B2B eCommerce: Upload
Orders from Businesses or Sales Reps
An increasing number of publishers are enabling independent
bookstores or other customers to place orders on their web site. When the volume
is small, it takes little time to enter these into Cat’s. As order volume
increases a point is reached when it would be more efficient to import these
directly into Cat’s with minimal operator intervention. Typically, this is done
in a batch process one or more times a day or week.
Typically, B2B eCommerce orders are from customers that
already exist in Cat’s. Generally, they are not prepaid, but are on account.
They may be complimentary. Business eCommerce orders may be subject to the same
or different discount and shipping policies from regular orders. The publisher
may or may not already accept 850 purchase orders from EDI trading partners.
The B2B eCommerce orders will be processed from a file. If
the publisher accepts EDI 850 purchase orders, the B2B eCommerce order will
contain codes – such as order type or order qualifier – that indicates a B2B
order. This code will be linked to special programming for identifying the
customer and any other special business eCommerce policies.
Another option is to upload the order in regular order entry
after an operator has identified the customer, purchase order, terms, and
warehouse. This works well in situations where the order needs to be reviewed
before it is uploaded. Typically, the order is provided to the publisher in a
spreadsheet format. After reviewing the order, the publisher saves it into a
file in CSV format. The operator then begins the order in Cat’s by identifying
the bill-to and ship-to customer, assigning the purchase order, the sales area,
terms, and warehouse. Instead of entering the line items, the publisher enters a
special code then the name of the file. The order line-items are uploaded to the
screen. After assigning any price or discount overrides, the operator assigns
shipping and finishes the order.
For more information regarding processing of B2B eCommerce
orders, email your questions (including your name and company name) or call us
at 800-827-2287.
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