Key Questions To Ask Your Clients
Opening a Store for your Client is an exciting (and big) decision! While our Stores are very user-friendly to build, there are still some crucial questions you’ll want to discuss with your Client before you get started. Keep reading to learn more about the important questions to consider when building your Clients Company Store.
Who, what, and why?
We’re starting with the basics! Who will be shopping in the store? Will shoppers primarily be employees or the general public? This can impact what type of Permissions and Integrations you may need to enable.
Next, what is the purpose of the store? Does your Client have a specific program in mind? If so, the type of Store they need may vary, which is why it’s a great idea to speak with them before you begin the Store building process.
Last in this category, why do they want a store? This is the part where it is absolutely vital to let your Client talk! A good open-ended question will give you more information about what
they need in their Company Store.
Timeframe, Budget, Look & Feel
Maybe one of the most imperative conversations you need to have is regarding the time frame. So what is your client’s timeframe? For example, when does the store need to launch and how
long does it need to be open? In addition, discovering if it will be a temporary store or open indefinitely is helpful to get a gauge on.
Next we have another very essential piece of information. What is the budget? How much are they going to invest in the store? How will you charge for the work you will do to build their store?
After determining these factors, you can move onto the look and feel of the Store. What is the look they have envisioned? And will the Store need to have full branding or is it going to be lightly branded?
User Experience
We all want End User Clients to have a great shopping experience. That’s why we’ve made our solutions so modern and clean! So what kind of user experience will the shoppers have?
How do you want users to move throughout the store?
Do shoppers need to have individual user accounts? For example, Is it necessary for shoppers to keep track of orders, account balances, and addresses?
Does the store need Permissions? Maybe certain groups of shoppers need to be limited from categories such as:
- Storefront & Admin Access
- Categories/Products
- Logos
- Payment Methods
- Addresses
- Shipping Methods
- Coupons
- Custom Data Collections
Lastly, let’s talk Manager Approval. Do managers need to approve any orders? If it’s necessary for a manager to either approve or deny purchases, we can make that happen.
Payments, Taxes, and Shipping
Now it’s time to think about the checkout experience! How will shoppers “pay” for the
products and will they need multiple payment methods? We offer the convenience of multiple payment methods for all your shoppers such as:
- Account Balances
- Gift Certificates
- Coupon Codes
- Points
- And More!
So what about sales tax? It’s necessary to think about how you are going to properly account for sales tax. Our options include:
- Custom Tax Rates
- Zip code-based Sales Tax
- Avalara Integration
- And More!
Next, does the shopper need to be charged for shipping? We have the latest state-of-the-art options in regards to shipping, like:
- Weight-based shipping
- Flat rate shipping
- USPS, UPS, FedEx
- ShipStation
Products
Products are the most exciting part of any Store! What amazing products and categories will be
Used in your Client’s Store? It’s smart to pick the products together with your Client and determine the categories they should go in.
What about logos, artwork, and personalization? Determine how your client wants to decorate the products. BrightStores also has an incredibly talented custom Store Art Team who truly are eager to learn, be challenged, and mostly to please our Clients through extraordinary store designs.
Make sure you have enough inventory in stock! Do you need the ability to track inventory? You have the option to track store level inventory or LIVE supplier inventory. If you’re interested in Live Supplier Inventory, check out our full page of participating Suppliers here!
Integrations
Integrations allow your store to connect seamlessly to outside programs to increase efficiencies by automating processes. And lucky for you, we have a myriad of Integration for all of your Clients needs! A few of those innovative Integrations include:
- Payment Gateways
- Sales Tax
- Shipping
- Direct Supplier
- Shopworks
- Zapier
- SSO
- Punchout
- APIs
- And More!
For a list of ALL our Integrations, check out our website.
Setting a foundation is the first step and also one of the most important aspects of building any Online Store, so having an idea of questions to ask your Client can be super helpful! While we hope to have given you some valuable insight in this blog, there are many more resources on our website such as our blog and Discovery Document! If you’re interested in downloading it for even more insight into how you can build the best Stores for all your Clients, click here. If you’re ready to get started on your own Store, contact us today!