Storis Releases Version 10.3, Includes Enhanced Special Order Processing

April 27, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

Enhanced Special Order Processing greatly expands the flexibility and control over relevant product sales and purchase orders. Decades worth of insights from the company’s client base were used to conceive this new solution which caters to retailers with various levels of Special Order merchandising.

Previously, Storis offered two special order solutions. First, the original Standard Special Order functionality used a single global template for any Special Order sale. This functionality has now evolved into the new feature, Enhanced Special Order, that all Storis retailers can take advantage of. Second, retailers with robust Special Order programs can continue to use the company’s companion module, Special Order Configurator. This option will remain the best fit for complex Special Order houses. The Configurator continues to be the most advanced option as it requires unique Special Order options to be created at the product level.

Enhanced Special Order provides a comprehensive middle-ground approach. “The beauty of Enhanced Special Order is that retailers can take it to the level that works for their unique businesses. Retailers can build out Special Order complexities over time or adjust as their needs evolve,” said Fiona Richardson, product manager.

The foundation of Enhanced Special Order is templates. Retailers can now create as little or as many Special Order templates as they need for their business. Those that want to stick with a global Special Order template may do so, but other retailers looking to dive deeper into the technicalities of Special Order customizations now have an abundance of options.

Storis retailers can define a default global template to generate a Special Order Product during the Sales Order process. Retailers can also build templates at the Vendor Level, Category Level, Group Level, or for individual Product SKUs. They can also mix and match template types across their product hierarchy, using each when it is most suitable. Storis Point of Sale will intuitively default to the closest defined template during Sales Order entry.

When building an Enhanced Special Order template, retailers can designate the proper number of customizable attributes for the sales associate to denote. For example, many manufacturers allow for various customizable attributes, particularly between their upholstery and case goods lines. When building out Special Order templates, retailers now have Unlimited Options for the number of customizable attributes they can include. Retailers can also choose to designate attributes as Required if they are mandatory for a given manufacturer or product. For efficient implementation of templates, retailers can easily clone templates to work off of to create new variations. The ability to create Special Order templates for service options also exists.

Within Special Order templates, retailers can choose to use open text fields to describe the attributes or they can generate Pre-Built Options. A Pre-Built Option enables user-defined selections. This level of control helps a sales associate choose valid options and reduces human error during the product build-out. Selection Lists are designed to be efficient on a touch-enabled device. A template can utilize a combination of attribute types as needed. Retailers can report on the use of Pre-Built attributes as well as part of their merchandising strategy.

Pre-Defined Pricing can also be added to specific options. Additionally, a new Pricing Scratch Pad Tool can be used to input price variables related to specific selections. This helps the salesperson provide the customer with accurate pricing at the Point of Sale. 

Related modules in Storis’ Unified Commerce Solution including Sales Order Entry, Purchase Orders, Electronic Data Interchange, Data Warehouse, and Reporting have all been updated to reflect Enhanced Special Order functionality.