Many retailers have modified day-to-day business to protect both their staff and the public during the Coronavirus crisis. Whether it's hosting senior-only shopping days, reserving hours for the most vulnerable, or offering delivery or drive-up services— our clients are doing what they can to keep their doors open for business and serve the public safely.
We admire your ingenuity during these difficult times! And we wanted to highlight some GlobalTill features you may not regularly use to make your work a little easier.
Using the Customer Ordering System
If you aren't already creating customer orders within GlobalTill, now might be a great time to start doing so. If you are taking more customer orders by email or over the phone these days, you should consider Customer Orders within GlobalTill. It gives you the ability to create the orders in GlobalTill's back office, pick and scan the orders, and then generate an invoice once the customer is ready to pick up.
Some retailers try to skip the customer orders altogether and leave invoices in draft in the GT Backend until a customer pays the invoice. This is not recommended (or even supported). Leaving invoices "in draft" makes it more difficult for you to keep track of what inventory is actually in stock, and to reconcile your sales figures later. It also increases the chance for errors.
Instead, we recommend the following process:
- Create a Customer Order in GT Backend.
- Use Notes to enter a customer's address if you will be delivering.
- Add Dates to the orders to prioritize what you are going to be fulfilling today versus what you might be filling tomorrow. You can sort by date in the order list.
- Take a pre-payment deposit on the Customer Order, which is then applied to the invoice (optional).
- Invoice the order the moment that the customer takes the merchandise.
- Manually record the payment at the time the customer pays, regardless of whether it's upon invoice or weeks later.
Important Notes About the Customer Order System
- When you use customer orders, you cannot make payments at the POS. You need to know how to record the payments in the Back Office manually. We've included links to support articles on both customer orders and manually recording payments at the end of this article.
- The Customer Order feature is NOT suitable for Cannabis products unless used via an integration.
Pre-Creating Invoices at POS
Rather than create orders or invoices in the Backoffice, some retailers find it more convenient to use the POS to pre-create the invoice before the customer visits the store. In this case, you can:
- Scan in the products at the POS to create the invoice.
- Park the invoice until the customer enters the store to pay for the merchandise.
Using a Portable Debit Machine
Some clients opt to bring a portable debit machine out to customer's vehicles for payment, or take it with them for delivery, rather than have them come into the store. If you don't have a portable debit machine, most payment processors offer both WiFi and 3G/4G versions. Stick to 3G/4G for delivery if you aren't sure how far your WiFi coverage extends outside your building.
After taking the payment on the mobile terminal, you can record the amount in GlobalTill one of two ways depending on your process and whether you created the order in the Back Office or POS.
- Process the payment manually at the POS by selecting Show More, then choose the card type (Visa, MasterCard, Debit, etc.)
- Or, record the payment manually in the Back Office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make a payment on an invoice created in the Back Office on the POS?
No. You cannot currently bring up an invoice created in the Back Office on the POS for payment. You can either recreate the invoice on the POS or manually enter the payment on the Back Office.
Can I add a shipping charge for delivery?
Yes. Depending on your processes (such as whether you use GlobalTill's customer ordering system), shipping charges can be added. This support article explains one method.
These are uncertain and challenging times for everyone! We wish you good health and safety and look forward to a time when the Coronavirus outbreak is safely behind us.
Contact us if you have any questions. We're here to help!
More Information
For more information, we recommend the following support articles on these topics:
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