Operate > WebSphere Commerce Accelerator > Order management > Order flow process > B2B order flow process
Order flow process - B2B indirect (demand) model
The order flow process in the B2B indirect demand business model is similar to that of the direct sales business model, in that an order is placed, payment is approved, and the order is released to fulfillment.
The primary differences in this business model are:
- The type of catalog that is used in the extended site business model. For example, partitioned catalogs are used by independent stores. In contrast, resellers use a shared catalog that is loaded as a master catalog by manufacturers or distributors. Resellers can select the products from the shared catalog and optionally create store-specific products for sale in their own stores.
- How the order is arrived at. In some business models, the buyers and resellers both have to register and enter into a contractual relationship to specify how the buyer is going to pay, and whether promotions are available.
- How orders are fulfilled. In this process, two methods of fulfillment are provided:
- The fulfillment center. The fulfillment process is then similar to the direct sales business model.
- The Reseller Marketplace (Channel store). If orders cannot be fulfilled by the store, the reseller can transfer the orders to a Channel store for fulfillment.
To illustrate, this is an example of the order flow process for a store in the B2B indirect demand business model.
Some tasks that can be completed using the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator are indicated in the steps below. More likely, however, applications are written to call WebSphere MQ messages to accomplish the same function (such as pick batch creation) in a more automated fashion.
Reseller store order flow
- Place an order. A shopper places an order on a reseller storefront Web site and selects one or more products, such as a washing machine from one manufacturer, and a dryer from another. After the shopper completes the order checkout sequence, the order moves from a Pending state (P) to M state (order is submitted) or C.
- View orders. A reseller administrator, such as a Seller or Operations Manager, logs on to the Channel Area and uses the Store Administration link to access the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to view recently placed orders.
- Approve payment for the order. Payment authorization and capture are handled by the reseller.
- Release the order to fulfillment. Using the Process orders function in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, the reseller can view and designate orders for release. The reseller identifies those orders or order items for products that he can fulfill himself by using his private fulfillment center, and those that should be fulfilled by using the Channel store. The reseller can optionally override the default fulfillment center for each listed order item by selecting a different fulfillment center from a list.
Orders or order items that cannot be fulfilled by the reseller himself can be transferred to the Channel store as described in the Channel store section that follows. If the reseller can fulfill the orders or order items, the order flow continues with the Hosted reseller store section below.
Channel store
For order items that the reseller cannot fulfill itself, the reseller uses the Select Shopping Cart Option to create a shopping cart (pending order) on the reseller marketplace/Channel store for one or a batch of orders from his store. The reseller follows the Channel store checkout process to submit the order, which may involve getting quotes from distributors and selecting a distributor for each item to be fulfilled. The following steps show the order flow on the Channel store:
- Create a shopping cart. A reseller creates a shopping cart in the Channel Area store by adding products from the Channel store catalog or transferring released items from a reseller store.
- Check price and availability. The reseller requests price quotations and product availability from the distributors. Quotation requests are sent to distributors, who return quotation responses to the Channel Area store.
- Select distributors. The reseller selects distributors and quantities to be fulfilled for items in the shopping cart. Buy-side orders (shopping carts) are created in the distributor proxy stores. A buy-side order is the order in the distributor store proxy created as a result of the reseller transferring items from the shopping cart in the Channel Area to the distributor's remote store.
- Transfer items to distributor. The reseller transfers the items to one of the selected distributors for external order fulfillment.
- Confirm order status. The order transfer confirmation is sent back by the distributor to the proxy store. Confirmation includes the URL to access the distributor's remote store to proceed with order processing.
- Process order. The buy-side order is processed and sent from the Channel Area store to the distributor's proxy store in the Channel Area.
- Transfer order to distributor's store. From the proxy store, the order is transferred to the remote distributor's store. The reseller is presented with a logon screen to the distributor's store, logs on, and is redirected to view the shopping cart created at the distributor's store as a result of transferring the buy-side order from the Channel Area. The distributor captures the contents of the order and reseller's credentials such as the user ID and password, and creates the sell-side order or shopping cart. (A sell-side order is an order placed by a reseller with a distributor in the distributor's remote store.) The reseller optionally can modify the contents of the shopping cart by changing item quantities, and enters the shipping and billing addresses. The reseller proceeds to the checkout screen where total charges are displayed and the reseller enters payment information and submits the order for processing.
- Approve payment for the order. Payment authorization and capture are handled by the remote distributor's store.
- Ship goods. The distributor ships the order to the reseller or the customer.
- Confirm shipment has been sent. The distributor sends an order status message to the Channel Area to indicate the order was shipped.
- (For goods shipped to reseller only) The distributors involved receive an order for the product and fulfill and ship the order to the reseller. The reseller receives the products from the distributors for shipment to the shopper and the order flow continues with the reseller store steps below.
Hosted reseller store
The following steps show the order flow for the reseller store:
- Create a pick batch for all orders released to the specified fulfillment center. Pick batches must be created for all fulfillment centers, including the Channel store. The WebSphere Commerce Accelerator can be used to generate the pick slips, or more likely, MQ messages can be used to automate the generation of the pick slips. For more information about MQ messages, see the topic "Inbound fulfillment integration messages" in the WebSphere Commerce Development online help.
- View and print pick ticket. Using the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, for each fulfillment center, you can work with pick batches and print pick tickets.
- View and print packaging slip. Using the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, for each fulfillment center, you can work with and print packing slips.
- Pick and pack products specified in the pick ticket and packaging slip. Products specified in the pick ticket are then manually picked from the fulfillment center, and products are packed according to the instructions in the packing slips. Typically, these actions are completed after the products are received from the appropriate distributors.
- Create package. WebSphere Commerce Accelerator can be used to create package information.
- Ship goods. The reseller completes the shipment confirmation and the order is shipped to the customer.
- Confirm shipment has been sent. The shipment of the order can be confirmed by using an order status message.