Customers and groups
Every customer has an account. Every group has its own prices.
A buyer on any store in your network has a login, an order history, a reorder button and the prices for the groups they belong to. A business checks out on terms with a PO. An employee spends an allowance. A fan pays by card. Each location keeps its own customers. The network sees what the agreement says it sees.
Groups, terms, allowances and invoices read from the same ledger as the orders.
| Group | Gets | Pays by | Orders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coaching staff | Staff price on polos, embroidery covered | Wallet | 6 |
| Varsity parents | Spirit wear promotion, Oct 1 to Nov 15 | Card | 4 |
| Alumni association | Its own catalog, its own store | Card | 2 |
| Reorder | Last season's polo, same logo, same size | One click | 1 |
Groups
Group the buyers. Then price, promote and gift them as one.
Every customer can belong to groups: the varsity roster, one account's employees, a chapter of members. A group gets its own prices, products, promotions and redemption codes. Add a new hire to the group and they inherit all of it in one step. One person can sit in several groups, so the coach who is also a parent gets the coach price on the polo and the parent promotion on spirit wear.
Four kinds of buyer, one account model
The business, the employee, the member and the fan each get their checkout.
What each buyer sees
Their own history and reorders, at their own price. Nobody else's.
A buyer logs into a store under the location's name and sees the orders they placed, the artwork they approved, the box that is coming, and a reorder button for last season's polo in the same size with the same logo. A business buyer also sees invoices, PO numbers and what is outstanding. An employee sees what is left on the allowance. None of them see another customer's anything.
The customer wanted the same polo as last year. The rep dug out the file, rebuilt the quote and sent a PDF.
HR sent a spreadsheet. Half the staff replied. The rep chased the rest for two weeks.
Orders by email, a PO by fax, an invoice keyed twice. Finance asked the rep what shipped.
A budget per employee, reconciled by hand each quarter. Nobody knew who went over until the invoice.
The staff rate for the coach, remembered by one rep, forgotten by the next. Two people at the same school paid two prices.
The location's buyers sat in someone else's table, and the location asked the vendor for its own report.
Whose customers
Each location's customers stay that location's. The network sees the level it agreed to.
A location's buyers are the location's. Their stores, orders, artwork and terms sit inside that location's own space, under the network's rules. Headquarters sees every sale on the ledger, because that is how it collects what it is owed and attributes every rebate. What it sees about the customers behind those sales is set by the agreement and enforced by the system.
| The location sees | Headquarters sees | |
|---|---|---|
| Customers | Its own accounts, groups, history and terms | The level the agreement sets: totals, groups or accounts |
| Sales | Every order on its own stores | Every order in the network, on one ledger, at the moment of payment |
| Prices | Its own group prices, inside the network's floor and lock modes | The price list every store inherits, and where a location has changed margin |
| Receivables | Its own aging | Overdue invoices across the network, by location, before they become bad debt |
"I'm more intrigued with this one because we have a lot of control over being an admin on this."Vendor partnerships lead, franchise system, about 200 locations, on the corporate admin panel, follow-up call
The work
What you never handle, and what you set once.
What you never handle
- The price a buyer sees. Their groups decide it.
- The invoice. It raises from the order and ages in the cockpit.
- The allowance balance. It draws down at checkout.
- The statement. Built from the ledger, per party, per period.
What you set once
- The groups, and the price list each one gets.
- Terms per customer, group or store.
- The allowance per person, and whether approvals are on.