Suppliers
Through the Suppliers feature, you can set up accounts for your suppliers to allow them to log in to a custom portal and upload their products to your B2B Wave account. The Suppliers module is a premium feature available to Enterprise subscribers.
Let’s see how you can create accounts for suppliers and monitor their activity on your B2B eCommerce platform. We will also explore how suppliers can add products through their portal and send messages for orders.
NOTE: If you don’t see the Suppliers menu on your account and are an Enterprise member, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our support team.
Creating Supplier Accounts
To add suppliers, please follow these steps:
Step 1. Go to the Suppliers menu and click “Create new supplier.”
Step 2. Click the “Supplier details” tab on the page that opens and fill in the necessary information.
Specifically, here you need to add the following information:
| Company name* | Enter here the name of the supplier’s company. Note that this field is mandatory |
| Full Name* | Add here the full name of the supplier. Note that this field is mandatory |
| Type the supplier’s email address | |
| Language | Select the supplier’s language from the drop-down menu. The language you select here will display on your storefront when the supplier logs in |
| Is active | Check this box if the supplier is active. Otherwise, leave it blank |
| Allow to send messages on orders | Check this option to allow the supplier to send messages for their orders. Otherwise, leave unchecked |
Step 3. Click “Save” to create the supplier account. Remember that you can edit their details even after you have set up their account through the Suppliers menu main page.
Monitoring Suppliers’ Activity
Once you set up a supplier’s account, you can view and monitor their latest activity and approve the products, they’ve uploaded through their B2B Wave account. To do so, complete these steps:
Step 1. Go to the Suppliers menu and click on the appropriate supplier.
Step 2. On the “Supplier edit” page, click the “Latest Activity” tab. Here, you view all products added by the supplier.
Step 3. Approve or delete a product. To delete a product, click on the “X” icon. To approve a product and allow it to appear on your storefront by clicking the pencil icon.
Step 4. On the “Editing product” page, check the “Approved” box, make any other necessary adjustments (e.g., add the product’s brand or adjust its price), and click “Save.” To delete a product, click on the “X” icon.
Once you approve a product, this will appear on your storefront.
Exploring how Suppliers Can Add Products
Once you’ve created an account for your new supplier, they can log in to your B2B portal by clicking “Suppliers Login” on your website’s login page.
Through it, they can view, edit, and add new products. Suppliers can add products manually or import them to their portal. Let’s see how they can do this.
Adding Products Manually through the Supplier Portal
To add products, suppliers should complete these steps:
Step 1. Go to the Products menu and click “+New product.”
Step 2. On the “New product” page, they will need to fill in the relevant information.
Specifically:
| Name | Add the name of the product |
| Code | Add the product code/SKU |
| Description | Add the product description.This description will appear on your storefront |
| Image | Add the main product image. Suppliers can either drag and drop a photo in the “Image” boxor click on it to upload it from their computer |
| Category | Select the product category from the drop-down menu |
| +Add to more categories | Click this button to add the product to more categories |
| MSRP | Enter the product’s MSRP |
| Weight | Typethe product’s weight, if applicable. Otherwise, leave blank |
| Minimum quantity | Add the minimum order quantity for this product, if applicable. Otherwise, leave the field empty |
| Maximum quantity | Type the maximum order quantity for this product, if applicable. Otherwise, leave blank |
| Quantity | Enter the product’s available stock quantity |
| Track inventory | Check this box to monitor the product’s inventory. Otherwise, leave unchecked NOTE: To be able to allow this for your suppliers, you need to enable the inventory management feature by checking “Manage stock levels for products” in the “Application configuration” tab under the Settings >Profile menu. Find out more about how you can configure features for your platform here |
| Allow backorder | Select this option to allow customers to backorder products. Otherwise, leave unchecked NOTE: Remember to enable this feature for you and your suppliers by checking the “Allow backordering for specific products” box in the “Application configuration: tab under the Settings >Profile menu |
| Low quantity threshold | Define here the low quantity threshold for this product, if applicable. Otherwise, leave it blank |
| Box Quantity / Multiples | Enter here the box quantity of the product if it’s only available in multiples. Otherwise, leave the field empty |
| Status | Select the product’s status from the drop-down menu (e.g., Available, Limited Stock) |
| Sales Tax product class | Choose the product’s sales tax class from the drop-down menu |
| Measurement unit | Select the product’s measurement unit from the drop-down menu, if applicable. Otherwise, leave the field empty |
| Is active? | Check this option if the product is active. Deselect itif the product becomes inactive |
| Dimensions | Enter the product's dimensions (i.e., length, width, height, dimensions measurement unit), if applicable. |
Step 3. Click “Save” to store the product’s details.
Once suppliers create a product, they can see it on the Products menu. Here, they can see if you have approved the product on your B2B portal.
Mass Importing Products through the Supplier Portal
Suppliers can import products in bulk by following these steps:
Step 1. Go to Tools >Import products.
Step 2. Click “Choose File” to upload a spreadsheet with new products and click “Import.” The file should include theproduct_sku, product_name, product_desc, and category_path columns. Remember that the file should be in .xlsx format. Learn everything about importing and exporting products here.
Allowing Suppliers to Send Messages for Orders
To allow suppliers to send messages for orders, follow these steps:
Step 1. Go to the Suppliers menu.
Step 2. Click on the supplier for whom you want to activate this option. Then on the “Supplier details” tab, check the “Allow to send messages on orders” box and click “Save.”
Suppliers can then send messages for orders with their products to customers. To do so, suppliers should:
Step 1. Log in to the Supplier portal.
Step 2. Go to the Orders menu and click on the appropriate order.
Step 3. On the order’s page, scroll down to the “Messages” section, type in their message, and click “Send”.
Finally, when a supplier sends a message, the customer can see it by clicking the notifications icon or the “Order history” menu on your storefront.
Customers can also see if you or a supplier has sent the message for their order.
