When we talk about Company Stores and Permissions, what exactly are we talking about? And why would your client want or need a store with permissions? The big reason is that different shoppers (or users) may have a need for different rights and privileges throughout the same Company Store.
Let’s look at an example. Within one company, you might have two groups that need to purchase products for completely separate reasons. A marketing group needs to purchase promotional products for tradeshows and in-field-employees need to purchase uniforms for work. A store with permissions lets both of these groups shop in the exact same store and see only the products, logos, and payment methods they need to successfully order their products.
Store administrators are able to control several elements:
Store Access
There are three ways for shoppers to access, or see and be able to shop in a store with permissions. Public Stores allow users to see the store and shop without an account. They can either checkout as a guest or self-register for an account. Private Stores forces users to log into the store, either upon arrival to the site or when they checkout. A very popular third option, a Hybrid Store, is a public store with login access for certain group and user level permissions.
Once a user has an account, they can then be placed in a group to with permissions set by the store administrators. From there, administrators can set limitations or controls on what that user can see and do in the store.
Category and Products
As mentioned in the example above, one common reason to have a store with permissions is so shoppers can only see the categories and products they need to purchase. Having permissions on categories and products is a great way to manage what users are purchasing to control spending.
Logos
Companies work hard at their building and investing in their logo to maintain their brand. Setting permissions on logos is a great way to ensure the correct logo is used every time. Support multi-brand corporations by offering shoppers a choice of logos. And with permissions, you can restrict which logos the user may see and use. Going back to the example above, if the marketing department has a special version of a logo they need to use for an event, it can be made available only to that particular group.
Payment Methods
The payment method a particular user can use in the store can easily be controlled with permissions and offer a company a huge opportunity to manage their spending. Bright Sites accepts a variety of payment options such as credit card gateways, gift certificates, coupons, and points.
Custom Payment Methods are also accepted. Some examples include purchase orders, payroll deductions, activity/event, department codes, no payment required, and whatever else you might need to offer your client.
We often get asked, what is the difference between an Account Balance and a Budget? An Account Balance is a balance that users can redeem to pay for their order. A Budget is a tool to place a limit on spending. Back (once again!) to the example used above – maybe the Marketing Department has an annual budget of $50,000 to spend in the Company Store and a Marketing Manager is given a balance of $7,500 to spend in the store. Each purchase the Marketing Manger makes in the store is counted toward the department’s budget.
Wrap Up
To find out if your clients want or need to take advantage of the Permission Features, ask them these simple questions:
- How are shoppers accessing the store?
- What are they allowed to see?
- Do they have the same permissions as other users?
- How will they make their purchases?
Once you chat with your client and find out exactly how they want to use their store, setting up and managing the permission features is a breeze!