Archive
Our archive includes a summary of updates to SparkLayer in previous years
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Product Customisations
If you sell products that require "customisations" such as custom text or any other unique requirements, you'll like our latest update! We've just released the ability to support customised products via the SparkLayer JavaScript SDK๏ปฟ. You can see how it works in our video below.
This allows your B2B customers to add customised text to products within their order and the information is sent through to your eCommerce platform when an order is placed.
Please note This is an advanced configuration of SparkLayer and will require a developer to implement on a store that requires this feature. Please refer to our JavaScript SDK๏ปฟ for full details.
"Draft order" visibility in My Account
We've just released a major improvement to the My Account Interface๏ปฟ that gives your B2B customers much better visibility on orders they place. Previously, if a customer placed an order via payment methods such as "Pay on Account" or "Pay by Invoice" these wouldn't show in the My Account until the order was marked as "Completed". Now, as soon as an order is placed, these will show with a new status "Awaiting Merchant".
When you (the merchant) completes the order, these will then change to standard order statuses such as "Processing", "Shipped", etc. You can learn more about order status in our guide here๏ปฟ.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Purchase numbers to support new order types Inline with the "Draft order visibility in My Account" above, you can now set "Purchase numbers" to indicate orders that are currently in review. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Support for Shopify web pixels SparkLayer now supports the new Shopify web pixel tracking system. This will in time replace the need to use the SparkLayer checkout script when implementing SparkLayer on Shopify.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Company Order Approvals
We're excited to announce a major update to our Company Users๏ปฟ functionality: order approvals that let teams set role-based permissions!
Via our Company Users๏ปฟ feature, B2B customers can invite colleagues and set powerful role-based controls on what they can and canโt do (e.g. some can add items to an order, whereas others can complete the order to be fulfilled). Please note, this feature will be launched later in March.
Sales agent order history
We've released a much requested improve to our Sales Agent Ordering๏ปฟ feature. Sales Agents can now view recent order history pertaining to customer accounts they manage. When a sales agent logs in, they'll see this new section on the sales agent search interface.
Sales Agent - Setting overwrites
It's now possible for Sales Agents (with "Administrator" access) to overwrite product settings such as pack sizing and min/max product quantities. When signed in as a customer, free form quantities can be entered to increment or decrement the line item level quantities. Learn more๏ปฟ.
My Cart - CSV file upload
If your customers make use of the CSV file upload feature๏ปฟ, they can now upload CSVs using a barcode as the primary identifier. This works in addition to use a SKU.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- My Cart - show stock status If you've configured SparkLayer to show stock levels๏ปฟ, the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ will automatically show the stock status for any items added. It's a great way to give customers more visibility of the specific inventory levels of items in their order.
- Product Card - Hide Prices It's now possible to hide the total price from showing on the Product Card Interface๏ปฟ if you'd prefer to keep this hidden. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Product Stock - Hide inventory count If you have Stock Display๏ปฟ turned on, you can now selectively hide the specific inventory count from showing. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Dashboard Price List - upload multiple CSV files It's now possible to upload multiple CSV price lists at once when managing your B2B price lists. Learn more.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Cin7 Core integration - multi-currency We've upgraded our Cin7 Core integration to now better support stores that have a multi-currency setup. Please contact our support team to learn more.
- Loading interfaces We've improved the loading interfaces that show when the Frontend Interfaces๏ปฟ first load on a page, making for a smoother experience.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Dashboard usability improvements
As part of our ongoing improvements to the SparkLayer Dashboard, we've released our first major update to make managing your B2B configurations even easier. For the Price Lists๏ปฟ and Shipping๏ปฟ sections of the dashboard, you'll see a new and improved way to create and manage your settings with our new "slide out" feature.
In the very near future, we'll be rolling out a brand new Customer Groups๏ปฟ section that will bring some major improvements to how you manage your B2B customers. Stay tuned!
"Purchase status" improvements
Under the hood, we've made some major improvements to how SparkLayer handles "purchases" (essentially orders that can have different statuses). This will allow SparkLayer to handle purchase types such as orders that may require review (e.g. a Draft order), orders that may require approval, and a range of other statuses that may be relevant to your B2B operation. In next month's update, we'll be sharing how this works and what it will unlock for our customers!
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Frontend interfaces - "Cart" terminology We've updated the terminology for "Order" to "Cart" to make it more obvious to customers that products are added to a shopping list. This change will apply to any buttons and titles used in the Frontend Interfaces๏ปฟ. This text can also be modified should you want to adjust to anything else. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Frontend Interfaces - Notifications We've improved the display of notifications within the frontend interfaces for actions such as "success", "information", and "warning" messages, ensuring a more consistent look and feel.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Purchase history reports
Our headline update this month is the release of our new My Account reporting tool that gives your B2B customers even easier (and faster!) ways to place B2B orders!
The first report we've released is the new "Purchase history by time period" which gives customers a breakdown of all products they've purchased over a period of time (e.g. by quarter, by month, by week). The best part? In a matter of clicks, they can re-order an entire range of products and then proceed through the checkout to complete their order.
It's a great way to allow your customers to more rapidly repeat-order and easily see products they've purchased from your store. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
Custom payment method messaging
On the final step of the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ, Review & Pay, it's now possible to display a "custom payment messages" that let you add additional details about a payment method.
For example, if a customer is paying by "Pay by Invoice", you could add some additional text to inform them on how this process works. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
Improved messaging within the My Account and My Order
When your B2B customers haven't completed certain actions (e.g. placed an order, saved a shopping list), we've improved the messaging and how this looks to give a more consistent feel and experience. You'll see the same style of "empty state" messaging appear in both the My Account Interface๏ปฟ and My Cart Interface๏ปฟ.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Sales Agents - "Recently Access Accounts" When a sales agent logs in, they can now see their most recently accessed accounts, making it easier to login as a customer (this works based on their browser session).
- Sales Agents - Search improvements We've extended the sales agent customer search to now include additional data sources: the default billing postcode (Zip code), first line of address, and city
- Sales Agents - Customers created by sales agents When a sales agent now creates a new customer on the fly, this will automatically assign any "b2b" tags assigned to the sales agent themselves. This now makes it easier to filter and segment by sales agent created customers within Shopify or BigCommerce.
- My Account - Order History "RRP" pricing When viewing an order within the My Account area, if a product has RRP pricing๏ปฟ configured, you'll see this show next to the main B2B price.
- Price Lists - support for 4 decimal places When setting up an automatic price list (e.g. 50% off your retail prices), you can now specify up to 4 decimal places (e.g. 24.1245%)
- Product Cards - selectively hide variant drop-downs By default, the Product Card Interface๏ปฟ will show any variants (such as colour and size) and allow the customer to change them. If you'd prefer, you can now hide specific variant groups you don't want to show, giving you more flexibility on what's shown to your customers. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Barcode support
We're pleased to announce the launch of one of our most highly requested features, barcode support! If you're using barcodes within your eCommerce platform (e.g. Shopify), you can now display these to customers via our Frontend Interfaces๏ปฟ and even allow customers to search by barcode in the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ.
You can also take this a step further and integrate SparkLayer with your barcode scanning system, to really automate the creation of B2B orders. Check out our video below to see this in action!
To learn more about activating barcodes, read our guide here๏ปฟ.
Unit of measure pricing
SparkLayer now supports the option to configure your pricing with units of measure, allowing you to offer discounted prices based on specific purchasing quantities.
It's a great way to allow customers to order in pre-defined units such as boxes, pallets, or cases. When setting these up, you can then specify how pricing works for these specific units, as well as handle units that 'fall outside' these. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Quantity price display in the My Order widget If you have quantity pricing๏ปฟ set up, customers can now see the details of how quantity pricing works directly from the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- My Order CSV Import You can now overwrite the default column headers in the CSV file import available to customers in the My Account Interface๏ปฟ. This allows you to overwrite the default sku and qty that is currently available. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Product percentage savings If you're using quantity pricing๏ปฟ, you can now customise how the "Savings" column handles percentage savings with the option to add additional decimal places (e.g. 33.12% off instead of 33% off)
- Messaging consistency We've improved messaging within the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ so that any actions that add items to an order (e.g. a CSV file import, a shopping list), the customer will be shown a notification message informing them if any products cannot be added
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Custom shipping messages
A common use-case we see with our customers is shipping rates needing updating after an order is placed. Perhaps you need to perform your own checks on the order or negotiate the final shipping cost. Our latest update to our shipping system allows you to set "custom messages" against shipping rules, allowing you to give more visibility to your B2B customers should the shipping costs need amending.
You can learn more about how custom shipping messages work in our guide here๏ปฟ.
Product Page "All Variants" Mode
If your products come in multiple variant types (e.g. colour and size), you're going to like this update! You can now enable a special "All Variants" mode on the Product Detail Interface๏ปฟ that allows your B2B customers to see all available variants in one go. Learn more๏ปฟ about how this works.
Order Limits by Quantity
Alongside the ability to set order total limits๏ปฟ for your B2B customers, you can now set order quantity limits! For example, you may require customers to have a minimum of 100 items in their order before they can checkout, or they cannot purchase more than 1,000 items.
Our latest update allows you to set order quantity limits for any of your Customer Groups๏ปฟ and you can even combine order quantity and order total rules! Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- CSV Import - messaging We've improved the feedback messaging customers see if not all items in a CSV file import๏ปฟ can be added to an order, allowing them to scroll the list of affected products if the list is very long
- Price Lists - auto-assigning If you're creating a price list for the first time, you can choose to 'auto-assign' the price list to your default B2B customer group
- Product widgets - RRP text styling You can now additional text styling to the RRP price๏ปฟ such as adding a strike-through or customising the colour. You can now use new CSS variables --spark-pricing-rrp-decoration and --spark-pricing-rrp-color
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
BigCommerce Integration
It's here... the SparkLayer & BigCommerce๏ปฟ integration! Now BigCommerceย merchants can integrate SparkLayer into their eCommerce stores and benefit from our feature-rich B2B solution. We're very excited to be part of theย BigCommerceย ecosystem and continue our mission to help brands grow their B2B businesses! Learn more๏ปฟ about our integration.
Sales Agents Improvements
Weโre pleased to announce a range of major updates to our Sales Agent tool, that now makes it an even more powerful tool for B2B sales teams to use. And for merchants looking at levelling-up their B2B processes, itโs now even easier to onboard their sales team and bring more automation to their B2B processes. Letโs dive into the new features!
1.Inline Price Editing
Our built-in powerful B2B pricing engine lets customers see their exact B2B pricing rules when they login. However, what if a Sales Agent needs to make an ad-hoc change to a price or apply a discount to a range of products in one go? With our instant price editing feature, Sales Agents can now edit pricing โinlineโ, allowing them to edit prices in real-time before placing an order. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
2. Create new customers
This new feature lets Sales Agents rapidly add a new customer and begin placing orders for them right away. Itโs particularly useful if a Sales Agent is on the road meeting new customers, or at a trade show needing to place orders there and then with a customer. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
3. Place Sales Agent Orders
Now, Sales Agents can not only add products to their personal orders but also complete the checkout process independently. Whether it's for buying a product for an upcoming customer demonstration or making a personal purchase at a preferential rate, this update now gives them the ability to do this!
Please note The above Sales Agent Ordering๏ปฟ updates are available to all customers on the Growth, Pro, and Enterprise plans.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Product widgets - Dark Mode We've extended the available design customisations for customers using the dark mode๏ปฟ look and feel for the SparkLayer product page widgets
- Shipping - Percentage of Net Total You can now set shipping rates based on a percentage of the customer's order total, e.g. 20%
- Dashboard - Team Invitations We've made inviting team members easier with a new, streamlined process for becoming part of a team. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- My Order - Product SKU search We've updated the user interface for the SKU search on the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ to display a new icon (a plus symbol instead of a search icon)
- Error messages now have reference codes If you ever encounter an error saying "Sorry, an unknown error has occurred", this will now include a reference code number. You can see the list of common error codes in our guide here๏ปฟ/
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Shopify Onboarding Dashboard
If you're using your Shopify admin to keep tabs of your SparkLayer installation process, you'll like our latest update!
We've now greatly improved the interface, making it easier to see the key onboarding steps, learn about available features, and quickly access the main SparkLayer Dashboard to complete your onboarding process.
Restricting billing address modifications
By default, you can allow customers to edit and manage addresses๏ปฟ via their My Account area. If you'd prefer to restrict them from editing their billing address, you can now enable this via the Configurations area of the SparkLayer Dashboard.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Product widgets - single variant products If you have single variant products on your website, you can now display the full variant name in the table-view mode๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- CSS styling controls We've now added the ability to customise the "Order Complete" checkmark icon colour that shows to customers once an order is placed
- Price Lists admin If you now try to download a "manual price list" that hasn't had prices uploaded, you'll be prompted with a message (rather than downloading a blank file previously)
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Checkout address editing
We're pleased to announce one of our most requested features - checkout address editing! Customers can now add new addresses directly from the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ, making it even faster to choose shipping addresses and complete an order
This new feature can also help streamline and compliment any drop-shipping activities your customers may be doing. To learn more about how it works, see our guide here.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
Set minimum and maximum order limits
To add more flexibility to your ordering rules, we've now released the ability to set both minimum and maximum order requirements for your customer groups.
Based on the rules you set, you can now more easily restrict customers from being able to checkout until they meet the order requirements. To learn more, see our full guide here๏ปฟ.
Custom checkout message
On the final step of the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ, Review & Pay, it's now possible to display a "custom checkout message" that lets you inform customers of any special notes or information they need to be aware of.
It's a great way to highlight information about shipping, payment, or anything else! Learn more๏ปฟ.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- My Order - displaying RRP price If you've set up rrp pricing๏ปฟ for your products, you can now display the RRP price within the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- My Order - selecting a payment method If a customer has pre-selected a payment method (e.g. Pay by Invoice) and subsequently makes changes to their order, the payment method will now be pre-selected (rather than resetting back to the default payment method)
- Product widgets - handling for "Unavailable" If all variants of a product are set as "Unavailable" (i.e. they have no B2B pricing set), the Product Detail Interface๏ปฟ and Product Card Interface๏ปฟ will now hide the "Add to Order" button from showing to a customer
- Product cards - improved handling for variants If your products have multiple levels of variants (e.g. colour and size), the Product Card Interface๏ปฟ will now only show available variants based on availability and "disable" variants that cannot be added to an order
- My Account - "Financials" section If you have credit terms๏ปฟ set up for your B2B customers but you'd prefer to hide the "Financials" section from the My Account Interface๏ปฟ, you can now do this via a new configuration. Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Dashboard - Shipping You can now more easily edit and delete shipping rules directly from the Shipping๏ปฟ area of the SparkLayer Dashboard
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Display custom fields within the My Account
Within the My Account Interface๏ปฟ, it's now possible to show "custom fields" allowing you to add additional information that you want your B2B customers to see. For example, you may want to include details of their sale agent contact, website address, or anything else!
Setting custom fields for the My Details area works in a very similar way to the custom checkout fields feature๏ปฟ and you can learn more in our full guide here๏ปฟ.
Upload invoices to an order
When viewing an order, in addition to the order details (such as products ordered, order status, address), it's now possible to attach an invoice against an order that the customer can subsequently download.
Once the invoice has been uploaded, your customers can then view the invoice by viewing their order details within the My Account Interface๏ปฟ.
You can learn more about how to set this up in our guide here๏ปฟ.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Price lists - clearing prices You can now "clear" price lists within the SparkLayer Dashboard for any price lists that you've manually uploaded (via a CSV). This is especially useful if you want to remove existing price list data and re-upload it.
- My Order - uploading CSV data Within the My Cart Interface๏ปฟ, you can now paste in CSV data to quickly populate an order. This works alongside the existing CSV file upload feature. Learn more๏ปฟ.
- Product cards - display stock level and SKU Within the Product Card Interface๏ปฟ, you can now optionally display a live stock level and SKU (product code). Learn more๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
- Checkout validation You can now define more granular rules for validating whether a customer is allowed to proceed to checkout. Learn more in out JavaScript SDK๏ปฟ.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Integration with experience platform, Pack
Speed and performance have always been at the heart of how weโve built SparkLayer: from how we manage the complexities of B2B pricing in a scalable way, through to ensuring that the end B2B customer gets the smoothest possible experience when placing orders online.Today, we're thrilled to announce our latest partnership that takes this a step further, as we launch our official integration with Pack! Learn more about our partnership.
Configure net payment terms more easily
We've just made setting customer net payment terms even easier! If you're using the SparkLayer "Pay on Account" payment method, you can now set up specific net payment terms for a customer and have this automatically populate the payment terms in Shopify.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Address book - phone numbersWhen adding an address in the My Account area, you can now optionally make customers specify a phone number. This will then be included in the customer's details if they proceed to place an order
- Address book - billing & shipping addressWhen adding an address in the My Account area, customers can now specify if they want the address to be their default Billing and/or default Shipping address. This is useful if they require different addresses when placing an order
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
The new B2B Price Engine
Weโre excited to announce the launch of one of our most anticipated updates, our new Price Engine that gives SparkLayer customers powerful new ways to automate and streamline their B2B pricing rules!
Previously, SparkLayer gave customers the ability to manage pricing via CSV uploads and, for more complex integrations, automating pricing via the SparkLayer API. With the new Price Engine, SparkLayer customers can now:
- Use pricing from their eCommerce platform (e.g. Shopify) to create automatic B2B pricing (e.g. set B2B prices to be 20% off Shopify prices)
- Set up automatic pricing based off other price lists (e.g. 50% off your default price list)
- Quickly download price lists to make edits and then easily re-upload
- Edit pricing โinline" with our Price Editor Tool
- Import manual prices more quickly, with a major performance boost
Learn more in our recent announcement or see how it works in our guide here๏ปฟ.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Product widgets You can now optionally display the RRP prices anywhere on your storefront with our new RRP price widget
- Performance improvements We've made a range of improvements under the hood to speed up the process of importing pricing into SparkLayer
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
The new Price Editor
The Price Editor tool compliments the pricing import tool, allowing you to easily add and edit pricing in a more "adhoc" manner. For example, perhaps you need to edit a single price for product and add a new one, and you'd prefer not to upload a new CSV file to do this.
The Price Editor tool works by letting you search for a product SKU and then edit and add pricing inline, allowing you to rapid modify your B2B pricing. Our team has been busily working on our major pricing engine update (coming soon!) and we've also released the following improvements.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Languages We've added support for Hebrew and Georgian to the SparkLayer Frontend. See all languages we support.
- SDK updates If you're using our JavaScript SDK to build more custom interfaces, you can now reference the total weight of an order. This is useful if you want to hide/show messaging based on a customer's order contents reaching a certain weight threshold.
- Performance improvements We've made a range of improvements under the hood to speed up the process of importing pricing into SparkLayer
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Checkout Custom Fields
Checkout Custom Fields give you the ability to capture additional information from the customer when they checkout. We've released two enhancements that give even more flexibility to how you set these up as well as new ways to display this data to customers.
It's now possible to set validation rules within Checkout Custom Fields allowing you to apply restrictions to fields such as dates (for example, blocking customers from selecting a weekend).
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Data Sync area We've released a new area to the SparkLayer Dashboard called Data Sync that combines both product and customer data sent from Shopify.
- Payment methods It's now possible to change the order that payment methods show during the checkout as well as set the default.
- Stock level key You can now display the stock level key on desktop by using the CSS variable --spark-pdp-stock-key-desktop: flex
- Cart notification You can optionally hide the progress bar by using the CSS variable --spark-toast-animation-display: none
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Company Users
It's here! One of our most anticipated product updates, Company Users, is now available! Company Users is a brand new tool thatโs designed to improve the B2B purchasing and account management flow within an organisation. Sometimes referred to as "B2B account management", it allows companies to create teams of users (i.e. Company Users) that can share specific actions within their account.
From placing orders and tracking their status, repeat ordering previous orders, through to creating shopping lists and sharing address books. What sets the SparkLayer Company Users tool apart is how simple it is to use. Inline with our approach to make the B2B experience self-service, customers themselves can create their own teams right from within their My Account area. Thereโs no need to request the store owner to manage this on their behalf, the customers themselves have full control over the process. Learn more about Company Users.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Multi-currency support We've made some major improvements to how SparkLayer works with Shopify Markets/multi-currency meaning you can manage this all within a single Shopify store.
- My Account Re-ordering When viewing a completed order in the My Account area, it's now possible to re-order items on a product-by-product basis.
- The SparkLayer Dashboard We've made a number of interface improvements including the ability to edit and delete Customer Groups.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
DEAR Systems Integration
Weโre pleased to release our latest integration with DEAR Systems. DEAR Systems has long held the reputation as being the system of choice for established and fast-growing brands, providing a centralised location to manage inventory, orders, warehousing, fulfilment, accounting, and more.
The SparkLayer integration works by connecting to the merchant's DEAR Systems account to access B2B data such as product pricing and price lists as well as synchronising B2B customer data.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- SparkLayer Quick Order Customers will now see a running total of โlinesโ and โitemsโ next to the sub-total. This makes it easier for them to see the size of their B2B order
- Dark mode For merchants using a โdarkโ theme, weโve Improved support for dark mode on collection pages
- Right-to-Left mode: SparkLayer now supports countries/languages that require โright-to-leftโ (or RTL)
- Language editing Weโve made it easier to manage language updates with a simpler way to add text overwrites within your storefront
- Language translation support Weโve added support for Romanian and Arabic.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
1-click Shopify B2B theme install
If you're using SparkLayer on Shopify, you may be aware of Shopify's latest theme, Dawn. With our new 1-click B2B theme install, any merchant using SparkLayer can now instantly install our B2B-optimised version of the Shopify Dawn theme and get up and running with their B2B store in a matter of minutes. Best of all, no code changes are required to set this up.
It's a great way to test how SparkLayer works before installing it on a live Shopify theme or you could even use it as the basis for your next B2B store! To get started, go to the SparkLayer Dashboard.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Product page widget The product page widget currently shows a special 'table' view for products that have variants (e.g. size, colour). You can now render the same 'table' view for single variant products by adapting the product widget code.
- Product settings We've updated our documentation on product settings including how it's possible to set products (and variants) to not be "sellable" to B2B customers and even how to fully hide products (and variants) from showing with a special "display" setting.
- Tiered pricing By default, if you have tiered pricing set up, the pricing will be applied across all variants of a product. You can now set this to only apply to specific variants via a new setting within the SparkLayer Dashboard.
- Pack sizing The product detail page widget now supports a 'Pack price' that gives customers a cost for all products within a pack.
- Product widgets customisations We've enabled additional design customisation settings including button and input styling.
- Line item limits With Shopify's line item limit of ~ 250 items, we've now included special notifications within the SparkLayer Quick Order if customers exceed this limit
- Dashboard product data You can now search by SKU within the Data look up tool in the SparkLayer Dashboard.
- Brightpearl integration We've made improvements to the handling of customer address syncing for BrightPearl, including phone numbers and company names.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Configure "custom dates" for backorder products
With support already for backordering/pre-ordering built into SparkLayer, weโre excited to announce our latest update, "custom dates" that can be set for backorder products."Custom dates" allow you to set an exact date when the product is expected to be available. Itโs a great way to give the end customer better visibility of when to expect receipt of the products on order, and helps deliver an overall better customer experience.
Use-cases could include:
- Setting a "due in" date of when you're expecting the product to be in stock
- Setting an "estimated shipping" date of when you're expecting the product to ship
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Product page tiered pricing If you're using tiered pricing, the information table shown to customers on a product page will now include pack sizing. For example, if your tiered pricing starts at 6 units, this will be shown as the first in the list.
- Product page widget We've improved the interface of the product page widget to hide the initial variant dropdown if a product only has a single option within it.
- Product card variants If a product has variants that don't have prices assigned, these will be shown last in the purchasing dropdown on the product card widget
- My account area If you're using our account balance feature, you can now optionally hide any reference to 'credit' if you don't set a credit limit against a customer.
- CSV import The SparkLayer Quick Order Interface now has improved messaging for customers using the CSV import tool, making it clearer when a product isn't able to be imported due to stock limitations.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Custom Fields during the checkout
Our latest update includes the much anticipated 'custom fields' feature that allows you to add additional data capture fields during the checkout process.
Use-cases could include:
- A date capture field, e.g. "Shipping" or "Delivery" date
- Purchase order number (PO number)
- Additional Shipping requests
Custom fields has support for the following types of data capture: Text entry fields, Select menus (i.e. drop downs), Date selection, Email, Phone, and more.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Price lists deletion You can now delete price lists directly from the SparkLayer price list admin
- Total quantity of items The SparkLayer Quick Order Interface will now show the total units in a customer's order (i.e. total quantity) before checking out
- Customer credit and payment on account If you have customer credit enabled, you can now allow customers to optionally be able to checkout using Payment on Account (previously this was blocked for customers who exceed their credit limit)
- We've partnered with Balance payments to offer Buy Now and Pay Later for B2B merchants using Shopify. Learn more
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Quick Buy Mode
Our new Quick Buy Mode gives you a new way to display the SparkLayer product widget on your collection pages with an optimised 'table' view.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Back-order, minimum stock level If you're using the backorder feature, it's now possible to set granular minimum stock levels at a product variant level giving you more flexibility on how many units you allow to be sold to customers.
- Product variant images If you've product images within Shopify that are assigned to a product variant (e.g. colour), it's now possible to change the images shown to a customer when a variant is selected via SparkLayer. This is a manual change, if you would like this enabled please contact us
- Cart line item limit We've increased the maximum line items available in a single order from 100 to 250, with customer-friendly messaging should customers exceed this. Languages: we've added support for new languages, Norwegian and Finnish
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
B2B shipping rules
If you've set up SparkLayer on your B2C (DTC) website and need to create different shipping rules for your B2B customers, you can now do this via the SparkLayer shipping tool.
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Address display We've improved visibility of shipping addresses and customers can now see their selected address just before they complete their order. The address summary will show in the final order totals section of the SparkLayer Quick Order Interface
- CSV importing We've made improvements to our CSV import tools, with handling for different currency formats. For customers uploading price lists in Euros for example, the import will now support comma formats for pricing (such as 19,99)
- Performance We've released a big performance improvement to the frontend, with a more rapid login process. We've re-engineered how our user authentication works and merchants should now see a much quicker log in process when a B2B customer signs in.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Show product settings
If you've configured your products to work with settings such as pack sizing or minimum and maximum quantities, you can now display this to customers anywhere where you show the SparkLayer product interface. Once enabled, this will show a new 'Qty rules apply' message that will show all associated product rules you've set up.
Show order notes from My account overview
If customers place an order and include a special note (e.g. PO number), this can now be viewed from the My account overview page
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Shopping list names If a customer creates a new shopping list and uses the same name as an existing one, this will now fully overwrite it instead of creating a duplicate
- My account ship-to address You can now show the shipping address for an order from the My account overview page.
๏ปฟ๐ NEW FEATURES๏ปฟ
Show tiered pricing on product cards
If you're using tiered pricing, you can now display the discount summary within the product card widget. The product card will now optionally display the cheapest price to the customer as well as the maximum discount they could receive. The customer can also mouse-over the widget to see a fully summary of the tiered pricing available. You can test out how it works on our demo store๏ปฟ
My Account order tracking information
If you supply shipping information against a customer's order within Shopify, this will now be shown within the SparkLayer My Account interface when viewing an order. The tracking information includes
- A link to the shipping company's own tracking page
- The specific tracking number for the customer's visibility
๐ ๏ธ IMPROVEMENTS๏ปฟ
- Address searching If B2B customers have large numbers of addresses saved against their address book, they can now use a special search box to more easily select their preferred address.
- Multi-currency support For merchants using a custom ERP solution, we can now enable multi-currency on the same Shopify instance. This is currently restricted only to manual payments only (e.g. Payment by Invoice, Request for Quote) and does require technical investigation before enabling.
- JavaScript SDK For merchants using our SKD, we've added some additional events including 'on cart update'.
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