Web Store - Sending Shipping Tracking Numbers for web store sales
Version note: Magento 1.x and 2.1
When a sale is placed from the web store, the sale feeds through to Retail Express and POS. While you can fulfil it from the POS system and it will update the web store, tracking numbers are not synchronised and need to be manually sent to the customer.
Note that some third-party extensions that integrate with Magento may automate this process for you; however orders will still need to be fulfilled through Retail Express to ensure the product inventory levels are updated appropriately.
There are two different options for sending the tracking numbers to clients:
- From Retail Express: using the POS system the tracking information can be emailed to the customer while fulfilling the sale (note: this applies when fulfilling the sale from the POS system only, and not from the fulfilment report). This means less handling, but as there is no email register within POS it's not possible to check the historical records of communications sent to the customer.
- From Magento: orders can be manually marked as shipped within Magento while adding the tracking number at the same time. It does mean fulfilling the sale in both Retail Express and Magento, however once marked as shipped in Magento a record is entered against the "Shipment" section (including tracking information) and can be reviewed at a later date.
We have covered both options below.
Note: orders will still need to be fulfilled through Retail Express regardless of which option you select to ensure the product inventory levels are updated appropriately.
This can be done by setting up and using a custom email template to use at the POS, which will allow you to include a direct link to your selected courier's tracking page and add the tracking number for your customer's reference.
Setting up the Email Template
To start with you will need to set up an email template to use for your Web Store orders. This can be done from Settings > POS Settings > Email Templates.
If you press on the "New Template" button at the bottom left you will be able to set up an email template specifically for use with Web Store orders.
- Template Name: The name of the email template. This will be displayed at the POS when selecting the template to use when emailing the customer
- Email Subject: This will be the subject line of the email that the customer receives in their inbox
- From E-Mail Address: The email address of yours that the email will be "From" in the customer's email inbox
- CC E-Mail Address: An email address of yours that you would like to send a copy to. (Note: We recommend sending a copy to yourself in case the customer requires you to resend the shipping email. You will then be able to forward the copy you received)
- Default Custom Message: Enter "XXXXXXXXXX" (without the quotation marks). Will be required to enter tracking number
- Email Body: Where you design the email template -
The Email Body field is a standard WYSIWYG, much as you would be used to using in the Skystore Admin Panel or the Newsletter manager in Retail Express, which allows you to create the design and functions graphically without needing to know HTML.
Also similar to the WYSIWYG editor in the Skystore Admin Panel is the ability to add "Placeholders", which are an easy way to add common information (such as the customer's name, invoice number or your company details) that changes with each email.
You can add a placeholder by pressing on the [P] button towards the right of the menu section on the second row of the screenshot, as depicted above.
Simply select a placeholder from the "Placeholder Name" drop down in the popup that appears and press "Ok", and the selected placeholder will be added to the Email Body.
As shown in the example screenshot, you need to add the "[[CustomMessage]]" placeholder to the Email Body where you want to add the tracking number, as well as a link to your selected Courier's tracking page.
Once you've finished designing your email template press the "Save Changes" button at the bottom left.
Sending the Shipping Email
To send the email with the tracking number you look up the order in the Fulfilment report, the same way as you would for any Web Store order, and press the blue [E] "Edit" button to the right of the fulfilment report results.
This will take you straight into the selected order in the POS, from which you can update the order as necessary and proceed to the "Invoice" page.
Once on the "Invoice" page, you will see a section on the right titled "Email". From here you can choose the template you selected which will automatically populate the "To", "CC", "Subject" and "Email Message" fields with the information entered into the template.
To add the tracking number just replace the "XXXXXXXXXX" with the tracking number provided to you by your courier company.
You can then preview the email that will be sent by pressing the "Preview Email" button, and you can send the email by pressing the "Send Email" button.
Refer to the version of Magento below
To enter a tracking code:
- Log onto your web store admin site
- Navigate to Sales > Orders
- In the Orders list, press the order to be shipped
- In the upper-right corner, press Ship
- To add a tracking number, scroll down to the shipping information section and press Add Tracking Number button
- Select your carrier from the drop-down; if not available select "Custom"
- Enter a title for the custom carrier
- Enter the Tracking Number
- To notify the customers of the shipment, tick "Email Copy of Shipment" checkbox
- When complete, press the Submit Shipment button
Please note, this will send your tracking number into the reference field to Retail Express, but you will still need to also manually fulfil the sale in Retail Express.
To enter a tracking code against the sale:
- Navigate to Sales > Orders
- Edit the order to be shipped
- In the upper-right corner press the Ship button
- Scroll down to the "Shipping Information" section and press "Add Tracking Number"
- Select the carrier from the drop-down, if not available select "Custom"
- enter the title for the custom carrier e.g. StarTrack
- Enter the Tracking Number in the "Number" field
- To email the customer tick the "Email Copy of Shipment" button under the "Shipment Options" section
- Ensure there is a value in the Qty to Ship section
- Press Submit Shipment to save the changes and create the shipment
- To view the history for the order click on the Comments History tab
- Press Back to return back to the Orders window; repeat the steps for any further sales to be shipped
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