There are several processes involved in making a special order for a customer.
- Taking the special order
- Ordering the product
- Receiving the order
- Fulfilling the order
Taking the order
- You will need to find the ISBN of the title the customer wants. If the item is already in your system, you can go to [Purchase Order > Search] and find the title there.
- If the item is not one that you have sold before, [Purchase Order > Search] will give you prompts to add the title to your system.
- Once the special order titles are loaded, go to the pull-down menu in the bottom left of the screen and change it from [Stock Order] to [Special Order].
- A pop-up will ask you for the name of the customer. Put the customer's name into the search and select.
- If it is a new customer, you can use the fields below the search results to quickly add customer details. NB. Do not add the [User Name ID], this will be automatically generated when you save the contact details.
- Add any necessary information into [Customer Line Note] ie. "Email, don't call".
- Take a deposit if necessary. This is one of the few times you will do transactions from Backoffice. All transactions done here are recorded exactly the same as if they were done through CirclePOS. You will have the opportunity to create a receipt after the next stage.
- Once all the information is listed correctly, click [GO]. This causes a number of things to happen, which you can follow up using the [Jump To] box that appears:
- All items in the Special Order are moved to the appropriate distributor carts [Purchase Orders > Cart]. If the Special Order contains multiple items from separate suppliers, this is all taken care of by the system.
- You can print either an A4 or Till Receipt copy of the deposit for the customer. Clicking either of these options opens a new tab with the receipt formatted appropriately. Simply print the page from your browser.
- When you next place an order with your supplier, you will be able to see which items are Special Orders as they will be indicated with [Green Man] icon in the [COs] column.
Placing the order/s
- In most cases, this should just be a part of your normal ordering processes. All items required to fulfil the special order should already be placed in the right carts.
- One quick way to check is to go to [Purchase Orders > Cart] and use the pull-down menu to view all of the carts. The way the carts are listed provide you with the information you need to know at a glance. ie. "United 114 (5)" means there are 114 items in the United Distributors cart, and 5 of those items are for pending customer orders. If you do not order from every supplier every cycle, just use the pull down menu to quickly identify which suppliers you need to order from to fulfil your Special Orders.
- Once you are ready to make your orders from within a cart, you will be able to see at a glance which titles are required for the Special Order as they will be indicated with [Green Man] icon in the [COs] column. If you hover over the Green Man, you will be able to see relevant information about the special order.