Submerce General Documentation Help

Have a question? Submit one here

Importing and Exporting Questions

Are you looking at switching to Submerce and want to get a better idea of how you can import your product, customer shipping tables and order data into Submerce? With access to nearly 30 different types of import and export tools, making the switch to Submerce has never been easier or cost effective.

Product Import/Export Tools

Administrators can use the included Product Import tools to import as little as one product to thousands in just a couple of clicks.

Customer Import/Export Tools

Administrators can use the included Customer Import tools to import as little as one customer to thousands in just a couple of clicks.

Order Import/Export Tools

Administrators can use the included Order Import tools to import as little as one order to thousands in just a couple of clicks.

Migrating Websites

Whether you have your own designer or need help moving or redesigning your website, our Submerce CMS Style Guide will show you how some sophisticated websites were moved into the Submerce CMS while also taking advantage of Submerce unique features to boost online sales while keeping the site easy to maintain.

Download Submerce CMS Style Guide

Sample Data Workflows

Over the past 15 years, Submerce has completed numerous installations that vary in complexity. So that you have a better understand of how a typical dataflow can be configured in Submerce, you can download example worksheets for your review. As with most Submerce installations, these configurations offer flexibility and can be easily tailored to work within your existing business standard operating procedures. Please contact a Submerce Specialist with regards to developing a dataflow that will better suit your company's requirements.

Typical ECOM Order Dataflow

Included in this sample workflow is the recommended integration of compliance services, accounting and 3rd party fulfillment house.

Download

Typical MOTO/OMS Order Dataflow

MOTO/OMS is our Submerce sales order interface that is typically used for inbound and outbound phone sales. Included in this sample workflow is the recommended integration of compliance services, accounting and 3rd party fulfillment house.

Download

Typical Point of Sale Order Dataflow

The Point of Sale is typically used for retail sales, but some customers on limited budgets use this interface as a MOTO interface as well. Included in this sample workflow is the recommended integration of compliance services, accounting and 3rd party fulfillment house.

Download

Typical Club/Batch Processing Order Dataflow

The Club/Batching Processing system is typically used for recurring billing orders such as wine clubs, book-of-the-month clubs and more. Included in this sample workflow is the recommended integration of compliance services, accounting and 3rd party fulfillment house.

Download

The Submerce Feature Comparison Worksheet

A helpful document that lists some of the features that industry experts come to expect in an eBusiness application. Please note that this only includes a fraction of Submerce's standard tools and features. We recommend scheduling a demonstration or speaking to one of our Submerce Specialists for further information.

Download Submerce Comparison Worksheet
Download Submerce Winery and Merchant Edition Comparison Worksheet

General Shipping Questions

Q: Can Submerce hold shipments for temp alerts (hot & cold)?

A: Using ShipCompliant, Submerce can access their weather-holds information and display that information. This can be automated through ECOM and can be checked during the fulfillment manager in their portal. Typically once this leaves the Submerce system and handed off to the the fulfillment house, there’s little control over this capability. We typically recommend shutting down certain shipping tables (ground) during certain times of the year, so customers don’t have the choice during hot and cold months based on geographic region.

Q: How does our pre-order process work (placing orders before ship dates, i.e. Holiday gifts)?

A: You can create an order at anytime with a future ship date.

Q: Does Submerce offer gift card options?

A: Yes, Submerce offers both Gift Card and Gift Certificate. Gift Cards are not assigned to accounts, whereas Gift Certificates are.

Q: Show how they will manually enter orders (call in, fax, etc)?

A: Submerce offers two different methods to enter manual orders. One is the standard Submerce SOM, which is a very simple interface that allows you to create orders, where as the Submerce OMS (which most people opt for) allows a very robust order generation and CRM tool that also offers integration with ShipCompliant. Companies that want a very good customer service interface are recommended to opt for this system.

Q: Show how they would obtain tracking info if customer calls in (understood that customer would also receive an email)?

A: This greatly depends on many factors such as are you fulfilling Inhouse (FedEx, UPS, etc) or via a fulfillment house (Wine Tasting Network, Copper Peak, etc). If it’s a single order to be shipped, this can be done directly through our embedded UPS/FedEx API which allows you to automatically fill out their forms and generate a tracking numbers instantly. This is handy if you are shipping a low volume on a daily basis.
The other option is to complete a batch to be send to FedEx/UPS software. This will create a file that is passed to these systems, which then generate a tracking number. That file is then passed into Submerce and the tracking numbers are instantly added to the correct order. Doing so, can then alert the customer that the order has been shipped and within the email or their “My Account” area, can link to the FedEx/UPS tracking tools to track the package(s).
Via a Fulfillment house greatly depends on the facility you go with. These can be available nightly or as short as 12 hours. The tracking numbers are generated by their account and embedded into our order manager via an API such as ShipCompliant.

Q: How does the system handle back-orders, returns etc…?

A: Submerce offers two different accounting-practices. One is the simplest and most common where returns/refunds go against the original order, whereas our GAAP-Compliant system handles this via a new order. For most large companies, this is the most commonly used interface since they want the accounting to be very accurate and be able to quickly identify orders that handle a return or refund or both. This is a pretty complex system, especially when connected to a fulfillment house and compliance engine, so it would be best to have a discussion about this so that we can better understand your requirements.

Q: How can we assign product id numbers to help identify different shipments? Such as when inventory is nearing, we could assign a different id # to indicate a new shipment even though product is the same, just different shipment?? Suggestions??

A: We will kit most orders (i.e. SC sku# + MAV sku# = Product ID.)

Q: Can you show an example? Will the cust order, cust inv & fullfilment order look different?

A: Submerce offers three different kitting capabilities. One is the “Packed” kit where there’s only one sku for the entire kit. This is typically used for pre-packaged gift baskets. The second one is what is commonly referred to as Pick-n-Pack, where these are built as the orders come through. Submerce assigns a master sku to the bundle, but tracks the SubSKUs for compliance tracking. This is the most common when wine is involved since for compliance reasons, we need to track and report the components. Lastly, there’s the Customer Choice basket where a customer has the option to pick from a selection of items. There’s typically a basic fee and upsells for higher-priced selections. This is good for baskets where you want to give the customer a choice to select 3 bottles from 9 different SKUs. When it comes to compliance and reporting, this follows the same methodology as Pick-n-Packs.
As far as the receipt display to both the admin and the customer, you will see the main SKU for the “basket” itself, plus a breakdown of each of the components. Temperature Restriction.

Q: It is my understanding that the Temperature Forecasting Software that MWG utilizes restricts shipments during periods that may cause the wine to freeze. Can the software be utilized to restrict shipments during periods in which the temperature would exceed 75F or 80F? What is the specific logic of the software? Does the software have the ability to handle multiple temperature cut-offs (e.g. Pack 001 can ship if temp is below = 80F, Pack 002 can ship if temp is below= 75F), or is it a specific temperature range (e.g. all packs can ship if temp is 40-80F)?

A: Since Submerce relies on ShipCompliant for this capability, it would be best to discuss that capability directly with their representatives.

Q: You indicated that the inventory rotation method that will be utilized is FIFO. Please provide a brief explanation of how MWG executes and monitors FIFO rotation. (Also, could you supply an example of the report/print screen of the portal that SC will use to monitor inventory levels?)

A: Submerce utilizes a modified FIFO depletion schema. Our depletion logic is/can be based on paid orders. We find that this is the best case, especially when it comes to club runs as you will typically witness a 10-15% decline rate. This allows the priority of depletion to go towards the customers that have paid for their products, where as most systems deplete based on order acceptance. We do not believe this is a proper way to handle and we’ve worked with many industry-leading companies and consultants this the approach we have embraced is the ultimate solution when it comes to customer service and product management.

Q: It is my understanding that MWG does have the ability to LTT a code date of a specific sku (i.e. Pack 001/CD1234) to a specific end customer through use of production (kitting) records. Could you provide an example of such a report?

A: Yes, Submerce offers the ability to track lots by adding what we call is a product attribute. This can be turned on/off based on the type of product as many products may not need this capability. When it comes to reports and admin receipts, you can turn this product attribute “display” on and becomes a historical record on products. We have a couple of clients using this for this capability.

Q: Where does MWG see the execution of a recall or LTT (for the SC product) falling? Would MWG utilize the reports to conduct a LTT/recall from the point that SC merchandise is sold to them to the end customer? (i.e. MWG would contact their customers in the event of a recall? Or, would MWG expect SC to utilizes supplied reports execute a recall/contact customers?)

A: We have not heard of a recall having to be done for any of our clients to date, but this can be done by querying for orders that contained either a SKU or Lot# and exporting those to Excel or working with them within Submerce. We would need further information on what would have to take place once you have determined a Product Recall is necessary such as notifying customers (via email, calls, etc) and whether a replacement product would need to be shipped or money refunded.

Q: How do multi-distribution centers work?

A: Submerce can deplete and communicate to multiple fulfillment centers based on product and/or proximity of Ship To address to a specific fulfillment center. This can be done by state, or down to zipcodes or zipcode ranges. If a Ship To falls within the range of a fulfillment house, the order is transmitted to the nearest center. This configuration is also very dependent on the Product Specs Once wines have been selected, we will need Product Specifications for each sku.

Q: Customer Unique Id: Does MWG maintain a unique customer number that is maintained throughout the life of the customer (not just the order)?

A: Yes, Submerce assigns a unique customer number to each customer and is assigned for the life of the customer record and is never re-used.

Q: Customer Data: What information is available?

A: Name, address, phone numbers, type of phone(mobile,work,home), email.

Q: Data Integration, Can files be FTP'd over Internet?

A: Yes, we offer secure FTP services as well as a hardware firewall for “tunneling”.

Q: Format XML or CSV, other options?

A: This greatly depends on the data/function as Submerce stores/exposes data in multiple different formats. Most exports are done via tab-delimited .txt files, where as from a content perspective we can utilize XML to datafeed third party applications such as Flash. Other 3rd party integrations are handled via WSDLs.

Real-Time Compliance Services

Q: Does Submerce offer any level of state blocking tools?

A: Yes, the Submerce Winery Edition offers product-level state blocking tools that will completely block selected products from being purchased as shipped to designated states.

Q: Does Submerce offer integration with any real-time compliance services, such as ShipCompliant?

A: Yes, Submerce supports both ShipCompliant and New Vine's FronTier compliance services through all sales channels - ECOM, POS, OMS, Club and backoffice. No other company offers the depth of integration for either service.  In fact, Submerce offers the most robust integration of ShipCompliant on the market to include real-time compliance check at the time of transaction, AVS and Age Verification and much more.

Q: If an order is deemed as Not Compliant, does Submerce offer an override functionality to allow the order to be shipped?

A: Yes, based on the administrators role, they can be granted the option to override orders that are not compliant. Authorized administrators simply enter their PIN when prompted. Any order that is overridden, has additional logging notes added to the order such as the person who authorizes the overrode the compliance error, what the compliance error was, plus date and time.

Q: Can products that have been created in Submerce be sent or registered through webservices directly from Submerce database?

A: Yes, Submerce is one of the few solution providers that allows this capability.

FedEx, UPS, USPS Intergrations

Q: Can you create shipping labels for common carriers within Submerce?

A: Submerce offers the ability to create single or multiple shipping labels for common carriers such as FedEx, UPS and USPS. For companies that handle a large load of daily orders to be shipped, Submerce offers a batch export and import to and from UPS and FedEx. Even import tracking numbers and have them automatically marked as shipped and trackable via your customer's email or My Account page.

Fullfilment House Intergration

Q: Does Submerce offer integration with 3rd party fulfillment houses?

A: Submerce is directly connected with several popular fulfillment houses, but also can be completed via the Submerce ShipCompliant Expansion Module which is available for an additional fee. Through this integration, companies such as Bacchus Distribution, Wine Shipping, Copper Peak, New Vine and more can be utilized seamlessly and synchronized automatically.

Standard and Real Time Rates

Q: Is there a limit on the number of shipping tables Submerce can use?

A: Submerce offers no limit on the number or types of shipping tables, but we do recommend streamlining your tables so that they are easily managed. We have customers that have as little as 5 tables to as many as 165 different shipping tables.

Q: Does Submerce offers real-time rates from common carriers such as FedEx, UPS and USPS?

A: Yes, Submerce offers real-time rates from FedEx, UPS and USPS. The real-time rates are based on your negotiated rates, not general public rates, allowing you to pass the discounts onto your customers.

Q: Does Submerce offer the ability to surcharge, add special handling fees and charge tax on shipping?

A: Yes, Submerce allows admnistrators to determine which shipping tables are surcharged, taxed as well as which products require a special handling fees.

Q: How are shipping tables created or maintained?

A: Submerce offers multiple ways to easily manage your shipping tables. The most common method is though our shipping table manager, but some clients like to manage them through our Import/Export tools that can be modified with programs like Excel. Shipping tables can be easily Activated and Inactived with a click of the button when whether conditions may prevent you from offering ground as a shipping method.

Q: How configurable are your shipping tables?

A: Submerce offers administrators to configure shipping tables based on Real-time carrier rates (UPS, FedEx, USPS), charge based on Order Value, Item Count, Item Weight and Per Item. Then you can determine an unlimited number of "zones" which can be configured by Country(s), State(s) and Zipcode(s).

 

General Marketing Help

Have a question? Submit one here

Custom Applications

Q: Does Submerce offer customization or application personalization?

A: Submerce has completed hundreds of customizations for Submerce customers and is available on a for-fee basis. We recommend that you speak with one of our Submerce Specialists to find out more how we can custom tailor Submerce for your specific technical requirements.

Multimedia Content & Applications

Q: Does Submerce support Podcasts, Blogs and offer the ability to restrict exclusive content?

A: Yes, you may embed items such as these either using third party applications or services. When it comes to exclusive content, Submerce offers this capability that is easy to setup and manage.

Search Engine Optimization Questions

Q: Does Submerce include any tools to manage keywords?

A: Unlike many Ecommerce applications available today, Submerce offers an unparalleled level of managing keywords. Where most systems only allow you to manage keywords for your entire site, Submerce takes it a whole step further by allowing three levels; Site Level, Product level and webpage level. Many sites that switch to Submerce and have populated their keywords quickly see a boost in their search rankings. Submerce even offers the ability to import keywords to your products. Now how cool is that?

Design & Migration Services

Q: Can I customize my stores look and feel?

A: Yes. Submerce may handle much of your original setup and design (depending on your agreement) but you have full access to manage your website content at all times. While we suggest becoming familiar with web design practices prior to modifying your site’s content, we never restrict the access between our customers and their information.

Q: Does the Submerce system include a built-in Content Management System?

A: Yes, Submerce is unique in the fact that the system is not just a shopping cart, but an entire website hosting service. No longer will you have a "cart" and a separate website. Your entire site can be moved into the CMS so that your customer's online experience and your brand communication is consisten. This also makes it much easier to add and manage content through a single system.

Q: How do I transfer my current design into the Submerce Content Management System?

A: Submerce uses Cascade Style Sheets (CSS) for overall site design, layout and brand communication. Submerce also offers content experts to configure pages to display navigation options for most pages. This offers flexibility for websites that are using top navigation for most of the site and introducing subnavigation on other pages that require it. Most intermediate webdesigners feel right at home once they have become familiar with the level of control they have via CSS or the administrative panel. If you already have a webdesigner, we recommend downloading our CMS Guide which offers examples of how some popular sites have been moved into Submerce. If you need a designer or someone to move your design, Submerce has certified partners that can help you with your project.

Q: What formats or multimedia formats does Submerce support?

A: Submerce continues to be committed to supporting mainstream file type and delivery formats such as Flash, Flash Video, Windows Media, QuickTime, Real Video, Silverlight, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Acrobat along with the web industry formats such as .jpg, .png, .gif and more.

Product Inventory Management

Q: Is there a limit on the number of SKUs/Products that Submerce can effectively manage?

A: We have many customers that average 75-100 SKUs, while we have larger customers that manage 30,000 SKUs.

Q: Are all products treated and displayed the same way?

A: One of the many unique features of the Submerce platform is the ability to customize the data elements of each individual product and the ability to create product "templates" or categories which helps expediting the adding of products very quick and easy as well as keeping data consistent for a better online experience.

Q: How does Submerce track, replenish and deplete inventory?

A: The standard Submerce configuration allows you to track inventory in a single location and deplete in real-time based on orders that have received a valid payment. Each product can be configured to either track or not track inventory while tracked products can allow customers to continue to purchase backordered products, automatically remove sold our products, or simply show the product and not allow any further puchases. Customers can even be alerted once sold our products become available again.

Q: Does Submerce offer real-time inventory management?

A: Yes, Submerce offers real-time inventory management as one of the many Submerce Expansion Modules that can be added to the core solution. Product inventory is depleted utilizing a modified FIFO depletion schema. When an order is accepted and paid, product quantities are depleted. So if an order is received and payment is made in full, the inventory will be depleted, but if an order is received an declined (ECOM order), the products' inventory will remain untouched.

Q: Does Submerce offer multiple-location inventory management?

A: Yes, only Submerce can offer the tracking and depleting in real-time for multiple inventory locations. Submerce can also be configured to deplete a specific location based on the Sales Channel and whether or not the product is being shipped. For instance, Submerce POS station can deplete the local inventory, but if the order is being shipped, the system will automatically deplete the location where your orders are shipped from, such as a fulfillment center. Learn more

Q: Does Submerce offer supply-chain inventory management?

A: Yes, Submerce has many clients that utilize our supply chain inventory management module that allows customers to effectively purchase items that are In Stock, In Transit and Pre-Arrival items. Learn more

Q: Do you support Product Bundles, Gift Baskets or kits?

A: Submerce offers three different types of bundles or kits. 1) Is a single SKU that is used to track a pre-packaged gift basket. 2) Is a true "pick-n-pack" basket where you create a master sku and "add" components to it. This allows each individual item to go against your sales reports and compliance. The last option is the "Customer Choice" option which is similar to the second option, but allows the customer to pick from a selection of products to create their own basket. This option is quite popular during the holidays or for corporate gifts.

Order Management & Reports

Q: Does Submerce offer a single order manager that offers a single location to manage all orders, for all sales channels?

A: Yes, Submerce offers a single order manager that allows administrators to view all orders, whether placed through Ecom, Point of Sale, telephone, club and all store/inventory locations.

Q: Does Submerce offer a way to create orders through the backoffice for orders such as telephone, FAX, email, etc?

A: Yes, the standard solution recieves the Submerce Sales Order Manager (SOM) which allows you to identify a customer, autopopulate their Bill To and Ship To info, add products and charge shipping and offer discounts. For heavy outbound and inbound sales calls, Submerce recommends an upgrade to their Submerce Order Management Solution (OMS) which offers sophisticated CRM tools and advanced Upsell, Cross-sell features and more.

Q: Can I be notified when inventory is low for products?

A: Yes, Submerce can run a low inventory report on a daily basis, where as the Multi-Channel offers more tools such as notifying inventory "owners" based on their inventory location, rather than notifying all "owners" when a single location runs out. The proxy or low inventory warning is set at a product level as well as each location for the product.

CRM & Customer Service

Q: Does Submerce offer a single order manager that offers a single location to manage all orders, for all sales channels?

A: Yes, Submerce offers a single order manager that allows administrators to view all orders, whether placed through Ecom, Point of Sale, telephone, club and all store/inventory locations.

Q: How does Submerce handle product returns and/or refunds?

A: Submerce offers two different accounting-practices. One is the simplest and most common where returns/refunds go against the original order, whereas our GAAP-Compliant system handles this via a new order. For most large companies, this is the most commonly used interface since they want the accounting sales to be tracked separately than product returns and/or refunds.

Security, Roles, Permissions

Q: Can I limit who has access to what function or area of the Submrce solution?

A: Yes, Submerce offers what we refer to as Roles as determining who has access to areas or visibility of data. So content experts can be limited to content, where as order administrators can be limited to just customer data and orders. Even limit the visability of payment and contact info. The configuration of each can be customized at anytime.

Q: Can Submerce help me manage access to exclusive content to certain website visitors?

A: Yes, Submerce allows you to also determine who has access to public pages such as club events and annoucements. Similar to the Roles function of the submerce admininstrative area, members of clubs or employees can be granted access to certain pages automatically.

General Questions

Q: Is compliance integrated into Winey Edition or sold as a separate module?

A: The Winery Edition offers different levels of compliance or state-blocking functionality. In it’s standard form, The Submerce Winery Edition offers the ability to block a single or multiple products from being shipping to a selected state. This is a perfect beginners way of controlling the shipping of products to certain states and is ideal for Wineries with low order volume. Small to large scale wineries that are looking for a more defined and real-time approach to volume restrictions and state regulations, should opt for real-time compliance services such as ShipCompliant or New Vine.

Q: I would like to know more about your sales stats and in house analytics?

A: No matter which Submerce Ecommerce solution you choose, as part of our standard set of services, you will receive access to our web-traffic statistics program called Smarter Stats. This is a very good program that offers many of the advanced features that webmasters look out for included customizable reports. For those Google Analytics users, Submerce offers a small upgrade for installations who chose to utilize this seamless integration with their services.

Q: What is the difference between the Winery Edition and regular Ecommerce package?

A: Generally speaking, the main difference between the two are that the Winery Edition is strictly for the wine Industry as it includes features and access to wine-related features whereas the regular Submerce Enterprise Edition Ecommerce package is designed for any other website. Submerce does not recommend the Enterprise Edition to any wine-related website- winery or merchant. Download Submerce Feature Comparison Worksheet

Q: How does the Customer Allocation module work?

A: The Customer Allocation Module is designed for companies that need to promote exclusive products and club benefits to specific customers, the new module can be added to any of the levels of the Submerce™ product family such as Submerce Point of Sale, Club and eCommerce.

Q: What kind of stores will the Submerce Software work for?

A: Every Kind. Submerce supports a wide range of store types including but not limited to: general merchandise, music, software, food products, automotive products, books & computer products etc. Our e-commerce, Point of Sale, Call Center and Club software systems can be adapted to any business model and company size. While Submerce was originally designed for the small to mid-size merchant looking to exercise complete control over their customer experience, while minimizing recurring monthly costs, Submerce can be tailored to suite almost any business need.

Q: What's the catch? Why is Submerce so inexpensive compared to the competitive products?

A: There are no catches. In our opinion, our competitors are simply charging too much!

Q: Is Submerce just a shopping cart?

A: NO!  Submerce is a fully integrated e-commerce store, site and developer e-commerce toolkit, with embedded shopping cart classes, database, and administration site. We provide all of the features that competitors offer, for MUCH less cost! You also have access to Point of Sale, Call Center, CRM, Club Management, Inventory Management, and Order Management software, not to mention complete control of your website, so you can add customizations important for your business to succeed. We do not believe in the "one shopping cart fits all" mentality of a few years ago. Our solution is a professional, high performance, fully customizable solution for any company. If you need custom modifications, we can also do those for you.

Q: What payment types can the customer use when ordering?

A: Any or all payment types that you, the administrator, configure the system to use. We offer the ability to utilize multiple payment types for each of the sales channels available in Submerce. Supported payment types are: Cash, Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, AmEx, JCB), Check, Purchase Order, Account Terms (user account-specific), PayPal, By Phone, By Mail. The Submerce Point of Sale and OMS support multiple payment types in a single order. For example, a customer could pay cash and the balance due with a credit card, check etc.

Q: Which Payment Gateways are supported?

A: Submerce is integrated with multiple payment gateways including, but not limited to:

• Authorize.net
• Chase PaymenTech Tampa Platform
• PayPal PayFlow Pro

We always recommend speaking to a Submerce Specialists for the latest list of supported gateways, as this list may change.

Q: Do I need a merchant account if I want to use PayPal?

A: No, PayPal can double as a merchant account once you have one setup with them.

Q: Does Submerce support secure transactions?

A: Absolutely. We require all of our eCommerce installations to be PCI compliant with a dedicated SSL Certificate tied to www.yourdomain.com. This ensures that all customer information can be securely trasferred throughout the checkout process and in the back-office seamlessly. If your installation has an SSL Certificate installed already, Submerce uses it automatically. If you do not currently have an SSL Certificate, we can provide you with information in order to purchase one.

Q: What is covered in our Support Contract?

A: Depending on the size of your installation and terms and conditions of your agreement, your support coverage may vary. However, any process not functioning in the way that Submerce has intended will be covered at no additional cost to you. If you have any questions or concerns, it’s always a good idea to refer to your contact.

Q: Can I manage my products and website in one place?

A: Yes. Everything in Submerce is done over the web and includes full back-office which enables you to manage all of your store information, products, shipping, taxes, categories, manufacturers, affiliates, coupons, orders, etc., in one location. That’s one of our best features: we offer one database that can manage your products, website, Point of Sale, Call Center and Club Manager all in one system. Administrators even have the ability to create an roles with individualized access to allow particular employees the ability to manage their respective area’s (i.e. if you have an employee in charge of products, you can give them access to edit or even add new product information while restricting their access to make modifications to User Accounts).

Q: Does Submerce support product characteristics such as colors and sizes?

A: Yes. Submerce offers the ability to configure “Customer Choices” or “Shared Choices” for each product. Each configured choice can also change the product price depending on the choice’s setup. In addition, we offer many ways that the choice can be configured, including how those choices are displayed and to which product the choice is applied. Contact us for a Demo of this wonderful functionality!

Q: What type of equipment or extras do I need?

A: Submerce doesn’t require any additional hardware or software. Since our platform is entirely web-based you will only need an internet browser to utilize our system. Nevertheless, we do provide a list of recommended computer specifications and suggested accessories, as well as helpful and certified software that may assist your Submerce experience.

Q: Are subcategories supported?

A: Yes. Categories, subcategories, custom pages, contact pages, HTML/category/product rotators as well as promotion windows are all supported. Plus, products can be mapped to multiple categories and subcategories individually or based on customized product characteristics.

Q: We’re a little complicated, can I request customization?

A: Yes. If you require a customized solution or would like to request additional development or design, Submerce is more than willing to work with you to meet your needs. Our employees are highly trained in all facets of the system and can help determine the best way to accommodate your requirements.

Q: We want to process our orders and charges manually. Can we do that?

A: Yes. You can configure individual sales channels or your entire installation’s payment processes to “Pre-Authorize” or “Offline” modes and fully charge the credit cards on a manual basis via the Submerce back-office. Alternatively, you may also capture the credit card information at the time of order creation and process the cards outside of Submerce on an external payment terminal.

Q: Do I need to know HTML/CSS to edit my website?

A: No. You may utilize the WYSIWYG editors located in the Submerce back-office to make change to the content pages of your site. For those advanced users, HTML is available to you and can be as simple or complex as you desire. CSS skills are needed only when creating or modifying a the overall look of your site, but is not required to "administer" the site once it’s originally configured.

If you need a custom skin or theme designed for you or if you would like to change the overall look of your existing design, we have in-house designers that are fully versed in all facets of our Content Management System, and are here to help you reach the look you want to achieve.

Q: What am I responsible for during launch?

A: Initial product, shipping, customer, and legacy order import data (if you have existing information), tax rates, design comps, and any 3rd party payment, shipping, or compliance information depending on your installation type.

We will provide training for all of portions of our software that affect your installation. Don’t worry; we are right beside you every step of the way! New clients can login to our Client Portal for more information.

Q: How are customer numbers or ID's assigned? Alpha?  Numeric? # of characters allowed?

A: Submerce automatically assigns customer numbers in a linear sequence. Customer numbers can be imported/assigned and are displayed in their General Information tab.

Q: What if I want to create my own my own design?

A: If you would like to provide your own design or would like a 3rd party to complete the design for you, we can show you the tools to get you started as well as provide a style guide to assist your design team! Otherwise, we also offer a full line of design services!