CommuniBee eCommerce Guide

CommuniBee has an extensive and incredibly flexible eCommerce system, but with flexibility comes confusion. This guide, and our staff, are here to help!

Overview

There are several elements of our eCommerce system, so let us first define them.

Shop

In this document we’ll call the section of app and dashboard where products can be viewed/managed the ‘Shop’. However, you can change the name of this section under ‘Config Layout’ and so the button/side menu might call it something different.

Products

Products include 4 different types that really share the same characteristics. The main difference between them is where they are shown. Memberships, once purchased, will have a button added to the app’s home screen for quick access as long as the membership is still active. The rest of the products purchased are accessible under Shop -> Purchases.

Bundles

Bundles are just groups of products that could be offered in a single purchase. They could be used for selling memberships that include a bunch of coupons to local businesses, or for selling a 10-pack of yoga drop-in passes. Just add all the items you want included in the bundle and set a price.

Events

When you create an event, we create a matching admission product in the background, and when people register for an event, they are essentially purchasing this admission product. You can create Admission type products directly, but then they will not be linked to a calendar event, and should probably be used sparingly.

Discounts

All products, including events, allow you to provide discounts based on the ownership of other products. Say you have an event like a New Year’s Party, and you want to charge $40 for non-members and $25 for members. You would set the base price to $40, and then add a discount row with the ‘If They Own’ dropdown field set to the membership, and $25 as the discounted price.

Redeemable/Punchcards

You will notice a flag on the product page to mark products as redeemable. Some products have enduring value, like a membership or coupon that can be presented for a 10% discount repeatedly. These are not redeemable. Or you might create a 25% off coupon for a local business that can only be used once. These should be marked as redeemable, and the vendors should be made aware that when the product is presented, the ‘Redeem’ button in the app should be pressed to prevent re-use.

All events create a redeemable admission product, and on the app event page there is a ‘Tickets’ tab where users can view their tickets, show them to an event host and mark them as redeemed.

Promo Codes

You might have a third-party service that you want to provide members a promo code for. You would not want this visible to people who haven’t purchased, so we have added a ‘Promo Code’ field to the product page. Whatever value is entered in here is rendered on the app purchase page only.

Serial Numbers

These can be used for membership numbers and must be numeric. The system will automatically assign the next available serial number on purchase.

Availability/Expiration

You can set start/end dates of when a product is available for purchase, and leaving them blank means it’s available indefinitely. You can specify an expiration based on a specific date, or after a specified number of days.

Questionnaires

You can set up a series of questions to be answered on purchase of a product or event registration. The easiest way is to go to Surveys/Questionnaires on the dashboard, select the Questionnaire tab and click ‘Add Questionnaire’. Give your questionnaire a name and add the questions you want to ask. Then when you set up the product/event, you can select the questionnaire you want users to fill out on purchase.

Setting Up Programs

One common use of the eCommerce system is to sell program memberships, for example a summer yoga program that entitles users to drop in on yoga classes over a certain period. These could set up as a ‘Membership’ or ‘Other’ type. You would assign this program product a price for the entire program, say $100 for 2 months of yoga.

The yoga classes themselves can be added to the calendar to promote and increase awareness of the program. But to tie it to the program, you can set up the program as a pre-requisite, so users cannot RSVP for the yoga class unless they have purchased the program product.

Alternatively, if you want users to have the option of paying a drop-in rate for the yoga class, you could set up a base price of, say $10, for the class, and then add a discounted price of $0 if the user already owns the program.

Your marketplace should now be enabled, and your members should now be able to purchase products, including memberships, through the CommuniBee app!

Don’t hesitate to submit any questions you may have about Stripe through our support form. We’ve also answered common marketplace questions in our FAQ.

-The CommuniBee Team