"Managing the purchase of branded incentives and promotional
items across our group used to be a real nightmare.
Product choices were rarely consistent, ensuring the correct
use of our corporate identity and colourways was difficult and
prices would fluctuate widely.
Switching to Incentive Manager has allowed us to streamline the
entire purchasing process, with a range of high quality, on-brand
products that are always available on line for our departments
to choose from."
"With twelve offices globally, keeping track of the marketing
incentives required by our various divisions was all but impossible.
Incentive Manager has provided us with a 24/7 resource that is
available across all time zones.
Departments are told exactly how much they are spending before
they submit an order and the track & trace order monitoring
system means they know precisely when to expect delivery."
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Frequently Asked Questions
We have put together a range of questions and answers to help you
better understand the benefits of using Incentive Manager. If you
have a question that is not listed, please contact
us.
What is Incentive Manager?
A responsive, innovative and bespoke online stock management system,
designed to streamline the way organisations of all sizes repeat
order, manage stock, costs, budgets and distribution of their branded
marketing and promotional items online.
What are the benefits of Incentive Manager?
- A single worldwide source for employees and managers to reference
all their branded promotional items
- Control of company standards
- Increased purchasing power - each company territory benefits
from collective buying power
- Automatically managed stock levels and replenishment alerts
to prevent shortfalls and delays
- Ability to view individual product images, descriptions, sizing,
prices and stock details
- Potential to expand the system to cater for any repeat-order
products such as brochures, corporate clothing, stationery, office
equipment, office furniture etc
- Available 24/7 with no time zone issues
- No warehousing required as this is supplied and managed by Incentive
Manager
- Reduced administration and any associated costs due to system
automation. For example:
- product availability
- online enquires
- online orders
- logistics
- track & trace
- packaging
- direct territory invoicing
- stock alerts
- automatic stock replenishment options
- price reviews
- order history and reporting
- Increased accounting control with online purchasing history
reports (for traceability, budgeting and forecasting stock requirements).
Administrators can obtain information by territory, department
or individual user, product purchase history; by total spend,
date or product
- Improves stock and distribution efficiencies with full reporting
How does it work?
When you choose Incentive Manager, an agreed stock level
of your selected company-branded products are placed onto your
personal online system for all staff (site users) to view, call
off and distribute. Incentive Manager will create your personalised
online catalogue, on your behalf, consisting of images, product
descriptions and stock quantities. In addition it will provide
you with a full range of management tools to enable you to manage
the stock levels of your products and the budgets and allowances
of your staff.
You can choose to invoice direct to a users’ individual
office/department or to a central administration point. All payments
received are then used to replenish stock levels or for investment
in new promotional items, therefore preventing stock shortfalls
and minimal administration needs.
What if I can buy products cheaper?
Incentive Manager aims to provide you with considerable savings
on all incentives purchased. Inevitably, from time to time, you
may see individual products available cheaper elsewhere. But please
bear in mind the cost, budget and administrational benefits that
Incentive Manager provides overall and the fact that the system
also ensures all products meet a required corporate and quality
standard.
Do you perform price checks?
Yes, we regularly monitor the prices of all manufacturers to ensure
we remain competitive in terms of price, quality and product range.
If price updates are seen to be required, these are applied at the
point of replenishment. The system also has a built-in price alert
that will inform of any price changes during the online ordering
process.
What if I have a cheaper, more reliable supplier?
You or your divisions may well have - or come across - a cheaper
supplier that meets all your group standards. Your appointed Systems
Administrator will have the authority to include that supplier's
product(s) in your online catalogue.
How do my departments use Incentive Manager?
Your departments simply access the ‘Promo Products’
section of Incentive Manager and browse the items available to them.
Products may then be added to a ‘cart’ until the user
is ready to place their order (checkout).
All orders are placed using the user’s account details and
each user is set a ‘threshold limit’ for purchases.
The order will be sent to the System Administrator for approval/rejection
if it is for a higher amount than is allowed or if the stock level
is less than the user requires.
What if previously ordered items are discontinued?
If a previously ordered item has been removed from the catalogue
and is no longer displayed, the user has the option to contact the
Systems Administrator or request a 'bespoke' order.
Why should I appoint an internal Systems Administrator?
The Systems Administrator role provides you with complete control
over items purchased and order values. The Systems Administrator
is able to authorise 'over threshold', limited stock and bespoke
orders.
How is each individual user account managed?
We will set up an individual account for each staff member that
you authorise to purchase from the system. This will enable you
to review their purchasing habits and activity and set order limits
for them. You will also be able to view purchasing activities on
a departmental, divisional, country and group basis.
What about bespoke orders?
Sometimes users may wish to request an item that was previously
available and has been removed from your online catalogue or choose
products in a different colour, print, size or volume than is offered
as standard. We call these 'bespoke orders'. All bespoke order requests
are sent to the Systems Administrator for approval and are then
only available for a limited period to specific users. Where bespoke
orders are approved, new artwork also has to be submitted for approval
before printing can take place.
What are the payment options?
When you set up your Incentive Manager service you can request
that each user is invoiced directly for the products they order.
Alternatively you can stipulate separate invoicing addresses, by
department, division or territory - or request that all invoices
are forwarded to one central accounts department.
How long does delivery take?
Once an order has been placed, it is standard policy for goods
to be despatched within 24 hours for next day delivery (UK). For
overseas offices, the delivery date will be given at the time of
ordering. If an item is out of stock, and a back order is placed,
notification of delivery timescale will also be given at the point
of ordering.
How much is charged for delivery?
Delivery is calculated at the point of ordering and is based on
weight and size. Incentives Manager calculates all delivery costs
on a per-order basis.
Can orders be tracked online?
Absolutely. Incentive Manager provides users with comprehensive
online track & trace details, including delivery date, courier
and consignment number. |