DistributorCentral Updates and Tips » Suppliers

Discount/Coupon Feature Added for Suppliers.

distributorcentral — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:22:13 +0000

DistributorCentral has add the capability for Suppliers to offer discounts or coupons for their products in DistributorCentral. This tool will work for your products when a Distributor orders them from within their DistributorCentral account, as well as on your website. (Distributors, click here for information on how to add discounts/coupons to your DC website!)

You can use our discount feature to setup and offer discounts in a variety of ways, here are just a few:
- Offer percentage discounts if the product or order total is more than a set amount
- Offer flat rate discounts if the product or order total is more than a set amount
- Offer discounts on freight by percentage or a flat rate
- Offer a coupon code that can be entered to receive a percentage or flat rate discount

This feature is incredibly easy to use, just watch the short video below to learn all about this feature and how to apply it to your website.

Suppliers – Get your Products updated for 2012!

distributorcentral — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:18:47 +0000

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/

Setting up Your Products for Online Ordering

distributorcentral — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:27:30 +0000

Attention Suppliers,

It is critical that you allow your Distributors to not only research your products online, but furthermore, efficiently order your products online. DistributorCentral provides the best product setup solution in the Promotional Product Industry for online ordering. We are also the only service provider that has a system with an aggregated list of the top industry Suppliers, which allows Distributors to order and promote your products online through an actual shopping cart.

What does it take to setup your products for efficient online ordering?

Base Product Information
It starts with great, end user friendly, base product information. Product names, numbers, strong keyword descriptions, nice product images, and of course…current pricing.
Click here to watch a short video on how to set up your base product information.

Options and Choices
Next, is configuring Options and Choices for your products. Options and Choices are the key to allowing your products to be ordered online. An Option is where you present a question to your customers regarding how a product can be customized.

Common Options would be:

- Product Color (choices for this might be, black, white, blue, red, etc.)
- Product Sizes (choices for this might be, small, medium, large, etc.)
- Imprint Location (choices for this might be, front, back, left center, etc.)
- Additional Imprint Colors
- Rush Charge
- Stock Art

Basically, any question regarding customization and add-on charges that apply for your products, should be added as an Option. In times where Options might be too complex to order online, we suggest just adding that information into the Description or Additional Info areas of your products. It’s important to keep the shopping cart process for your products short and simple. We suggest that you setup products with the most common options that your average customer may want to select, however we do not recommend adding every possible Option, since that may cause your products to become too complex to order online by the average customer. More and more Suppliers are starting to consolidate charges for their products and incorporating them into the per piece pricing. Setup charges are becoming a relic of the past with the top industry Suppliers who realize that the more simple a product is, the more likely it is to be ordered online!

Click here to review a guide on how Options and Choices work to allow your products to be efficiently ordered online.
Click here to watch product setup videos that explain how to setup Options and Choices for your products.
Click here to view a demo product that is currently configured on a Distributor website.

Regarding Options, you can decide which ones are required or optional in the shopping cart process. Required, means that customer would have to make a selection before proceeding with the order. Options like, Product Color, should be required since you would need to know that information to be able to process the order.
Click here for more information regarding, “Required” vs. “Optional” Options.

Adding Freight to Your Products
This is one of the most heavily requested features from the Distributors on DistributorCentral. Not only can this help increase online orders, it can also drastically cut down on calls to your customer service department…best of all, it’s not that hard to do!

Click here to review a guide on how to create shipping estimates for your products on DistributorCentral.
Click here for more product setup tips and information on how to best optimize your products for ordering in the DistributorCentral program.

Attention Suppliers – New ROI (Return On Investment) Dashboard

distributorcentral — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:42:46 +0000

Hello Suppliers! DistributorCentral has just released a new ROI (return on investment) Dashboard feature that allows you to easily access stats regarding the value of your DistributorCentral account.

You’ll get access to:
- Active Products
- Product Views
- Products Added To Cart
- Orders Received
- Product Information Requests
- Plus, information to help you make sure that you are maximizing your DistributorCentral account.

To access this feature:
- Login to your DistributorCentral account at www.DistributorCentral.com
- Click on the Dashboard link in the upper-right portion of the page (this page can take a few moments to load)

Suppliers…Make sure to recommend products in DistributorCentral!

distributorcentral — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:28:13 +0000

Hello Suppliers,

When setting up your products in DistributorCentral, you can easily recommend other products to Distributors and End Customers (via Distributor websites) when they are viewing or ordering a product. It’s a similar feature that you see in other online shopping sites, such as Amazon.com. See the You Might Also Like area in the example below.

Here’s how to use the feature:

- Go to the Products menu, and select Add/Edit Products
- Click on the Edit link for any product in your account
- Go to the Ordering tab and scroll down until you see the You Might Also Like area
- Select the products that you’d like to recommend along with that product and click on Save
- Repeat this process for the other products in your line

Ideally, when using this tool, the products you recommend should be all similar. You can select as many products as you like for the You Might Also Like area. If you go over five, our program will add arrows so that the viewer can scroll through the products.

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

distributorcentral — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:12:20 +0000

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

Convert Orders into Quotes

distributorcentral — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:15:17 +0000

DistributorCentral has added a new feature which 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.

To access this feature:

- 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.

Reorder Types

Reorders can be created for any orders in your DistributorCentral account. However, it is only considered a Reorder if the order is for the same Customer. If the order is for a different customer, then you should always enter the order as New Order as opposed to a Reorder.

An exact reorder – This indicates that there are no changes needed to the artwork/printing of the original order. Even if the quantity, shipping information, etc. will vary on the new order, it’s still considered an exact reorder if the artwork/printing remains the same.

A reorder with changes – This indicates that you will need revisions made to the artwork/printing of the original order. For example, if there needs to be a change in the imprint color(s), a change in the imprint, etc.

Rework of previous order – This indicates that there was a discrepancy or mistake with the original either on the Supplier end or on the Distributor end. For example, if the Supplier printed the wrong artwork, the Distributor indicated the wrong shipping address, etc. Oftentimes, the Supplier and Distributor parties involved will agree to a reduced price for Rework orders.

Join us for the Show!

distributorcentral — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:59:03 +0000

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:

Log into your account
Hover over the Education Menu
Click on “DC Show”

Easy as 1-2-3!

Suppliers, you can contribute to our Online Tradeshow:

Upload your own video:

Log into DC
Hover over Education and click on DC Show
Click on “Add New DC Show”
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!

Supplier Website Templates Added

distributorcentral — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:10:59 +0000

DistributorCentral Suppliers…we’ve added several website templates to help you get started on creating your website in DistributorCentral.

Supplier Template – 1
Supplier Template – 2

Click here for more information on website solution.

Suppliers – Host your website with DistributorCentral!

distributorcentral — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:02:26 +0000

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.