Managing Commerce
The Commerce manual incorporates Products, managing Order Catalogues, Orders and Inventory. The majority of these settings are necessary to define and manage your goods, whether you will be accepting orders via the app/portal or the backend, and is applicable to both rewards and subscription businesses.
It’s a good idea to read the Business Network manual and understand the Organisation structure before creating any new Products. If you are using a multi-merchant setup then you may need to masquerade to another organisation level to create the Products. In a nutshell, any products created at the Business level are accessible by all Merchants, however, any Products created at the Merchant level are not accessible by other Merchants. This will affect how your order catalogues are created.
Products
Products are the physical goods and services that your business will be selling, product definitions include pricing information and images. It’s imperative that Products are configured correctly, firstly because they will appear on an app or portal for your customers to select and order, and secondly, so that you have the ability to classify these products for display purposes (e.g. on the app), or to create offers/promotions.
Ensure that you have created the relevant Product Settings prior to configuring your Products.
Navigate to Commerce > Products
Creating a new Product
SKU
When creating a new product you will be prompted for a SKU which must be unique. If you also have your products listed in another system (e.g. POS) then use the same codes to define your products, this will assist current or future POS integration.
Type
The Type of the product determines it’s overall characteristics and behaviour, choose the relevant product Type for your Product. Refer to Settings for configuration.
For Products that have been defined as a Composite Type, you will be able to add Compositions (i.e. other standalone products that can be offered with this product, such as sugar options for a coffee) and Variants (i.e. options or features of a product, such as a size and colour for a t-shirt).
Family
By defining a product as belonging to a family, you will be able to include it in offers or promotions according to it’s classification.
Categories
Select one or more Categories for your product. If your product will be available for ordering then assign the sub-category that is should appear under on the app/portal. Refer to Settings for configuration.
Images
Adding an image of a product is important as it provides a visual representation to the consumer when ordering, via the app or portal. There a several images types to choose from, at this stage we recommend that you use:
Avatar - This image is displayed on your product list for ordering purposes (along with all the other product images)
Hero - This image is displayed when a product is selected
If either of these two image types are omitted, then one will be used in place of the other.
Select the Edit Images option from the Product screen to see all defined images of a product or to add a new image.
Variants
As mentioned previously, a Variant represents a characteristic of a product, typically a size or colour. If you need to setup Variants for your product, expand the Variants section, select Add Variants, and then proceed to select the configured variants that apply to the product. The variations of your product must also be defined as Products, if these are existing products then select the Add Existing Products check box and provide the respective product SKU or name to locate and select the product. If the products don’t exist, just complete the SKU and Name fields and the products will be automatically created.
The variant attribute definitions and variant products will be available for selection during ordering so take care to provide meaningful names that will be intelligible to your customers.
Refer to the Commerce Settings configuration at the end of this document for further information.
Composition
If your product can be sold with modifiers (i.e. other flat products that can be added onto the main product) then these need to be defined in the Composition section using the Add Component option. Examples of modifiers are the different types of milk or sugar options that can be added to a coffee.
CRM5 provides the option to group a product’s modifiers into Component Sets and then add these sets to the main product, e.g. grouping of all milk options (full fat milk, skimmed milk, almond milk etc.) as a Component Set.
The Compositions defined for your Products will be visible to your customers when ordering, so ensure that these are meaningful and understandable.
Refer to the Commerce Settings configuration at the end of this document for further information.
Upsell Products
Define those products that could be offered to the customer as an upgrade (i.e. a more expensive product) as opposed to their selected product.
Crossell Products
Define those products that could be sold in combination with the customer’s selected product, e.g. offer a muffin when purchasing a coffee.
Unavailable Products
It’s possible to define unavailable products for ordering at the Merchant and Venue level, simply navigate to Business Network > My Merchants/My Venues > select a merchant/venue > expand the Products not available for sale section and add the products here. These products will appear greyed out on the app/portal.
Order Catalogues
Navigate to Commerce > Order Catalogues
Order Catalogues are used for ordering purposes on front-end systems like mobile apps and portals. Create an Order Catalogue to define a set of products that can be sold at a specific day/time, e.g. Brunch, Lunch and Dinner catalogues. Multiple Order Catalogues with overlapping days and times can be defined, in such cases the customer will be able to select from which Order Catalogue to order.
An Order Catalogue can be defined at the Business or Merchant level and contain products belonging to either of these two organisations.
The categories and sub-categories defined for the Order Catalogues will appear with the set of selected products when ordering.
It is not mandatory for an organisation to create an Order Catalogue, if not defined, then the standard Product Catalogue will be used for ordering instead.
Orders
Navigate to Commerce > Orders
Orders placed by consumers are manageable from the backend system either in Kanban view or List view. An order can be in one of four stages at any given time (New, In Progress, Completed, Cancelled).
Select the gear option in the top right-hand corner of the screen to see the other two statuses Completed and Cancelled.
Progress an order to another stage either by dragging and dropping the order using the hamburger icon or selecting the more options icon
Orders can also be placed from this screen using the Create Order option.
Configure Orders to be automatically transitioned to a status of Completed using a Fulfilment Policy (navigate to Settings > Commerce > Fulfilment Policy > select a policy > Automatically set Order life cycle state to Completed after …)
Inventory
Navigate to Commerce > Inventory
Your warehouse is where all your stockable products (traceable and non-traceable) are stored. Products from the warehouse can be sold or rented to customers, or returned by a customer. The stock balance is adjusted accordingly whenever a stock item changes ownership.
View Stock Balance
This option allows you to view the stockable products stored in your warehouse. Select the View Devices option for a traceable product to view all respective devices stocked.
Select the more options icon to perform:
Stock In - This action is performed by a system user when taking delivery of products, typically when receiving new devices. For existing devices, the stock-in transaction can only be performed through another process (e.g. a credit note for returning a device, or a rental return for a Subscription).
Stock Adjustment - Adjust the stock balance for traceable or non-traceable products. For traceable products you will be required to provide the serial numbers of products being added or removed from stock, for non-traceable products simply provide the new stock balance.
View Transactions
This is a log of all transactions performed against warehouse items, click on the eye icon to view further details.
A warehouse is automatically created upon registration of a new Business
Products must already be defined in the system (Commerce > Products) with a Type classification of traceable physical good or non-traceable physical good (refer to Types in Product Settings for further details)
Commerce Settings
Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Products
Products
Define settings relevant to how Products will be configured.
Name Rules
Define whether duplicate product names will be permitted.
Brands
Define any product commercial brands, each product can have only one brand.
Families
Define product families to have the ability to group products of similar characteristics, each product can belong to a single family.
Categories
Categories can be fined in a hierarchical structure and provide a business classification for your Products, one or more categories can be assigned to each Product.
Categories for Ordering
If you will be using an app or portal for ordering purposes, then make sure that your categories have meaningful names, as these will be visible to the consumer. A two-level structure consisting of a main category and sub-category must be defined in such cases and the sub-category should be assigned to the product for ordering.
To make main category and sub-category visible on the app/portal you need to activate the Available in order menus checkbox.
Once the categories have been defined, assign them to the products that will be available for ordering, there is no need to assign a category to variant products.
Variant Attributes
Create the variant attributes for your Products, these can be included as part of the Product Type definition.
Types
The Product Type definition determines the behaviour of the product and it’s configuration.
Classifications
Termed Service - services provided continuously and billed for a recurring period, regardless of usage, such as a TV channel
Usage Service - services provided upon customer request and which are billed, based on their usage/consumption, such as a telephone call, internet or petrol refuelling
One Time Service - services provided and billed once with either a specific amount or based on duration if provided to customers through an task/appointment (for example how long an installation service requires)
Expense Service - services provided and billed once, for a fixed amount, such as a start up fee or a penalty fee. Expenses can also be billing on a recurring basis, but always based on a fixed amount
Traceable physical good - (installed items, i.e. decoders) can be traced through a unique identifier (serial number)
Non traceable physical good - (e.g. magazines) can be traced to a single instance and are measured based on quantity
Composition Method
The product composition determines whether a product is offered as a standalone product or as a bundle of products.
Flat - a single service or physical good
Fixed Bundle - a selection of flat products offered as one product
Cannot include Expense Service or Usage Service products
The price represents the bundle price and not its individual products
The bundle product is the provisionable product for which stock is maintained (if a physical good, and if stockable)
Can include a combination of physical goods and services e.g. a decoder and an installation service
Flexible Bundle - a variable selection of flat products that are customisable
Cannot include Expense Service or Usage Service products
The bundle’s components are selected at the time of ordering
Prices can be specified on both the bundle and its products
Provisioning is applied on the bundle components (not on the bundle)
The bundle product is included in stock balance calculations
Can include a combination of physical goods and services e.g. a decoder and an installation service
Composite - is a product that is sold in multiple variations
Must be a physical good
Has a set of variant attributes defining the multiple variant products in which the product is sold (e.g. small, medium, large)
Each variant product has its own SKU, and optionally a price
If stockable, the total stock balance of the variant product is the stock balance of the composite product
The composite product has a set of compositions
A composition product is a product not sold individually but only as part of a composite product (e.g. Coconut milk is only sold as part of a coffee)
A composition product is classified through its product Type
Can optionally have it’s own price
A Composite product type might be marked as provisionable (e.g. STBs). However the composite product as such does not have any provisioning parameters (external references), but its variant products will do
Component Sets
Component Sets provide the ability to group a set of products together which are not typically sold individually. Component Sets can then be added to a (main) Product of type Flexible Bundle or Composite product.
Tier Paths
Tier Paths are only used for Termed Services, and define the permitted transitions between subscription services, thus classifying a change as an upgrade, downgrade or switch.
Dependency Rules
Dependency rules apply to purchasing products (services or physical goods) and define a set of pre-requisite products that a customer must have already purchased or rented, in order to purchase another product.
Orders
Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Orders
Categories
Not in use.
Cancellation Reasons
Define the reasons for which a customer may cancel an order, one of these can be selected when an order is cancelled.
Numbering Schemes
Order numbers are automatically generated by the system whenever an Order is created, however, you can define the format of the Order numbers using this setting. If not defined the the default configuration is used.
Financial Rules
Financial Rules for Orders can be used to define the type of invoice and credit note to be issued when these are created through an automatic process against Orders. If none are specified then the default types apply. Transaction types for use in Financial Rules can be defined via Settings > Financials > Financial Transaction Types.
Fulfilment Policy
Setup a fulfilment policy to define how and when orders can be fulfilled. A fulfilment policy is set up for an organisation and is by default inherited by all of that organisation's members (merchants, venues etc.) unless a separate policy is set up for a specific member. Multiple fulfilment policies can be setup for delivery, pick-up and on-site (dine-in).
Use Expenses to define additional costs for orders, e.g. a delivery charge. Additional add-on times can be setup using the Order Completion rules.
Completion Rules
Setup completion rules (can be venue specific) to calculate the estimated time for an order to be completed. The completion rules estimated time (if defined) are in addition to the fulfilment policy's estimated time.
Inventory
Navigate to Settings > Commerce > Inventory
Device Statuses
There are pre-defined device statuses in the system describing the state of a device at any point in time. Additional statuses can be configured by the business but should be mapped to one of the default statuses available in order to copy their behaviour:
Available: The device is located within a warehouse and can be either rented or sold
Inactive: The device cannot take part in any warehouse transaction or transfer
Sold: Device belongs to a retailer/distributor or a customer and has been sold through an Invoice
Rented: Device is still owned by the business/merchant but is currently located at a customer's subscription address
Own Device: A customer’s own device, can be transferred to another customer but cannot partake in warehouse transactions
Reference Material
You may also find it useful to refer to the following manuals for further reading in relation to Commerce.
Business Network
Automations
Integrations
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