Q2 2023: What's New?

A new Order Merging feature

Venditan Commerce now has the ability to pack two or more orders into the same shipment. If a customer has placed several orders back-to-back, the items can now be packed within the same parcel.

The update allows multiple orders to be merged into one shipment if:

• They use the same delivery service.
• They are placed through the same sales channel (marketplace).
• They are placed by the same customer.
• The delivery address is the same for the orders.

During the packing process, Venditan Commerce will flag to the packer that the order is eligible to be merged. This is the opportune moment in the packing process, as the operative will have the items for the other orders readily available.

Our customers stand to make savings, paying couriers for one shipment only, as opposed to several. If using a shipping aggregator like ShipEngine, then the client would only pay for one label generation, too.

It is also far more convenient for the customer, who will only have to track one parcel containing their orders.

Read more: Order Management System for eCommerce

Two-way colour and size selection

We know that size and colour are the two main selection drivers for clothing products. Typically, a website user will select their combination of these two variations (“I want this t-shirt, in a size medium, in blue ”) and then be notified as to the availability of that product:

This is unproblematic if the product is fully stocked, but if inventory is running low, it can lead to user frustration. Users select their size or colour and then have to cycle through the various options to gain an understanding of what is actually available.

A recent update launched on the Sigma Sports website provides greater visibility on out-of-stock product variation combinations.

When users select their size preference, the colour swatches will retrospectively update to reflect their availability, and prompt the user to select an alternate, available colour.

Similarly, if the user selects their colour preference first, the unavailable sizes will display as such.

The interface also displays all available swatches so users can fully assess their options.

Three new integrations: Klaviyo, Nibble & TrustArc

Klaviyo

Venditan Commerce is now integrated with Klaviyo.

What is Klaviyo?

Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform that automates eCommerce SMS and email marketing to help businesses gain, retain and grow their customers.

What does the integration mean for Venditan Customers?

Clients that use Klaviyo, or are considering it for future use, will benefit from a well-rounded integration where their website and Venditan Commerce push data to Klaviyo.

Venditan Commerce can now send the following data to Klaviyo:

• Placed Orders
• Fulfilled Orders
• Products Ordered
• Emailing marketing opt-in

With Klaviyo events installed on the website, it means that any activity generated from our clients’ Klaviyo campaigns is now fully trackable. The integration syncs this information back into the Klaviyo system, meaning our customers can analyse user profiles containing rich data on their journey across the website.

We’ve also integrated Klaviyo into Venditan Commerce Retail, allowing customers to opt-in when requesting e-receipts.

Nibble

Nibble is a third-party interactive chatbot aimed at improving conversion rates by negotiating customised deals with customers.

Website users can haggle with the chatbot to get the price of a product down. The chatbot is configured with rules to either improve conversion or preserve margin, whilst adhering to a walkway price to prevent the item being sold at too great a discount.

This tool could be restricted to certain products that are tagged, or enabled across all products, and can be useful for clearing old stock directly before it is sold on external marketplaces.

TrustArc

TrustArc is a user consent management solution. It enables us to capture the first/third-party consent that a website will need to use during the user’s session.

Once a user lands on the website a pop-up is presented to them, requesting consent to third parties that are:

• Necessary, without which the website will not function (such as payment providers)
• Providing additional functionality to the website
• Aiding the business’ advertising and marketing

Users are able to deny consent to the two latter categories and will be able to continue utilising the site.

TrustArc allows us to set two types of consent management flows:

• Implied consent
• Expressed consent

Both of those can be tailored by TrustArc on a per-country basis, based on the GDPR law enforced within that country.

Improved reporting on Verifone P400 transactions

We have made updates to our EPOS software that allows for better visibility on card types used for Verifone P400 transactions: VISA, Mastercard, Amex and so on.

Our software now collects additional details from the Verifone P400 machines to indicate the type of card used. These additional details are mapped to a unique payment type per card scheme.

This information is available within existing reports, helping our customers to view the split between different payment networks. This will allow them to better understand the different popularities of these payment networks and their subsequent costs to the business, driving future decisions on the acceptance of specific card types.

Charge VAT on second-hand goods profit

Venditan Commerce now offers users the ability to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on the profit generated from the sale of second-hand goods.

This ensures compliance with tax regulations, reducing the risk of legal issues or penalties. Additionally, it promotes transparency and trust, as customers can see the VAT charges upfront.

Customise your eVouchers

We are now giving greater flexibility in customising eVoucher designs within the administration interface of our eCommerce platform.

Clients are now able to:

• Specify the size and alignment of their logo
• Set alignment, font size, font style and format for all text fields
• Set the spacing between the text fields
• Control the order in which the elements are displayed on the eVoucher
• Hide unnecessary optional fields

This allows for creating vouchers that are more consistent with our clients' overall brand.

Updates to our Product Set Creation Wizard

Venditan Commerce’s product set creation feature has been further expanded to introduce the following updates:

• Marketplace scheduling allows a marketplace to be enabled for a product on a given date/time. This is useful for new products that are embargoed.
• Colour selection is now alphabetically ordered, with the ability to search for a colour within the list.
• With one action, users can now add a full range of barcodes and supplier codes across an entire product set.

ShipEngine updates: Support for DX shipping

Users are now able to ship using DX thanks to their recent integration with ShipEngine, our integrated courier aggregator solution. Users are encouraged to reach out to their account manager to discuss any DX shipping requirements or queries.

Save and resume your Supplier Replenishment sessions

Venditan Commerce users are now able to save and resume their Supplier Replenishment sessions, with all filters, entered stock quantities and other configurations saved for future use on the user’s return.

Users will be able to have many saved sessions at once. When a line is no longer required since the previous session, it will be highlighted as disabled and excluded from the current session. Users can only resume their own previous sessions, not those of other users within the business.

Our Supplier Replenishment tool allows customers to create purchase orders usually for periodic purchasing runs within Venditan Commerce. It can also be used as a reference for reviewing suggested replenishment levels to help drive purchasing decisions.

Read more: Purchase Order Management System

Apply a processing charge on returned orders

Returned products can prove costly for online retailers. While products can be resold, resources can be lost through returns processing and wasted picking and postage time.

Venditan clients can now set a returns fee, charging customers a configurable fee that is determined by set specific rules, such as the time duration since the order was placed.

The fee is communicated to the customer when using the returns portal on the website and is deducted from the amount refunded to the customer, so no upfront payment needs to be taken. Customer services agents have the ability to remove the fee in the case of gratuity.

This helps to reduce losses experienced by the business and discourages returns.