Operate > WebSphere Commerce Accelerator > Business relationship management

Create reseller relationships: an overview

If you are an administrator for a reseller hub, WebSphere Commerce provides the ability for you to host stores for the resellers. Creating and managing these hosted stores is the basis of reseller relationships in WebSphere Commerce. (Note that resellers can use the Store Creation wizard to create stores. They will likely access the wizard from a link offered on the site.)

Procedure

1. The reseller registers with the store as a customer in the store. This step registers the reseller organization and a reseller representative with the store.

2. The reseller requests a store. The request for a store is submitted by using an online form available in the store. Submitting the request for a store sends an e-mail to the person in the organization responsible for the creation and management of stores. In WebSphere Commerce, the person in the organization responsible for the creation and management of stores is called a Channel Manager.

3. The Channel Manager or Seller Administrator uses the Store Creation wizard to create a store for any organization in which this role has authority channel management or administrator authority. To access the Store Creation wizard, select New Store from the Channel menu, or select New from the stores list. Both of these options are within the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.

4. The Channel Manager sends the reseller an e-mail indicating that the hosted store has been created and the reseller can now access the store. If the newly deployed store is created in Closed state, the reseller has access to the store but customers do not. While the store is closed, the reseller can add a logo to the store pages, choose products to sell in the hosted store, add products to sell in the store, and change or adjust prices on the products. The Channel Manager must next change the store state to Resume so that the reseller can open the store.

• Create service agreements for a store
  Before you create a service agreement for a store, ensure that the following steps are complete:

• Create stores
  Use the Store Creation wizard to create stores.

• Changing a service agreement for a store
  Use the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to change a reseller service agreement.

• Manage reseller stores
  After the reseller store is created, the Channel Manager can manage it.

• Import a store
  Importing a store uploads a reseller service agreement in XML format from the local client to the WebSphere Commerce Server and deploys the service agreement for the reseller. Deployment of the service agreement creates a store for the reseller. Note that if you import a contract by using XML, and want to have that contract appear in the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, then have a contract description.

• Export service agreements for a store
  Exporting a service agreement for a store removes it from the WebSphere Commerce Server.

• Redeploy a service agreement for a store
  Deployment of a service agreement for a store typically occurs automatically after the service agreement is imported. If deployment of a service agreement fails, you can attempt to deploy the service agreement manually. Only service agreements with a status of Deployment Failed can be redeployed.

• Changing the category for a store
  You may want to specify a different store category for the store. For example, if you have a fashion store, but mistakenly specified the store category as Hardware, you can change it to Fashion.

• List stores
  Use the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator to list stores.

• Refresh the stores list
  If you change the status of items in the stores list (such as adding or removing a store), you may want to refresh the list.

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