More Control, Less Friction: Recent and upcoming Connect enhancements
Prefer to watch a webinar? Join host Dana Farr and special guest Nick Kyratzis for the latest installment of the Ecommerce webinar series. They will showcase some impactful new features that have recently been added to Connect, such as self sign-up, dock sales, and UPC scanning. Learn how these updates will streamline processes, improve the ordering experience for your customers, and boost your operational efficiency.
Watch now in the VIP Help Center!
In the fast-paced world of beverage distribution, the gap between a "good" operation and a "great" one is often defined by the friction in the ordering process. As customer expectations for "anywhere, anytime" fulfillment grow, your digital tools need to do more than just take orders — they should actively reduce your administrative burden.
These latest and upcoming enhancements to Connect are designed to do exactly that. By making fulfillment options flexible, utilizing mobile hardware for ordering precision, and automating onboarding, these features allow you to scale your business without scaling your headcount.
More support for your success:The Connect Experience team
Before we get into the updates to Connect, we want to share an exciting look behind the scenes. Efficiency isn't just about software—it’s about the people standing behind it. To ensure you have the resources you need to thrive, we have doubled the size of the Connect Experience team. This expansion means faster response times, more hands-on guidance, and a deeper commitment to helping you optimize your digital storefront.
Flexibility on demand: Introducing dock sales
Not every retail need fits into a standard delivery window. Whether a customer is facing an unexpected weekend rush or a simple inventory gap, they occasionally need product faster than a truck can get there. To bridge that gap, Connect now supports dock sales, also known as pickup orders.
This feature allows retailers to satisfy urgent stock needs while giving you full control over the fulfillment workflow. With customizable settings for schedules and cutoffs, you can improve customer service without disrupting your warehouse operations.
- Complete scheduling control: You define exactly when your dock is open for business. The system allows you to set different pickup hours for different days of the week and gives you the choice to offer same-day pickup or require longer lead times. You set the cutoffs that protect your warehouse flow.
- Operational harmony: By moving pickup requests into Connect, you maintain a digital paper trail and keep your inventory synced, ensuring that manual, one-off sales don't create headaches for your team or lead to stock discrepancies.
- Enhanced service: Offering a pickup option makes you a more versatile partner, allowing your retailers to stay stocked and satisfied even between their scheduled delivery days.
To learn more, see Connect | Dock sales.
The notification station: In-platform notifications
Our new in-platform notifications serve as a central hub for essential updates. The new Notifications window streamlines communication by ensuring retailers see exactly what they need, exactly when they need it.
- Automated & custom alerts: Retailers receive instant reminders about order and delivery times, as well as critical warnings regarding credit limits or nearing license expirations. You can also send custom messages directly to your customers through this channel.
- Instant visibility: To ensure nothing falls through the cracks, the bell icon displays a count of unread messages. Even better, when a retailer logs in, the Notifications window automatically opens if there is new activity.
- Easy organization: Retailers have full control over their workspace; they can mark notifications as read or dismiss them entirely, keeping their dashboard clean and focused on their current tasks.
To learn more, see Connect | Communications.
Precision in the palm of your hand: Search and scanning
We’ve made it easier than ever for retailers to find and accurately order the right products.
- Mobile UPC scanning: Retailers can now build an entire order just by walking their aisles. By tapping the Scan icon in any Connect search bar on a mobile device, they can scan a shelf UPC to go directly to the correct product page. This mobile-exclusive tool ensures the right SKU every time, drastically reducing mis-picks and returns. Learn more.
- Universal search: We’ve expanded search capabilities to include product descriptions. Whether a retailer is searching by a specific keyword or a unique attribute buried in the description, they’ll instantly find what they’re looking for. Learn more.
- Defining "new" products: You now have both dynamic and static options for tagging items as "New." Whether you want to manually highlight a seasonal launch or let the system automatically flag fresh inventory, you have total control over how new brands get noticed. Learn more.
Coming soon! Automated onboarding:From manual forms to self-service signup
The era of managing new account requests through manual forms and back-and-forth emails is over. With Connect’s upcoming self sign-up feature, retailers can simply follow a distributor-specific link to sign themselves up, rather than waiting for your team to manually process a request.
This is especially helpful for handling high retail staff turnover, and while it accelerates onboarding, you maintain full control through an integrated approval step. Keep an eye out for more details on this upcoming release!
- Verified access: While the process is self-service, you stay in the driver’s seat. Approve or disapprove every user from the User Grid in the Ecommerce Manager.
- Flexible flow: The system intelligently supports both brand-new users and existing VIP customers, ensuring a smooth transition regardless of their history with your business.
- Reduced overhead: By automating the data-entry phase, you eliminate transcription errors and free up your staff to focus on sales rather than paperwork.
Ready to get started?
We are constantly evolving to make your ecommerce experience smoother and more profitable. Log in today to see these updates in action, and reach out to our newly expanded Connect Experience Team to learn how to get the most out of your digital toolkit.
Master contact management with KARMA
Prefer to watch a webinar? Join Stephanie Buckwalter to learn about managing retailer contact info directly from KARMA. Unlock the power of a complete relationship manager by linking multiple contacts to a single account and tracking every detail in one centralized hub. Contacts are shared across KARMA, Beverage, iDIG, and mobile applications, ensuring that any updates are automatically synchronized across all your platforms.
Watch now in the VIP Help Center!
While you likely know KARMA as a powerful operational tool, it’s also designed to function as a comprehensive Customer Relationship Manager (CRM).
By leveraging the Contacts feature in KARMA, you can move past simple spreadsheets and keep your entire team aligned on the people behind the accounts.
Centralize your contact information
No more hunting through old emails or sticky notes to find a buyer’s cell phone number. KARMA allows you to link multiple contacts to a single account, creating a digital Rolodex that the whole team can access.
You can track more than just professional titles:
- Essential Info: Phone numbers, emails, and roles.
- Personal Touchpoints: Record specific details that build rapport, like a buyer’s favorite football team or the names of their dogs.
Sync once, update everywhere
The most powerful aspect of managing contacts within the VIP ecosystem is the automatic synchronization. When a sales rep updates a phone number on their mobile app in the field, that change is immediately reflected across:
- iDIG
- Beverage
- KARMA Web
This ensures that whether you are at your desk or on a delivery route, you are always working with the most current information.
How to Get Started
Maximizing your relationship data is straightforward across all your platforms:
|
Platform |
Capabilities |
Learn more |
|
The KARMA website |
Full control: Add, edit, search, and export contact lists. |
|
|
iDIG |
View contact lists and manage details directly within your data dashboards. |
|
|
VIP mobile apps |
Perfect for the field; quickly add or update contacts on the go. |
Navigate to the Contacts tab of your VIP mobile app. |
|
Beverage |
View contacts by account to ensure office staff stays informed. |
Navigate to the Contacts panel of Work with Retailers. |
Stop just managing accounts—start strengthening relationships. By centralizing your contacts today, you’re ensuring your team has the insights they need to provide a personalized, professional experience every time they walk through a retailer's door.
