Managing the Store

Overview

The store is an enhanced feature within serviceminder that allows a brand to purchase and restock products necessary to jobs from one place. It is different than inventory but can work in partnership with inventory to allow a brand admin to stay on top of purchasing for all orgs. Franchisees can only order through the store; they do not have access to edit parts within the store. This is intended for high-level users in the brand to use and maintain. 

You will know if your brand has the store set up if you see this option in the top navigation menu. 

To set up a "store", you must get assistance from the serviceminder support team. There is some backend setup needed to provide users access.. 

Settings and Navigation

Orders

Think of this option as the reporting aspect of the store. 

The list of orders provides details on which organization requested these and allows you to create a shipping order. 

Click on the name of the order to get images and details.

You can also download all current or past orders for tracking and reporting purposes. Find these options at the top of the screen. 

Items

Items are equal to parts in the serviceminder system. Click on this option to start adding parts manually.

You must put a name for the part and it needs the same name as the part that franchisees see in their parts list. Meaning, if you have created a list of parts and deployed them to all organizations, what you set up in the store needs to be that exact same part.

You have many fields that are optional to fill out but can enhance the store functionality including adding photos or documents relating to that part/item. 

• Name - this is a required field and you want to make sure it is simple and obvious
• Description - you must include a short description and a long description; some companies make the short description the part order # and the long description the full list of part details; how you organize this is up to your brand and what make sense to your business
• Vendor - you need to create vendors ahead of time to have them appear in the drop down list
• Vendor Part Number
• Dimensions - You can have multiple dimensions, which are options or levels such as color, type of wood or metal, type of finish, etc.
• Unit Price - this is the cost of the part itself
• Weight
• Weight Class
• Availability
• Pictures - if attached to an item, pictures will show on the proposal if they are selected by the customer
• Documents - if attached to an item, pictures will show on the proposal if they are selected by the customer
• Units
• Tags
• New Before
• Featured Before/After
• Discountable
• Pricing - this is the set price that will show to the customer if they select this part; you can also set up Pricing Bands as you would for a part

Importing Parts/Items

There are options at the top of the page if you want to bulk download or import items to get started or make any updates to the store. 

If you have a spreadsheet with the appropriate fields, the quickest and easiest way to make updates is to provide that .csv file to the serviceminder support team. We can use the database to enter the parts list for the store. Again, please be extremely careful when making updates to the parts list because it will affect the store items.

We can fix any error by uploading the corrected parts list, so everything is reversible but it is better to avoid any potential disruptions in the day-to-day operations of the business. 

Dimensions

Click on Dimensions to create categories for dropdown menu.

These are levels, or options of things such as a type of color, type of wood, or type of finish.

• Set Price - 
• Flat Increase -  If you choose this dimension, the price increases by this dollar amount.
• Percentage Increase - If you choose this dimension, the price increases by this percentage.
• Next Dimension - you can build a chain of dimensions that can be selected in sequence; for instance, the "chrome" option can have a secondary or sub category of "none" or "anti-scratch" coating that a customer must choose between

Vendors

Assign the seller that provides you the item. 

Customers and Discounts

This is a list of the organizations that can purchase from the store. These would be your franchisee locations. 

If you click Settings, you can apply special attributes to the org such as buying on credit or applying a discount tier. 

Set up the discount tier via the option in Dashboard. 

Linking Parts to the Store

Once you have items set up. The final step is to connect what lives in the store to what the franchisees see in their parts list. To do that, you will need to go to the Store button in the top menu. 

Click on the name of a part. 

Click the blue Link option. 

How to Unlink an Item

To unlink an item, you also click on the name of the part and select the Unlink option. 

Using the Store

This is internally facing. A customer cannot select through all options on the customer-facing view of the proposal. The owner or sales associate, anyone internal to the business builds out the items on the proposal or makes changes if the customer decides they would rather have cherry finish instead of walnut.

So it is not like Proposal Options in that way. 

On the proposal, Add a new item. Then click the blue pencil. If that item is attached to the store, you will see the dimensions (the options) appear for color, size, whatever was built into the item's fields.

If there are sub categories attached to an option, once the first dimension is selected the second dimension field will appear. 

FAQs

Do I have to link the store item to a part?

Only if this is going to be owner-facing. Some brands choose not to link items in the store and use it as a detailed inventory count or just as a reference for all possible offerings.