Software for Food Distributors
entrée.NET: Overview
entrée.NET works with virtually all computers which can support Internet connectivity and a Web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Google Chrome.
Internet Order Entry, Reporting & more
The Internet has changed the way we do business, and entrée.NET brings those advantages to your foodservice distribution operation. The Internet can be a powerful tool for food distributors who want to increase their sales while also decreasing costs and improving profit margins. This is especially true when you can offer your customers the convenience of entering their own orders 24/7/365, while providing them with a wealth of information about their purchases from you. The success of Internet based e-commerce and the millions of online shopping sites illustrates that when it comes to using the Internet, customers are not only capable and comfortable, but eager. In fact, many of your existing and prospective customers may have already asked you about providing an online extension of your food distribution operation. You realize that you need to give your customers the online experience they have been asking for in order for your business to thrive. You know that by helping them, not only will your customers stay loyal, but the accuracy of orders and sales will both increase, while your costs will be slashed.
Order Entry Your Customers & DSRs will Love and Depend On
The entrée.NET system was created primarily for Internet based order entry by your customers and DSRs. It was designed to speed the user through the order entry process while helping them identify items they should be ordering but may have missed, locate items in your product catalog and discover your current "specials" and other items on sale or featured. They can view extensive information about each item including extended descriptions, images, available pack sizes, etc. Your product catalog can be viewed using "Tags" such as Kosher, Gluten Free, Fat Free, Peanut Free, etc. Customizable reports can be generated based on up to 13 months of purchase history including exporting to Excel or PDF documents. Customers can view their accounts receivable status, including open invoices and payments. And if you use our entrée.DOC software, they can view and print their scanned invoices showing their signature.
The Customer Experience
To experience how your customers will use entrée.NET, you can watch the 21 minute video walkthrough which covers all the highlights. Besides this video being very informative, it is also a great training tool to provide to your customers so that they can get quickly up-to-speed with placing orders, creating order guides, generating reports, etc.
How It Works
The entrée.NET system is specialized e-commerce software running on high capacity cloud based servers to always ensure the system is available and performing at top speed. For security and other issues, it does not allow a user to directly access your local server. Instead entrée.NET communicates directly with the local server in your office for such things as accessing inventory information and downloading customer orders. All the activity such as when a user creates an order is saved on the entrée.NET cloud servers as the order is built. So if for some reason the user looses Internet access, no data will be lost. The customer or DSR will simply log back in and continue where they left off.
"Almost Real Time" Inventory, Pricing, AR and more
At any point while using entrée.NET the user can do things such as clicking on an item to view important details that you designate them being allowed to see, such as your current on hand quantity, pricing, etc. This information will be displayed as of the last time your entrée.NET server was updated. This update process happens via a scheduler utility that lives on your local entrée server. You can have inventory, pricing, customer accounts receivable and other details updated in regular time frames which you define. For example, you can define that inventory is updated every 5 minutes, which is adequate for most food distributors and provides your customers and DSRs with an "Almost Real Time" view of key information.
A Modern and Professional Website
If you have your own domain name (ex: myfooddistributingcompany.com) and would like a modern and professional looking site for your business, this can also be accomplished with entrée.NET. NECS can help you create your website and give you the ability to maintain it yourself. You’ll have the ability to change images, update the content of your “Welcome,” “About Us,” “Contact,” "Blog" and “Directions” pages. You will be able to automatically post your inventory list and specials, from your NECS entrée software, directly to your website, as often as you’d like.
Pop-Up Catalog for Your Existing Site
If you currently have a website which you love, entrée.NET provides an option for a public Pop-Up Catalog which you can easily integrate into your existing site. This will allow the public to see your product catalog which is automatically updated from your entrée software, so there is never a need to contact a web developer to keep your product catalog updated.
