Using the B2B Portal

Using the B2B Portal

User-friendly customizable B2B portal for your customers and sales reps to search for products and services, compare prices, and complete self-service transactions online. B2B portals are focused on companies doing businesses with each other, for example, manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers. Both your customers and your sales reps can place orders. You can watch a video tutorial on the B2B Portal or read this article.

Note: As of September 2023, B2B portal is a paid add-on to your subscription. Legacy customers are not affected by this change.

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Prerequisites

Place an order

The B2B portal functions very similarly to any standard eCommerce platform, with a few additional features and functionalities tailored to B2B customers. Users can browse the catalog using the vertical and horizontal navigation bars and locate the products to order.

Clicking a product image takes the user to the product page, where the quantity is selected and the product is added to the shopping cart. If the product is part of a product family, the user will be able to select quantities of product variants. Once a product has been added, the user can continue shopping. In Matrix view, the option type with the fewest options will be displayed on the horizontal axis, while the option type with more options will be displayed on the vertical axis for ease of display on the screen.

  

Simple products (products not in a family) can be added using the Quick View function. Simply hover over a product image and click Quick View to open a pop up window where quantity can be selected and the product can be quickly added to the shopping cart.

  

When the user is ready to finish the order, they must click the shopping cart icon to view the cart and begin the checkout process. Coupons can be applied at this stage. Click Checkout to proceed.

Note: Any out of stock items can be deleted from the order using the Delete out of stock Items button. When Allow backorder is enabled in the Cin7 core B2B settings, this option will not be visible as out of stock items will be backordered.

  

This will open the checkout page where the user can see any discounts, tax, and the order total. Gift Cards can be redeemed at this stage.

In Step 1, the customer enters a Billing Address. If the customer already has a billing address on record, it will be entered here automatically.

  

In Step 2, the customer enters a Shipping Address. If the customer already has a shipping address on record, it will be entered here automatically. Use the Ship to Company function to also enter a company and contact name, if required.

  

In Step 3, the customer selects a Shipping method. Shipping methods are added when setting up the B2B portal.

  

In Step 4, the customer selects a Payment method. Payment methods are added when setting up the B2B portal.

  

In Step 5, the customer confirms the order, optionally entering a PO number, required by date and notes.
     

When accessing B2B portal through a web browser, you can use Add attachment to upload a file from your computer or device, for example a pdf of an alcohol license or prescription. You may be required to add an attachment to confirm your order. Multiple files can be attached and the size limit of each file is </= 16MB.

Click Confirm order to proceed. This will take the user to the payment page (e.g. for a Stripe, Paypal, or credit card payment), or to the order confirmation screen if payment is not due at this time. This will create a sales task in Cin7 Core.

 

Out of stock items

The administrator can optionally choose to allow customers to view and order out of stock items. By default, this function is disabled and out of stock items will not be shown in the product catalog, even if they have been listed. Customers will not be able to order out of stock items. This setting must be changed by logging into Cin7 Core and going to the B2B portal settings.

Allow viewing and ordering of out of stock items by enabling the Allow Backorders setting, or if backorder is disabled, enable Show out of stock items, under General → Advanced Settings of the B2B portal.

  

When this setting is enabled, out of stock products will be listed on the product catalog with status Coming Soon (if on order) or Out of Stock (if not). Completing an order for an out of stock product will initiate a backorder. See Back Orders for more information on the backorder function.

  

Quick Order

Quick Orders allow the customer to upload a CSV file with product codes and quantities to populate their shopping cart. This saves a significant amount of time for customers who frequently order the same products.

Customers can access the Quick Order function from the My Account menu or the page footer.

The Quick Order page displays the product catalog and a search box. Click products to open the product page and add them to the shopping cart as usual.

Further down the customer has the option to Upload CSV Template.

  • Download template will download a blank CSV template.

  • Download product code samples downloads the same CSV template, but with a list of all the product codes and product names of all items listed in the B2B portal product catalog. Product Quantity is set to 0 by default.

Customers can enter the product code, product name, and required quantity into the blank template, or edit the quantities of the product code sample template, then save the CSV file. On the Quick Order page, click Choose file to select the saved file from your computer or device, then Upload to add the items to the shopping cart.

Note: Product code is a mandatory field. CSV lines with 0 quantity will be ignored during the upload.

  

Uploaded items will be added to the shopping cart, and the customer can check out as usual.

  

Bulk order product family variants

Bulk orders allow the customer to quickly enter multiple variants (size, colour) of product families when making a single order.

Customers can access the bulk order function from the My Account menu or the page footer.

Note: This option will not be available if product family variations are displayed as separate products. This setting can be configured by the merchant from the B2B portal settings.

Product families listed in the B2B portal catalog will be shown here and can be searched using the search box. The customer can enter the variant quantities into the matrix. The option type with the fewest options will be displayed on the horizontal axis, while the option type with more options will be displayed on the vertical axis for ease of display on the screen.

  

When the customer has selected all the required variants, they can scroll to the bottom of the screen to see the bulk order total, then click Update quantity in cart to add the product family variants to the shopping cart. From here the checkout process is completed as usual.

  

My Account

Users can access account features such as managing addresses, managing orders, and changing the password by opening the My Account menu. Simply click the username at the top of the screen to open the My Account dropdown menu.

  

My Addresses

Add or remove addresses from your account by clicking the username to open the dropdown menu, and select My Addresses. Users can also access this page by following the My Addresses link in the page footer. Addresses that are already added to this customer's profile will be shown on this screen automatically.      

Click Add Address to open a pop-up window and enter a new address. Click Add to add the address to the customer's record in Cin7 Core.

  

The default Billing and Shipping addresses in the customer's record will be automatically entered as the billing and shipping addresses during checkout.

Change Password

Customers can change their B2B portal password by clicking their username at the top of the screen to open the My Account dropdown menu, and select Change Password.

  

Hide or Show Prices

Customers can choose to show or hide prices on the B2B portal by clicking their username at the top of the screen to open the My Account dropdown menu, and selecting Hide Prices or Show Prices.

Manage orders

Customers can view existing order details by clicking the username to open the My Account dropdown menu, and selecting All Orders. Users can also access this page by following the All orders link in the page footer.

This page shows information for each order with its payment and fulfillment status. Customers can search for an order number using the top-left search box and export order details in CSV format.
     

Clicking an order opens up more detailed information including delivery address, products ordered, tax, additional costs etc. Carrier information and tracking number are displayed here when they become available.

  

  

Repeat orders

Customers can repeat orders from the All orders page. Open the My account dropdown menu and select All orders. Users can also access this page by following the All orders link in the page footer. Check the box next to the order/s to be repeated and click Reorder to copy the items from that order into the shopping cart. From here, the checkout process is completed as normal.

  

Download or send email invoices

From the All Orders page, customers can click the invoice field of a line to download the invoice for that order in PDF format. Open the My account dropdown menu and select All orders. Users can also access this page by following the All orders link in the page footer.

  

Alternatively, check the box next to one or more orders, then click Send selected to open a popup window. Enter an email address and click send to send the invoices via PDF attachment.


  

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