer (in the Distributors case) or the Distributor (in the Suppliers case), that customer has the capability to send an approval, comments or even ask for changes and a new proof.

The typical proof process works like this:

1. The Customer or the Distributor enters the order requesting a proof and artwork and sends it to the Supplier through DC

2. When the Supplier receives the order, their graphics department creates the art and either uploads the art to DC or they send the art to the Distributor.

If they upload the art to the DC order, the Distributor will receive a notification to view the proof.

If they send the art to the Distributor directly, the Distributor can go to the order and upload it to the order in their account.

3. Once the proof is attached to the order, the Distributor can send a notification to the customer to view and approve the proof back to them (the Distributor)

To send the proof to your customer, click on the #1 in the Order Summary in the image above, then click on Send to Customer in the below image.

4. When the customer has approved the proof, the Distributor gets a notification email and they can log in and approve the proof to the Supplier.

5. Once the Distributor has approved the proof, the Supplier gets a proof notification email as well.

If the Distributor has entered the proof themselves, they would need to email the proof notification of approval to the Supplier that is not using the DC system.

Below are key notes to remember:

The Distributor will need to take action to send the proof to the customer and then to also approve the proof to the Supplier.

Once a proof is uploaded to an order, it stays with that order unless it is deleted.

A Distributor can upload a new proof if changes are needed.

A customer can access the proof if the Distributor allows them to log into the My Account area of the Distributors website. See this Guide regarding Customer Order Tracking.

If the Distributor forwards the proof notification email from the Supplier directly to their customer, when the customer approves the proof, the notification would go directly back to the Supplier.

We have added a couple of new guides to your DistributorCentral account under your Video Tutorials tab.

The new guides are listed below:

Virtual Catalogs and Flyers – for Supplier to upload their catalogs and flyers to their account and create Virtual Catalogs to add to their website. This guide should walk Suppliers through every step needed to get this accomplished and it shows them where the catalogs and flyers that they upload show up for Distributors.

Easy Website Setup – for Distributors to quickly set up a basic site based on our templates in DC. This guide should walk you through every step needed to get your site up and running with DistributorCentral.

Those Distributors and Suppliers that are familiar with the DistributorCentral website editor know that we already offer a Featured Product Block.  This block allows you to choose a product to “feature” on any page of your site. This product must be manually changed each time a Distributor / Supplier wants to update it by going into the editor and adding a different product.

Now there is a version of the Featured Product block that will randomly change to another product in any of your catalogs on your website that you choose, each time the page is reloaded. This is called the Random Product Block.

You can add this to any of your pages:

1. Log in to your DC account
2. Go to Websites > Add/Edit Websites
3. Click Edit next to your website (on the right side)
4. Click on Add/Edit Web pages
5. Select Edit to the right of the page to which you would like to add this block
6. Either click on Add New Block on the right side OR edit a current block that you want to change
7. Once you have selected the block template, go to “Change section Content to” and open the drop down menu
8. Select the Random Product Block
9. Pick the catalog that you want this product to pull from on the left. All your catalogs that have been added to this site will be there to choose from.
10. Save the changes at the bottom
11. Preview your site at the top right. Look it over and close the window 
12. Then go to Website Publisher and Publish New Changes to make this change show on your live site for your customers.

This image below is a sample of what a featured product block looks like. You can choose from a small, medium, or large image and you can also decide if you want a description or pricing listed.

Some Distributors choose to use these product blocks as “fillers” to help add website content and some use it to show off their most sold or most requested products. Feel free to use this feature in any way that you would like on your DC site!

Suppliers and Distributors in DistributorCentral can create and manage the contacts that they want to be available for other companies to see.

If a Distributor is researching  a Supplier in DC, they will see the contact information that the Supplier has offered when they set up their DC account. In some cases, the Distributor will also have other contacts that they work with, within that Supplier company.

For example, sometimes the Distributor has a sales representative within the company that they need to send all their orders to- instead of the general orders contact listed for all other Distributors to see. In this case, a Distributor can set up a “Private” contact for that Supplier. If they set up a “Private Orders” contact, all their order email notifications would go to that email for notification and then the order will go to the Suppliers DC account.

A Distributor can do this for any other type of contact as well, including a private artwork contact, sales , billing, customer service, proofs and orders.

This would work the same way for a Supplier.  A Supplier might work with a certain person within a Distributor’s company that the Distributor does not list for other Supplier to contact. A Supplier can also pick between any of the above Distributor Private contact types to add to a Distributors contact information.

BEFORE you do this , be aware that these Private contacts do override the other contacts in their account and it will effect where orders and other correspondence is being sent.

To set up a Private contact, follow the steps below:

For Distributors:

1. Log in to your DistributorCentral account
2. Go to Suppliers Menu> Supplier Contact Info
3. Search for the Supplier for which you would like to create a private contact
4. Click on Info to the right
5. Then click on Contacts tab
6. Click on “Add New Contact”
7. Now select the Contact Type in the top field
8. Enter the contact info needed
9. Save at the bottom
10. The next time you view this contact info, you will see those private contacts listed as well

For Suppliers:

1. Log in to your DistributorCentral account
2. Go to Distributors Menu> Distributor List
3. Search for the distributor for which you would like to create a private contact
4. Click on Info to the right
5. Then click on Contacts tab
6. Click on “Add New Contact”
7. Now select Type in the top field
8. Enter the contact info needed
9. Save at the bottom
10. The next time you view this contact info, you will see those private contacts listed as well

As a Distributor, you can now determine how freight is calculated on your websites in the shopping cart.

Until recently, Distributors depended solely on Suppliers to enter in data for freight so that the correct amount is added to the shopping cart on an order. Now, each Distributor can make that decision for themselves.

There are 9 different options that each Distributor can choose between to have freight calculated to suit the needs of their sites.

A distributor can do many things starting with adding a percentage to calculate in cases where the Supplier doesn’t offer freight or even turning off the freight calculation completely.

Below is a quick list of the preferences offered:

• Use the Supplier-provided freight data
• Set a flat shipping rate per item
• Set a flat shipping rate per order
• Add a flat fee to existing freight
• Add a percentage markup to existing freight
• Use the Supplier freight if available, if not available, use a flat fee
• Use percent of order total only (total of products)
• Use Supplier freight if available, if not available, use a percentage of product total
• No Freight – do not include freight on orders

To get to this preference:

1. Go to Account Menu > Preferences> Website Preferences
2. Click on Preferences to the right of the DC Site that you would like to modify the settings
3. Click on Shipping in the left box
4. Scroll down to the question titled, “How should shipping be calculated on orders?”
5. Select the option that you would like to use (see the guide below for an explanation of each option) and if needed enter your % in the field provided
6. Save your changes

See this guide to get instructions and a more detailed explanation of each option.

Did you know that you can add correspondence to an order or a customer?

Did you know that you can add a reminder to that correspondence if you use Outlook?

This would be helpful in a situation where you need to go back to the order or take action with an order or customer.

One distributor is using it to remind herself to send out Thank You notes after orders ship and also reminding her when it is a customers birthday.

Some others are using it to remind themselves that they need to call their customer back for a follow-up.

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Follow these steps to set your reminder from an Order Summary page:

 1. Go to the Order Summary page

2. Go to the Customer order area at the top

3. Click on Add/Email to the right of the Correspondence section 

4. Then check the box to send a reminder at the top of the page and enter a date for the reminder (1 & 2 below)

5. Then scroll down to the bottom (make sure that you don’t have any external emails selected) and type in your reminder message. (3 below)

6. Click Save Correspondence. (4 below)

7. You will see a download message in your browser, you can click on that and select Open or Run (dependent on your browser)

8. Now select “Save and Close” in the top right of your Outlook Window. This will set up your Outlook and you will get a pop up reminder on the date and/or time specified.

You can also do this same type of reminder directly from your Customer Correspondence:

1. Find your customer in your database

2. Click on Edit

3. Click on the Correspondence tab

4. Now click on Add New Correspondence on the top left and follow instructions above starting with #4

 Let us know if you have any questions regarding this blog:  info@distributorcentral.com

We are now offering an XML feed of product Data for our advanced users!

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 on about this feature:   XML Guide

Stop by our booth at the PPAI Show next week! Our booth number is 5555.

We are also having a Power User Social & Networking Event on Tuesday night. All are welcome to stop by, both Distributors and Suppliers. It will be adjacent to the New Product Pavillion Sneek Peak. It will start at 5 and last til 7.

We hope to see you there!

General Website Info:

When you get your Distributor DistributorCentral account, you also get a free website creation software. There is no limit to how many pages or websites you can have or what you can put on your site. We have online video tutorials, training seminars and templates that provide support to help you build your site, but the design work is up to you and your imagination.

DistributorCentral will also host your domain name(s) and your e-mail at no charge. With the customer-friendly version of the DistributorCentral product catalog, your customers can search for products and place orders on your website. If you already have a website of your own, we can provide you with a link for the product catalog and shopping cart that you can put onto your existing site.

DistributorCentral Example Websites:

The DistributorCentral website software is extremely versatile and will accommodate the needs of users with no website design experience and those with years of HTML and website experience. See the list below to see sites within DistributorCentral ranging from simple to advanced.

Simple – simple.dcdistributordemo.com – Basic website design with no HTML/CSS used

Intermediate – www.dcdistributordemo.com – Moderate website design used with high use of graphics and no HTML/CSS used

Advanced – advanced.dcdistributordemo.com – Complex website design with high use of graphics and HTML/CSS

Niche/Target – green.dcdistributordemo.com – Moderate website design with a customized catalog and low use of HTML/CSS

Resource Site

Image Resource Website www.distributorcentral.com/websites/imagesforyourwebsite

Helpful Reference Sites

www.distributorcentral.com/websites/distributor (reference & educational site)

Here is a good site for general website design http://websitehelpers.com/design.

Check out this site to help create images and buttons: http://www.cooltext.com

You have the following options for creating a website in your DistributorCentral account:

1 – You can use our web editor that is included in your DistributorCentral account to design a site. There is no cost involved, however you will need to dedicate time learning our system by watching our website video tutorials.

2 – We have a 99$ website feature where we can design a website for you based off our templates. In your DC account is a  list of templates that you can use for our $99.00 website special (one time setup fee, no monthly or reoccurring charges).

3 – If you want a more advanced website, DistributorCentral has partnered with the following people to provide website design using the DistributorCentral software. Each designer works independently and will have his or her own price structure.Contact the designers to inquire about estimated time of completion, the style of your site and other details.

Click here to view their contact information

DistributorCentral was designed to allow Suppliers to provide Distributors complete  product information so that paper catalogs are not required AND to provide Distributors product information for their  websites. Supplier product information in DistributorCentral is used on over 10,000 websites  that are either hosted by DistributorCentral, linked to DistributorCentral, or use DistributorCentral for product information feeds. Over 35,000 Promotional Products industry members have DistributorCentral logins so that they can do product research.

What we are learning as we gain more experience in the e-commerce world is that results on websites increase as the shopping experience becomes less complicated. Ideally once a Buyer selects “Order Now” and starts the shopping experience the fewer steps they experience the more likely they will be to complete the purchase. The offsetting issue in conflict with this is that Suppliers in an effort to eliminate the need for their paper catalogs are including every possible option that might be considered if a product is to be ordered. Suppliers want Distributors to be aware of every possible charge or option a product may have to ensure that the order is placed correctly.

How can these conflicting goals be handled in the DistributorCentral model?

When Suppliers setup their product information in DistributorCentral we advocate that all text copy is Buyer friendly. There should be no references to “contact the factory” or “call for details”. All text copy in the general product information is seen by Buyers on thousands of Distributor websites. There is a “Distributor Only” section on every product for Suppliers to provide Distributors with specific product information that they should know.

We encourage Suppliers when adding the Options to their products to think thru whether each Options is “Required” or “Optional”. We are encouraging Distributors with e-commerce websites to turn off the “Optional” options in their shopping cart. This has resulted in higher success rates as the shopping experience is less complicated and requires fewer steps.  It is important that Suppliers do have the Options they need to manufacture selected as “Required” but are mindful that Options selected as “Optional” are turned off on most e-commerce sites.

Distributors, to turn off the “Optional” options for products in your shopping cart on your website:
- Go to Add/Edit Websites
- Click on the Preferences link for the website
- Go to the Orders tab
- Select “Yes” for the “Do you want the shopping cart to only display required options?” preference
- Click on Save and then Publish your website

We’ve added a new feature that will display any incomplete orders you have started in your DistributorCentral account as well as orders that have not been completed from your DistributorCentral website.

To access this feature, go to your Orders Menu and select Incomplete Orders.

Incomplete orders from your website will only display if the customer has added the product to the shopping cart and proceeded past the shipping information page in the ordering process.

Any Incomplete orders older than 7 days will automatically be removed from this area.

Note: The most recent incomplete orders may actually still be in ordering process on your website. It is not recommended that you complete an order unless your customer has notified you.

NOTICE: We will be doing maintenance this Friday, 8/22/08, starting at 8:00 PM Central for an estimated two hours. DistributorCentral.com and all DC-hosted websites will be unavailable during this time.

You asked for it, we listened: DistributorCentral has joined the blogging bandwagon! Tune in here to keep abreast of the latest news, updates, and feature releases from the DistributorCentral team.

With the rapid growth of our community of distributors and suppliers, and the increasingly sophisticated features that we continue to roll out, it is our goal to use this blog to keep in regular contact with you, our users, so that you will know about the latest features to help you streamline your business as soon as they become available.

We are excited about this endeavor and we look forward to working with you as we move forward in our role as an industry technology leader.