Know why shop owners would use it
A shop owner orders when stock runs low, often late at night after closing or early before opening, not when the rep happens to call. An app lets them order at that moment, see what they will pay and check on the order without phoning your office.
For you, every order placed in the app is one nobody typed in, read back over the phone or misheard. The rep’s visit can then go on what visits are good for: the shelf, new lines and payment.
TipStart with customers who already order by phone or message; they have the habit and only need a better channel.
Show each shop its own prices
A shop owner who sees a price in the app expects to pay it. It must be the price on the customer’s own price list, the one the rep would charge, not a general price with a discount promised later. Two channels at two prices teach customers to shop between them.
Totals must be worked out by the same rules as an office order, with quantity breaks, discounts and VAT, and the total on the phone must be the total on the invoice. An app that does its own arithmetic will one day disagree with your books, and the customer will remember the lower figure.
- The customer’s own price list, or your default
- Prices per unit, such as piece or carton
- Discounts applied by the same rules as the office
- VAT shown the way the invoice will show it
- One total on the phone, the order and the invoice
TipBefore launch, place the same order in the app and in the office and compare the totals line by line.
Sell only what you can deliver
An app that takes an order for stock you do not have creates a phone call to apologise. Checkout should compare each line with what is really available in the warehouse that will ship it, and refuse a short line while the customer can still change the cart.
The same goes for minimum quantities. If an item is sold only in sixes or by the carton, the app should say so in the cart, not after the order is placed.
TipTell the shop how many are left when a line is short, so they can take what you have.
Deliver only where you serve
An online order is a promise to deliver. Decide where you deliver before you open the app, and refuse checkout from addresses outside those areas, rather than accepting the order and calling later to cancel it.
Each delivery area needs a warehouse that ships to it, reps who cover it, and a decision on whether delivery is charged. Setting delivery areas and fees has a guide of its own.
TipOpen the app first in the areas your reps already cover every week.
Make signing in easy and safe
Shop owners will not keep a password for a supplier’s app. Sign-in by phone number with a one-time code is simpler and, when codes expire quickly and tries are limited, safe enough for ordering. The owner should also see which phones are signed in to the account and be able to sign one out.
Decide who in the shop may order. Often it is the owner and one assistant; whoever it is, their orders should land on the same customer account, with the same prices and limits.
- Sign-in by phone number and one-time code
- Codes that expire within minutes
- A limit on tries and on new codes
- A list of signed-in phones, each removable
TipRegister the owner’s number during a rep visit, and have the rep watch the first sign-in.
Keep the order inside your normal process
An app order should land in your system as a sales order like any other, with the same credit check, the same stock and the same invoice. If online orders follow a separate path, someone ends up copying them across, and the advantage is lost.
The shop owner should be able to follow the order, accepted, out for delivery, delivered, and cancel it while it still can be cancelled. Each update they can see is one call your office does not take.
- The shop places the order in the app
- Your system prices it and checks credit and stock
- A rep who covers the area takes the order
- The rep delivers and collects payment
- The invoice posts like any other
TipLet reps see app orders from their own customers, so they are never surprised at the shelf.
Checklist: Before you open online ordering
- Choose the first customers to invite
- Check every customer has the right price list
- Compare app and office totals on a test order
- Set minimum quantities where items need them
- Draw the areas you deliver to
- Assign reps to every delivery area
- Decide whether delivery is charged
- Register each owner’s phone number
- Agree how payment is collected on delivery