How to Use the Manager Program
The purpose of the Manager Program is to:
• Set up the Storefront features and design
• Maintain the Product Catalog and other configuration tables for the MerchandiZer
shopping cart system
• Collect Prospect information and perform targeted marketing to potential shoppers
• Assist in Search Engine submittal
• Maintain Sales Order Processing
• Produce reports to assist management
The MerchandiZer support staff are friendly and helpful, but not allowed to support other software applications that we did not design, or teach you how to use. The support team will help you with issues relating to the MerchandiZer software. If you require or desire a professional web designer to build your store, we are happy to refer you to one. We can not however, teach you how to design graphics or HTML web pages. You will find some basic references to using HTML with MerchandiZer in the manual which will assist you.
Use the buttons above to assist you in learning MerchandiZer and getting the most out of it.
Back to top• View Storefront will open a new window with the first page of your online store.
• The Merchant Forum highlights how MerchandiZer merchants are more like a community
than a software application. All merchants are welcome to offer suggestions
and share experiences here.
• The Online Manual has everything from an overview of how the MerchandiZer
store works to more complex issues like adding HTML and uploading databases.
• If you have found an error or defect, or just cannot find the answer to a
problem in the Manual or the HelpDesk, contact us using the Send Email to Support
form to let us know.
• These Quick Start Instructions are a basic guide to the use of your MerchandiZer
store.
• The HelpDesk is a source of information ranging from functions of your store
to tips on building and running it, all contained in a searchable database.
• RealStores is our Online Mall, containing entries for our Merchants' online
businesses.
The screen is divided into 3 sections. These are known as frames. The frame on the left is known as the Contents Frame. The larger frame to the right is known as the Main Frame. The frame at the top is the Navigation Frame. You are now reading from the Main Frame. Most of what you see in the Contents Frames are links. Clicking them pulls up the appropriate screen in the Main Frame.
Manager Grids and Records
When you click on one of the blue buttons in the Navigation Frame along the top, it will load the appropriate area into the Contents Frame to the left. You can then click a link in the Contents Frame to work on the area you desire in the Main Frame. Please visit each link in the Contents Frame to get familiar with the different controls. The best way to learn any software product is to jump in and try all the different areas.
The grid screen allows you to page through the screens of records, and to filter for specific records using certain fields and keywords. Clicking on the ID buttons next to each record will take you to the individual record for information entry.
Help-As-You-Go
Throughout the MerchandiZer Manager, there is helpful information printed to the right of all areas where you need to make entries. If you do not understand what needs to be typed in a field, make sure you enlarge the browser window wide enough to see the help text.
Back to top • Setup Wizard-
This will take you step by step through Company Details, Edit Product Groups,
Edit Product SubGroups and Edit Catalog Items. The area is optional, and the
information can be entered/edited from those respective areas whenever desired.
• Edit Company Details- The location for the information concerning the owner
of the online store.
• Edit Product Groups- After planning the layout of your products (Catalog Items),
you can optionally create Product Groups for a top/second level of your hierarchy,
or create Product Groups to link HTML pages for information purposes.
• Edit Product SubGroups- Create SubGroups in order to define what all Catalog
Items assigned to that SubGroup will use for the color of the page, the labels
for the information, etc.
• Edit Product Options #1 and #2- These optional areas allow you to create drop-down
categories to be assigned to your Catalog Items. This is mainly for giving your
customer choices over the items they are buying if necessary (color, size, etc).
• Edit Catalog Items- These records will be a listing of each of your products.
Contained in these records should be information specific to each item, price,
links to optional Product Options, the link assigning the item to its SubGroup,
etc.
• Shipping Rates- Records for the standard shipping methods are kept here, and
can be modified and selected to appear in your storefront for your customers
to use.
• Sales Tax Rates- In this area, create a record for each state which you have
a presence in, and enter the sales tax rate for that state. These states are
the only ones in which charging sales tax is required over the Internet.
• Payment Methods- You can flag payment methods as "Yes" or "No"
to create a list of methods your customers are allowed to use in your storefront
when paying for their items.
• Pick Storefront
Theme- Selecting one of these themes will assign that background to our default
pages.
• Edit Default Home Page- If our Default home page is being used, you may edit
text, add HTML, and add images to the page.
• Color Selection- This can be used instead of the Pick Storefront Theme area
to assign a background color to individual frames, text and links.
• Upload Images, Pages- This area is a wizard for easy upload of pages and images
to your store. FTP can also be used via an FTP program and the settings you
have received for your store when it was first built.
• Show Uploaded Pages- A list of the pages and documents you have uploaded to
your store.
• Show Uploaded Images- Displays thumbnails of images (GIF/JPG) you have uploaded
to your store.
• Show Templates- Displays the layout of templates used to format your Catalog
Item information.
• Show Button Sets- Displays a list of button sets available for your store,
assigned in Advanced Design. You may create and upload a button set of your
own by naming the images "Buynow.gif" and "Moreinfo.gif";
they will appear as set #17
• Advanced Design- Tools to customize the color and text used in your store.
• Advanced Settings-
Options for the use of the Storefront and Manager Program.
• Meta Tags & Redirects- The location where you enter your meta information
and any redirect which you may have for your first page.
• Advanced Shipping Options- Area which allows for more detailed use of UPS,
USPS and configuring your own basic rates.
• Graduated Shipping- This area allows you to create your own shipping rates
to be calculated either by dollar amount or weight, at your option (the choice
of dollar or weight is specified in Advanced Shipping Options).
• Maintain States- Here you can maintain the listing of states used in the Customer
Details page. By adding new records, or unchecking selected records, you can
control the states that can be selected. This optional function is best used
by those people who have a restricted delivery area, etc. If your delivery area
is restricted, you should also let potential customers know this in your FAQ
page as well as your home page. This way, you won't have people emailing you
because they only learned that they couldn't order from you after spending the
time browsing your store and starting the ordering process.
• Edit Catalog
Prices- This rapid-update screen allows for the first 1000 Catalog Item prices
to be edited from one area.
• Edit Weights, Filenames- This rapid-update screen allows for the first 1000
Catalog Item weights and image filenames to be edited from one area.
• Show Unassigned Items- This is a list of Catalog Items that have not been
assigned to a Product SubGroup. In order for Catalog Items to appear in the
storefront, they must be linked to a SubGroup.
• Refresh Catalog Search- After entering a batch of Catalog Items, go to this
area to refresh your catalog search. In doing this, the new Catalog Items will
appear when running a search from your storefront.
• Edit Download/Stock-This rapid-update screen allows for the first 1000 Catalog
Item optional URL for download, and inventory levels to be edited from one area.
• Edit Customers-
After a customer has filled out the Customer Details page during the ordering
process, their information can be found in this area.
• Edit Orders- This is the area where you will find the orders your customers
have made with you. This will include their billing/shipping information, the
items they have ordered, their credit card information, etc. Because they are
inside a normal frameset they will not be reported as being secure. However,
these pages are stored on our Secure Server and are secure.
• Set Shipping Dates- This area can be used for the entry of shipping and tracking
information, but is also best used for a reference listing of orders if necessary.
The Rapid Shipping area is an easier interface to use for shipping/tracking
information entry and the sending of confirmation emails.
• Show Order Summary- After selecting a date range, you will receive a summary
of the orders made including the following fields: ID, Customer, City, Date,
Net, Sales tax, Shipping and Total.
• Show Order Details- After selecting a date range, you will receive a summary
of the orders made including the following fields: ID, Order No,. Order date,
Catalog No., Item, Qty, Unit Price, Total Price, Tracking No., Date Shipped,
Cust ID, Customer.
• Show Zero Stock- This report will show you what Catalog Items have a stock
level of zero or below. This is a good tool if you are tracking your inventory
levels.
• Show Orders by Associate- After selecting one or all of your Associates and
a date range, you will be given a report with the fields of ID, Name, Company,
City, Date, Net, Sales tax, Shipping and Total.
• Show New Customers- After selecting a date range, you can view the new customers
that have purchased something from you during that period. The fields provided
are: First Contact, Name, City, Email, Password, Membership Code, Tel.
• Rapid Shipping- Using either a date range or filtering by order number, you
can view a list of orders, and easily add in shipping dates, tracking information
and send shipping confirmation emails to your customers. Using this area will
include a date and time stamp in your Manager database.
• Print Orders- Similar to Batch Printing, you can call up several orders either
by date range or order number range. Once the orders appear, simply press the
Print button of your browser to print them all at once.
• Customers by Source- This report is the way to track what your customers report
back to you when they fill out the Customer Details page. It details the number
of customers who have chosen each Customer Source keyword during the time period
you specify.
• Maintain Vendors-
This area allows you to enter contact information for any Vendors or fulfillment
houses you do business with. Once these vendor records are created, you can
link the Catalog Items those Vendors sell via Edit Catalog Items.
• Keyword Analysis-
This report lists how many Prospects chose each Keyword using the Contact Us
form.
• Site Traffic- This will take you to your Media House Statistics Server where
you can see real-time statistics reports as to how many people are currently
browsing your store, what pages were viewed most, how many people are using
what browsers, etc.
• Sales by Day- A report of how many sales have been made through your store
each day.
• Sales Analysis by Month- A report of how many sales have been made through
your store each month.
• Associate Analysis by Month- A report of how many items have been made through
each Affiliate each month.
• This area contains the fields for all default text in your online store, and can be edited to suit your needs. Take advantage of this enormous level of customization which we are pleased to be able to give you!
Back to top• Export to CSV- This tool allows you to choose which tables you would like, and exports them to your Merchant directory in CSV (Comma Separated Value) format. This format can be used in most database/spreadsheet programs such as Access and Excel.
Back to top• Edit Prospects-
The information that a Prospect enters when filling out the default "Contact
Us" form will appear in these records.
• Edit Prospect Keywords- These records are the keywords which appear in the
"Contact Us" form for your Prospects to select from.
• Mailings to Prospects- Choose the keywords pertinent to your email; this will
select which Prospects you send the email to. Type a subject, then type an email
(or copy it in from a Notepad application), then click the "Send the emails"
button. An easy way to mass-email your Merchants with news and/or offers.
• Search Engine Help- This area is a great source of information and a large
collection of links that lead to articles about Search Engines and Marketing,
as well as another collection of links containing many submission tools and
companies that can be used to aid in promoting your website.
• Search Engine Submit- This page contains links to the most popular Search
Engines. Click on the image for the Search Engine you want to submit your website's
URL to, follow the instructions given by each search engine to submit your URL,
then return to your manager and check off that Search Engine's checkbox. When
you are finished, click the button labeled "Give me the Results" and you will
get a report in return. This is a great way to keep track of which Search Engines
you have submitted your website to, and which ones you have left.
• Search Engine Analysis- This page gives instructions for getting a report
on your URL in many of the Search Engines. This is a quick way to keep track
of the progress of your website on each of the Search Engines!
• Maintain Customer Source Records- If you choose to add this drop-down to your
Customer Details page through Advanced Settings, then you should edit/add records
to the drop-down. This is a great way for asking your customers where they heard
of your website!
Grid- The Grid shows all items of a certain area, when not being edited. You can add or edit an item, then select "Grid" to return to the screen with all items in that category.
Filter- A filter is used to quickly find items by name, date, or other defining factor of a record. Filters have been pre-set into an easy to use drop-down and text box. Example: Filter will show only those records where field Site Category begins with your entry. Therefore, if you have a Category called "Clothing" you can simply put "c" or "Clothing" into the filter and that SubGroup will appear.
Frame- A frame is a sectioned-off portion of a group of web pages that behaves independently of other frames on the page.
Record- A unit of data that is repeated. A set of information, for example, if you had an address book, and the fields were: Name_____ Address____ Phone____ Fax______ This set of data would be the record.
Back to topWe have provided a large amount of written documentation for MerchandiZer, and email support is always available through the Send E-mail to Support link. But if you need telephone support, use the following numbers:
• Prepaid support
1.800.636.6343
• Regular support 305.819.8111
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