Order Management

This is where all the action takes place for the store manager. Many features have been packed into order management because it is so vital to store operations.

Order Creation

New orders can be created through the order management area. The interface uses a simplified product search and shopping cart process to facilitate rapid order entry by staff who are already familiar with the product catalog. This feature is provided as a means to use HostedStore to process orders that originate via phone, mail order, or a retail location. Even though the customer does not order through the Web store, they will still be able to login to the customer account area to track order status and use the other features available.

Ordered Item Modifications

Both ordered item and global modifications can be applied to an order. Individual ordered items can each have their own status, shipping vendor, and tracking number. This capability can address just about every conceivable event that can happen. Some items could be shipped immediately, some items could be back ordered, and others could be cancelled.

What about if more than one unit of item was ordered and all but one is available for shipment? HostedStore can handle that scenario too. Multiple units can be split into separate line items so multiple units of the same item can be assigned a different status, shipping vendor, and/or tracking number.

Global Order Modifications

A status, shipping vendor, and/or tracking number can be applied to an entire order. Once an individual item has been modified global order modifications can no longer be applied. This prevents possible conflicts that could arise.

Price adjustments can be made to the order subtotal, shipping cost, tax, and promotional discount. Adjustments are stored in different fields from the price it is adjusting so that a record is always maintained of the original order price totals and its adjusted price totals.

An encrypted field is provided for making notes about an order. The customer does not see the notes because it is meant for internal use only. Encrypting the field allows payment information or other sensitive information to be stored if necessary.

Shipping Aids

A pick list, packing invoice, and/or mailing invoice can be generated for the order. Like other HostedStore content pages, the HTML is open so a professional looking mailing invoice can be created with the company logo and other details.

A checkbox is provided that when checked will email the customer a notice that their order status has changed. This is convenient for when items are shipped globally or individually. If items are shipped individually, then the default email notice (again, all this can be modified) will show the date shipped, shipping vendor, and tracking number for each shipped item.

Batch Settlement

Orders can be assigned a batch number and a batch adjustment can be applied to the order total. Batching is not necessary for the store to operate. The feature is provided as a convenience for store managers that need to reconcile orders against a batch report from a payment gateway or some other report generated from another source.

Support for Stone Edge Order Manager™

HostedStore can export orders to and receive direct connections from Stone Edge Order Manager. More information about Order Manager can be at the Stone Edge Web site.