Vendor Store Management Guide

Brief Introduction

Being part of the WCMp family you get access to a lot of cool marketplace features but that is not all we have in store for you. Once part of our family, WCMp is there to help you take care of your vendors as well. Read this brief overview to see how your vendors can benefit from WCMp

Overview

With WCMp Vendors can :

• Setup their Shops with an easy to use WCMp Vendor’s Setup Wizard
• Change and customize the storefront
• Decide on shipping, refund and cancellation policies
• Choose how they want to be paid by the Admin
• Select and choose shipping methods and rates
• Manage their own products 
• Add and edit Coupons 
• Manage their orders more efficiently 
• Read reports that give them a brief overview of their shop
• Manage and view their commissions 
• Connect with Admins via Announcements and Knowledgebase
• Get an overview of their entire shop with helpful widgets 
• Use Tools that keep their dashboards fresh and happy 

Now that you have seen what is there in store for your vendors once you become part of our family why don’t you read some more to see how each of these features work.

WCMp Vendor’s Setup Wizard

The first thing a vendor would come across right after you activated his account is the WCMp Vendor’s Setup Wizard. This wizard would assist him in setting up his shop as soon as he becomes part of your marketplace. 

Let’s make a quick run-through of how the setup wizard works 

1. The first thing a Vendor sees right after the setup wizard runs is your site logo along with a welcome note written by you in the Vendor Frontend found under vendors tab in WCMp settings of the Admin dashboard.
2. He would then be presented with two options one is the Let’s Go! button and the other is the Later button. Needless to say, the Let’s go button would allow the vendor to continue with the wizard while the later button would redirect to the Vendor’s dashboard page. 

If the vendor chooses to continue with the wizard the first setup page allows him to adjust his Store Settings. Here he would need to set up:

• Store Name: In case this is mentioned in the registration form this field is generally auto-filled but in the case, it is not a default name carrying the vendor’s user id is created. The vendor can rewrite his store name here.
• Store Address: A drop-down list is displayed asking the vendor to select the country in which his shop is located. There are two empty fields below where the vendor can write the specific location of his shop i.e 1124 Random Rd. El Cajon, CA 92020.
• City: The city his store is located in
• State: The state his store is located in
• Postal Code/Zip: the postal address of his store
• Phone: In this field, he can write the number he wants the customers to use to get in touch with him
• Timezone: he can adjust his timezone with the help of the dropdown menu list available here.

3. The vendors can, of course, fill this information or simply skip this step

If the vendor chooses to continue to the second page, the wizard would display a list of payment methods chosen by you to pay your vendor his commissions. The vendor can choose from the list the option that is most preferred by him, his options can range from, 

1. Paypal Payout: If chosen the vendor would have to add his Paypal Payout email id
2. Paypal MassPay: Same as above the vendor would have to add his Paypal id
3. Stripe Connect: Here if the vendor has a Stripe account all he has to do is select the Stripe Connect Button
4. Direct Bank Transfer: When chosen the vendor would have to add his back details

Note: the list would actually depend on the payment options you have chosen in the Payment tab found under WCMp Settings of the Admin dashboard page

4. The Third page displays a message showing the basic setups have been put into place and the vendor could now start his shop. There are a few things the vendor could do right after his Store is ‘Ready’ that are displayed on the last screen, like:

• Create Product: He can add/ create a new product by clicking on this button and he would then be directed to the add product page.
• Visit Dashboard: Clicking this button will direct him to the Vendor Dashboard page
• Payment Configure: Clicking this button will direct him to the Billing page where he can configure his payment options
• Store Customize: He would be directed to the shop setting page where he can customize his store to make it more inviting for his customers

Setup Wizards are a good way to help your vendor especially if he is fairly new to the whole e-commerce business. 

Dashboard

The first thing a vendor comes across right after registering on your site would be the Vendor’s Dashboard. On the Dashboard page, he would get a helicopter view of his store with convenient widgets that would make the job of operating his business easy. 

• The dashboard widgets include a performance marker displaying icons and statements to show how well the store has performed in a limited time period of a month or a week
• Another widget would display a map showing the nations in which he has most active consumers. 
• The vendor can get a quick overview of the transaction he had in the last 7 days, which would mainly include the commissions he had earned.
• There is an Order Shipping Tracker widget that would remind him of orders that are yet to be shipped
• A sales report widget will let him learn about the sale of each product
• A graph showing the products completion statuses like published products, pending products, rejected products etc  
• A widget to learn about customers feedback 
• And finally, a widget that let him answer any query his customer may face 

These widgets are created to make the vendor’s life easier so that he can efficiently handle his business without any needless worries. To learn more about how these widgets read this document carefully.

Reference 4 – Vendor Dashboard

Store Settings

The vendor can make certain adjustments regarding his store here. These mainly include the store appearance found in Shopfront, Store Policies that he greatly abides by, Billings to notify him of payment choice and shipping where he can configure shipping details.

Storefront 

This is usually the first menu option available on his frontend dashboard. Shopfront basically presents a list of settings that the vendor can use to make his store more appealing and informative.

1. Cover Picture: Vendors can upload their banner image or even their shop picture as a cover picture.  
2. Store Logo: Vendors can upload a profile picture or store image as a store logo ‘
3. General Section: Here  the vendor can add or edit their basic store information
   1. Store Name: Here the vendor can add/edit his store name. 
   2. Slug: Vendor slug is normally automatically generated taking your store name into consideration although you can still change it from this section.
   3. Store Description: Vendors can add store description giving buyers an idea about the kind of store owned by them, about what they do, their specialization etc.
   4. Message to Buyers: Vendors can add a message for their buyers at checkout to make them feel welcomed.
   5. Phone: Vendors can add information like the shop number or private number in case they want their customers to get directly in touch with them. 
   6. Email: This information is pre-filled from the time a vendor registers on your site.
   7. Address: Vendors can add their shop address here. 
   8. Timezone:  Vendors select their time zone so that all the dates or time that is shown on the dashboard is adjusted according to timezone selected.
   9. Store Location: here vendors can set their store location to help customers to locate the store.
4. Social Media: Vendors can add their profile links in the respective fields which would be shown on the shop page. These include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Youtube and Instagram.

Reference 5 – Store Settings

Policies

Policies let the buyers know what they are getting into. It also helps build customer trust and confidence regarding a product. They know that once a policy is set the vendor has to keep his end of the bargain or risk losing his customers.  

Policy section 

Vendors can set in their policies or in case they do not the policies set by the admin would be applied. There are three types of policy the vendor can set 

• Shipping: Vendors can fill in shipping details like the processing period or extra charge or even the cases when free shipping is allowed 
• Refund: in case of refund what are the dos and don’t a customer must follow
• Cancellation: in case of cancellation what are the dos and don’t a customer must follow

Reference 6 – Policy Settings

Billing

On the billing page, vendors can choose the payment method in which they want any transactions to take place. To understand this better read more.  

1. If the vendor selects PayPal Masspay, all he has to do is enter his PayPal email unless he has already entered it in your vendor registration form while registering on your site.
2. In case the PayPal Payout option is selected, all that needs to be done is entering the PayPal Payout email id as mentioned before he can skip this step if he had entered it in the registration form provided by you
3. In case the vendor chooses Stripe as a method of payment all he has to do is select the stripe connect button which would link his stripe account with yours.
4. If the Direct Bank option is selected account details must be entered carefully.

Reference 7 – Payment Methods

Shipping

This menu option allows the vendor to configure Shipping details like shipping methods and flat-rate amount. 

Shipping Method 

Free Shipping: Vendors can decide to use this option if they want to deliver their products without any additional shipping amount 

Local Pick-up: This Shipping method is one,  where the customers would be able to pick-up their selected items from a place designated by the vendor 

Flat Rate: This method of shipping is the most popular and the most used way of shipping. Here the vendor can add an amount as a cost for shipping an item from designation A to designation B. 

The rates of shipping can be configured with the help of a shipping table which will help vendors configure shipping rates based on weight, country or state. To know more details on how the table rates work read this document kindly. 

Reference 8: Vendor Shipping Settings

Product Manager

This is where the vendors can manage all his products. Product manager comes with two sub-menus: All products and Add Product.

All Product: All products menu lets the vendor view all the products created by them. They can also view the product statuses and take actions like view edit or delete them.

Add Product: Here vendors can create new products. Read this how-to guide to know more on adding and viewing products

Reference 9 – Vendor Product Manager

Coupons

This is where the vendor can manage all his coupons. Coupons like the product manager come with two sub-menus: All Coupon and Add coupon.

All Coupons: Vendors can view coupon details like the amount, usage limit and expiry date here. He can also take actions like editing, viewing and eventually deleting in this section.

Add Coupon: Vendors can create their coupons here. Read this how-to guide to know more about adding and viewing products.

Reference 10 – Coupon Manager

Stats/ Reports

The Stats and Reports section present to the vendors a statistical report about the store sales , coupon charges, commissions and many more.

Overview

This section gives a quick overview of how the shop is running. Vendors can view:

• Total Number of Sales – This refers to total the amount a vendor has received from the sale of all his products.
• My Earnings – Under this heading, the vendor would be able to view the total commission amount he/she receives from the Admin.
• Number of Orders Placed – Just as the name suggests vendors would be able to see the total number of orders he/she has received
• Number of Products Purchased – This section displays to the vendor the actual number of products sold, as opposed to the total amount of payment earned through the sale of a product.
• Number of Coupons – In this section a vendor is able to view the aggregate number of coupons used within the date range,
• Total Coupon Discount – From this section vendors can infer the total amount of money gained through coupon discounts. (Discount amounts are different from usual amount as the amount received is less than that which is earned from a normal sale.)
• Total Number of Unique Customers – This refers to all the customers who visit and purchase products from the vendor store (repeating customers will be calculated once). 

Note: You can download a CSV of the same or filter and see by changing the date range.

Reference 11: Stats/ Reports

Banking Overview 

A banking overview is like a financial ledger book that keeps track of the vendor’s financial account details. Vendors can view:

• Initial Balance: Initial balance is the amount the vendor has been paid previously before that time-range.    
• Total Credit: Total credit is the amount that the vendor has earned by selling his products within a given time range 
• Total Debit: This refers to the amount the vendor can withdraw from his/ her store account 
• Ending Balance: The amount that the vendor is left with after completing transactions is called the ending balance

Reference 12 – Banking Overview

Orders

This section displays all the vendor’s orders. The table shown lets the vendor keep track of all his orders by letting him view:

• View an order Id for all his orders 
• The date on which the order was placed 
• The commissions earned from that particular order
• The status of those orders (completed or not)
• Finally, actions that he can take
  • Eye icon: lets the vendor view his order
  • Download icon: Vendors can download the CSV file of the corresponding order
  • Truck icon: this lets him provide the shipment tracking details – Shipment Tracking URL and Tracking ID. The URL and ID entered here are mailed to the customer so that they can track their order.

Reference 13: Order Management

Payments

Withdrawal

 This sub-menu only appears in case the admin has allowed the vendor to request for withdrawal.  Here the vendor would be able to see his order id. Commission earned on that order, shipping amount, tax amount and finally the total amount. To know more read here.

Reference 14: Payment Management

History

This menu is used to see all your previous commission transactions. Here, the vendor can download a CSV file of the transactions that had taken place.

Reference 15: Payment History Log

Knowledgebase

This section is used by admins as a tutorial section. The admin might add tutorials, best practices, ‘how to’ guides for the vendors’ help. This keeps the vendors posted in case of an update.

Reference 16: Knowledgebase

Tools

Normally, all your widget data are refreshed daily and you’ll notice a change every day. However, instant changes might not be noticeable due to caching. The widgets that might face caching are Key Performance Indicators, Visitors Map, Customer Reviews and Customer Questions ( these are widgets on the vendor dashboard ). If you face caching, click on Clear Transients and you’ll get an instant refreshed data.

Reference 17: Tools

Topside Menu Options

Site Logo / Site Title

Takes the vendors to the home page of the marketplace website you are selling on.

My Shop

This takes the vendors to the frontend of their store. He can get an idea of how others view his shop 

Add Product

Redirects to the same page as the Add Product sub-menu under Product Manager.

Announcement

Here vendors are able to view any important announcement made by you. In case of any new announcement, a red dot will appear with a number denoting the number of announcements. Once selected vendors will be directed to the page they can view these announcements.  On the page he shall see:

From the All tab: He can either mark a notice as read or delete it by clicking on the down arrow.

From the Read tab: He can either mark a notice as unread or delete it by clicking on the down arrow.

From the Unread tab: He can either mark a notice as read or delete it by clicking on the down arrow.

From the Trash tab: He can always restore the notice by clicking on the down arrow.

Orders

Redirects to the same page as the Orders menu.

Reference 18: Topside Menu Options

User Profile

The User Profile presents to a vendor a set of options that lets him/her manage his/her store and personal information. These options include –

• Storefront – This option will direct the vendor to the storefront page where he/she can manage and edit details of his store.
• Profile Management – The profile management option leads vendor to the page where he/she can edit his/her personal information
• WordPress Backend – As the heading suggests this option will lead the vendor to his account backend.
• Logout – The vendor can logout from his account after selecting this option

Reference 19 – User Profile – Profile Management

With this, we complete our tutorial on vendor store management. Hopefully, with this document, you have succeeded in learning more about the vendor store.

P.S. Have more ideas to share or facing a hard to explain the issue? Our quick support will definitely help you in the right direction… that’s a word you can trust.