I’ve spent the last four weeks building a portal that pops up once you’ve completed an order in the shop.
The new portal currently offers you the following options:
1) You can see when an order is expected to be packed, with a reliable estimate based on parcel volumes and current staff planning (3 days in advance). If it won’t be ready today, this will be indicated, and you’ll have the option to click ‘I’m in a hurry’ – we’ll then try to bring the dispatch forward (we’ve been doing this successfully for the past three weeks).
2) You can also see whether everything is in stock (the shop operates in its own system and cannot see any items sold in the meantime). In the portal, you’re directly linked to our internal software and can see what’s happening in real time. If something isn’t available, you can reduce the quantity to what’s in stock or remove the item so the rest can be dispatched.
3) With the ‘prepayment’ payment method, you can change everything (quantity, remove items, add new items) using a search function that’s much better than the one in the shop.
4) There’s now a ticketing system where you can create a ticket for a specific order, and we’ll reply directly within the portal. This makes things easier for everyone, as you don’t have to copy the invoice number first, etc.
5) There’s an order history covering the last 12 months (GDPR restrictions apply regarding longer timeframes). There you can see all the lovely things you’ve bought, with a link back to the shop. I’m working on expanding this further so that you can reorder directly via the portal. At the moment, however, I’m not yet able to integrate the PayPal and credit card APIs, and I’m not sure whether I’ll manage to do so as a one-man operation. This data really needs to be handled securely, so for now we’re only accepting payment in advance.
I’d love to hear your feedback on whether all this is helpful or a bit of a nuisance… 🤓
