Allocations

Creating and Managing Allocations

Allocations are a great way to handle wines that are high in demand, but low in supply. If you have a special vintage, or specific type of wine that is limited in quantity, you may want to limit the amount available for purchase. We recommend using our allocation features to offer the best possible customer experience.

In this article:


Creating an Allocation 

The allocations module is located in the store section of the admin panel. Here you can view all existing allocations, and create new allocations. To create a new allocation, select Add Allocation.

Step 1: Set up title, then start and end dates for your allocation.  The title is customer facing. The chosen date range will be the range in which a customer can view and purchase their allocation. 

The 'Content' Field: Any text you place in the 'Content' field will appear directly below the Allocation Title on the Allocations page for eligible logged-in Customers. However, it is not enabled by default. Learn how to enable it here.

Step 2: Select a "Wish Type". Customers in the allocation will be able to purchase a set quantity of each product, but they have the option to "wish" for more online. There are two types of wishes. Select the type based on how you want to manage granted wishes:

  • A) Request to purchase more
    • When making a wish, customers request to purchase more. If an admin grants a wish, the customer can optionally go online and purchase more.
    • With this method, admins will have the option to send an email to the customer, notifying them their wish has been granted.
    • Example of customer view when placing a wish:

      allocation-wish-request
  • B) Commitment to purchase more
    • When making a wish, customers commit to purchasing more bottles if they’re available. If an admin grants a wish, the customer can be auto-charged for the additional amount.
    • (Admins cannot notify customers of the granted wish as they will receive an order confirmation once the additional bottles have been charged.)
    • Example of customer view when placing a wish:

      allocation-wish-commit


Step 3:
Select the products you wish to add to the allocation. You should now specify the Min and Max quantities available for purchase. 

If you only want your customers to be able to wish for products, (without being able to purchase) set both the Min & Max to "0". The customer will have to wish for any wine purchased within the allocation. 

Step 4: Select the customers eligible for the allocation. You can specify eligible customers by Tag, Club, or Specific Customers depending on your preference. In my example below, I have selected four clubs as the eligible criteria for this allocation. 

Once the initial set up Summary is complete, select Save Allocation. 

Allocation members will now be able to see the offering on your front end site, but they will not be able to purchase until the specified date for the allocation. 

Allocation products are just like regular products in that they live inside "Collections". On your website, customers will be able to see their allocated quantity, purchase within their allocated quantity, and wish for additional bottles based on your preferred charging option. 


Enabling the 'Content' Field

Customize a specific message that will appear at the top of the Allocation page directly under the Allocations header. Eligible logged-in Customers will be presented with it. 

Note: If you are not familiar with Product Templates, we'd recommend engaging with your designer/developer to assist with this. Additional developer doc is available here.

Here's how:

  1. Go to the Developer tab > Product Templates. Click the Add Product Template button.
    Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 10.56.19 AM
  2. Name the Template (not Customer-facing) - and choose Profile/Allocation in the drop-down.
    Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 10.56.51 AM
  3. Within the Content area, add the tag <c7-collection-content> along with any other applicable collection tag or data. Save.
    Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 11.23.34 AM
  4. Now head into the Allocation. In the Content field, Enter the text that you'd like your eligible logged-in Customer to see. 
    Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 10-50-32 AM-png
  5. Log in as an eligible Customer and navigate to the Allocations page. This is what it would look like to your Customer.
    Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 11-08-04 AM-png

Managing an Allocation

As you navigate through the Allocations feature, you will see tabs titled, Summary, Customers, Performance, Wishes, & Meta Data. 

  • Customers: Here you will find a list of all customers eligible for the allocation. Click into the customer to manage their wishes, see their allocation orders, or customize their allocation maximums.

  • Performance: For each product in your allocation you can see quantity purchased, requested, and granted through wishes in addition to a preview of your current "Available for Sale" inventory counts. Additionally, you will find the list of associated orders within the allocation in the performance tab. (Orders placed by customers in the allocation containing any of the allocation's products.)

  • Wishes: Displays all wishes made by customers on your website. Here you can grant wishes or add wishes on a customer's behalf. 
    • You will see two sub tabs here for Customers & Products.
    • In the Customers tab, you will see a list of all customers who have made wishes.
    • In the Products tab, you will see the same wishes but they will be listed individually based on the product that's being requested.


 

Granting Wishes to Individuals 

  1. To grant an individual wish, search for the customer in the Customer tab of your allocation or select the specific wish from the Wishes tab.
  2. Once the individual wish is selected, this will open their individual wish summary page. Here you will select Grant Wishes.

  3. Specify the quantity you wish to allocate to the customer.
    1. If the wish type is "Request to Purchase More",  you can choose to notify the customer by using the check box in the pop up window.

    2. If the box is selected, your customer will receive an email letting them know their wish has been granted. The customer now has the option to go online and purchase more. 
  4. If your Wish Type is set to Commitment to purchase more, you can now generate an order for the granted wishes.
    1. Click Create Order for Grants

    2. This will open a cart auto-populated with the granted products.
      1. If the customer happened to place a wish before purchasing the entire amount that they were allotted, the new order will also populate with any extra quantities available to them. (For example: If the customer was granted 8 additional bottles, but they only purchased 4 of the 6 that they were originally allocated, 10 would be added to the new order by default.)
    3. You can edit any of the order information including product quantities and then when you're ready, click to charge the order.
    4. The order will be created and logged to the allocation, and the customer will receive an order confirmation email.

 


 

Bulk Granting Wishes by Customer

In your Allocation under the Wishes tab, you'll find a list of all customers who have a wish. 

You can search or filter the list by wish status, customer tag, or product. To grant all wishes, do not filter the list before granting. Once you have filtered for the wishes you want to grant, select Actions> Grant Wishes.

  1. To grant wishes, click ActionsGrant Wishes
    1. If you don't want to grant all wishes, you can choose to search or filter the list of customers by wish status, customer tag, or product.
    2. When you click Grant Wishes, any wishes in the current view will be selected.

  2. A modal will appear with all products that are contained in the selected wishes.
  3. For each product choose how many you want to grant:
    1. None: Won't grant any of this product
    2. All: Grants all each individual customer wished for
    3. Specific quantity: Up to a specific amount that the customer requested (not over)
      1. For example: If you enter "2".
        1. Customer A requested 1, they'd receive 1
        2. Customer B requested 2, they'd receive 2
        3. Customer C requested 3, they'd receive 2
    4. If your "Wish Type" is set to "Request to purchase more" , you'll have the option to notify these customers that their wish has been granted.



    Quantities are granted top to bottom (alphabetically). If you select a specific quantity to grant, for example 1, each customer will receive 1 of this product. If you have limited inventory, we recommend filtering the list down further by who you want to receive it first. 

     


     

    Bulk Creating Orders

    If your "Wish Type" is set to "Commitment to purchase more", after wishes have been granted you can now charge customers for the additional bottles. 

    It is recommended that you completely finish granting wishes for a customer before you charge them for a new order to minimize additional charges and separate orders. 

    Also please note that all bulk orders will be set to shipping. If you want them to be for pickup, they must be done individually.

    1. Filter your list of wishes and then select Actions > Create Orders
    2. A modal will appear letting you know how many new orders will be created
      1. Each new order will use the customer's default shipping and billing information. If they do not have a default on file, then the new order will fail and you will see an error message on any failed orders when the bulk action is complete.
      2. If you want to process any orders for Pick Up and not shipping, they must be done individually, either before creating bulk orders or exclude those customers from your current selection. (All orders created through the bulk action WILL be set to shipping.)

    3. When the bulk action is complete:
      1. You will receive an admin email letting you know. (You can also refresh your screen to see the wishes update.)
      2. Orders will be created for the selected customers and they will receive an order confirmation
      3. If any orders could not be created, you'll see an error on both the "Wishes" tab and under Settings > Bulk Actions.


     

    Bulk Granting Wishes by Product

    In the Wishes > Products sub tab, you will see a summary of all products in your allocation. Here you can grant wishes based on your products and the inventory you have remaining.

    1. To grant wishes for a specific product, click Grant
      1. You can then specify how many you want to grant. This number will be granted across wishes for all customers.

    2. To view a list of all wishes for a specific product, click on the product you wish to view.
      1. Here you will see the same wishes that display under the Customers sub tab, but only for the selected product.
      2. You can choose to filter down the list further, or you can click Actions > Grant Wishes.


     

    Making Allocated Products Public

    1. When you want to remove products from an allocation you will need to manually remove it from the allocation. Navigate to Store > Allocations > select the allocation and under 'Products' click Remove next to the product you wish to remove.

    2. Next, remove the allocation security from each product that you no longer want allocated. Navigate to Store > Products > search and select the product and scroll down to the bottom to the 'Security' section. Use the drop down menu under Secure To and select Public and click Save Product.

    3. Make sure to change the security to 'Public' for any products that you want to be purchasable for all customers online. (Once this is done the "Add to Cart" button will display for all customers instead of just customers in the specific allocation.)

    For any additional assistance required with allocations, please reach out at support@commerce7.com.