Continuing our work on the recently added "Multi Store" system, we now support more workflows, including new 'product variations', which can be used in conjunction with Sage & other accounting integrations.

Here's a rundown of the prominent features rolled out over the last few weeks:

CMS

• File Manager Upgrade
  This brings a few minor fixes as well as to a more recent issue where non "optimised for web" images would not upload correctly. 
• Support articles dotted around admin.
  Following the recent addition of the help icon to the top right of the navbar in admin, we've added links to Freshdesk help articles in key programs to make them easier to access. 
  For additional support, click the help icon and you can both search existing solution articles as well as contact us for assistance. 

Ecommerce

• Product Variations
  You can now set up combinations of options with their own product codes stock & costs.
  For example, if you already have product options for colours and sizes you could set up variations for each individual combination to record code/stock/cost e.g. red size 10, red size 12 etc
  This is also useful for integrations with accounting systems when each product combination has its own unique code. In addition, a previous code can be held in the Past Codes field for mapping against previous codes in an accounting system for continuity of reporting.
  Enable this in Site Settings > Ecommerce > Variations & Sage > Enable Product Variations
  Then set variations up in Edit Product > Options > Product Variations: 
  (Note price & weight are calculated from each product option that forms the combination)
  
• Manual Order > Quick add products
  It's now faster to add manual / phone orders in Admin using our recently added quickshop functionality which is now built directly into the manual orders screen. 
  Available in: Manually Add Order > Products section
  Also available on each order's information screen under the existing items > Quick Add Products
• Product download search
  Products often have instructions, sepcifications, warranties etc available as downloads and on large orders it can take time for a buyer to find them all  on each product page. To help speed this up, our new Product Download Search is a page app you can add to a central download page, allowing visitors to go to one place to enter a product code and find the downloads for the product.
  You can also copy a link to a result pages to forward to a customer. 
  Page Manager > Add a new doownload search page > Main Body Apps > Product Download Search
  Also consider using the Email Tasks new.order event to email the instructions directly after a product has been purchased.
• Sage field requirements
  If your site is integrating with the Sage 3rd party accounts package, you can set limits to match what Sage allows, such as  the product code limit being 30 characters. Contact us to find out more about accounts integration. 
  Site Settings > Ecommerce > Variations & Sage > Enable "Sage field requirements"

• Enforcing Unique Product Code Entry On Product Records
  When entering products you can now force unique product codes to be entered that are not in use on other product records.
  This must be set when using Multi Store and Sage integration which both require unique product codes on all product records.
  Admin > Site Settings > Ecommerce > Sage > Enforce unique product codes

• Delayed product events
  The Delayed Product Events system delays triggering the new.product event until you click that it's ready to send over. 
  This is useful when integrating with integrated systems like Sage or Multi Store, so you can work on setting up your product, options and variations and then send it when the product is fully set up.
  Site Settings > Ecommerce > Variations & Sage > Delay sending product events in the system until a "Save & Send Events" button is clicked, allowing you to finish products before sending them to 3rd party systems and Multi Store.
• PayPal Express Card Icons Switch
  Further customise the PayPal express button by turning on/off the card icons they show.
  Connect > Payment Processors > Show Payment Icons on In-Context Checkout button
• Additional audit tracking
  This increases the visibility for events such as when a user goes to payment processor & when they view the thanks page
• Gmail new order email schema
  When you buy through Amazon or similar large sites, Gmail adds additional email context to the email to help customers. We now provide the information needed for this to work for the emails we send.
  
  You will first need to register with Google to use this, read more here: https://moz.com/blog/markup-for-emails

Multi Store & Product Issues Report

• Exclusions - These allow restricting access to different fields for API Accounts / Multi store sites.
  Admin > API Accounts > Edit Account > Extras (Exclude fields, etc.) > fields to setup excluded fields on create/update of the products resource.
• Replica Diffs - Keep track of differences made on the replica sites as well as options to undo these changes or prevent undoing these changes with changes form the master site.
  Connect > Utils > Track Replica product changes
  Edit product (on replica) > New "Differences" table
• Force Push - Easily resync your different stores with a single forced push. This is especially useful when initially setting up the sites, or after imports. 
  Multi Store > "Force Push" against each replica site. Note that images and other files will need to be FTP'd across manually due to volume/speed.
• Product Issues Report - Unique product codes are required for Multi Store to replicate data correctly.  This could also be run for other stores where codes need to have been entered and should be unique.
  Go to  Reports > Product Issues report > tick 'duplicate codes'  and then edit the products that need attention. 
  
  Read full Multi Store setup notes on Freshdesk

Designer

• New "time_diff" twig filter - for better future and past date support in your templates
  e.g. Product launches in {{ "2020-04-19" | time_diff }}!!
  Will return:  Product launches in 5 days!!

API

• Order timestamp since filter - allows filtering of orders that have come in since a tracked timestamp.
  e.g. ?since_timestamp=1591970309 or ?since_timestamp=2020-06-11T07:45:02 (both accepted)
• The "update.order" event now triggers for line changes
  Allowing integrations to check for delivery cost updates and more.

If you have any questions about the new features or want to reach out about using one such as Multi Store or an accounting integration please contact us through the support desk, thanks.

We've been focusing on building the groundwork for some major new features around personalisation, which will continue to grow, and multi store management, as well as a range of other useful enhancements. 

CMS

• Personalisation rules
  Personalisation rules let you determine how content is displayed on your site for different user groups. For example, setting parts of your homepage content to display different messaging for different types of customers. This is achieved by detecting the user, identifying which group they are in and switching content blocks to show one created for their user group.
  Setup the rules in Admin > Personalisation Rules
  In Page manager or directly on a content block you will have a new dropdown to select the rule and set the content to display for each rule. 
  This can also be used inside templates for example: { % if rec_rule('VIP group only') % } Welcome VIP! { % else % } You're not VIP { % endif % }
  Contact us to subscribe for personalisation.
• New Ckeditor templates for columns.
  This improves on the default column template by introducing gaps between columns for easier styling.
• Form scores report
  Visually see how form scores change over time. 
  For example monitoring a 1-7 CES rating on your thanks page form to measure the ease-of-use of your website. 
  You can then check how this is affected when making any major site changes ( respondants can leave other useful feedback in the comments section as well). 
  Available in Admin & Reports > Reports > Form Scores

Ecommerce

• Multi Store - Create multiple REC+ stores to sell your products (beta release)
  The new Multi Store feature creates new opportunities to sell your products and save you time by replicating products from your master store to other REC+ stores you operate. For example:
  - Create a US or Australian version of your store with localised branding and pricing;
  - Manufacturer? Sell direct to consumers on a separate store with different branding;
  - Target specific audience segments with particular categories (which can be renamed) and different branding.
  Check out our short video demo
  Contact us to discuss your requirements and for pricing.
• Upcoming products now have release dates and email alerts
  Schedule your product launches by setting the product status to upcoming and entering the launch date and time.
  You can also set the product status at launch to be live, featured or special offer. 
  Customers visiting the product page can subscribe to be emailed on the date it is launched. 
• High value abandoned cart notifications for admins
  Receive an email alert when there is a high value cart that has been abandoned so you can contact the buyer to try to close the sale. 
  To enable this go to: Site Settings > Ecommerce > Abandoned Carts > "Alert Admins when Abandoned Cart Value is over" [enter value]
• Display store prices inc/ex vat with the new price switcher
  Users can select if they want to see prices inclusive or exclusive of tax on your site.
  Contact us to amend your templates to add this feature for a small charge.
• Discontinued products
  Mark products as discontinued via Edit Product > Main Details > Discontinued.
  This can be displayed to customers viewing the product via a template tag change. 
• Price lists can now export with product tag hierarchy
  Display product tag hierarchies in your price list export for greater clarity e.g. Tag1 > Tag2 > Tag3 > Category > Product Name > Price. 
  An example would be using product tagging for automotive parts and then displaying your price list as Make > Model > Submodel > Category > Product Name > Price.
  Enable this in Site Settings > Prices & VAT > Show Product Filter Tags on Price List CSV
• Price Lists now export as CSV for ease of use by customers rather than the previous TSV/TXT format.
• Quickshop now allows product CSV uploads
  Customers can now upload a CSV of the product codes and quantities they want to make the buying process even quicker, especially for B2B customers.
  There's more information on how users can do this via the info buble on the quick shop app.
  Quickshop is part of the Premium Ecommerce subscription.
• "Verified Purchase" marker on reviews.
  Your product reviews will now show a marker verifying that a purchase was made before leaving the review. This helps increase confidence for future customers reading reviews left on REC+.
• Order line comments now available
  Admins can now also leave comments against each order line, whereas previously comments were only held at order levels. There is a new notes icon to the right of each order line allowing you to see a count of current notes as well as a quick way to read and add to these notes. For example, this could be used to record custom changes against a product. The comment field is also available when manually adding an order line to an order.
• Store locator now shows up to 25 stores at a time
  Up to 25 stores can now be displayed on the map which is an increase from 10 previously. Additionally,  the pop-up for each store can show their own individual website address if they have been entered at the store level.
• Price manager confirmation before running price changes
  Price manager will now confirm the changes you have entered before it runs for you to double check your price changes are correct before proceeding. There is also better logging of price changes so we can debug potential issues more precisely.
• Delivery method preview
  Delivery Manager has had a design refresh including a new way to preview your delivery methods before making them live.
  In Admin > Delivery Manager > Add or Edit a delivery method > Mode selection. 
  Defaults to 'live' but can now be set to 'test' for admin users only allowing you to view / test it.

Email

• Improved support for older email clients such as Outlook
  A common issue when creating emails occurs when adding images that are larger in size than the area they occupy in your email design. When these are sent, most modern email clients such as Gmail will adapt and display these perfectly well, however older clients such as Outlook may show the image at it's full size therefore breaking the design.  
  To prevent this we now automatically detect the real and visual sizes of your images when you add them, alert you and automatically adjust their size downwards so that they display properly on Outlook.
• Scheduled email notification 
  In EMail Manager when you send a scheduled email for the coming days it will now ask you to confirm the date and time. Note that Mailgun only allows scheduling up to a few days in advance.

Site Admin & Services

• Admin message bar
  Alert your own site admins with important news / updates.
  You can now set a banner to show at the top of your internal admin area in Admin > Site Settings > Display > Admin Message Bar.
  For front end messages for website visitors use the free new app  Our Site Updates.
• Our Site Updates NEW APP  
  This free new app allows you to quickly publish important information via a banner that appears on the top of every page of your website.
  This was initially to allow you to display COVID-19 related notices, though we're also exploring it's uses for showing deals and other messages around your site quickly and easily. Extra features will be added soon such as date range support which would be useful for promotions such as Black Friday or Daily Deals. Sign up directly at Our Site Updates.

Designer

• Script Manager
  Script Manager is a simpler way to add custom 3rd party scripts to your site, such as tracking codes or our new banner app.
  Go to: Admin > Connect > Custom Scripts and add your script. Give it a memorable name to remember its purpose and provider, paste in the script and it'll be live right away on your site. You can also temporarily disable the script at any time or edit/remove it later.
• Twig v3 Upgrade
  We're now on the latest v3 release of the Twig template language. 
  Find out more about the tags, filters and functions now available to you in the latest release of Twig. These are on top of the functions we already have available for you. 
• Module imports and exports are now CSV rather than TSV/TXT files to make them easier to work with.

API

• The API Accounts & Webhooks (previously called push urls) have had a major refresh. 
  These areas have been improved with much more advanced logging, editing and manipulation options available.
• Products API resource updated
  This now contains every possible field on products and sub product resources such as options. 
  The multi store release introduces fully automated testing to make sure the data is fully synchronised.
• Users can now be filtered by status in the API request.
  By default the API does not show deleted users in the recycle bin, but you can now pass status=deleted to reveal deleted users or even status=* to see all users including those set as deleted.
• Speed and stability improvements
  In addition to the changes above, we have also updated to the API to make it faster and further increase stability.

As always we hope you're continuing to stay safe during these difficult times.