Well defined minimum order quantities (MOQs) ensure customer orders can be fulfilled economically. Similarly, well defined volume discounts can encourage more substantial orders worth fulfilling.

On Sellar, you’re free to list your packaged products - namely, bottles and cans - in any quantity. However, unless listed in a quantity which matches the size of the case you ship in, it hasn’t always been possible to accurately honour the MOQs and volume discounts you may have defined for these products.

We’re solving this with the introduction of case size definitions. In the new delivery settings area, you can now set case sizes for each of the can and bottle products you sell. Read on to see practical examples of how this all works.

Defining a case size

Let’s say I list the majority of my can products in 440ml. I like to offer half cases to my customers so most products have an option to buy 12x 440ml cans or 24x 440ml cans. To set this up, I’ll head to delivery settings to set my case size of 24 for 440ml. It’s as simple as it sounds. I’m also shown my existing, related MOQs and volume discounts at this point; giving me chance to adjust them if necessary.

I can continue to define cases for all my different can sizes and bottle sizes.

What your customer sees

As the packaging I use to ship can hold 24 cans, when a customer adds 1x 12x 440ml cans to their basket Sellar now knows that this is half a case. My customer will see this indicated on the storefront; making it easy to determine if the products in their basket add up to a full or partial cases.

Minimum order quantities

This works in unison with your minimum order quantities. In the same scenario, let’s say I have an MOQ of 2 cases of cans (2x 24x 440ml. 48 cans in total). Sellar will know when a customer has 3x 12x 440ml can products in their basket and is half a case short of meeting the MOQ. Adding 1 more 12x 440ml can product to their basket allows them to checkout and place their order. Previously, my customer would’ve been able to order 3x 12x 440ml cans and I would’ve had to ask them to edit their order and add 1 more 12 pack. Back-and-forth we no longer need to do.

Ordering in increments

Even after a customer has met my MOQs, I may still want them to order in increments of a full case. To achieve this, I use the full case requirement setting to either require or advise customers to order in increments of my case sizes.

So if I set this to required and my customer adds another half case of cans - bringing their total to 5x 12x 440ml Cans - they’ll see a notice in the basket informing them to order in full cases before checking out.

Volume discounts

Let’s say I want to encourage larger basket sizes and I have a volume discount of “Buy 4 cases of cans, get 5% off”. My customer, who currently has 6x 12x 440ml cans in their basket is one case short of qualifying for this discount. They add 1x 24x 440ml product item to their basket and get the 5% off. 

Note here, for either MOQs or volume discounts, Sellar uses the total can count to determine if the conditions are met. Hence why 6x 12x 440ml and 1x 24x 440ml qualifies for the volume discount of 4 cases.

Additional benefits

With the above in mind, the new case size system allows me list a more varied range of quantities for my bottle and can products if I’m willing to split cases in this way. Let’s say I’m happy to split cases 3 ways, I can go ahead and list 8x 440ml can product items on the price tiers where I want to make these available. Now, when my customers come to place their order, they can add these 8x 440ml cans to their basket and my case definition of 24x cans will continue manage everything with respect to meeting MOQs, ordering in full cases and qualifying for any volume discounts.

Get started

Head to your new delivery settings area to define your cases sizes. Setup is easy and takes less than a minute.

Customer pages now feature sales info based on your customer's order history on Sellar. See key metrics at a glance:

• Last ordered date
• Order frequency 
• Average order value
• Lifetime value

Whilst this initial update to customer pages calculates all-time values, we plan to extend the use of sales info in two ways:

• Provide each of these metrics as filters and sortable columns on an updated customer list design. This is currently being developed.
• Provide a way to query against each of these metrics for specific time periods. For example, view a customer's average order value over the last 3, 6 or 12 months.

Head to your customer list to take a look. As always, get in touch if you have suggestions and feedback on how we can make this even better for you.

(Note: Values on customer pages gets refreshed once per day; overnight.)

Update 1 - Volume discounts

We’re updating how volume discounts work to make them simpler and more logical. These changes are outlined in 3 simple steps below:

Discount are applied to line items

Volume discounts will be applied to line items as a unit discount rather than as single discount on the whole order. This helps the customer see how much the unit price of the products they’re buying reduces by when they purchase in bulk.

In the example above, you can see the previous calculation on the left. The 5% discount was calculated using the order subtotal. The new calculation on the right uses the unit price of the line item(s). We see how this can affect order totals based on the next point...

Discounts are applied to relevant items

Container-specific volume discounts will only apply to the discountable items in the basket of those container type. Keg related discounts only apply to the kegs. Can related discounts only apply to the cans.

Using the same example from before, I've now added 1x keg at £100. Previously, this would have been included in the calculation of the 5% discount. With the new approach, our volume discount of 'Buy 3 cases of cans, get 5% off' only uses the discountable order items in can format for calculating the discount amount.

But what if I wanted to offer a volume discount on kegs in addition to my volume discount on cans? We've got you covered...

Discounts are applied concurrently

A customer can qualify for more than one container-specific volume discount on a single order. If I qualify for a keg volume discount, I get it. If I qualify for a can volume discount, I get that too.

A note on the ‘discount’ field on orders

In the examples above, all discounts have been applied to line items. As such, there hasn’t been a need to apply the discount after calculating the subtotal (like previously). However, this dedicated ‘discount’ field on orders isn’t going away. It will still be available for you to manually apply a one-off discount when creating an order on behalf of a customer or editing an order request.

Update 2 - Customer-level discounts

We've extended the functionality of customer-level discount to allow you to set a percentage discount for individual product items on a per-customer basis. Existing customer-level discounts will continue to work in the same way.

Head to your customer list -> customer page -> terms & pricing tab -> discount by product item to set up any percentage-based discounts now.

Having processed well over a hundred thousand orders via Sellar, we've witnessed one simple factor contribute significantly to a great customer experience: response time.

To date, the natural, next action for handling order requests on Sellar has been to confirm them. There’s a lot wrapped up in that confirmation step. One dilemma with this has been the choice between keeping an order open or acknowledging your customer’s request.

To address this, we’re introducing the ability to accept orders. Here, we’ve separated out the act of notifying your customer of your intent to fulfil their order from the act of finalising order details.

One click of the new accept button sends an email or push notification to your customer to let them know you’ve received their request and intend to fulfil their order. Importantly, accepting an order keeps it open to allow for any additions or edits until you finalise it.

Accepting orders quickly reassures your customer their order has been acknowledged and will be dealt with even if you’re not ready to schedule delivery dates or issue invoices yet.

Conversely, you can accept & finalise in one-step should you wish to fast track an order through to fulfilment. Order processing remains speedy for those customers whose orders are ready to ship!

It’s a simple addition but there are two key changes to highlight. Let’s take a look.

The new ‘order requests’ tab

To make it clear which orders have been reviewed and acknowledged, all unhandled order requests will appear in a new tab on your orders list: Order requests.

Think of it like an inbox for unread order requests. This view provides you with an overview of your customer and their order. When selecting to view the details of an order request, we've included a handy addition which allows you to change customer payment terms prior to accepting their order should you need to.

Once accepted, the order will move to the other tab, All orders. 

‘Confirmed’ = ‘Finalised’

We’ve updated the terminology to be clear about what’s happening at each stage of the order lifecycle. ‘Finalised’ functions exactly the same as ‘confirmed’; presenting you with the same form to configure order details and prepare for shipping.

Demo

To see all of this in action, check out the demo video below.

It’s now easier to keep on top of activity with push notifications. Stay up to date across any device and any web browser. Control the exact notifications you receive via both email and push with more granular preferences.

You can turn these on in Sellar right now; or read on to learn more.

Web browser-based push notifications have advanced in recent times and work well for progressive web apps (PWAs) like Sellar. That’s why we’ve made them available to both you and your trade customers. Let’s take a look how this works.

The notification

Once enabled, browser notifications behave just like regular push notifications native to the devices and operating systems you use. You’ll receive these notifications whenever you’re away from Sellar and each one will link directly to the relevant page. One click or tap and you’ll be taken straight to that order, message or customer connection request. If you happen to be using Sellar at the time, notifications will be delivered silently to make you aware of activity from customers but with minimal interruption.

Get started

Getting started couldn’t be easier. Turn on notifications from Settings → Your Account → Notifications. This is where your preferences live. We’ve also added prompts for enabling notifications from message or comment threads. Checkout the video to see how easy this is.

Enable notifications on desktop

Upon selecting ‘Turn on notifications’ your browser will ask you for permission. When you allow, your current device will be added to your device list and you can rename these if you wish using the three dot menu. From here, you can precisely control the specific notifications you wish to receive for both email and push.

iPhone and iPad users

Push notifications will work exactly the same across all devices and browsers. However, Apple impose one additional requirement for iOS devices if they wish to received web-based push notifications. Sellar will need to be added as a Home Screen app. We provide a handy in-app prompt when enabling push notifications for an iOS device which shows you how to do this in two simple taps.

Take a look at the video below to see this in action.

Enable notifications on mobile

SMS notifications

We will soon be removing SMS text message notifications in favour of web push. If you relied on these notifications, be sure to switch over as soon as possible. Note: Text message notifications from 3rd party couriers - such as UPS - sent to your customers informing them of delivery status will continue to work as normal.

Enable push notifications

Download a CSV file of historic sales data a month at time; and up to one year ago. The downloaded file will include rows detailing the order items sold to customers within the specified month. You can do this via the new 'export' button at the top of your orders list.

Fields included are:

• Order ID
• Customer name
• Post code
• Delivery tier
• Date and time the order was created
• Date and time the order was confirmed
• Order item quantity
• Product name
• Price
• Full Price

The 'Price' field indicates the price the individual product item was sold for. The 'Full Price' field is the price the individual product item is listed at on that particular price tier. In most instances, these two values will be the same. However, for customers with pre-agreed discounts assigned to their customer account on Sellar, these values will differ. For example, a customer with a 10% discount on kegs orders a keg listed at £100 at their discounted rate of £90. As the 'Price' and 'Full Price' fields are defined in pence (not pounds), you'd see '9000' and '10000' in these fields respectively.

Export my sales data

You can now export your entire customer list as a CSV file directly from the app. Head over to your customer page and select the 'Export' button located at the top-right of your list.

The export features three additional pieces of data over and above what is currently displayed on customer pages on Sellar. These are:

• Lifetime order value
• Total number of orders
• Average order value

These values will be included in your CSV download for each customer; and they will be appearing on customer pages on Sellar very soon.

Go to my customer list 

Why we created the Sellar Market

There’s a problem with conventional marketplaces.

Most who offer a great buyer experience do so at the expense of the suppliers on their platforms. Optimisation typically centres around one metric - price - making a commodity of the brands and products listed.

Trade sales in craft beer is different.

Craft products are inherently high quality. Whilst venue managers keep a watchful eye on their margins (like anyone running a business) their own customers walk through the door to drink the most compelling brands; not just the cheapest.

Locality of the supplier to the venue can also impact a trade buyer’s experience. Offering a convenient direct delivery service is another factor when making a purchasing decision.

Most marketplaces also don’t encourage relationship building. In fact, they’re typically incentivised to do the opposite and keep YOUR customers at arms length.

At Sellar, we wanted to do things differently. What would a marketplace look like if it was built for craft breweries?

The Sellar Market and opening order fees are designed with suppliers in mind.

One dimensional marketplaces miss the mark for our industry. We believe there can be multiple ways to win new sales instead of it being a race to the bottom on price.

So how will trade buyers find you on the new Sellar Market? We’re launching with a specific set of features to enable effortless browsing and searching to help you get discovered.

Browsing the Sellar Market

Not all purchasing decisions begin in the same way. The new main ‘feed’ is structured into different sections. Trade buyers will be able to find you and your products from a variety of different starting points.

Local to you

Each buyer will see a different list depending on where their venue is located. A rotating list of up to 6 suppliers will appear on the main feed. Selecting ‘view map’ brings up the map view side-by-side with a list of suppliers sorted by distance from the buyer’s venue.

Recently added

A continually updating list of all the products being added to Sellar. A product only gets shown when there’s at least one format added with pricing set on at least one price tier.

Recently viewed

A buyer’s browsing history will be pinned to the top of the page. The 6 most recent products the buyer viewed will be on hand should they wish to return to a product they were previously considering. A second chance to get added to the basket.

More on Sellar

The complete list of everyone on Sellar presented in a randomised sorting order; putting your availability list one click away from trade buyers. Buyers can see the formats you stock at-a-glance. Along with your brand imagery. So lead with a great brand hero image to stand out.

Searching the Sellar Market

Search

We make it easy for trade buyers to get started with a search.

The new active search bar provides search suggestions and previous search terms. In-line filters for keg, cask, can and bottle let buyers immediately narrow down search results to formats they are looking to stock. This is great when a buyer doesn’t have a specific keyword in mind to search for, but know which format they’re interested in.

Filters

A host of new filters give trade buyers the ability to narrow down their search to exactly what they’re looking for.

Container filters have been enhanced and now allow buyers to filter by specific type of keg or cask.

ABV filters make it easy to hone in on a specific strength. This is great when a buyer is open to many different styles but has an ideal ABV range in mind.

Dietary filters use the vegan, lactose free and gluten free indicators on your products to help ensure results meet the dietary needs.

Sorting

There are currently two ways to sort search results on Sellar. The default, ‘Popular on Sellar’, sorts results based on recent sales of each product. As you’d imagine, the top results change depending on the search term entered and the filters applied.

The second option allows buyers to sort by most recently added - which sorts results precisely as expected.

See for yourself

This is just the beginning for the Sellar Market. We’ll strive to make it a delightful experience for trade buyers whilst also finding ways to get you in front of more and more customers.

If you already have a buyer account, head over to the new ‘market’ tab which replaces ‘discover’. If you don’t have a buyer account yet, you can easily set one up (for your taproom, for example) here.

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If you'd rather not be discoverable on Sellar Market (and avoid Opening Order Fees), let us know and we can get that switched off for you. Your Sellar Lists will still work the same for all existing customers and new customers that find you through your links (website, mailer etc.). 

Customers acquired through Sellar

The Sellar Market is there to help you get discovered and win new customers. It’s a marketplace for craft beer built the right way. A marketspace. A place which isn’t a race to the bottom to compete solely on price. We’re building the tools which help thousands of trade buyers discover your brand and products in various ways.

A customer acquired through the Sellar Market should become just that. A customer. Someone you can build a relationship with and earn repeat business from.

New customers who find you through the Sellar market will be subject to a one-time opening order fee. They’ll be added to your customer list and there’ll be no fee on subsequent orders from that customer once you’ve acquired them. Opening order fees will be introduced within Q1 2024.

Opening order fees do not apply to existing customers who are already in your customer list on Sellar.

Customers you acquire

In anticipation for opening order fees, we’ve built a system to monitor when a customer - who isn’t on your Sellar customer list - places an order with you after accessing one your Sellar Links.

Any link you obtain from Sellar will now contain a smart token. This is a short code at the end of the URL. If a customer accesses one of these links and, within 28 days, places a first-time order with you on Sellar, we will attribute the acquisition of that customer to you. Therefore, these orders will not be subject to an opening order fee.

Important next step!

Use these new links when directing customers to your availability list, pricing or individual product pages on Sellar. Be sure to update the links already in use in your mailers, website and socials.

Go get your new links

Your existing links out in the wild will continue to work. However, you’ll want to update these to the new links which contain the smart token. We provide a variety of links for you to use from within Sellar; each which serve a different purpose. These include:

• A link to your general availability list
• A link to each one of your price tiers
• A link to each one of your products

To ensure each link you obtain contains the essential smart token do not copy and paste links from your browser's URL bar. Follow the guides below 👇

1. General availability link

Your general availability link is ideal when directing a broad group of prospects or customers to Sellar. It excludes pricing by default for anyone without a Sellar account. Anyone who has a Sellar account and is signed in will see your appropriate default price tier pricing (if set) when accessing this link.

• Go to Storefront → Share
• Select ‘COPY’

Get my general availability link

2. Price tier link

Linking to a specific price tier let’s new customers view your availability and place an order at those prices. This has been optimised to work great for customers regardless of whether they have a Sellar account or not. Customers without a Sellar account can go ahead and add items to their basket before we ask them to sign up. Sign up itself takes less than 60 seconds.

• Go to app.sellar.io
• Select ‘Share Pricing’ at the top of the main menu
• Select a price tier. Select ‘Activate’ if this is the first time sharing this price tier
• Select ‘COPY LINK’
• If you don’t see a short URL, select ‘deactivate’ then re-‘activate’. This will refresh the link to use the new, shorter smart token. The longer URLs will continue to work and attribute customer acquisition in the same way, however, shorter URLs will look better in emails and messages when sending them to customers.

Get my price tier links

3. Product link

You can also link directly to an individual product on Sellar. Perfect for mailers and socials. These links go directly to your individual product pages; allowing your customers to read more and, if they’re logged in to Sellar, instantly add them to their basket.

• Go to your Product List
• Select a product
• Select ‘COPY LINK’ below the product description

Get my product links

You can now manage aspects of your Sellar subscription directly from the app. Head to the Settings area and select 'Manage Subscription' to open your dedicated page.

This will allow you to see your current plan, update payment method, edit billing information and download any previous invoices.

Manage My Subscription