While by default PrintShop Mail Web is a B2B (Business to Business) software that simplifies transactions between print shops and their clients, it can also be easily used as a B2C (Business to Consumer) interface for direct client sales. To do this, you must purchase the optional B2C license on your hardware key, and you must create a public company in which the clients will be able to register.
URL of a Public Company
To allow any visitor from the web to view and order selected documents, without having to create an account first, the documents and publication types must be defined in a public company, that is a company whose type is Public. Like any company, a public company can be accessed by typing the PrintShop Mail Web URL with the company name as the path. For example, if the URL of PrintShop Mail Web is www.psmw.com and a public company is named 'shop', then the URL of the public company is http://www.acmeprinting.com/shop.
Instead of the login page, the home page of a public company displays basic actions that any customer can do: add item(s) to a shopping cart and checkout.
How to Create a Public Company
To create a public company, a PrintShop Mail adminstrator (or user with appropriate rights) simply needs to add a new company and specify its type to be Public.
A company defined in PrintShop Mail Web as Public can be accessed by any visitor from the web without having to log in. It is therefore like a public online shop where any visitor can view document(s) and create order(s). Only when proceeding to checkout is the vistor invited to create an account.
The same types of documents can be published either in a public or private company (PDF, user upload, user input, database).
How to Place an Order
Placing orders in a public company is achieved the same way as with a private company, except that in order to proceed to checkout, the user is invited to create an account. As illustrated below, the Proceed button is grayed out until the user creates an account by clicking ont the create account link.
Account Creation
New users can create an account by filling a web form asking for standard information (user name, password, billing/shipping address). A CAPTCHA is used to validate the account was created by a human. Once the account is created, the new user is brought back to the checkout page, where the Proceed button is now enabled.
Public Customer Capabilities
A user account created with creation form available when checking out of a public company is defined in PrintShop Mail Web as a user of type Public Customer. Such users have limited capabilities in the sense that they can only place, approve, or view the status of their own order(s).
By default, the account manager of a public customer will only let him see his current order(s). It will not show the different statuses of an order (Approved, Shipping, etc.). Of course, like with other roles, this can be changed by the administrator.