Multiple Locations
Multiple Location Accounts on Astro
What are Multiple Location Accounts?
Multiple Location accounts have one Master Account with as many Sublocation Accounts as you need to represent your additional locations. Think of a tree, with the Master as the trunk and the subs as the branches. The account that you choose to be the Master should be the one that you, the owner or general manager, spend the most of your time, or the one that your vendor partners understand to be your main location, or the location that was your very first store.
What can you do from the Master Account?
The Master has all the capabilities as a regular single location account. You can checkout customers, manage reports, enroll in programs, and so on. The big difference is that you can enroll all of your locations in their programs, you can manage all of your locations' redemption reports either collectively or individually, and you can market your store to all of your customers account-wide since you have access to the entire customer base. All of this can be done while logged into your Master Account as a Master Admin.
Any Admin User that you add to your Master Account will have Master Admin capabilities. We highly recommend that you create a Cashier User for your staff to use at the registers on each store account, especially on the account that you have deemed your Master. These users have limited access to your account, all they can do is Checkout and Add Customers. They cannot make any changes to your programs, reports, account, or your marketing suite. If changes are made to your Master account it could affect your sublocation accounts.
How do I add additional locations to my account?
We need to set up your additional locations for you. So please make sure to contact support@astroloyalty.com to let us know when you are ready to add your stores.
We will need some information from you to do so including the Address, Business Hours, and Phone Number for each of your additional locations, as well as the Email Address and Name you would like to use as the location Administrator. The email addresses that you give us should be email accounts that are accessible to the manager at that particular store, otherwise we can use a centralized email address as the support contact and give them a non-email username. This is how we typically setup the Cashier User logins.
Since your Master Account will have Master Admin capabilities you technically do not need to add Admin Users to all of your sublocation accounts. But, if you want to give each of your store managers Admin capabilities specific to their store, then you can make them their own Admin on their store account. Sublocation Admins will be able to enroll their store in programs and offers, they will be able to manage the reports and view customer lists specific to their store, and they can manage their store's location information. They will not have account-wide access though, that is only a privilege of the Master Admins.
How do I setup Employee Users on each account?
This can all be done from Account Management located under the Actions menu. The Master Admin is best suited for making sure all locations have their employee users added.
Each sublocation needs at least a Cashier User so you can checkout customers on that account. It is super important that your employees are logging unto Astro under the correct usernames when they open up the store for the day. Let's say a cashier makes a mistake and logs into Store B while they are working at Store A, then all the transactions that this cashier performs for the day will appear as if they occurred at Store B not A, oops. It's not the end of the world since your customers can freely shop between all of your locations on your account, but it does throw a wrench in your data and your reporting/crediting.
The cashiers can be linked to an IP Address which prevents them from logging into the wrong store account or from logging into your Astro account from their homes.
An IP Address is a numerical code that is associated with your internet/wifi at your store. Each store will have a different IP Address. When you are making the Cashier User account there is a button that will fetch this IP Address for you, but you must be standing in the store and be connected to the internet account that you want that user to be tethered to, otherwise they will not be able to login.
Top Tip - If you ever have an employee tell you that they cannot log into Astro under their username the first thing that I always check is the IP Address that is associated with the user they are trying to log in under. Some IP Addresses are set to automatically cycle for you, this is an added layer of protection from hackers, but it also means that you will need to update your User accounts when this happens. You can remove the IP Address from the User while you are troubleshooting this which will allow them to login. How does each location account enroll in programs, and how do they report my program and offer redemptions to my distributor/vendor partners?
In order for each location account to be able to checkout customers, each location will need to be enrolled in their needed programs. This can be done from either the Master Account by a Master Admin under the Frequent Buyer and Offers menus using the Enrollment Grid. Or by the individual sublocation Admins using the Available options listed under the same menus.
Each location will be able to enroll in their programs and offers independently of one another. This means that each store can have their own distributor assigned account numbers associated with their location specific enrollments. Also, each store can enroll with their own distributor partners, so if one store is serviced by Vendor A for Program One and my second store is serviced by Vendor B for the same program, they can each be enrolled in Program One with the vendor that they need. Also, if only certain stores carry a particular brand then only those locations need to enroll in the program. And finally, and here's the kicker, if an item is redeemed as a free good at Store A, then Store A will be the account that receives the credit from the vendor with whom they enrolled with.
All of this can be managed from the Master Account under the Frequent Buyer menu within the Enrollment Grid. If you need to update your enrollments the grid can be the fastest place to do this.
How do I follow along with all the reports this will generate?
This can be done from either the Master Account while logged in as a Master Admin or each store can log into their accounts independently under their store specific Admins.
Personally, I think these reports are best managed from the Master Account. All of your free goods that are reporting to a distributor/vendor that you selected under your Frequent Buyer and Offers Enrollment Grids will compile under Distributor Free Goods Credit Status under your Reports menu. Here you will be able to view all uncredited and credited free goods reported by all locations (which is the default) or you can use the Location filter menu, located on each tab, to select a specific locations reported free goods.
If you need to export any redemption report data out of Astro for your records there is a PDF Export option that will categorize the free goods for you according to the location at which they were redeemed.
If you are running Tracking Programs on your accounts that you need to report to your fulfillment partner directly, there are export options under your Retailer Free Goods Credit Batches report that will allow you to export redemption info that is also categorized by location.
How will I be billed for a multi-location account?
We will assist in setting up the Billing for multiple locations. Each location will have their own subscription fees based on the services that you have selected to use on your account. For example, if you have 2 stores (one Master and one Sub) and you just want Frequent Buyer, that will be $45/month x2, or $90/month total.
The reason that each location has their own subscription fee is because each location is considered a separate account with their own tracking and reporting capabilities.
What does this mean for my customers?
Your customers will be able to freely shop between all of your stores using the same Pet Owner accounts. This is something that only Multiple Location accounts can do.
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