Introduction

Would you like to say a little thank you to the people who help run your community food enterprise? One option is to allow staff and volunteers to have a small discount off any shopping they do. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to implement this. The process draws on the highly flexible Customer Management tools available using Tags and Tag Rules.

Process

• Ask your volunteers to let you know the email address linked to their OFN account.

• Login to your business OFN account and visit Customers page.

• Use the ‘Quick Search’ box to identify if the person has shopped with you before.

• If their email address doesn’t appear then click + New Customer and add their address.

• Add the tag ‘volunteer’ to the customer’s entry.

• Visit Enterprises -> Settings and then select ‘Payment Methods’ from the left hand menu.

• Click + New Payment Method.

Name: Volunteer 5% Discount Description: Thank you for helping us run our local food hub. Display: Both Checkout and Back Office Active: yes Tags: Add the tag ‘volunteer’ into this space. Provider: choose the most appropriate method for your business. Fee Calculator: Flat Percent

• After selecting Create, add ‘-5’ * to the ‘Amount’ field of the ‘Fee Calculator’ Section. (Negative sign results in a discount) *-5 will result in a 5% discount if your enterprise does not use Enterprise Fees.

• Visit your Enterprise -> Settings page and select ‘Tag Rules’ from the left hand menu. Set up the following Tag rules:

Default: Payment Methods tagged ‘volunteer’ are not visible. For customers tagged ‘volunteer’ payment methods tagged ‘volunteer’ are visible.

Bingo! Only your volunteers will be offered a 5% discount when they shop with you.

Often as a hub manager you may on behalf of one of your potential suppliers. Sometimes suppliers may change their mind and decide not to register on OFN and sell through your hub. This is a shame but hopefully they will change their minds in the future!

In the meantime their enterprise will be listed in your Enterprise list and may be confusing for you. To delete the Enterprise you will need to contact your local .

Currently users are unable to delete enterprises themselves although it is a functionality that OFN would like to implement in the future.

In this section, we seek to show by a series of step-by-step examples how you can combine different features of the OFN platform to operate your business in exactly the way that suites you.

This list is not exhaustive and may not cover your specific scenario. Remember you can always get in touch with your local instance support team for more guidance or seek advice from peers in instance specific community forums, user Facebook Groups etc.

• Delete an enterprise

• Early Shopping 'Hour' for priority groups

• Discounted/Free Delivery for vulnerable customers

• Reward your volunteers

• Open your shop on 'preview'

• Soft close an order cycle

• Cash/EFT for trusted customers only

• Running a social media promotion

• How to Create Gift Vouchers.

Introduction

As a hub manager you may often be asked by your suppliers to see what their products look like on your shop front before the order cycle goes 'live' to customers. Suppliers may wish to tweak their listings- change a photo or add to their product descriptions for example. This is especially common in the early days (weeks and months) of a new hub.

The process below outlines how to implement a 'Preview' Order Cycle. It draws on the highly flexible feature of Tag and Tag Rules on the OFN platform.

Process

Step one

• Login to your business OFN account and visit Customers page.

• Click + New Customer and add the email addresses of your suppliers. (If they have placed an order with your shop/hub in the past then they will already be a customer of your enterprise and so this step is not necessary.)

• In the ‘tags’ column type in ‘producer’ for that customer.

• Visit your Order Cycles page.

• Set up your next order cycle. Set the opening time as ‘now’ and the closing time your usual closing time.

• On page 3 (‘Outgoing Products’) add ‘preview’ into the tag section:

• Visit your Enterprise -> Settings page and select ‘Tag Rules’ from the left hand menu. Set up the following Tag rules: Default: Order Cycles tagged ‘preview’ are not visible. For Customers tagged ‘producer’, Order Cycles tagged ‘preview’ are visible.

Bingo! Your order cycle is now open for your producers to view their products on your shop front but general customers will not be able to view (or shop).

Step Two

• Set a reminder on your phone/calendar to edit your order cycles at the time and day you wish shopping to commence.

• At this time visit your order cycles and select ‘Edit’ next to the one you wish to make ‘live’ to customers:

• Visit ‘Outgoing Products’ section on page 3 and remove the tag:

All your customers will be able to view your shop and make purchases now!

Introduction

The outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020 saw a wave of panic buying by consumers prior to (or in the early days of) national 'lockdowns'. This left vulnerable groups and key workers short of food.

Below is a step-by-step guide to enable selected customers (you may choose as a business for this to just be people you know to be over 80 years or perhaps include key workers as well) to shop before others and hence get the first choice of products (should they run out later in your order cycle).

The process uses the Customer Management feature which is described in full here.

Process

• Set up a policy as a business on which group(s) you would like to offer this service to.

• Keep a record of the customer’s name and the email address linked to their OFN account.

• Login to your business OFN account and visit Customers page.

• Use the ‘Quick Search’ box to identify if the person has shopped with you before.

• If their email address doesn’t appear then click + New Customer and add their address.

• In the ‘tags’ column type in ‘priority’ for that customer.

• Visit your Order Cycles page. Set up your next order cycle as you normally would: opening and closing time being those you would like to offer to all customers.

• Copy this order cycle.

• Change the name of the copied order cycle by adding the appendix ‘early’.

• Change the opening time to an hour/day (your choice) before that of the normal order cycle and the closing time to that of the opening time for your regular shopping.

On page 3 of the ‘Early’ order cycle add ‘priority’ into the tags section:

• Visit your Enterprise -> Settings page and select ‘Tag Rules’ from the left hand menu. Set up the following Tag rules:

Default: Order Cycles tagged ‘priority’ are not visible. For Customers tagged ‘priority’, Order Cycles tagged ‘priority’ are visible.

Bingo! Your shop front will be open early for a subset of your customers only.

You might also like to: Add a message to your customers on your shop Notice page.

Don’t forget to edit your ‘Shopfront Message’ (found from Enterprises -> Settings -> Shop Preferences) to invite new elderly/vulnerable/keyworker customers to contact you so they can be prioritised.

Introduction

Elderly or vulnerable customers may find it more difficult to reach your hub or shop collection point. Whilst it wouldn't necessarily be possible for you to deliver goods to every customer's doorstep (due to cost, time and distances involved) you may have capacity to help a small number of local 'priority' customers.

Below is a step-by-step guide to enable selected customers to access free (or discounted) delivery.

The process uses the Customer Management feature which is described in full here.

Things to consider before starting

• What is the maximum number of delivery slots you can offer for free/discounted rate?

• Which areas would you consider delivering to free of charge or at a discounted rate? For instance, limit the area to a specific postcode/street/district or perhaps to streets on your way home.

• Be realistic about the number of deliveries you can make and the cost of petrol/time to make them.

Process

• Keep a record of the customer’s name and the email address linked to their OFN account.

• Login to your business OFN account and visit Customers page.

• Use the ‘Quick Search’ box to identify if the person has shopped with you before.

• If their email address doesn’t appear then click + New Customer and add their address.

• Add the tag ‘free_delivery’ to the customers entry.

• Visit Enterprises -> Settings -> Shipping Methods and click +New Shipping Method.

Name: Free local home delivery for elderly and vulnerable customers. Description: Free local delivery to your home address. Display: Both Checkout and Back Office Category: Delivery Tags: Add the tag ‘free_delivery’ into this space. Fee Calculator: Flat Rate amount = 0.00 Categories: Default Zones: UK_VAT

• Visit your Enterprise -> Settings page and select ‘Tag Rules’ from the left hand menu. Set up the following Tag rules:

Default: Shipping Methods tagged ‘free_delivery’ are not visible. For Customers tagged ‘free_delivery’, Shipping Methods tagged ‘free_delivery’ are visible.

Bingo! A customer who has registered with you as elderly and lives close by will have these options at checkout:

Everyone else will only be able to see your standard shipping methods:

You might also like to: Add a message to your customers on your shop Notice page.

Don’t forget to edit your ‘Shopfront Message’ (found from Enterprises -> Settings -> Shop Preferences) to invite new elderly/vulnerable/keyworker customers to contact you so they can be prioritised.

From time to time you might find that your enterprise receives more orders than you can physically process (for example during the panic buying March 2020 or at Christmas).

Products will disappear from your shop front when their , but there may be a limit to the number of orders you can pack and deliver in the time frame of your shipping methods and this is not accounted for purely by stock (processing 100 orders, each containing one item will take longer than one order of 100 items).

Therefore we recommend the following method- this way customers who are paying at the time will still have their orders accepted but no others will be taken.

Process

• Your enterprise can process 100 orders a week- this is a the absolute max.

• Your page shows that you have received 95 orders in this order cycle and there are still 2 more days for it to run.

No other tag rules are necessary.

Update and your order cycle will close without disrupting customers in the process of checking out.

Introduction

It’s always really disappointing if your supplier has spent time and resources to prepare goods for a customer and then they don’t arrive to collect their shopping. This is especially a risk when payment is not taken up front for goods.

Using Stripe (card payment) or PayPal businesses can automatically collect payment from their shoppers at the time of checkout using the OFN platform. These card payment methods may not suit all your customers though: some people are afraid of online payments, some may not have a bank account and others might use cash as a way of keeping track of their weekly budgets.

As a manager of a local food enterprise you are in tune with your customers’ needs. You might like the majority of your customers to pay by card (less admin time for you to chase/collect payments by BACS or cash, peace of mind that you have payment upfront for goods rather than waiting for the day of collection …. etc) but allow a small selection who you know and trust to pay by cash or BACS. You can use Tags and Tag Rules to implement this as described below.

Process

• Set up a Stripe (or PayPal) payment method which will be your only option for the majority of shoppers. (Visit Enterprises -> Settings -> Payment Method and ‘Create New Payment Method+’. See this guide for more information.)

• Create a second payment method with the following settings: Name: ‘Cash or BACS payment’ Description: provide relevant details here such as bank information required for a trusted customer to make direct payment to your bank account Display: Both checkout and back office Active: yes Tags: ‘trusted’ Provider: Cash/EFT/etc

• Visit your Customers page.

• Use the ‘Quick Search’ box to find your regular and trusted customer’s details:

• Add the Tag ‘trusted’ to their entry:

• Visit Enterprises -> Settings -> Tag Rules and add the following:

Default: Payment Methods tagged ‘trusted’ are NOT VISIBLE Rule: For Customers tagged ‘trusted’ Payment Methods tagged ‘trusted’ are visible.

Bingo! Only your trusted customers will be offered the choice of payment by cash or BACS.

Introduction

In the meantime it is possible to use tags and tag rules to create vouchers. The process is described below. Vouchers are always popular around Christmas and other seasonal events and owing to the complexity of issuing them it may be worth considering only offering vouchers at specific times of year.

An alternative 'gift' option which your enterprise may like to consider is to allow a customer (the gifter) to purchase a subscription (regular order) for a friend or family member (giftee). For example the gifter could arrange for the giftee to receive their favourite handmade, local bread to be delivered to them (paid for by gifter), from your food enterprise, every week for a month.

This would have the extra advantage for the gifter that the cost of the gift would be spread weekly and not a lump payment: cash flow for everyone is tight at Christmas and other seasonal periods!

Process

Step One

Create a product listing for vouchers. We suggest that you keep it simple ie. having a maximum of three different denominations of voucher only (£10, £20, £50). Remember:

• To include instructions to the customer on how they can redeem their voucher later (they will need to ask the recipient of the voucher to email your enterprise with their voucher ID number (see step 2) and email address (step 5) with which they have set up an OFN account.)

• That enterprise fees are included in the price of the voucher. The person who redeems the voucher will also have the enterprise fee added onto the products they purchase (ie. fees will be collected twice). The extra enterprise fee may be necessary to cover the added overheads of admin work, processing gift vouchers. Alternatively the product price can be adjusted so that the customer facing price (product price + fee) is the voucher’s value.

Step Two

Email a voucher to the customer or print off a paper one. Give each voucher a unique number (perhaps use their OFN order number with post fix of a, b, c etc if more than one voucher purchased in the same transaction).

Example:

This voucher was made using the free online software Canva.

Step Three

Make a spreadsheet to record sales and keep track of claims: name of customer (gifter), amount, date of issue, order number/voucher ID number, name of recipient (giftee), credit remaining.

Step Four

Customer who bought the voucher (gifter) gives it to a friend or family member at Christmas (giftee). For the giftee to redeem their voucher they need to contact your hub/shop informing you of:

• The email address associated with their OFN account (for step 5)

• Their unique voucher ID number (for you to keep track of vouchers issued and redeemed).

Step Five

Add the giftee to your enterprise Customer list if they have not purchased from the shop in the past. If they have brought before then they will appear on the list already.

Add a unique tag next to the customer’s name. Perhaps use initials-underscore-last four digits of the voucher ID number (set up a consistent way of doing this).

Step Six

Set up a NEW payment method which will be UNIQUE to this customer (the giftee). Payment Methods can be found by visiting Enterprises -> Settings -> Payment Methods +New Payment Method.

Description- use the description box to explain to the customer the value of the voucher they have received from their friend/family, that any balance on their order will need to be made up by cash or BACS (provide bank details on how to do this) if necessary. It is also worth explaining any terms and conditions- for example that the voucher is single use (ie. once the value has been claimed then if they use the voucher again immediately the 2nd order will be cancelled or full payment will be required) and expiry date for the voucher. Display = Both Checkout and Backoffice Active = yes Add tag to payment method (same as used for the customer). Provider- cash (if the customer spends more than the value of their voucher then they will need to pay the remainder by cash or BACS)

Fee Calculator: Flat Rate Amount: enter the value of their voucher prefixed by a negative sign.

Step Seven

Set up a Tag rule (visit Enterprises -> Settings -> Tag Rules):

Default: Payment Methods tagged initials_digits are not visible Rule: for customers tagged initials_digits payment methods tagged initials_digits are visible.

Customer (giftee) uses voucher and exceeds the value of credit remaining:

• Delete their unique payment method, tag rule and tag associated with customer’s (giftee’s) name.

• Obtain the balance of their order by cash payment or BACS

Customer (giftee) uses voucher but doesn’t spend its entire value:

Edit their unique payment method to adjust the ‘amount’ under Fee Calculator to their remaining voucher balance (eg. if the voucher’s original value was £20, they spent £15 then the original amount would be -20 and the amount after their first transaction would need to be edited to -5)

Things to note:

• If a customer (giftee) makes a second purchase before you have had a chance to update their remaining credit or remove the unique payment option (if all their credit has been used up) then they will have the option to claim the voucher’s value twice. This relies on the customer being honest and not doing so. This should be mentioned on the voucher and in the description of their payment method (step 6). As an enterprise you could cancel orders if a voucher is redeemed inappropriately- always good to notify the customer (giftee) first though!

• It is a good policy with vouchers to set an expiry date (say 12 months).

Introduction

To retain loyal customers and/or attract new ones you may from time to time like to run a social media promotion. For example, you might post on Facebook and Instagram that for all orders received in the coming week over the value of £20, customers can claim a 5% discount on their shopping the following week.

Below is a step-by-step guide to implementing the above example. The process relies on the highly flexible Tag and Tag rules facility on the OFN platform. At the end of this page are tips on how to adapt this promotional offer.

Process

Step One

• Review your Orders when the current order cycle has closed. You can identify all the customers who have purchased above the threshold using the following:

  1. Filter by Order Cycle name

  2. Sort by total high to low (click on ‘Total’ twice)

Step Two

• Visit your Customers page.

• Use the ‘Quick Search’ box to find customers who spent above your threshold on last week’s order cycle.

• Add the tag ‘week2reward’ to the customer’s entry.

• Visit Enterprises -> Settings and then select ‘Payment Methods’ from the left hand menu. Click + New Payment Method.

Name: Thank you Discount Description: a message of your choice (for example ‘As a small thank you for your support we would like to offer you 5% off this week’s shop’) Display: Both Checkout and Back Office Active: yes Tags: Add the tag ‘week2reward’ into this space. Provider: choose the most appropriate method for your business. Fee Calculator: Flat Percent

• After selecting Create, add ‘-5’ * to the ‘Amount’ field of the ‘Fee Calculator’ Section. (Negative sign results in a discount) *-5 will result in a 5% discount if your enterprise does not use Enterprise Fees.

• Visit your Enterprise -> Settings page and select ‘Tag Rules’ from the left hand menu. Set up the following Tag rules:

Default: Payment Methods tagged ‘week2reward’ are not visible. For customers tagged ‘week2reward’ payment methods tagged ‘week2reward’ are visible.

Bingo! Only those customers who spent more than your threshold amount last week will be offered a 5% discount when they shop with you this week

Step Three

When the order cycle closes, as a hub, you may not want that particular set of customers to be eligible for a 5% discount on their future purchases (ie continue to have a discount for more than one week). In which case you will need to either:

• Remove the ‘week2reward’ tag from all the customer names Or

• Change the tag rule to: For Customers tagged ‘week2reward’ Payment Methods tagged ‘week2reward’ are NOT VISIBLE.

You might also like to consider rewarding repeat customers with a small discount.

Rewarding only those customers who spend over a threshold amount may exclude those who live on their own or have a more limited household budget. You may like to run a social media campaign to encourage customer loyalty- whatever the value of their weekly/monthly spends are.

To do this you will need to keep an external record of how often each customer purchases from your OFN shopfront. The support team in your local instance maybe able to help compile this data for you.

With this information these are some ideas of campaigns you could run:

5% discount off their next order to customers who order x number weeks/order cycles in a row.

In this case you would use the same steps outlined above to tag both the customer and the payment method (with a negative fee calculator) for one order cycle.

Free or discounted delivery of their next order to customers who have ordered x number of weeks in a row (akin to buy 3 lots of delivery and get the next free).

In this case you would tag the customer (say ‘thankyouweek1’) and then create a shipping method with the same tag (which was at a discounted rate).

The default and complementary tag rules would be:

Default: Shipping Methods tagged thankyouweek1 are NOT VISIBLE Rule: For customers tagged thankyouweek1 Shipping Methods tagged thakyouweek1 are VISIBLE