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Advances in Ordering Metal Building Products Online

Posted on April 17, 2019May 31, 2023 by Shelby Shipman

You’ve heard it before: “Online is the way of the future!” but do online solutions really meet the demands of traditional building? In recent blog posts, we’ve outlined the general benefits of using an online ordering platform to order metal building products. These include the customized metal roof and wall panels and trim American Building Components (ABC) offers. Beyond basic ordering functionalities (which are must-haves for an effective tool), there are additional features that manufacturers can incorporate to save you time and help you effectively build your projects when ordering metal online.

Time-saving features that improve ordering metal online include:

Copying and Merging Online Carts: Sophisticated online ordering tools now feature the ability to copy previously-created quotes, quote templates and/or orders. Once copied and/or merged, you can then modify item attributes like color and gauge to suit your preferences. These tools can also feature the ability to merge all items from several sources into a single, combined cart.

Consolidated Carts: Some online ordering tools take care to consider not just the actual tool functionality, but the experience people have when using it. Part of this is ensuring users can quickly and easily view order details. Enhanced online ordering websites are attempting this by grouping like-products together—thus reducing the page length of quotes and orders. This minimizes the time needed to view quotes and orders, and enables you to easily see the most important details.

Changing Multiple Items at Once: Large quotes and orders often require that the same specifications apply across a series of different items. For example, you may want the same panels but in a different color, texture or thickness. Likewise, you may even want to remove entire product types (like panels or trim). Instead of modifying cart items one at a time, you can now change to several products at once.

Complete Building Assemblies: Ordering metal online helps make getting the products you need easier and faster. But what if you know what you want to build, but aren’t sure about which products you’ll need? Online ordering tools like ABC’s now provide a selection of “Building Assemblies” to help. This feature groups all products needed to complete a project into single, pre-defined bundles. Selecting an assembly bundle puts all products needed for that building type into your online cart with just a few clicks of your mouse. In addition to saving time and effort, these assemblies can include warranty protection if all other conditions are met. Note that it’s also possible to remove specific products (like fasteners, sealant, etc.) if you already have them.

Account Management Improvements: Controlling who can place orders has been a key benefit of many online ordering systems. Based on customer feedback, ABC has overhauled this part of our tool, making it much easier for your organization’s designated account administrator to add and modify users, as well as set access and spending limits and track user activity within the system. Overall, these seemingly basic improvements allow you to more effectively manage your business.

View All Quotes and Orders: Common to many e-commerce sites, only the user who creates the quotes and/or orders generated through their account can see them. However, because most organizations rely on several people collaborating to best service their customers, more sophisticated capabilities are required. New features allow your account administrator to grant multiple users access to view quotes and orders while controlling the level of detail shared. This allows your team access what they need to do their jobs while also protecting sensitive details at your discretion.

Industry-first features like these further support building contractors, project managers and suppliers in meeting the needs of their customers. ABC has recognized the value tools and features like these can provide. As more people begin ordering metal online, we aim to continue enacting improvements that positively impact the ABC ordering process.

To find out more about ordering metal online, including how to price, quote and place orders, visit us online or contact your local ABC representative today. To be notified when we launch time-saving online ordering enhancements, stay tuned to our blog, email and social media posts.

Ordering Custom Products Online

Posted on March 12, 2019May 31, 2023 by Shelby Shipman

In a prior blog post, we introduced the capability of ordering metal roof and wall panels, trim and building components online using the American Building Components online ordering website. While most people are familiar with ordering products online from a list of standard offerings, there is another exciting aspect to these sites–you can use them to order custom trim and structural products too! That means you don’t need to call or meet a sales rep during business hours to place a custom order. Custom trim and structural products can be ordered online anytime it is convenient! Here’s how it works.

When Standard Isn’t Enough

Most companies with online ordering websites offer products in standard shapes and lengths. Recognizing that not every job is standard, the ABC online ordering website offers customers the ability to order custom trim and structural products online 24/7. Using the “Custom Trim” or “Custom Structural” product categories, you can select the trim or structural product you want. Once selected, you can customize the product by indicating all desired specifications using the provided menu options. These include steel thickness, color, stretch-out (material width before it’s bent), breaks needed in the trim, hems and other features.

Visualizing Custom Trim and Structural Products

Even with the ability to set custom specifications, sometimes visuals can help ensure products are manufactured correctly. To help, ABC takes product customization a step further than most. You can use the ABC online ordering tool to add your own custom hand-drawn or drafted drawings. These help show the complete layout of the product as a supplement to the specifications you select online.

You can easily upload and link already-prepared drawings to your ABC order in any common electronic file format. If drawings aren’t done, ABC’s online ordering website provides an easy-to-use template that walks you through how to create simple hand-drawn or digital drawings.

A Time-Saving Process

Once all of the customization information is input, simply check for accuracy and add the item(s) to your cart. Then, simple repeat for as many custom trim and structural products required. Additionally, you can save each custom item created with it’s own product name to quickly add them to future orders.

Online ordering tools that offer a quick and seamless way to include custom trim and structural products can save you time and help your business run more efficiently. The ability to customize products online makes it significantly easier to do business with the material supplier, particularly since most other online tools only offer standard products.

To find out more about how to quote, order and build custom and standard products online and to sign up for an online ordering account today, visit http://www.abcmetalroofing.com/shop/ or contact your local ABC representative. Stay tuned to be the first to know when we launch new time-saving enhancements. Upcoming features include the ability to:

copy and merge items from multiple quotes onto one,
edit multiple items at one time,
add entire product packages (assemblies) based on building specifications,
and more!

Quote Online. Order Online. Build Your Business.

Posted on August 15, 2018September 20, 2023 by Shelby Shipman

The age of electronic commerce is firmly in place. It seems that just about anything can be ordered and paid for online then shipped directly to the purchaser. This includes metal roof and wall panels, trim, accessories and even roll-up doors! American Building Components is among the first metal building components manufacturers to offer a robust and time-saving online ordering service to its distributors. Here are some of the benefits to those who take advantage of this very efficient and convenient tool:

Simple and Safe Online Ordering Account Set-Up:

Getting started with online ordering usually only requires that you provide little more than basic contact information. Once those details are provided, your account verification and activation generally takes a few business days. This may seem like a long time to some—particularly in comparison to those e-commerce businesses that allow almost immediate account activation and even ordering by guests without accounts. However, instantaneous account approval methods often don’t allow for the customization and specialized pricing like ABC’s do.

If you’ve already ordered from a retailer offline, historical account information is typically linked to your new online account. This generally also includes any unique pricing agreements. Of course, sensitive account information is kept safe using appropriate online security methods and password protection. These features are vital to keep everyone’s mind at ease when doing business online.

Immediate and Accurate Product Pricing:

The biggest benefit of online ordering tools is often the convenience of getting quick, accurate, pricing information anytime. When a quote is sought for a project of any size, customers can simply log into their online ordering account and view up-to-date information related to all of their quote queries and order transactions. Some online ordering platforms like ABC’s even include a “Quick Price” tool. This enables users to search for specific products and set customized attributes for them to get an accurate price for that item immediately—all based on either unique or general pricing agreements. An added bonus: when changes are made to pricing agreements, quotes and preferences, they can be seen in real time.

Time-Saving Features:

ABC’s Quick Price Tool allows you to immediately see accurate pricing on any product. (Pricing subject to change.)

When under a deadline, you don’t always have time to wait for a sales representative to process your order manually. And besides, who has time to wait even when there are no deadlines? Instead of relying on others to receive accurate pricing, get a quote or place an order, you can use an online ordering tool to save time by:

creating as many custom quotes as you like and submitting orders anytime, anywhere and from any device—even when sales offices are closed
saving items as favorites for quick reference
creating custom quote templates for frequently-ordered product combinations

While online ordering is inherently faster than more traditional processes, these tools help speed up the process even further.

Intuitive Order Checkout Process:

Once you’ve customized the products you need and added them to your cart, you are ready to checkout. Online ordering makes this easy by providing fields that capture all necessary information like shipping address, delivery instructions, jobsite contact and more to help prevent delays in material delivery. In addition, a variety of payment methods are often available. These include purchase orders and even credit cards, allowing you to select the method you prefer best. Once you’ve set your preferences, your account remembers them, helping you reduce the repeated entry of rarely-changing information.

Order Status Visibility:

Anytime you need to know the status of an in-progress or already-completed order, a quick glance at your online account should provide all the information you need. In most cases, checking an order status is done by simply clicking on it to view details like the order confirmation and shipping status, which can also be easily shared with colleagues.

Online Ordering Account Management:

Most online ordering websites feature a robust suite of administrative tools that make it possible to easily:

manage employee access
designate which employees are allowed to purchase
set spending limits on those employees and
assign customers to specific employees within a sales team.

In addition, account management tools can make it very easy to:

view detailed reporting that shows order trends by product type, order time-frame and more
enable notifications to track updates and changes
build an integrated, company-wide address book to expedite order checkout

With benefits like those listed above, it’s no wonder that businesses are transitioning to this digital means of operation. To find out more about how ABC’s online ordering tool can help you quickly create quotes with accurate pricing, order the products you need to start building, and save time so you can focus on your business, watch this video.

You can also visit http://www.abcmetalroofing.com/SHOP/ or contact your local ABC representative for more details on how to get started with your own online ordering account.