Store Credit
Printed From: ProductCart E-Commerce Solutions
Category: ProductCart
Forum Name: Suggestions
Forum Description: ProductCart Suggestions
URL: https://forum.productcart.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3703
Printed Date: 25-April-2024 at 7:33pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Store Credit
Posted By: modaxpressplus
Subject: Store Credit
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 6:36pm
| We started using PC BTO apparel add-on about 3 months ago and we are pleased with many good functions and add-ons, however considering the cost of PC BTO plus add-ons (almost $2,000 per one license) we would expect a "Store Credit" option built into Apparel add-on, witch is a must have option for every apparel store! Every shopping card priced at $199.00 and up has it. Customers often return purchased items in reasons of sizes and such. We are loosing a sale, and we are loosing money because we can not offer a "Store Credit" for a customer. We only can offer a "Coupon Code" or "Gift Certificate". But a customer wants to see his/hers money on their account. All the time customers are going for a "Refund" instead of "Coupon Code" or "Gift Certificate". And we (merchants) are loosing sale on every "return" transaction! We wanted to custom add this option, but we understand that with the last upgrade it could be very and very complicated. It would be very logical to purchase Apparel Add-on with built in "Store Credit" option. Another words: there is no Apparel Store without a "Store Credit"! |
Replies:
Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 6:43pm
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Actually, we have sold hundreds of Apparel Add-on licenses and this feature has virtually never come up (in fact, I don't believe it's even in our internal development Wish List).
That said, it is certainly a good idea and we will take it into account for future versions. One way around the problem is to use the Reward Points system as "Store Credits": - Name "Reward Points" something like "Store Credits" - Customers would NOT accrue Store Credits while purchasing (i.e. assign 0 "Store Credits" to ALL products) - Customers would be given Store Credits only manually, by the store administrator, via the Edit Customer page in the Control Panel. - Customers with a positive Store Credit balance will be able to use the credit during checkout. - The Conversion Rate would be 100% (1 Store Credit = $1). We hope this helps! ------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 6:54pm
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We don't have many returns in our store so we usually just credit their credit card. We had, however, a few instances where we simply issued a coupon. One of them would be a returned gift order. Here we cannot refund money to the one that received the gift, so we just issue a coupon. That being said I like the idea of issuing store credit, even if it would only be for a few orders. At the same time I think the Reward points would work well. Simply call it reward points and store credits. Show the points once logged in with its dollar value right below the name. As a retailer we can always add points to a customer's account even if 100 point equal 3 dollars. We can do the math. Another thing I like to see is the reward points earned followed by reward points used on this order in the table showing previous orders. Katharina ------------- Katharina ******************* www.GermanPlaza.com ******************* |
Posted By: modaxpressplus
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 6:55pm
| We do use "Reward Points" as a referral points and points for made purchases. That said we do not have any options... |
Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 7:15pm
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Then you simply need to add to that customer's existing "Reward Points" balance a number of points that equals the store credit that you need to provide to them.
For example: - Conversion rate = 10% - Store credit to give to customer = $15 - You add 150 "Reward Points" to the customer's account and you're done ------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 8:03pm
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Reward Points. That is a interesting and creative solution to this.
What do you think, Alex? We had looked into building an actual store credit system, but with the OPC in v4 it would be very complex to weave this in -- esp. given that a customer may need/want to only use a portion of that available credit on a given order. Seems to me that reward points would essentially take care of this. As for Alex's comment that "every shopping cart priced at $199 and up has [store credit]", I have never seen a shopping cart that ships with such a feature. |
Posted By: modaxpressplus
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 8:40pm
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Sean,
It is a good idea to use "Reward Points" as a "Store Credit", but can you name just one respected apparel store who can not issue a "Store Credit" for a customer and will just dance around with points or something else? We are trying to present our web sites as a professional and trustful business, even we can not spend thousands of dollars for SAP or else... As for a shopping carts priced at $199.00 and up it is not the right forum to name just 8-10 of them. But, they are out there. |
Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 9:21pm
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I'm just giving out my thoughts on this so please don't take it bad. Example I go to Macys buy something and don't like. I bring it back and actually expect a refund on my credit card. I would be really ticked off if they tell me sorry but here is a store credit instead. Especially if I very seldom shop there or if it is a long drive away. Most stores will refund your credit card and that is the end of it. By granting store credit you are keeping money you have not really earned and how do you deal with it if a customer doesn't come back for the next 5 years? Do you contact them and send them a check? As a retailer I rather close the book on the return and move on. That being said we only refund the amount of the merchandise, not the shipping or return shipping. We also charge a restocking fee, if the item is not returned in original condition including packaging material. Food items are excluded from returns. You are saying you are loosing money on returns. Well its not your money when an items gets returned. Sorry to say that, but again this is my thought on it. I think you may alienate some customers by just giving them store credit. I've purchased clothing/shoes over the Internet (my husbands shoe size is 13EEE) and have always received a refund on items that did not fit, less the shipping of course. I like the idea of store credit, but again the only scenario I can see for our store is a returned gift order by the person who received the gift. This may explain why many PC users have not asked for a store credit feature in this forum. I like to have the option, but I can easily live without it. Anyway this was my extended thought on this idea. ------------- Katharina ******************* www.GermanPlaza.com ******************* |
Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 11-May-2010 at 11:19pm
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Katharina, you are absolutely right.
Store credits are more and more infrequent in the retail world because they royally upset the customer (and it has never happened to me personally to see one used on an e-commerce store that I have shopped at). Customer expectations are exactly the ones you indicated in your message, and you are right in saying that this is probably the very reason why this feature has virtually never come up as a request by other store managers using ProductCart. Massimo ------------- The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software |
Posted By: cpgmar
Date Posted: 12-May-2010 at 10:23am
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We actually normally issue refunds on our broken or damaged live plants but we occasionally need to issue a store credit. We did a little fix by adding a note to the customer account which is removed after they order again. I love the idea of using the Rewards program for this as we don't use it at all at this point. It will be easy to adapt to our uses. Thanks EI !
------------- Cindy The Tasteful Garden www.tastefulgarden.com |
Posted By: ashley2617
Date Posted: 12-May-2010 at 12:06pm
| I think the misunderstanding here is what you are selling. In the case of cpgmar... you're selling plants so it is unlikely that you will have the same customer purchase from you every month. As for Katharina... you charge a re-stocking fee which makes me think you sell more expensive items that require time/effort to re-stock. This subject is on apparel. Most people who shop for clothing online do so frequently and since everyone is looking for bargains, we have to keep the clothing priced low and cannot charge to re-stock. I have many customers that make an order every week or two when we put up new merchandise. That being said, many of my customers don't want a refund because it takes several days to process and is not instantly available in their bank accounts. A store credit on the other hand would be instantly available in their online accounts once their return is received so they wouldn't have to wait to receive the money back on their card to make an order, especially in the case of exchanges where I want them to re-purchase the right size they need because we are not responsible for the re-shipping fee. They would be able to log in right away and purchase the new merchandise that they want before waiting to see the refund and having the items be sold out. I actually moved to PC from a custom shopping cart I had which had the store credit features and the rewards points feature as well. The store credit would automatically be applied to the person's next order and they would be able to choose whether they would want to use their rewards points or use some, not all. On top of that, we were also able to give them a discount. Everything was split into their own parts. The way it is set up now, I would have to write an extensive email to my customers explaining why all of a sudden, their rewards points don't make sense and what happened to their previous rewards points. They only see one number so they won't be able to know whether we computed everything correctly for them or not unless we broek it down for them in an email which would cause confusion and distrust in our company. Basically.... a store credit should differ from a reward. People like seeing their rewards and this shouldn't have to be manually altered my me in their account. |
Posted By: katharina
Date Posted: 12-May-2010 at 1:03pm
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We have the restocking fee online to cover ourselves, because we had some customers returning items not in original condition. We never charge it, unless there is a true reason for it. I think we applied it maybe 3 times in the past 5 years. We don't really sell expensive items either. I see your point with the store credit when it comes to exchanges. We had a customer return some items and she wanted something else instead. To keep things easy on our bookkeeping end we did refund her, and she did wait 4 days to reorder for the funds to clear. So there you have a very good point for store credit usage. Its available immediately. Customers have to request an RMA on our site, so I think it could be build on that part. Let the customer choose an option for refund or store credit. That way you would not build up a lot of store credit accounts and it gives the customer a choice. It empowers them and they feel in control. Perhaps EI can up with that option, and a field for store credit in the customer account besides the reward points. It will make PC even more useful to some sellers. Man I truly like discussions. It's amazing how many good points can be made. ------------- Katharina ******************* www.GermanPlaza.com ******************* |
Posted By: cpgmar
Date Posted: 12-May-2010 at 1:44pm
Yes, I agree, the RMA system is great for that. We already use it extensively and being able to issue a store credit or issue a refund through the RMA system would be lovely. It would be really nice to have some kind of reporting of RMA's on a date range basis too 
------------- Cindy The Tasteful Garden www.tastefulgarden.com |
Posted By: cpgmar
Date Posted: 14-May-2010 at 4:16pm
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This really works great, I am very happy with the Rewards Points feature as a store credit calculator. Only problem is that it shows as $5 instead of $4.75 when a store credit is done since it is based on the points. Any ideas how to change that easily?
------------- Cindy The Tasteful Garden www.tastefulgarden.com |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 14-May-2010 at 6:48pm
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Hmmm. Yeah, good point.
Without getting into any customizations, the obvious idea would be to make a dollar worth 100 points (pennies), so to get $4.75, you'd have 475 points. |