Products

Navigate to: Menu > Sales & Payments > Products

Overview

Products are everything you sell apart from tickets for a performance. For a theatre, that might include interval drinks and ice creams, programmes, merchandise such as t-shirts, mugs and posters, gift vouchers, Friends memberships, pre-show dining, backstage tours, drama classes and workshops, and car parking. Products can be sold at the box office, in your bars and shop, and online, either on their own or offered alongside tickets when someone books.

Add a product

●      Go to Sales & Payments > Products

●      Click Add Product

Location Information

●      Select the location the product is sold from or held in, for example the Main Bar for interval drinks, the box office shop for merchandise, or Rehearsal Room 1 for a drama class. See the Locations article

Product details

●      Name: Enter the product name, for example Show Programme or Interval Drinks. Keep it to 30 characters or fewer, and avoid the characters < > , . ' " and /, which some browsers read differently. If you need a longer name, add it to the product image instead

●      Product Categories: Click the green Yes button and enter a category tag, for example Merchandise, Catering or Membership. Category tags are used for reporting, promotions and automations, for example tagging everyone who buys a Friends membership or sending a campaign to people who bought a programme

●      Product Description: Describe the product for your customers, for example what’s included in a pre-show dining package or what age group a drama class is for. You can type plain text, paste text in, or click Source to use HTML

Price Information

Each product can have several options, each with its own price and stock. For example, a show t-shirt could have Small, Medium and Large, and interval drinks could have a Glass of Wine, a Soft Drink and an Ice Cream.

●      Option Name: The name of the option, for example Large or Glass of Prosecco

●      Option Price: The price of that option

●      Option Quantity: How many are in stock, for example 200 programmes

Click the blue cog beside an option for more settings:

●      Min: The minimum number that must be bought per order

●      Max: The maximum number that can be bought per order, for example a limit of four places per booking on a backstage tour

●      Max Scans and Max Scans per Day: For products that are scanned, for example a backstage tour ticket or a car parking pass

●      Option Description: Extra information shown online for that option

Sales Settings for each option:

●      Show Description Online: Show the option description when customers buy online

●      Hidden Option: Hide the option unless someone uses the product’s direct link, for example a special price for a partner organisation

●      Available Online: Customers can buy it online

●      Available Back Office: Box office and bar staff can sell it

●      Option Sales Start Date and Option Sales End Date: When the option can be bought, for example stopping interval drink pre-orders an hour before the performance, or selling early bird places on a summer school until a set date

●      Option Tags: Tags used for reporting and special offers, for example to give Friends Members a discount on merchandise. See the Promo Codes article

●      Option Design: A separate emailed receipt for this option

●      Option Print Design: A separate printed receipt for this option, for example a drinks collection slip

Delivery Fees

Every product needs at least one delivery option, for example collect from the bar, collect from the box office, e-receipt or post.

●      Click On, then Add Delivery, and enter the delivery option and its cost

●      Click Add Delivery again to add more options, for example free collection from the box office and a charge for posting a gift voucher

Click the blue cog beside a delivery option to fine tune it:

●      Available Online and Available Back Office: Where the delivery option can be chosen

●      Send E-Receipts: When ticked, receipts are emailed. When unticked, they can only be printed from the order’s transaction page

●      Address Required Online: Customers must enter an address when buying online, for example for gift vouchers sent by post

●      Venue Section: Limit the delivery option to certain sections, for example interval drinks delivered to the boxes

●      Ticket Type: Limit the delivery option to certain options, for example a limited offer that must be collected from the box office

Taxable Product

●      Click On to add tax to the product

●      Tax: Choose the tax from the dropdown, for example VAT. Taxes are created and edited in Admin > Settings > Accounts

●      Inside/Outside Charge: Choose whether the tax is included in the price or added on top. This is reflected in your reports

●      Area: Apply different taxes to different sections if needed

●      Product Options: Apply taxes to particular options, for example a different VAT rate for food and for merchandise

●      Add Tax: Click to add another tax, and use the cog to set it up

Item Fees

An item fee is added to each item in an order, for example a booking fee on a workshop place.

●      Click the green Yes button

●      Fee Name: The name customers see, for example Booking Fee

●      Fee Value: The amount. Click the currency symbol to change it to a percentage

●      Inside / Outside Charge: Whether the fee is included in the price or added on top. This is reflected in your reports

Click the blue cog to customise the fee:

●      Sales Source: Charge the fee Online, in the Back Office, or both, for example charging a fee online but not at the box office

●      Area: Apply different fees to different sections

●      Ticket Type: Apply the fee to particular options

●      Add Fee: Click to add another fee

Sell products on your website

Once saved, the Product Info page shows the product URLs:

●      Product URL: A direct link to buy this product, for example a Buy Gift Vouchers button on your website

●      Organisation URL: A link to a page listing everything you have for sale

●      Product Category URL: A link to all products in a category, for example a merchandise shop page or a classes and workshops page

Offer products when people book (upsells)

Upselling means offering extras alongside what the customer is buying, for example suggesting a programme, interval drinks or pre-show dining when someone books tickets, or a show t-shirt when someone buys a programme.

●      Open the product’s Product Info page

●      Click the Choose Events/Products To Upsell dropdown

●      Select the events and products to offer alongside it

●      Click Confirm, then Save

Upsells are shown to customers when they book online, and to your box office staff on the Point of Sale screen.

Product images

●      Open the product. The Product Info section shows the current image, or a placeholder if none is set

●      Hover over the image and click the upload arrow

●      Choose the image file. The limit is 20MB, but smaller images load faster for customers

●      A loading bar appears. When it finishes, the image updates at the box office and online. If it looks blank in your browser, reopen the product and it should display correctly

Edit a product

●      Go to Sales & Payments > Products and open the product

●      Edit details such as the name, image or description on the screen

●      To edit an option, choose it on the right of the screen under Option Pricing

●      Click Save in the top right

●      To stop selling a product, for example merchandise from a show that has closed, click Deactivate. Click Activate to make it available again

Stock control barcodes

You can print barcode labels for your merchandise, so staff in the shop or at the box office can scan an item instead of searching for it.

●      Open the product with Edit Product to see its barcode

●      Print the barcode and attach it to the item, for example on the back of a mug or the tag of a t-shirt

●      When selling, scan the label with a tethered scanner on the Point of Sale screen and the item is added to the basket

Product ideas for theatres

●      Programmes: One option per show, with a stock quantity that counts down as they sell

●      Interval drinks pre-orders: Options for each drink, linked to the bar location and offered as an upsell when booking, with a sales end date before curtain up

●      Merchandise: Size and colour options, with barcode labels for the shop

●      Gift vouchers: Options for each value, with postal delivery and Address Required Online

●      Friends membership: Options for each membership level, with a category tag that tags new members automatically

●      Classes and workshops: A product for each course, with a Max limit and a sales end date

●      Backstage tours: A product with Max Scans so tour tickets can be scanned

Tips

●      Link every product to the right location so you can compare sales between your bars, café and shop

●      Use category tags consistently so products can be used in reports, promotions and audiences

●      Set up upsells on popular shows so customers are offered programmes and drinks as they book

●      Keep stock quantities up to date so products don’t oversell

●      Deactivate products when a show closes rather than deleting them, so their sales history is kept