Getting started on the Open Food Network can be as easy as 5 steps!

Follow the quick start guide for your enterprise:

• Hub

• Shop

• Profile

Not sure which enterprise you are? Have a look at this page.

For advice on setting up a Digital Farmer's Market read here.

You can access the Open Food Network platform in various languages, and from various providers, depending on where you are located.

The local entities provide you with a “Saas”’ service (Software as a service, so you don’t have to deploy and run the code yourself), but you can always find the source code here, as it is an open source software released under the AGPL 3 licence.

Usually the local entities that provide this Saas service also provide other services to support more generally the development of the local food sector, like training, consulting, incubation programs, etc. Get in touch with them through their website to learn more about them! See here.

Want to learn more about what the Open Food Network is? Check our global website!

*Local platform is run by volunteers only and not regularly updated and maintained, there might be discrepancies between this user guide and the actual local platform.

**Local provider is in the process of setting up the local platform and building the offer and support to local users.

It's easy to get started on OFN, just follow the steps below:

1. Register your enterprise. If you wish to sell goods that you make as well as those of others then choose the 'Producer' and then 'Hub' package types; whereas, if you only want to sell goods made by others then choose the 'Non-Producer' and 'Hub' package options. Complete your enterprise settings with your business details.

2. List your products. If you are a 'Producer Hub' then make (or import) product listings for the goods you make yourself. For both 'Producer' and 'Non-Producer' hubs, contact local OFN enterprises who want their goods to be displayed on your shop front. Ask them to set up Enterprise permissions to connect their business to yours through OFN.

3. Set up a choice of payment methods available to your customers (cash on delivery, credit card online payment, etc.)

4. Set up a choice of shipping options available to your customers ('click and collect' service with a pick up time and location, home delivery, etc...)

5. Set up an order cycle: this will open your shop at the start date you defined. An order cycle is a period during which shoppers can place orders for collection or delivery at a particular time. Some enterprises have a weekly order cycle. Some have a permanently open order cycle.

Congratulations! Your shop is now live!

When you start receiving orders, you can manage them in the orders section.

All the data you need to prepare and deliver the groceries to your customers can be found in the reports section.

More advanced features you might need

• Your enterprise profile:

  • As a Producer Hub you can give other local hubs permission to sell your products on their shopfront as well as your own.

  • You may wish to add hub managers so that no one person has to do all the admin!

• Your products (Producer Hub only):

  • Specify special credentials they may have (eg. organic, plastic free, etc...)

  • If you have a product which can be sold in different forms (eg. potatoes sold in 500g, 1kg and 2kg quantities) then you can simplify your listings by adding variants.

  • If you sell irregular items like meat or vegetables (eg. a whole chicken, a large pumpkin) which are priced by weight then you can learn how to do this here.

  • You can import all of your product listings at once if they are in an Excel spreadsheet.

• Your shopfront:

  • You can restrict access to your shop if want your shop to only be accessible to "members" or invited customers. For example, you may offer discounted produce to members of the community who have all contributed to your business, or if you wished to only sell to specific commercial customers.

  • You can offer different prices, or display different goods, to specific groups of customers using customer grouping (through "tags") and custom display and pricing.

  • If you would like to be visible on OFN only but not actually sell goods through the platform then you can setup a display only shopfront.

Depending on the type of food enterprise you are running, you will use the Open Food Network platform differently.

We classify food enterprises in three ways: Profiles, Shops or Hubs.

The flexibility of the Open Food Network software allows you to change from profile, to shop, to hub (or vice versa) as your business grows and/or needs change.

Hub

Hubs can take many forms but, in essence, your enterprise is best classified as a 'Hub' on OFN if you wish to sell produce made by others. You can retail your own products alongside those of other farmers, bakers, growers... (a 'Producer Hub') or act solely as a distributor to sell a collection of groceries made by (local) enterprises (a 'Non-Producer Hub').

OFN can help your hub thrive and prosper by:

1. Increasing your online visibility.

2. Providing your customers with a virtual 'farmers' market' experience.

3. Streamlining your admin tasks with stock levels, orders, finances, packing reports all in one place.

4. Being able to take orders periodically to fit in with seasonal supply, production rotas and more.

5. Helping organise regular repeating orders such as veg box schemes.

6. Helping to build strong working relationships with local producers and food enterprises who supply you with goods.

The Hub enterprise has the most flexibility of the three enterprise types in OFN and you may find it necessary to adjust your enterprise type to 'hub' in order to unlock some of the more complex features we can offer.

Setting up on OFN can be as simple following 5 steps, just follow our quick start guide here.

Shop

Shops can take many forms but in essence, your enterprise is best classified as a 'Shop' on OFN if you wish to sell only produce that you make.

As a shop, as well as selling directly to customers through your shop front, you can also supply other OFN retailers (Hubs) with your produce.

OFN can help your shop thrive and prosper by:

1. Increasing your online visibility.

2. Streamlining your admin tasks with stock levels, orders, finances, packing reports all in one place.

3. Being able to sell in a manner which suits your needs; whether it is periodic orders to fit in with a seasonal potato harvest or a weekly cycle which matches your baking production... it's up to you!

4. Helping to build strong working relationships with local food distributors.

Setting up on OFN can be a simple 5-step process, just follow our quick start guide here.

Profile

The 'Profile' is the most basic enterprise classification on OFN and is ideal for micro enterprises or individuals who prefer to concentrate on growing, making, baking and/or producing food.

An OFN profile is ideal for increasing your online visibility and gives you the opportunity to connect in a simple manner with local retailers (hubs) who can manage customer sales for you.

OFN can help your food enterprise thrive and prosper by:

1. Increasing your online visibility.

2. Helping to build strong working relationships with local food distributors and retailers (OFN hubs) to whom you supply goods.

Setting up on OFN can be a simple 4-step process; just follow our quick starters' guide here.

This user guide is designed to help you get the most out of the Open Food Network platform to support the operation of local food enterprises and “short food chains” wherever you live.

An overview

The Open Food Network enables local people to build better, fairer ways to source their food locally and directly from growers, farmers and producers. Expansive networks of small food producers, distributors, retailers, food hubs, food co-ops and buying groups can come together with the aid of the Open Food Network to find the best way of shortening the food supply chain. And in the process it helps to build strong communities.

The Open Food Network is a global project that supports the operational organisation of farmers, groups of consumers, cooperatives, etc. in the distribution of local food. The software we build is open source, and we collaborate with amazing people from all over the world to keep improving it! We also provide support in the organisational aspects of setting up and running a food hub. Please get in touch with your local OFN contact to learn more about us!

This short video will give you a brief introduction to how the Open Food Network works, and what we can do for your food business, or organisation.

How to use this guide?

> Quick setup guides tailored to your enterprise

Starting scratch, open an online shop that perfectly fits your needs in a few simple steps!

> Features to meet your needs

Find a detailed explanation of every feature our platform offers, so you can set up your Open Food Network enterprise to specifically meet your local needs.

> Guidelines on complementary software you might like to use in combination with the Open Food Network

The Open Food Network does a lot of things, but no one tool can fit all needs. We have listed some needs for which you might need complementary software, and how you can set them up to work hand in hand with your local Open Food Network platform.

> Trouble shooting

Still not finding what you need ? Check the Trouble Shooting section to see if others had the same questions as you!

> Search

Looking for information on something specific? Use the search bar in the top left corner to find the information you need.

Feedback

Any difficulty with that user guide? Any information missing? Or maybe you want to share some features you would like to see in the future? Get in touch with your local OFN entity for any feedback!

You can browse these features at any time but for those just starting out we recommend our .

In the rest of the guide the features of OFN are explained chronologically, with the order of sections following the logical order for setting up an enterprise. The guidance within each section is also structured so that guidance for basic usage appears first and more advanced guidance later in the section:

It's easy to get started on OFN, just follow the steps below:

1. . Choose the 'Producer' and then 'Profile' and complete your with your business details.

2. List your .

3. Get in contact with OFN hubs through which you would like to sell your products - this might be as simple as talking to the hub manager when collecting your shopping or sending them an email.

4. Connect through OFN to the hub where you would like your goods to be sold by setting up the appropriate .

Congratulations! Your job is done!

The hub managing your sales should periodically send you orders based on the time scales you agreed. Order notifications can be automated by the Hub to get to you by email.

More advanced features you might need

• Your products:

It's easy to get started on OFN, just follow the steps below:

1. . Choose the 'Producer' and then 'Shop' and complete your with your business details.

2. List your .

3. Set up a choice of available to your customers (cash on delivery, credit card online payment, etc.)

4. Set up a choice of available to your customers ('click and collect' service with a pick up time and location, home delivery, ...)

5. Set up an : this will open your shop at the start date you defined!

Congratulations! Your shop is now live!

More advanced features you might need

• Your enterprise profile:
• Your products:
• Your shopfront:

Farmers’ Markets have the option to setup as a of individually managed (Option 1) or as a centrally managed (Option 2).

Option 1: Multi-vendor Market

Option 2: Hub

Once you have created your Enterprise account, you must log in to your Administration Dashboard to continue setting up your Enterprise profile.

First you will be asked to choose the OFN package (or type of profile) that best represents your business model.

In this section we detail the different menus that you can complete to refine your enterprise profile and, by doing so, access business-specific features that you may need.

Access your Enterprise Settings

1. Once logged in and accessing your admin dashboard, select "Enterprises" on the blue horizontal menu.

2. Select 'Settings' next to your enterprise.

You will then access a menu with multiple options. The exact options available varies between Enterprise type. This is an example for a Hub:

This short video gives a quick insight into the steps and options detailed below:

Primary Details

Name: This is the name of your enterprise. It will be the title of your profile (and shop).

Primary Producer: Select the producer box if you are a producer.

Visible in Search: If your profile is ready to go public, select 'public', and your business will appear in the OFN's directory and map. Selecting 'hidden' will hide your profile in search and maps but still allow references in other shop profiles. 'Hide all references' will make your enteprise completely hidden on the platform.

Permalink: You can customise part of the web address which will host your shop.

Link to Shop Front: This is the web address of your shop on the OFN (if you've chosen a profile type with shopfront). You can customise part of the URL above.

OFN ID: This identifier makes it possible to recognise your enterprise even if you decide to change its name and simplifies the work of the support team if necessary.

Address

This information is used to geolocate your enterprise on the OFN map. You can opt to manually enter the coordinates of your address if the location automatically calculated is incorrect. This is useful for very rural locations.

Your exact address won't show if you are only registered as a Producer or Non-Producer Profile. However if you are registered as a Shop or Hub your address will show in text form in your shop front's contact details tab.

Contact

Contact Name: We ask for a contact name for the OFN’s records. This name will not be displayed on your profile, but will be included in order confirmation emails if you're running a shop.

Email, Phone & Website: These contact points will be listed on your OFN profile and shopfront as a means for others to make contact with you.

Social

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter: Links to these pages will be created on your profile and shopfront.

About

Short description: This will be displayed when your profile is viewed in the producers list. It should be under 1-2 sentences which briefly describe what you do.

About Us: This is a longer description of your enterprise. It will be shown when your profile is viewed in full. It should be between half a page and 1 pages long.

Business Details

Terms and Conditions (pdf files only) : Let your customers know any terms and conditions associated with purchasing from your business (for example your refund policy) by uploading a .pdf file here.

If you opt to add a file here, the customer will be required to check the box to say that they have read and agreed with your terms and conditions before they can submit their order.

Images

Logo image: This will be visible when your profile is viewed in brief, as a pop up window. It will also be shown on your profile. This image must be square (i.e. 100 x 100), or it will appear warped. All images inserted here will be resized to 100 x 100 pixels.

Promo image: This image will run horizontally along the top of your profile page. It should be 1200 x 260 pixels in size.

An example profile is shown below in its complete version (from the map or shopfront pages).

And now in its condensed version (from the producer listing page).

Properties

You can add properties (such as free range or certified organic) to your enterprise. These properties will then be automatically applied to all of your products.

You can also specify properties for particular products only. This is useful if you stock both certified organic and ordinary groceries, for example. More information about this can be found here.

Shipping Methods, Payment Methods & Enterprise Fees

The Shipping Methods, Payment Methods and Enterprise Fees are covered in greater detail in later chapters in this user manual.

Inventory Settings

For most enterprises the recommended setting can be used.

Advanced users who need greater flexibility with product management should consult the Inventory page of this guide before changing the settings.

Tag Rules

Under this menu are all the 'tags' which have been assigned to the customers of your enterprise.

'Tags' are labels you apply to customers, products and other settings to assign differential access, pricing or other benefits to specific groups. They are particularly useful if you wish to charge loyal customers or 'members' of your food hub preferential prices or allow them to pay by BACS rather than PayPal/Stripe.

For more information, visit the 'customer management and conditional displays/prices' section.

Shop Preferences

Shopfront Message: This message is optional. If completed the message will be visible under a 'Notices' tab on the top menu bar. Your shop (and its products) will appear under the 'Shop' tab.

The Shopfront message or 'Notice' is an opportunity to provide basic information to the customer about how your store works. For example, you may explain how your order cycles are structured, or any membership requirements. It could also be a friendly greeting, or a chance to promote specials. You can include links to external websites (perhaps to showcase where your products are grown), social media and more.

If left blank the 'Notices' tab will not appear on your shop front.

Shopfront Closed Message: This message will be displayed under both the 'Notices' AND 'Shop' tabs when your shopfront is closed (i.e. with no active order cycle). It’s a chance to tell customers when the shop will next be open and accepting orders.

Shopfront Category Ordering: By default, products are arranged alphabetically in your shop. You can also choose to display the products in a category order of your choosing. In this case, the products will be displayed in category order and then in alphabetical order within their category. E.g. you may wish to have your Meat & Fish products appear at the top, with your less important Pickles & Preserves appearing further down the shopfront.

Sort order cycles on shopfront by: If your shopfront has more than one order cycle open at the same time you can select the order in which they appear on the shopfront. You may opt to sort them by closing date (closing soonest first) or by opening date (opening soonest first).

Publicly visible shopfront? If you select ‘public’, any shopper will be able to access your shopfront and place an order. If you select ‘visible to registered customers only’, shoppers who come to your shop will be prompted to login and only those users who are on your customers list will be given access to your shop. Learn more about the private shop feature.

Guest Orders? If you select ‘allow guest checkout’ shoppers won’t need to login to the OFN to shop with you, so they don't need to sign up and have a user account. If you want the extra security of knowing your customers must have an OFN account in order to have placed an order then select "require login to order".

In order for a customer to have an OFN account they must have confirmed the email sent to them when registering with us. Thus by selecting "require login to order" it may help limit the number of orders placed that are subsequently never collected as you know that the customer's order confirmation email will be sent to an active email account.

Change Orders: We recommend the default setting of 'Placed orders cannot be changed or cancelled', especially if you allow 'guest customers' (i.e. people without an OFN account) to place orders. This is so, as a shop or hub manager, you can keep track of payments received and refunds issued. If a customer wishes to change their order you can still do so on their behalf, using the 'Edit Order' functionality.

Opting for 'Customers can change or cancel orders while an order cycle is open' allows customers to change the quantities of products already in their basket or cancel their order altogether while the shop is open. They will not be able to add new products to their original order - doing this will generate a 2nd order.

Subscriptions: If you would like to offer to set up regular repeating orders for your customers then you can enable the subscriptions functionality here.

Customer names in reports. If you distribute products from other suppliers / producers, they will be able to run reports showing details of their products as sold through your Order Cycles. This option allows you to make the names of customers visible in these reports. Depending on the distribution model you have in place, this may be necessary for Producers to pack and distribute orders to the customers.

Users

Owner: This is the email of the primary user responsible for this enterprise. They have the power to change all aspects of the profile. Only the owner can change the owner, choosing among the enterprise managers list. This user will have a star next to their name in the managers' field.

Notifications: This is the email of the user to whom the OFN system correspondence will be directed, i.e. order confirmations etc. Only the owner can nominate the user who will receive the notifications, among the enterprise managers list. This user will have an envelope symbol next to their name in the managers' field.

Managers: Other OFN users who have been granted permission to manage this account. Want to add a new manager? You can search for existing emails of users who have registered for an OFN account and add them as managers. If you don't find any user for the email you are looking for, the user doesn't exist yet on the OFN and you need to invite them (see next point).

Invite manager: This is for adding a manager who is not registered with OFN. When you add them they'll be sent an email confirmation, and when they confirm their email they'll be able to set a password and login to administer this enterprise.

The Dashboard is where you can edit and manage your enterprise's features & settings on the Open Food Network platform. If you have chosen to register your enterprise as a or then you can also edit your products and order cycles from the Dashboard.

Access your dashboard from the homepage by first logging in and then clicking on the Profile Icon in the top right hand corner and selecting Administration from the drop-down menu.

The options you will see on your dashboard will depend on which enterprise type you choose on . The screenshots below show the dashboard view for different types of users.

Producers

Hubs

For such Hub enterprises, connecting with existing OFN producers or creating accounts for your producers is a necessary precursor to adding your product range to your shop.

An example of how this displays in the shopfront is shown below:

As a hub, before being able to add products to your shopfront, you have two options:

1. Create OFN profiles for the producers who supply you (if they don't already have a profile).

If you are not sure if your supplier already has an OFN profile then you can find out by going to the main 'Producers' menu and searching.

Supplier does NOT have an OFN profile.

Things to consider before creating a producer profile:

Before creating a profile for your suppliers you should contact them and let them know that you are creating an account and enterprise for them on the OFN. They may wish to be involved in the process and even take some responsibility for managing the profile and their products etc. But most commonly producers will prefer that hubs own and manage their profiles for them.

Be sure to ask the producer what information they would like shared on their profile. You can often take text and images from their existing websites or social media sites, however you should always ask permission before using any of their content. Once you have their information in front of you, a profile should take you no more than 10 minutes to create.

Creating a producer profile:

You can create a new profile for a producer by clicking on Enterprises in the horizontal blue banner, and then clicking + New Enterprise. Remember ‘enterprise’ is a general term used for any producer or hub profile on the OFN.

This will take you to this page:

A few things to note:

Primary Producer: Select this box, as you are adding an enterprise which makes/grows food which you will retail for them on your hub shop front.

Email and Phone: This email and phone number will be visible on the profile. If this producer does not wish to be contacted by the public, then place your hub’s contact details here.

Visible in Search: You should discuss with the producer whether or not they wish to be visible on the OFN. If they wish to be invisible, their name and profile will still be shown next to their products in your shop, but they will not be searchable on the map or front-page lists.

About Us: Remember the OFN is all about putting transparency into the food system and customers are increasingly interested in where their food has come from. Therefore, it pays to add plenty of details about your producers and what makes them unique.

Images: We strongly recommend that all profiles have both logo and promo images. These images make the online experience for customers more enjoyable and engaging and also lend credibility to the enterprises.

Supplier has a pre-existing OFN profile

If a supplier already has an OFN profile, you will need to get their permission to add products to their profile (if they haven’t already) and to stock them in your shop. You will be able to find their contact details on their OFN profile.

Create your user account

• From homepage, click on "Login" on the top right corner, then "Sign up"

• Enter your email address and choose a password.

• You will receive an email in the next few minutes with a confirmation link. Click on it and you'll be redirected to the login page.

• Login

Create your first "enterprise" account

• Once logged in, click on the top grey banner "Interested in selling through the Open Food Network? Register here".

• Click the ‘I agree to the above Terms of Service’ box and select ‘Let’s get started!’

• Fill in your enterprise name and contact details.

• Choose between 'Producer' (you make/bake/grow products yourself) or 'Non Producer' (you distribute and sell food made by others).

• Click the ‘create profile’ button. You'll receive an email confirming that the profile is created. You can stop here and fill in the missing information later, or continue and follow the steps to complete your profile now.

• Fill in your enterprise description, add images, website/social media links, business details, etc.

Your first "enterprise" is now created and you have started to fill in your profile, but it's not finished!

After doing so, your enterprise will added to the OFN map!

A short clip of registering your enterprise on OFN:

Access your Enterprise Administration Dashboard

After completing your you have an option to be taken directly to the .

From here you will need to choose the OFN profile which . Without this step, your enterprise account will not be created and, hence, your enterprise will remain invisible on our map.

Open Food Network offers three types of enterprise profiles that will differ depending on whether you are a producer or not, and whether or not you want to open an online shop to sell on the Open Food Network. The profile types vary a little bit depending on if you are a producer or not, so we describe them below under two main sections: the profiles for producers and then the profiles for distributors (or "hubs" in the Open Food Network world).

For Producers

There are three types of profiles for producers:

For Non-Producers (Hubs)

Two types of profiles are available to non-producers (distributors / hubs):

Changing your profile type

You can change your profile type (package) at any time in the future. First log in to your OFN admin account:

Next step

It is common for a producer's profile to be created by a hub and then for the hub to add the producer as a manager of that profile. It's also common to then transfer the "ownership" (primary manager) of the profile to the producer when the producer accepts to manage their profile and product catalog themselves.

To add a new manager and eventually transfer ownership, here is the procedure to follow:

• On the admin dashboard, go to the Users menu of your Enterprise settings (Enterprise > Settings > Users):

• Under "Managers", search for the email of the producer you would like to add as a manager.

Case 1: The Producer in question already has a user account with OFN: Their email will already be registered with us and so it will appear as you start to type. Select and click 'Update' (red button, bottom right) to save.

Case 2: The Producer in question does not yet have a user account with OFN: In this case, you cannot find their email when you type in the box 'Add an Existing User'. You must then click on "Add an Unregistered User" just below, next to the 'Invite Manager' field. The producer will then receive an email from us to confirm their registration. On following the instructions detailed in the email they will be able to complete setting up their OFN account, including adding a password.

Once the producer is a manager of the enterprise profile you created on their behalf, you can choose to name them the main manager and/or the contact to receive order notification. At this stage, as a hub manager you may wish to remove yourself from the list of managers.

If your enterprise is a "producer" type (you checked the corresponding box in your profile settings), you can now and to your producer catalog. These products can be (Excel file saved in csv format).

The price entered for each product in the producer catalog is the full amount the producer will receive from a sale - hence a 'wholesale' price. Hubs (distributors) can add their fees for admin, transport and packing etc on top using fee options in , or .

When customers come to the Open Food Network they are able to search for producers by name or location. They are also able to filter the producer profiles according to what kinds of products the producers stock (see below).

Producers with online shops on the OFN have products in the system, which get picked up by the search filter tool. However, producers who don’t have an OFN shop (just a profile) won’t be searchable in this way unless they add some fake products into the system. By adding a dummy product for each product category that you want to be searchable under, you’ll show up when customers search for your products.

Here’s how to do this…

Click Products in the horizontal blue menu, and then click + New Product to add your dummy products.

Because you don’t have an OFN shopfront, this product won’t be visible anywhere. Therefore you can call it whatever you like, and set the price and units to anything. The important thing is that you select the correct Product Category that you wish to be found under. Below is an example of a dummy meat product. This producer’s profile will now show if a customer searches for producers of meat.

Their summary profile will also indicate that they sell meat products (below).

The product and inventory import tool lets you upload a .csv file to add and update your stock. This can be much quicker and efficient than adding or updating products one by one. For producers who already update a catalogue of their products in an Excel spreadsheet regularly, this can save a lot of time!

The product and inventory import tool can be found by clicking Products in the horizontal blue menu, and product import in the green menu.

There's four main ways you can use the tool:

1. Import new products

2. Update existing product details

3. Import products to a new shop/hub inventory

4. Update products in a shop/hub inventory

In all cases the process involves downloading a CSV template, filling in the fields and then uploading your CSV file back into OFN.

Import New Products

Use these instructions if you want to add new products to a producer's profile.

Prepare the CSV file for import

Firstly, download the Product List Template CSV file from the Product Import page and open it with Libre Office, Excel or equivalent.

You'll see that the template gives all the column headings required to successfully import a product. Each row is for a new product or variant. Below is a description of how to fill in each column.

Import Product Variants

In the import process, variants are distinguished by the units (such as raspberries sold in 200g and 500g packs) or display_name fields (such as apples sold in multiple varieties). As long as the product name is the same, the rows will be imported as variants. For products sold as items, the unit_type must be the same across variants (e.g. rolls below).

The image below shows how these products will display in the shop. Note that the 'name' field becomes the primary heading, and the 'display_name' field and/or the units becomes the secondary heading.

Unit type examples

Below are some examples to show how products with different units (g, ml, kg and items) should be uploaded.

Import the CSV

Once you have filled out the Product List Template CSV you are ready to upload it into OFN.

1. Go to Products > Product Import.

2. Select import type: Product List

3. Select a spreadsheet to upload: select the CSV file you've updated with your product info.

   Because you are uploading new products, you can leave the 'Set stock to zero for all exiting products not present in the file' checkbox unchecked (see next section for an explanation of this feature).

4. Click Upload.

You'll be shown a summary of your upload, including any errors. You'll also be told how many products you are creating and how many you are updating. If you're happy with the upload results, click save.

You can then upload another spreadsheet or go to the products page to view your new products.

Update Existing Product Details

The instructions below relate to updating the details of an existing product. This tool is intended as a quick way to update product prices and stock levels.

Prepare the CSV file for import

The process for updating product details is similar to uploading new products. The first step is to download the Product List Template and fill in the product names and the supplier names. If you have this spreadsheet on hand from a previous upload even better.

The system requires seven fields to correctly identify the product you want to update. There are four fields which can be updated and four fields which cannot using this tool.

^ if you try to update these fields you'll see an error message

*If you try to update these fields you'll actually create new products or variants, rather than update an existing product.

Once complete, the .csv can be imported in the same manner as for new products.

Import New Inventory or update your inventory

Import New Inventory or update your inventory

Use these instructions if you want to add or update new products to your inventory.

Prepare the CSV file for import

Firstly, download the Inventory Template CSV file from the Product Import page.

You'll see that the template gives all the column headings required to successfully import a product. Each row is for a new product or variant. Below is a description of how to fill in each column.

Import the CSV

Once you have filled out the Inventory Template CSV you are ready to upload it into OFN.

1. Go to Products > Product Import.

2. Select import type: Select Inventories

3. Select a spreadsheet to upload

4. Click Upload.

You'll be shown a summary of your upload, including any errors. You'll also be told how many products you are creating and how many you are updating. If you're happy with the upload results, click save.

N.B. All fields are case sensitive so you must use the exact category and unit_type names, e.g. 'mL' and 'Dairy' instead of 'ml' or 'dairy'.

You can apply product properties to your products, as a way of letting your customers know more about how your products are produced and what their characteristics are. Current product properties that can be applied include:

There are two ways to assign properties to your products:

1) You can assign a property to an enterprise, so that all products belonging to that enterprise will carry this property (unless it’s manually removed, which is covered in the “Inherited Properties” section below).

2) You can assign properties to particular products, on an individual basis.

Assigning a property to an enterprise

When you assign a property to an enterprise, all products belonging to that enterprise will, by default, carry that product property. For instance, if all of your products are ‘Certified Organic’, you can assign this property to your enterprise, to save you from needing to manually apply this property to every product. If a property only applies to a few of your products, it’s better to apply it to the product, instead of the enterprise (instructions below).

Next, there are 2 fields when applying an enterprise property:

Property Name: You can select a pre-defined product property from the drop-down list. This is the name of the property that your products will be tagged with, and which customers will be able to filter for in your shop.

Description: You can add a small description to give more information about your label. For example you may wish to add a certificate number.

Assigning a property to a product

To assign a property to a single product, rather than an enterprise’s entire product range, click on Products in the horizontal blue banner, and then edit an existing product (you cannot apply a product property when you are first creating a product).

To edit a product, click on the edit icon (pencil and paper) on the right hand side of the table.

Once editing the product you can add or change its properties by selecting 'Product Properties' from the right hand menu.

There are 2 fields when applying a product property:

Property Name:You can select a pre-defined product property from the drop-down list. This is the name of the property that your product will be tagged with, and which customers will be able to filter for in your shop.

Description: You can add a small description to give more information about your label. For example you may wish to add a certificate number.

You can apply multiple product properties by clicking “+ Add Product Properties“

Inherited Properties

When editing a product’s properties you will see a checkbox titled “Inherit properties from (Enterprise Name)(Unless Overridden Above)”. By default, when an enterprise has a property, this box will be checked for all products belonging to the enterprise. Unchecking this box will remove any enterprise properties that have been inherited.

View Product Properties in online shop

By clicking on the profile of a producer, Enterprise Properties appear on the pop out page:

Customers can also filter products in a shop based on their properties:

You can either add products to your catalog one by one (detailed below) or by bulk import, if you have all the relevant details in a .csv file.

Adding products

Once logged into the Admin Dashboard, select Products on the horizontal blue menu and then click + New Product.

This will take you to the New Product page.

Supplier

Select the enterprise who produces and supplies the product.

Product name: This is the title of the product when displayed on the shop front.

Units: Choose the unit the product is sold in (g, oz, lb, kg, L… or item (bunch, bag, packet))

If you choose g and then enter 1000, the product will be displayed as 1kg for the buyer. Keep in mind that some units of measurement will impact on the operation of certain enterprise fees.

For example, a fixed fee by weight can only be applied to products with units of kg. In this case, you can enter non-integer unit numbers, such as 0.2 kg, and the product will be displayed as 200 g but will be recorded in kg on the reports and when prices are calculated.

Value: Enter the value of units that this product is sold in (for example if it is sold as 100 g then enter '100' here and choose 'g' for 'units'; or if it is sold as bunches of flowers, enter '1' here and 'units= items'.

Display As: This field automatically shows you how the units and value fields will display, once you have filled the units and value fields. (i.e. units = kg, value = 2, Display as = 2kg)

Product category: Select the most appropriate category for this product. Assigning a product category makes it easier for customers to locate the items they wish to buy; shoppers can filter your product list by category on your shop front.

Price: Enter the price for the value noted above. Note that this is the base price charged by the producer and the amount they will receive for each purchase. Mark-ups and fees (for distribution admin etc) are added in Enterprise Fees, Shipping Fees and Payment Methods.

Unit Price: This will be automatically calculated for you from the unit and price supplied. If the units are in weight or volume then the unit price will be cost per kg/L etc. If the units are in 'items' then the unit price will be cost per item.

On hand: State how much/many of this product you have available and ready for sale.

Use this field if you want to track your stock levels. As customers place orders, the stock level will reduce, and when the in stock amount reaches zero, the product will no longer be visible in your shop. If you don’t want to track inventory in this way, click 'on demand'.

On demand: If you select this box, it will indicate that this product is always available. This stops the software from tracking inventory levels for products and instead it will always show that the product is in stock.

Image: Upload a photo of this product.

Tax category: Select the applicable tax category from the drop-down list. Tax (VAT in the UK) depends on the nature of the product and the country in which you are retailing.

Product description: Tell your customers a little bit about this product. You might like to include a story about the specific tomato variety, include hyperlinks to any certification it may have etc.

A short demonstration of the steps outlined above:

When you have finished creating a product, you are redirected to the "products" page where you will find all your products:

This is how your products will display to your customers on the shop front:

Listing similar/variations of a Product

If you are listing a product which comes in a number of different options (say different sizes or flavours, each of which may or may not have a different price), it is best to create a ‘variant’ for that product, rather than creating multiple separate products. Creating product variants is discussed fully on the next page.

If you would like to create a SIMILAR product then you can duplicate products by selecting the double page icon to the right of an item (red box). By subsequently selecting the pencil and paper icon (green box) the copied product can be edited and the details amended for the second item.

Edit your products

Once a product is created the best place to quickly edit its attributes, such as quantity, price and stock level, is through the listing products page shown above.

To edit images, product descriptions, categories and more you can select the edit symbol (pen on paper icon) to the right of the product in question in the table. This will bring up the following page:

From the right hand menu, you might like to add:

• Properties or labels to your products. This allows customers to find your items when searching for specific criteria (e.g. certified Organic) and highlights specific qualities your products may have. Find out more here.

• Group Buy: This enables you to manage and organise sales of products in bulk lots. Read more about this here.

• Search terms described below.

For tips on how to manage sales of "irregular" products such as meat or large vegetables sold in units but costed by weight, please read here.

Search keywords

Customers can filter your products to identify what they wish to purchase based on their product category and product properties. The filters are found to the right hand side of the shop page.

Some customers will use the Search box at the top left of the page to locate their produce. The following fields are searched by this box:

• Product name

• Variant name

• Producer name

• Search keywords

Keywords can be added by visiting Edit Product -> Search. Keywords entered into the top box (in red below) are reviewed by the platform if the customer uses the 'Search' field on your shop front. Those entered into the second box (in green below) are searched by external search engines on the internet (for example Google).

The 'Notes' section is not an active field. It is a handy box for you to 'make a note' of a seasonal search term which may be very effective/ineffective one year, so that you don't forget.

If you are listing two or more products which are very similar, but only vary on price, or size, or something like flavour, it is best to create a ‘variant’ for that product, rather than creating multiple, separate products. This will make the listing clearer to customers and prevent your store from becoming cluttered.

How do I create a Product Variant?

First of all, it is necessary to create a product, which will automatically be also the first variant of this product. For more details on adding simple products, click here.

In your admin dashboard, go to the products page where you will find the list of products for companies of "producer" nature that you manage. To see all the variants associated with your products, click on "Expand All" in red at the top left of the table.

To see see the variants of a specific product only, click on the angle ">" to the left of the first column of the table. If you wish to create a new variant for this product, click on the small plus "+" which is displayed just below as shown above.

This will add a new line allowing you to quickly enter information about the second variant:

The first line corresponds to the 'parent product' which will be offered for sale to customers in the form of several variants. Some product-level information will therefore apply to all variants, such as the unit of measure, the name of the unit if the product is sold individually, the properties, the conditions of transport, etc.

The 2nd and 3rd lines are here the 2 variants of the product. Each variant is distinguished from the others by at least one differentiating element, such as the unit (eg. packaging per 500g instead of 100g for the first variant) and, very often, the associated price. Slight variations in the nature of a product (eg. flavour) can be detailed by changing the name of each variant (eg. variant one has name = 'goats cheese- herbs' and variant two has name= 'goats cheese- garlic').

Introduction

The 'inventory' gives enterprises increased control and flexibility with their product management, if they require it. The feature will mainly be of interest to Hubs and Hub managers.

By using the 'Inventory' Hub A can modify the price and stock levels of the items it has permission to retail. The feature can also allow Hub A to make only a sub-selection of goods from its supplying producers available for sale on its shop front if they don't wish to distribute entire product ranges. All this can be done without modifying the master copy of the products. Hence if both Hubs A and B stock the same products, then by using the inventory tool Hub A can alter price and other fundamental information about the items it sells without impacting on Hub B.

Profile settings for the Inventory

To access the Inventory, go to Entreprises (on the blue horizontal menu) and then 'Settings'. From the menu bar on the left hand side, select 'Inventory Settings'

You have two options:

• New products can be put into my shopfront (recommended): Your supplier's products can be added to your online shop-front without you having to add them in your shop/hub inventory beforehand. When you create an order cycle, all products from the selected producers will be available for you to add to the 'incoming' portion of it (the order cycle). This is the default option and is recommended for hubs who do not wish to modify price or stock levels of the items they retail

• New products must be added to my inventory before they can be added to my shopfront: When you create an order cycle, only those products which you previously added to the hub inventory will be visible for selection in the 'incoming' portion of the order cycle.

Visiting your Shop/Hub Inventory

Click the Products menu on the top of your the admin dashboard, and then click Inventory in the green sub menu. If you manage multiple enterprises, you will be asked to select one because each inventory is managed independently.

If new products have been added by your suppliers between each visit to your shop/hub inventory then you will see the following message:

Until you have added these products to the inventory they will remain in the 'New Products' category and invisible for selection when creating an order cycle. By clicking on 'Review Now' you will be redirected to the list of new products.

Reviewing New Products

New products can be either Added to your inventory list or Hidden. If there is a product in the list for which you would like to override details, or apply a recurring stock level to, you’ll need to add it to your inventory list. If there is a product which you never want to sell in your shop, or at least don’t want to stock in the near future, you can choose to hide it (see Hidden Products section below).

Managing Your Inventory Products

Your inventory products list is where you can override product details, set up stock level resetting, and hide products.

Via the columns button on the right of the table, you can choose which settings you would like to see and modify.

Modify SKU, prices and stock levels for products in your shopfront

Any changes you make here will be visible on your shop and will hence override details set by the supplier. You can modify the following fields:

• SKU – if you wish to use an alternative SKU (reference number) for a product, you can over-ride the producer’s SKU here by typing in an alternative.

• Price – You can set a different price to show in your shop. Keep in mind the units of the product will remain the same. Hence if the product is priced per kg then you can only modify its cost per kg and not change it to a fixed cost per item.

• In Stock – If your stock of this product differs from the available stock offered by the producers, you can indicate your stock. Your products will no longer be visible in the shop once the inventory stock level reaches zero.

• Unlimited? – You can select whether to inherit producer stock levels (in which case the number in the 'in stock' column will remain grey), to have unlimited stock 'yes' (hence the item will never run out and will always be available, if added to an active order cycle) or to define your own stock levels 'no' (in which case the number in the 'in stock' column will be on a white background).

Refresh yourself about 'in stock' and 'unlimited' here.

Enable Stock Reset?

The enable stock level reset column allows you to reset the 'In Stock' amount to a default value, for example at the start of each new order cycle. The default amount is the number entered in this column next to the check box. The checkbox allows you to select only those items that you want to reset at any give time.

To reset the default stock for these products, click 'Actions' at the top left of the inventory table and then 'Reset stock levels to defaults'. Only products for which the enable stock reset box has been checked will be affected by this action.

In this example the default stock level of baked beans is 5. There are currently 2 left in stock. If the user, at the beginning of an order cycle wishes to reset to 5 then they must click on 'Reset stock levels to defaults' under 'Actions'

Inherit?

If you have not changed any of the values in the Inventory table for a product, the check box "inherit?" will be, by default, checked. This means that the information entered by the producer and visible in grey will be displayed on your shopfront.

By modifying one or more of the fields, this check box will be automatically de-selected. To reset values (price, stock, SKU etc) to the producer's master copy values, you can re-select this box at any time.

Hide

As in the New Products list, you can also hide products from your Inventory List. Clicking on the hide button will move the product to your Hidden Products list. If you have your inventory profile set up as 'New products must be added to my inventory before they can be added to my shopfront' (see here) then the product you just hid will no longer be available for selection in your hub's order cycle and thus will not be visible on your shopfront.

Hidden Products

This is a list of all the products you have chosen to hide:

When viewing your list of hidden products you can choose to make them visible once more by clicking the 'Add' button to the right of the item.

Inventory and Order Cycles

When setting up order cycles you can on a case by case basis choose between selecting from all available products or only those which are in your shop/hub inventory.

This is controlled by visiting 'Advanced Settings' (top right of order cycle page):

This option has the same effect as changing our enterprise profile settings for your inventory, but unlike the latter it applies only to the order cycle in question.

The Group Buy function is designed for enterprises who purchase some of their incoming stock in bulk quantities and resell them in smaller units (for example, purchasing a 25 kg bag of rice and retailing to customers per kg).

Bulk purchasing is a common practice for buying groups, who, by buying large volumes, can benefit from wholesale prices in the same way as conventional distributors. By doing so, members can access food much cheaper than they might be able to from high street retailers.

For such enterprises, the decision of whether to order a certain product is dependent on whether customers have collectively ordered enough to justify a bulk purchase. This may be due to volume discounts, or delivery fees. The group buy function makes it easier for the hub to achieve bulk buying efficiencies.

When a product is allocated to group buy it will display with the label 'Bulk' across the photo on your shop front. When a customer chooses to add the product to their basket, a pop-up screen will prompt them to enter minimum and maximum quantities as shown below:

Customer are asked to indicate:

• Their minimum quantity- this is the amount of the product they ideally want.

• Their maximum quantity- this is the maximum amount they would be willing to buy.

In Bulk Order Management you can view the total minimum and maximum order quantities for the product, from all of your customers. Then you can either raise customer orders, within their acceptable range, to achieve the bulk quantity, or if the maximum order quantity falls short, you can delete all orders for this product.

Enabling Group Buy for a product

On the admin dashboard, go to 'Products' on the blue horizontal menu. Select to Edit a product by clicking on the pencil and paper icon to the right of the product in question:

Then select Group Buy Options in the menu to the right.

Select Yes under Group Buy? to activate this feature for the product.

The Bulk Unit Size is the amount that the group’s collective order needs to reach.

Adjusting Orders to make complete Batches

Under Orders-> bulk order management you can view and edit customer orders for Bulk Buy products to make the combined order from all customers reach your required threshold.

1. Select the order cycle or date range of interest.

2. Search for the product (Fish in the example below).

3. Make sure the ‘Max’ column is displayed so you can see the upper limit each customers is prepared to purchase.

4. Next, click on the value ('test fish: Fish One' in the example below) in the Product : Unit column, to display the orders total box (in blue) for the product in question.

5. Using the information in the column Max, you can increase the quantities ordered to reach the threshold for a complete batch.

6. Click update to save changes to customer orders.

Current Fulfilled Units divides your total quantity ordered by the group buy unit size. If this figure is greater than 1, it tells you that the existing customer orders satisfy or exceed your required group buy unit size. If this figure is less than 1, existing customer orders don’t meet that threshold. As you raise the quantity of customer orders, this figure will raise.

Max Fulfilled Units takes the sum of all of the customer’s MAX order quantities and divides this by the Group Buy Unit Size. If this figure is greater than 1, then you know that the total of your MAX orders exceeds the required group buy quantity. If this figure is less than 1, it means that even the MAX order quantities won’t reach the threshold.

Here we refer to products as 'irregular' if they are sold according to weight/volume but the exact quantity is not known until time of harvest/distribution.

For example joints of meat, slices of cheese, large vegetables.

There are a number of different tools available on the OFN platform to help manage and organise these sales.

Option One: Set an average weight / price and reimburse

You can charge the average price of the product, and then reimburse or charge the customer extra, if the actual weight deviates from the mean.

When you know the true weight of the products (ie. when you are preparing orders for collection by customers), log into "Bulk Order Management" (Orders -> Bulk Order Management) and add the Weight / Volume column to the table.

You can then change the weight shown for each buyer for a given order and a given product. The price will be recalculated automatically according to the quantity entered.

Option Two: Display price ranges

Same logic as Option One, but simply instead of displaying an average price initially, indicate a price range. This solution has the advantage of clearly indicating to the buyer that the final price is likely to be modified.

Variants can also be utilised to create different ranges.

Example 1 (single product and one variant): Product = Chicken (between 8 and 12 kg with price according to weight, £10 / kg)

Example 2 (two variants for one product): Product = Chicken (£10 / kg) Variant 1 = Small chicken (between 8 and 12 kg, price according to actual weight) Variant 2 = Large chicken (between 13 and 20 kg, price according to actual weight) ...

Option Three: Create variants with fixed prices

A slightly simpler version of Option Two is to create variants for your products based on weight ranges but charge a fixed price for all items that fall within the range. For example if butternut squash costs £1/kg then you could list the variants with the following fixed prices:

• Small (0.7 - 0.9 kg) £0.80

• Medium (0.9 - 1.1 kg) £1.00

• Large (1.1 - 1.3 kg) £1.20

• Extra Large (1.3 - 1.5 kg) £1.40

Option Four: Create variants with known weights

If you know the weight of all your steaks, for example, in advance you can use the variant functionality to directly display the precise price for each item. Example:

Editing Orders

It may be difficult for meat producers to know in advance about product availability or prepare their packaging accordingly. (Until slaughter the weight of a chicken or a leg of lamb maybe unknown.)

This is not a problem since orders can be modified (by adding, modifying or deleting products) if necessary. For more information, see Orders.

Reimbursing or Charging customers the difference: How does it work?

If a customer pays for their goods on their collection or delivery, then the hub manager will have been able to modify the order before payment according to the actual weight and the products actually delivered. Hence in this instance there will be no need to reimburse or re-bill customer.

If an order is paid online before delivery, then you must refund or invoice for the the difference between monies already received and that owing for the precise products to be delivered. Click here to see how.

Inform the buyer about your pricing policy

You can notify your customers about your pricing policies for variable weight items (such as meat) in the message box displayed at the top of your shop front. This is found in the Enterprise Settings -> Shop Preferences.

It might be useful to also add a reminder of these pricing policies in the description box of Payment Methods. For example, you may wish to add : "Remember that the final price may vary by 10% depending on weight if you have purchased non-divisible items such as meat or large vegetables.".

Enterprise Permissions

Within the OFN, Enterprise Permissions are rules which govern the trading relationships between suppliers and distributors. These rules must be set up before one company (Producer Profile or Producer Shop) can become a supplier of another (Hub), or vice versa. A permission (or 'right') is granted by one company to another regarding access/modification of products and profile. This page details the different permissions and how to allocate them.

To access your enterprise permissions:

Lastly, we explore this topic from the point of view of:

• a Hub (the distributor)

• a producer profile or shop (the supplier)

The Four Permissions

There are 4 different types of Enterprise permissions. They can combine in different ways to give companies more or less rights according to their profiles.

Permission to add to order cycle: the supplier (producer) allows the distributor (an OFN Hub) to add products to the latter's order cycles. Thus, products from the supplier can appear on the hub's shopfront.

Permission to manage products: the supplier authorises another OFN registered enterprise (typically a hub) to create, delete and modify products directly in its supplier catalog.

For example, if Farmer Jo supplies potatoes to Hubs A and B but grants Hub A permission to manage its products then if Hub A changes the price of the potatoes then this price change (under standard settings) will be reflected on the shop fronts of both hubs A and B.

Permission to edit profile: one company allows another to modify details in their Enterprise Profile (contact details, address, description...).

Permission to add products to inventory: the supplier (producer) authorises the distributor (hub) to add its products to the shop catalog (or 'Inventory') of the hub.

Granting and Managing Permissions

To modify, add or delete permissions, go to the admin dashboard and then to 'Enterprises' on the blue menu and 'Permissions' on the green sub-menu.

To give permission:

• Select your enterprise from the drop down menu in the first column (you are a producer who supplies others)

• Select the name of the enterprise (hub) you wish to supply from the second column.

• Tick the permissions you wish to grant to the distributor of your goods (hub), or to grant multiple permissions select 'everything'.

• Click on 'Create'.

Note that you can delete or change these permissions at any time.

If you need another enterprise to give you permissions, you need to contact them by email or phone. There is no online feature to do this.

Automatically Generated Permissions

When a user is the main manager (owner) of several enterprises on the platform, permissions are created automatically between each enterprise. This is not the case when enterprises are managed by different users.

Hub perspective

The following common scenarios demonstrate enterprise-enterprise permissions you may need to set up for your hub.

I have created Producer Profiles for each of my suppliers. Which permissions do I need to set up before I can stock their products on my Hub shopfront?

The system is configured so that hubs creating producer profiles will have the correct permissions installed as default, so that they can start adding products and trading with these producer profiles right away.

My supplier already has an enterprise registered with OFN. I would like to add their products to my hub shopfront.

You must contact your supplier in person. Their contact details (phone number, address and email address) will be located in their OFN profile.

If you only intend to stock their products and don't wish to help them manage the rest of their OFN profile then ask the producer to grant permission to add to order cycle and permission to add to inventory.

If the supplier wishes for you, as a Hub manager, to help them organise their OFN enterprise then they may grant you all four permissions. Should this occur then you will be able to edit their profile and manage their products.

My Hub distributes through buying groups. Which permissions will the buying group need with my hub and my producers?

The buying group (Hub B above) will need to grant the order cycle co-ordinator (Hub A above) permission to add to order cycle (and ideally permission to add to inventory).

Producers who supply Hub A with products that are also being sold by the buying group (Hub B) must grant both Hubs A and B permission to add to order cycle (and ideally permission to add to inventory).

Producer's perspective

When a producer wants to start selling their products through other enterprises (hubs or buying groups) they must establish the appropriate enterprise-to-enterprise permissions. There are different levels of permission that a producer can grant, depending on how much power they want to give the hub to manage their products and profile (see top of page).

These examples explore some common scenarios.

I am a producer and would like a local OFN hub to stock and sell my products.

Essential: For the hub to add your products to their shopfront, you’ll need to grant them 'permission to add to order cycle'.

Optional: You might also want to give the hub permission to manage your products, to edit your profile or to add to Inventory.

A hub that I supply distributes through buying groups.

In order for your products to be distributed by the buying groups you will have to add a minimum permission of 'add to order cycle' for the buying group enterprise as well as the hub you supply directly.

I am a Producer Shop who supplies a local Hub as well as running my own shopfront. The hub would like to manage the stock levels and prices of my products. I would also like to manage stock levels and prices of my products.

This scenario can be solved by granting the hub permission to add to Inventory as well as permission to add to order cycle.

This allows the hub to stock your products in their shop, but to set their own prices and inventory levels. When you stock your own shop with your products, they will continue to reflect the prices and stock levels that you have set.

Before you read on, you might like to look at a quick demonstration of how to set up your first payment method:

Setting up a Payment Method

• Go to the Payment Methods page by clicking on Enterprises in the blue horizontal menu, and then click Settings next to your enterprise. The Payment Methods page is found in the menu on the left hand side.

• Click Create new payment method + . You will be directed to a page like this:

• Tick your enterprise, in the box on the right hand side of the page titled Hubs. This indicates which enterprise the payment method you are about to create will apply to. You can select more than one enterprise.

• Name: Choose a name for this payment method. (eg 'Pay with credit card using Paypal'). This name is displayed at checkout and on customers' order confirmation emails.

• Description: provide further details about the payment method. For example, for a bank transfer, you would enter the bank account details in this box into which you would like a customer to make the BACS payment. This description is displayed at checkout and in order confirmation emails.

• Display: Opt for either 'Back Office Only' or 'Both Checkout and Back Office'

• Active: Select whether this payment method is currently visible and available, or not.

• Payment providers: Select the option which is relevant to the payment method you are creating. There are three options:

  • PayPal Express

  • Stripe/ Stripe Connect (This payment has been deprecated and will be removed. Use Stripe SCA)

  • Stripe SCA

  • Cash / EFT / etc. (Cash, cheque or bank transfer. These payments do not go through an online payment portal and do not involve automatic validation)

By clicking Create, the payment method will be created and you will have new fields to define payment method fees. These fields visible depend on which 'Calculator' you selected.

Integrated Payment Providers

For Paypal, MasterCard, Stripe and Pin Payments (Australia only) additional instructions are below.

Payment Method Fees

You can attach a fee to payment methods. Most commonly this is used to pass on a payment portal's fees to the customer. For example, you may wish to charge the customer for the convenience of paying by PayPal to cover the fee charged by PayPal.

Fee Calculators

Flat Percent: This fee is charged as a percentage of the total amount charged in the order.

Flat Rate (per order): This fee is applied as standard fee to all orders, regardless of the size of the order.

Flexible Rate – This fee calculator is especially useful if you'd like to encourage customers to place large orders: the cost of payment can be reduced or zero when the threshold number of items has been reached.

• ‘First Item Cost’: The fee charged for the first item in the order.

• ‘Additional Item Cost’: The fee charged for items beyond the first item.

• ‘Max Items’: The maximum number of items on which the fee will be applied. Items purchased beyond this amount will be not be charged the fee.

For Example: if the 'First Item Cost' is set to £0.20, 'Additional Item Cost' is £0.10 and 'Max Items' is 3 then a customer who purchases 5 items will be charged £0.40 in payment fees (£0.20 for the first item, £0.10 for items two and three, and £0.00 for items four and five).

Flat Rate (per item): This fee is a constant fee, applied to products listed as ‘items’. (It is not applied to products sold by weight or volume. Hence there will be no associated payment method fee charged to a customer who, for example, buys rice by kg.)

Price Sack: This is a flexible shipping fee method that allows you to reward shoppers who spend over a ‘minimal amount’ by applying a discount. If the shopper spends less than the ‘minimal amount’ you can set what shipping fee they pay.

• Minimal Amount: If the order total is below this amount, no discount is applied. If the order is above this amount, the discount will be applied at checkout.

• ‘Normal Amount’: This will be the shipping fee applied to sales below the ‘Minimal Amount’.

• ‘Discount Amount’: This will be the shipping fee applied to sales above the ‘Minimal Amount’.

Refunds

To open your online shop on Open Food Network and start selling, your enterprise must be registered as either a Producer Shop or Producer/Non-Producer Hub. Read more about the different Enterprise profiles and .

The next essential steps are to set up and Methods for your enterprise. At this stage we also suggest creating (a mark up added to the price each product charged by the supplying producer to cover admin and distribution costs).

Opening and closing times of shop fronts on OFN, as well as the option to sub-select products for different dates and times of collection, are controlled by .

Shop fronts on OFN are highly flexible. Read more if you are interested in:

• .

• Would like only registered members to be able to place orders ()

• Would like a 'dummy' shop front

Customer View

When you have opened your shop front with an active , customers can view your products listed, search using the top left hand 'Search Box' and/or filter products by their or :

To add products to their basket, customers can click on 'Add' and then toggle the quantity of the item in their basket using the '+' and '-' keys.

Enterprise fees are useful for producers and hubs who are working together. They allow costs associated with admin, packing, transport, sales and fundraising to be allocated to different parties.

For example, a hub may choose to add an enterprise fee of 10% to all the products they sell to cover their administration costs (storage of products prior to distribution, staff costs etc).

For producers selling their own products directly, these costs are already present in the price of the product so applying Enterprise Fees may not be necessary.

One of the many benefits to OFN customers is price transparency. Shoppers can see the percentage of an item's price assigned to admin, packing etc. This information is displayed by clicking on the pie chart next to the price of a product on the shop front:

Before you move on you might like to have a look at a quick demonstration of setting up your first enterprise fee:

Setting up an Enterprise Fee

• Go to 'Enterprise Fees' by clicking on Enterprises in the blue bar at the top of the page and then click Settings next to your enterprise. The Enterprise Fee page is found in the menu on the left hand side.

• Click Create One Now (or Manage Enterprise Fees if you have already set one up). You will be directed to a page like this:

Enterprise: In the first column, select the enterprise to which the fee applies.

Fee Type: Select the service that the fee applies to. The options are Packing Fee, Transport Fee, Admin Fee, Sales Fee or Fundraising Fee.

Name: Choose a name for your fee.

Tax Category: Select the appropriate tax category. In most cases, the VAT rate for the enterprise fee will be inherited from the product. If the enterprise fee is associated with a service added to the product, the fee may be subject to VAT but the product itself not. In this case, choose between 'Reduced Rate', 'Full Rate' or 'Zero rated' VAT.

Calculator: The fee can be calculated in a number of ways. Select the calculator which best applies.

Click Update to save your enterprise fee.

Fee Calculators

Flat Percent – This fee is charged as a percentage of the total amount charged in the order.

Weight (per kg) – this fee is applied to products on a per kg basis. The fee will only be applied to products which are priced at a per kg rate, not products listed as items (e.g. a product listed as ‘1 bunch of parsley’ will not have an associated enterprise fee with this option).

Flat Rate (per order) – This fee is applied as a standard fee to all orders, regardless of order size.

Flexible Rate – This fee calculator is especially useful if you'd like to encourage customers to place large orders: the enterprise fee can be reduced or zeroed when the threshold number of items has been reached.

• First Item Cost - the fee charged for the first item in the order.

• Additional Item Cost - the fee charged for items beyond the first item.

• Max Items - the maximum number of items on which the fee will be applied. Items purchased beyond this amount will not be charged the fee.

For example, if the 'First Item Cost' is set to £0.20, 'Additional Item Cost' to £0.10 and 'Max Items' to 3, then a customer who purchases 5 items will be charged £0.40 in enterprise fees. This is comprised of £0.20 for the first item, £0.10 for the second and third, and £0.00 for the fourth and fifth.

Flat Rate (per item) - This fee is a constant fee, applied to products listed as ‘items’. (It is not applied to products sold by weight or volume, hence there will be no associated enterprise fee charged to a customer who buys rice by the kg for example).

Price Sack - This is a flexible shipping fee method that allows you to reward shoppers who spend over a ‘minimal amount’ by applying a shipping discount. If the shopper spends less than the ‘minimal amount’, you can set what shipping fee they pay.

• Minimal Amount - If the order total is below this amount, no discount is applied. If the order is above this amount, the discount will be applied at checkout.

• Normal Amount - This is the shipping fee applied to sales below the 'Minimal Amount'.

• Discount Amount - This is the shipping fee applied to orders above the 'Minimal Amount'. You can set this to 0 for free shipping, or use a minus symbol to apply a discount, eg. -5 for $5 cheaper.

Online stores can be opened and closed by creating 'order cycles' on the Open Food Network platform.

The OFN web address for your shop will only display your list of products for purchase when an order cycle is open.

The format of setting up an (multi producer shop) differs slightly from that for (single producer shop).

It's possible to offer simultaneously, for example to allow a purchase for delivery in 1, 2 or 3 weeks.

Before you read on, you might like to have look at a quick demonstration of how to set up your first shipping method:

Setting up a shipping method

• Go to the Shipping Methods page by clicking on Enterprises in the blue horizontal menu, and then click Settings next to your enterprise. The Shipping Methods page is found in the menu on the left hand side.

• Click Create new shipping method + . You will be directed to a page like this:

• Check the box next to your enterprise on the right hand side of the page under 'Hubs'. This indicates that the shipping method you are about to create will apply to that enterprise. You can select multiple enterprises, if desired.

• Name: Choose a name for the method. This name will be displayed to the customer during their purchase process and on order confirmation emails. Example:

• Description: Add additional details, such as the precise address of the collection point. These details will be visible to customers in grey next to the name (see screenshot above) and in their order confirmation email.

• Display: Opt for either 'Back Office Only' or 'Both Checkout and Back Office'

• Category: Is this method a delivery or pick-up?

• Calculator: Select the way that shipping fees will be added to this shipping method. Note that a shipping fee may be zero. See below for more details.

• Tax Category: This enables you to set the tax associated with your shipping method/collection fee independently to that assigned to tax-eligible products owned by your enterprise. The options are: none, full rate, zero rated, reduced rate or shipping.

• Categories: Transport conditions (refrigeration, frozen, default) associated with this shipping method.

• Zones: Select the appropriate zone (this is to enable correct tax calculations).

By clicking Create, the shipping method will be created, and you will then be provided with new fields, to add details of the shipping method charges. The fields presented will depend upon which shipping fee calculator you have selected.

Fee Calculators

Flat Percent – This fee is charged as a percentage of the total amount spent in the order.

Weight (per kg) – this fee is applied to products on a per kg basis. The fee will only be applied to products which are priced at a per kg rate, not products listed as items (e.g. A product listed as ‘1 bunch of parsley’ will not contribute to the overall fee a customer is charged for shipping)

Flat Rate (per order) – This fee is applied as standard fee to all orders, regardless of the size of the order.

Flat Rate (per item) – This fee is a constant fee, applied to products listed as ‘items’. (It is not applied to products sold by weight or volume. Hence there will be no associated shipping cost charged to a customer who, for example, buys rice by kg).

Flexible Rate – This fee calculator is especially useful if you'd like to encourage customers to place large orders: the cost of shipping can be reduced or zero when the threshold number of items has been reached.

• ‘First Item Cost’: The fee charged for the first item in the order.

• ‘Additional Item Cost’: The fee charged for items beyond the first item.

• ‘Max Items’: The maximum number of items on which the fee will be applied. Items purchased beyond this amount will be not be charged the fee.

For example: If the shipping fee for the 'First item cost' is £2, 'Additional Item Cost' = £1 and 'Max items' = 3. A customer who purchases 5 items, will be charged £4 shipping (£2 for the first item, £1 for items two and three, and £0 for items four and five).

Price Sack – This is a flexible shipping fee method charged by total monetary sale, rather than number of items purchased (Flexible Rate above)

• ‘Minimum Amount’: Monetary value of the threshold between Normal shipping fee and Discounted shipping fee.

• 'Normal Amount': Shipping fee applied to sales below the threshold stated in 'Minimum Amount'.

• ‘Discount Amount’: Shipping fee applied to sales above the threshold stated in 'Minimum Amount'.

You open your shop by creating an Order Cycle. When you create an order cycle you select when your shop is open (from and until), which products will go into the shop, and any fees that you'll apply.

Why Order Cycles? Some hubs may wish to have an online store which is perpetually open and to fulfil orders on a one by one basis, as they are received. However, many hubs operate on a periodic ordering system which allows them to process orders in bulk, making their production, packing and distribution activities more efficient (and reducing associated overhead costs).

For example, an order cycle might be open for two weeks. At the end of the fortnight, all orders will be packed and delivered at the same time on the following Wednesday. Once this batch of orders has been delivered, a new order cycle may reopen.

A quick demonstration of setting up a new order cycle:

Viewing Order Cycles

Or from the horizontal menu at the top of the page.

Create a New Order Cycle

Once the order cycle coordinator has been chosen, the process of setting up your cycle can be broken down into three steps:

1) General Settings

Name (required): Give the order cycle a name which is meaningful to you. We recommend that you follow a consistent naming protocol e.g FoodHub_Week27_2014. We also recommend that you include the name of your hub in the order cycle name, so that OFN support can identify your order cycles if you need assistance.

Orders Open at: This is the date and time when your OFN store will be open, visible and able to accept orders from customers.

Orders Close: This is the date and time when your OFN store will close and stop accepting orders. If you intend to have an order cycle which is continuously open, select a close date well into the future.

2) Incoming Products

The Receival Details field is optional. Information added to this field will automatically added to any email sent to producers at the end of an order cycle (after clicking 'Notify Producers'). It might be a good idea to include an exact delivery address for produce prior to distribution to customers here.

Select the name of the enterprise in the first dropdown box, then click the name of the enterprise fee in the second dropdown box. In the example below, an enterprise fee named 'OrderAdmin' is applied to the supplier, 'Producer of Fruit'.

3) Outgoing Products

Here you can select one or more hub-distributors. All hubs chosen to be a distributor in this order cycle will have an open shop front for the duration of the order cycle. In a simple model, only one hub is listed as the sole distributor for the order cycle. Select the hub, and check the box 'Select all' to add all incoming products to the shop front. For more flexibility, the same order cycle may have multiple hub distributors. In this case you may wish to select a different subset of the available incoming products for each distributor, and/or add different delivery dates for each.

The ‘Ready for (i.e. Date/Time)’ (required): This box tells the customer when their order will be ready for either collection or delivery. If your order cycle is a perpetual one, which fulfils orders on an individual basis rather than in bulk, you should enter something like ‘Two days after order is received’. The example below shows how a customer can toggle between different order cycles to select the date which suits them best.

The note is also shown at check out, when the customer selects their shipping method (see below) and is included in the order confirmation email.

The Pick-Up Instructions message will be included in the customer’s order confirmation email, below the message that corresponds to their chosen shipping method (see below). This note is designed to only be visible to customers, so you can include more sensitive information like addresses, or phone numbers etc. See below for an example of the order confirmation email.

Add Fee: Again, a previously created enterprise fee can be assigned to this distributor. For simple models (with one hub distributor, who also is the coordinator of the order cycle) adding a fee at this stage is the same as adding a 'Coordinator Fee' (it will apply to all products). For complex models, the coordinator may wish to add different fees to all products sold though each distributor. The best place to implement this functionality is here.

Open the shopfront

Click Save to schedule the order cycle. If the opening date has already passed, your shop is instantly open! If you are not ready to open right away, enter dates in the future, which you can change later.

For periodic, repetitive order cycles, you can copy an existing order cycle and change the dates to make the process quicker. Click the button with two sheets of paper to the right of the table as highlighted below:

Order cycles will display as green when they are active, yellow when scheduled for a future date, and grey when they have closed. If an order cycle closed over one month ago, it will no longer display on this list. To view all of your past order cycles click show 30 more days or show 90 more days at the bottom of the list.

Customers will be advised when they have already ordered in an order cycle, even if the order cycle was closed for some time before being reopened:

‘Notify Producers’ Button

By using this button at the top of the page, all the Producers linked to the order cycle will receive an email containing a list of the products ordered for that particular order cycle thus far.

When the Notify Producers button is selected there will be a confirmation prompt. Once confirmed, an email will be automatically sent to all relevant Producers. The email will include Delivery instructions (if this field is completed in the incoming products section) as well as the following product information:

• SKUs (if relevant)

• Name of Supplier

• Product name

• Quantity ordered

• Price per unit

• Subtotal per product

• Included Tax (if relevant)

Setting up automatic producer notifications

If you would like the producer emails to be automatically sent when an order cycle closes, you can do this from the 'Advanced settings' menu in the edit order cycle screen:

From the menu that appears, select the checkbox for 'automatic notifications' and click 'save and reload page' to save your changes:

To also show customer names in these reports, for example to help your producers to pack items by customer, ensure you have the setting 'customer names in reports' enabled from the shop preferences menu of your enterprise settings:

Once you have the automatic notifications set up for an order cycle, your producers will automatically be sent an email after the order cycle closes. Enabling 'customer names in reports' will help them to pack the orders by customer.

Producer / Supplier Reports

This page explains the varying rights each enterprise has in the context of complex multiple enterprise order cycles. Be it:

• the producer (profile or shop) who supplies the order cycle only,

• a hub which distributes goods only,

• or a hub which coordinates the order cycle (and may or may not also supply or distribute goods).

For more details about simple order cycles involving a single producer selling their own stock only (producer shop), see here.

The coordinator has the highest degree of control over an order cycle. Other enterprises can view the order cycles they are involved in, but only edit settings which affect them.

The Coordinator

The Coordinator of an Order Cycle can:

• Create the order cycles

• Set and edit the name of the order cycle as well as the opening and closing dates.

• Apply enterprise fees to all products (coordinator fee), to products supplied by producers (in the incoming section), and/or to products distributed by hubs (in the outgoing section).

Incoming

• The coordinator can add enterprises as suppliers. However, to do this the supplying enterprise (registered as a Producer with OFN) must have granted the coordinating hub permission to add their products to an order cycle.

• The coordinator can select all or a subset of products from their suppliers that they wish include in the order cycle.

• The coordinator can apply differential enterprise fees to each supplier. For example, they may wish to charge a supplying butcher a higher rate (to cover the extra cost of refrigerated transport) than a baker.

Outgoing

The coordinator can choose which enterprises the products listed in an order cycle are distributed through (including themselves).

To do this each potential distributor must be:

1. Registered as a Hub.

2. Have granted the coordinating hub permission to add products to an order cycle.

3. Have at least one active shipping and payment method.

The coordinator can choose from the complete list of incoming products, which will be displayed on each distributing Hub's shopfront. The supplier (producer profile or shop) must have set up an enterprise permission of 'add to order cycle' between themselves and the specific distributing hub (as well as the coordinator).

The coordinator can apply differential enterprise fees to each distributing hub if desired. This might be advantageous if one hub is further away from the coordinator than another, and hence would have a higher transport overhead associated with it.

Supplying (Incoming) Enterprises

The supplier (producer) can view all the order cycles they’re involved with by visiting the order cycle summary page (from the top horizontal blue menu), even if they haven't created the order cycles themselves. By clicking on the order cycle an incoming producer can see their details only, not the products or details of others involved in the order cycle. They can edit items relating to themselves: for example they can remove a product which is out of stock from an order cycle. A supplying enterprise can not alter the name nor dates of an order cycle.

In the Reports section (top horizontal blue menu) an incoming supplying producer can view the orders they have received for the order cycle

Incoming

• A supplier can view, add and remove their products from the 'Incoming Products' section of an order cycle.

• A supplier can add/remove enterprise fees which are applied to their products in the 'Incoming Products' section of the order cycle. This might be useful for producers who supply several hubs, some of which are much further away from them than others. They may wish to add an extra levy to more distant hubs to cove transport costs.

Outgoing

The degree of influence a supplier has over their products in the 'Outgoing Products' section of an order cycle depends on the specific enterprise permissions they granted the distributing hub and vice versa.

• If the distributing hub granted the supplying producer (profile, shop or hub) the right to 'add to [the hub's] order cycle' then the supplier can view, add and remove products from the list in the 'Outgoing Products' section of the order cycle.

• If the distributing hub did not grant the supplying producer (profile, shop or hub) the right to 'add to [the hub's] order cycle' then the supplier can view but NOT add and remove products from the list in the 'Outgoing Products' section of the order cycle.

• A supplier is never able to change the pickup/delivery details, or the enterprise fees applied to the distributor.

Distributing (Outgoing) Enterprise

A distributor can view Order Cycles they’re involved with in their Order Cycle summary page, even if they did not create them themselves (ie. they are not the order cycle coordinator). By clicking on an order cycle, the outgoing distributing enterprise can see the details of an order cycle which relate to them only. (For example, if they are not the sole distributor of the order cycle they will not be able to see who the other distributing enterprises are nor the products they will offer on their shop front.) The outgoing distributing hub can view and edit details of their distribution- delivery dates and methods, and enterprise fees for distribution- but no the name nor period of the order cycle itself.

In the 'Reports' menu, a order cycle distributor can view the orders which have been placed (along with customer names) to aid delivery/dispatch of goods.

Incoming

A distributor can view the incoming products of supplier who have granted them the enterprise permission 'add to order cycle' but they can not edit stock levels/availability nor apply/remove producer specific enterprise fees.

Outgoing

The degree of influence the distributing hub has over the products in the 'outgoing products' section of an order cycle, depends on the enterprise permissions between them and the supplying producer.

• The distributing hub can add/remove products from its outgoing exchange. This only applies to product from producers who been added to the order cycle by the coordinator, and have granted the distributor the enterprise permission 'add to order cycle'.

• Can change the pickup/delivery details

• Can add/remove their enterprise fee

Often an enterprise may want to offer individual customers and wholesale retailers different prices (or even different products- such as bulk buys).

For some enterprises (such as community food groups) 'members' may be eligible to reduced rates in comparison to 'non members'.

'Tags and Tag rules' are the mechanism on the OFN platform whereby differential pricing and other benefits can be imparted to specific customer groups, if desired.

For step-by-step guides on how to implement tags and tag rules to provide specific functionalities view the How To section here.

Once your shop is online (i.e. you have an active Order Cycle), customers are able to place orders. This section explains how to:

• manage and modify orders

• create orders manually for customers

• adjust payments (refunds etc.)

In Open Food Network, Order Cycles are where shop managers open their shop. This involves selecting which of their products are in stock, what fees are applied and what dates the shop will open and close.

Why use Order Cycles? Many producers, who are selling small quantities of products, may find it useful to have an order cycle that is perpetually open, and to fulfill orders individually, as they are placed. Other producers, who sell large quantities of products, to multiple customers, find it useful to establish periodic order cycles, which are collectively fulfilled at the end of a period. For instance, a farmer may have an order cycle which is open (accepting orders) for two weeks. At the end of this order cycle, all of the orders are packed, sorted and distributed at the same time. Once this batch of orders has been fulfilled, a new order cycle is opened. Structuring order cycles in this way can make the tasks of packing and delivering orders more efficient.

Access Order Cycles

When logged into your admin dashboard you can access order cycles from this button:

Or 'Order Cycles' on the blue horizontal menu across the top of the page. Then click on +New Order Cycle

You will now be redirected to a new screen:

Name (required): Choose a name for this order cycle. This will only be visible to you, so it can be named anything which is meaningful for you. We recommend that you follow a consistent naming protocol e.g FoodHub_Week27_2014.

Orders Open: This is the date at which your OFN store will be open, and start to accept orders.

Orders Close: This is the date when your OFN store will close, and stop accepting orders. If you intend to have an order cycle which is continuously open, select a close date which is well into the future.

Schedules: leave blank unless implementing Subscriptions.

Ready for (ie Date/Time) (required): This box tells the customer when their order will be ready for either collection or delivery.

Customer Instructions: This message will be included in the customer’s order confirmation email, below the message that corresponds to their chosen shipping method (see below). This note is designed to only be visible to customers, so you can include more sensitive information like addresses, or phone numbers etc.

Products: You must select the products which will be visible in your online store during this order cycle.

Add Coordinator Fee: There is the option of adding a coordinator fee. Here you can apply an enterprise fee that has been created for your enterprise.

Open the shopfront

Click Create to save this order cycle.

For periodic, repetitive order cycles, you can copy an existing order cycle and change the dates, to make the process quicker. Select the icon with two sheets of paper to the right of the table as highlighted below:

Order cycles will display as green when they are active, yellow when scheduled for a future date, and grey when they have closed. If an order cycle closed over one month ago, it will no longer display on this list. To view all of your past order cycles click show 30 more days or show 90 more days at the bottom of the list.

Customers will be advised when they have already ordered in an order cycle, even if the order cycle was closed for some time before being reopened:

Once customers have been grouped into categories with tags, you will be able to customise their shopping experience in the following ways:

• Making particular variants visible/invisible

• Making certain shipping methods visible/invisible

• Making certain payment methods visible/invisible

• Making order cycles visible/invisible

Most often this feature is required by enterprises who have different shop setups for members/non-members or different groups of customers such as wholesale/retail customers. More examples can be found in our How To section.

How to set up a Tag rule

To access Tag Rules go to Enterprises -> Settings -> Tag Rules

By Default

By default, all items will be visible to all customers whether they are tagged or not. You can change the default display rules by selecting +add new default rule. Int the example below, by default, all Order Cycles which are tagged 'wholesale' will be invisible. (For this example, only those customers who are tagged with the label 'wholesalecustomer' can view (and hence purchase from) Order Cycles tagged 'wholesale'.)

Tag Rules

Once you have defined default rules, you can then set up exceptions to these rules for specific customer groups.

• First define the customer group to which the exception will occur. In the example above, the exception was applied to all customers with the tag 'wholesalecustomer'.

• Then, for this customer group, you can choose to customise their shopping experience in one of four ways:

We now look at each option, one-by-one:

Show or Hide Variants in my shopfront