E-Commerce Multi-Vendor Request for Quote (RFQ)

Woocommerce RFQ for Multivendor

RFQ or Woocommerce RFQ is one of the imperative aspects of the B2B industry.

RFQ’s which also known as Reverse Auction provides a platform where multiple vendors can auction their products/ services.

E-Commerce Multi-Vendor Request for Quote is one such plugin that facilitates the admin of the site to allow the reverse auction feature.

This way, the customers can choose a product/ service from the store, or create their own RFQ product/ services and send relevant quotes to the sellers.

It’s the choice of the admin to allow automatic notifications for the quotes to the sellers. If disabled in the admin panel, the customer’s quote request is sent to the admin, first.

Thereafter, the admin will notify the sellers, manually.

The complete process of bidding and auctioning ensures an enhanced user engagement and assures to convert the visitors off to a site to permanent customers.

Note:

As E-Commerce Multi-Vendor Request for Quote is a Marketplace add-on, one must install Multi-Vendor Marketplace for WooCommerce.

This module is now compatible with WooCommerce’s new High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) feature.

Watch the below video tutorial to understand the extension workflow:

Once the installation process is complete, the admin must navigate to the Marketplace RFQ menu option in the admin panel.

The admin will find three sub-menu options under Marketplace RFQ, i.e.-

• Quotation List, 
• Attribute List, 
• Configuration.

Let us study each sub-menu option in detail-

Configuration

Under the Configuration sub-menu option, the admin has to configure the fields such as Status, Request for Quote Approval, etc.

The admin can set the Configuration sub-menu option as follows:-

Select Status: The admin has to enable the status of the plugin. 

Minimum Quantity for Request for Quote: The admin defines a minimum quantity that customers can quote. 

Request for Quote Approval Required: The admin may enable or disable it. If enabled, the admin will receive the quote requests, first. Thereafter, the admin will notify the seller manually. 

Text label for quote button: The admin can set text for the quote button as shown in the above image.

Disable Quote for out of stock product:  The admin can click on this checkbox and disable quote for out of stock product.

Privacy option: By enabling this checkbox, the admin can set the privacy details.

Expire quote proposal after day(s): The admin can set the number of days after which the quote proposal will expire.

Disable quote for user role: The admin may disable the quote option according to user roles.

Attribute List

Further, the admin can add attributes for the Quotation Form which the customers have to fill to request for quotation. 

The admin must navigate to Marketplace RFQ > Attribute List > Add Attribute to add a new attribute. 

This redirects to the Add Attribute page where the admin has to configure the fields such as Default Label, Attribute Type, Required Attribute, and Attribute Status. 

The admin configures the Attribute Information as follows:- 

Default Label: The admin sets a default label of the attribute. 

Attribute Type: The admin sets an attribute type as a number or text, as needed. 

Required Type: The admin may set this field as enabled or disabled. 

Attribute Status: The admin may enable or disable the status of the respective attribute. 

On saving the changes, the admin can view the newly created attribute in the Attribute List.

The admin can even update any attribute detail by simply clicking on the Manage tab present against the respective attribute, 

Quotation List: 

The admin must navigate to Marketplace RFQ > Quotation List to view the Quotation List which the customers submit. 

If under Marketplace RFQ > Configuration, the admin has set the Request for Quote Approval Required field as Enable, then the Manage button shall bear a “Notify Sellers” label. 

This means, in this case, the customer quotations are sent to the admin first. The admin will find these quotations under the Quotation list in the admin.

Further, on clicking the Notify Sellers button, present against the respective quotation, the admin sends quote notifications to the sellers, which they receive over mail. 

Meanwhile, let’s move forth to see the Woocommerce RFQ workflow between the seller and customers in the front end. 

Customer Requests for Quote:

The customer after logging in and navigate to the Product page. There they can choose any product for requesting a quote. 

For instance, the customer chooses Happy Ninja 1 for which the customer shall request the quote by tapping the Request for Quote button. 

This opens up a Request for Quote Form as shown in the image below.

The customer will have to Enter the Quantity which is to be quoted, Enter a Description, and also, Add Sample Images. 

Further, the customer may add the Company’s Name, E-mail, Project Description/ Title, or Other Details, if any. and tap on the Request to Quote button. 

As the customer submits the quote, a success message, “Quotation Added Successfully” shall display on the product page as shown in the image below. 

Seller finds the customer’s Quote Request under the Open tab (Seller Panel): 

The seller can find the fresh quotation lists under the Open tab as shown in the image below. Any Quote raised by customers will be visible to all the sellers to answer the quote.

For instance, the customer’s quote request for Custom Hoodie Product is listed in the Open tab as shown below. 

Further, the seller can proceed to add a quotation for the respective quotation by simply tapping on the Add Quotation link. 

This redirects to the Add Quotation page where the seller will find the quote details.

There itself, the seller will have to add the Quantity, Price per Product, and relevant Comment and tap on the Add Quotation button. 

A success message as shown in the image below shall display on successfully adding the quote. 

Customer will find the Quotation which the Seller Adds:

In the meantime, the customers can find the seller’s quote by navigating through Quotations > Requested Quotations List. 

To view the seller’s quotation, the customer needs to click on the View Quotation link present against the respective quotation. 

This redirects to the Main Quotation Details page as shown below. The customer will have to click on the View link to check out the quote details.

The customer will find the Seller Quote Details. One can even see that the status of the same is Open. 

The customer can add the relevant comment in revert to the seller’s quote and Send it to the respective seller. 

As the comment is sent by the customer, a success message is shown in the image below. 

Customer’s Revert lists under Seller’s Pending

This time, the customer’s revert for the seller’s quote gets listed under the Pending tab in the seller panel as shown in the image below. 

The seller can click on the Edit Quotation link to edit the quotation. 

This redirects to the Edit Quotation page.

The seller will find the exchanged comments and can add a relevant revert for the customer’s quote and tap on the Update the Quotation button. 

A success message as shown below shall display as soon as the seller updates the quotation. 

Also, this time the seller’s quote/ revert transfers to the Answered tab in the seller panel as shown below. 

 

Seller’s Quote lists under Customer’s Pending

One must note that, as the seller quotes, it lists under the Pending tab in the customer panel as shown in the image below. 

The customer can proceed to view the seller’s quote by clicking the View link. 

Consequently, as the quote-related discussion is done between the customer and seller, the customer can Tickmark the checkbox stating, ‘Click here to approve the quoted price and tap on Send. 

On successfully sending the quote to the respective seller a success message shall display as shown below. 

The status of the quote alters to Resolved as the customer approves it.  

However, here the quotes which were raised in parallel to the approved quote by other sellers will be set to Close.

That is if John Doe, Peter Max, and James Mark have raised the Quote for Happy Ninja but John Doe’s quote was approved. Then rest Peter Max’s and James Mark’s Quotes will be Closed.

Also, the customer’s quote gets listed under the Resolved tab in the customer panel as shown in the image below. 

Customer Approval listed under the Resolved tab: Seller End

In the seller panel, the Resolved tab shall display the customer approval quote. The seller can edit the same by clicking on the Edit Quotation link.

This shall redirect to the Edit Quotation page which again displays the seller-customer conversation. 

The seller also can see the status as Resolved and further for this customer quotation, the seller can proceed to update the product by clicking on the Update Product button as shown. 

Note: 

• This button, i.e. Update Product will bear a label Create Product for product/ services which either do not belong to a site or a respective seller. 
• Herein, if a seller quote gets approved for the products that don’t belong to that particular seller then they need to create a duplicate product with the specified features in the marketplace. Thus, enabling the customer to easily checkout with the product.
  

The seller can see that the status of the quote alters to Closed and the “Quotation is Accepted.”

The seller can even find it under the Closed tab in the seller panel as shown below. 

Seller’s Quote Approval lists under Closed tab: Customer End

The customer can tap on the Closed tab to view the quote which the seller approves.

The Id of the respective Approved quote displays a tickmark sign depicting that the approval of the quote. 

The customer can view the same to view the details of the quote which the seller approves. 

Also, the customer can tap on Add Product to Cart button and proceed to make a purchase. 

Now that we have acquainted ourselves with the RFQ process for an Existing product, let’s see how it works for a Non-Existing product (product/service which does not belong to the store). 

For Non-Existing Products/ Services

On the My Account page, the customer will find a tab bearing a label- Add New Product RFQ. 

On clicking the Add New Product RFQ button redirects to the Add New Product RFQ page. 

 The customer will have to add details such as Product Name, Enter Quantity, Enter Description, Add Sample Images, Company Name, Email, etc. and tap on Request for Quote. 

As the customer submits the quote, it will list down in the respective seller’s Open tab. 

The seller can tap on the Add Quotation link and add a quote in response to the customer’s quote. 

The customer will find and can view the quote under the Pending tab. For the same, the customer needs to add a response in revert to the seller’s quote. 

Thereafter, the seller-customer conversation will be as in the above steps (for an existing product). 

Subsequently, as the customer approves the quote, in the seller panel, the seller will find it under the Resolved tab. 

The seller can tap on Edit Quotation to approve the quotation by tapping on the Create Product.

On approving the quote, the Create Product tab’s label alters to Quotation Accepted. 

Further, the customer can proceed to add the Product to Cart and proceed to make a purchase. 

One can see that as the customer adds the quoted quantity of product to the cart, the quoted price for the same shall be applicable. 

For instance, as the customer adds 200 units, the price per product that shall apply is $20 (seller’s quote). 

Thereafter, the customer can Proceed to Checkout, choose the delivery mode, and place the order in a usual way. 

The customer can view the order details as well. 

That’s all for the Woocommerce RFQ. If you face any issue, feel free to add a ticket at webkul.uvdesk.com