PrestaShop sales reps: place orders on behalf of customers

For your sales reps to place orders on behalf of customers in PrestaShop, the most practical way is for them to sign in to the shop with their own account and shop as that customer, with the customer's prices, addresses and payment methods. No asking for the customer's password, no back office access, and every order recorded under the rep's name for their commission.

Tuesday, eleven in the morning. Mike, a sales rep for a restaurant supply distributor in Ohio, is at the bar of a diner with the owner, Dave. Dave wants forty cases of glasses, six of napkins and free shipping, as usual. Mike jots it down in his notebook, snaps a photo and sends it to the office. That afternoon, someone keys it into the back office. They get a product code wrong. On Thursday, Dave calls.

If your team works like this, every order goes through two pairs of hands and has two chances to go wrong. And at the end of the month someone still has to work out what each rep sold and how much they are owed.

Can a sales rep place an order for a customer in PrestaShop?

Out of the box, only from the back office: under Orders, "Add new order", you find the customer, fill their cart and confirm it. It's designed for a staff member taking orders by phone, not for a rep out on the road.

For a sales team it has three drawbacks:

• You give them back office access. And with it they see all your customers, not just their own.
• They don't see the shop the way the customer does. They work in an admin screen, not on the product page with the customer's prices and photos, which is what they would want to show Dave.
• Nothing says which order belongs to whom. Commission is still worked out by hand.

The other workaround we see a lot is worse: the rep asks the customer for their password and orders from their account. It works until the customer changes it, or until there's an order nobody recognises and you can't tell who placed it.

How does a rep log in as their customer?

With Sales Agents for PrestaShop, your rep is just another customer account in your shop, with a portfolio: the customers they can shop for. In "My account" they get "My customers", with a search box and the customers they worked with most recently.

Mike searches for Dave, clicks "Shop as" and he's in Dave's account. He sees what Dave sees: his prices, his addresses, his carriers and his payment methods. He places the order right there, on his phone, in front of him. The order is Dave's, as if Dave had placed it himself.

A banner at the top reminds him who he's shopping for, with a button to go back to his own account, and from the quick access button in the corner he moves on to the next customer without leaving the page.

Anyone outside his portfolio doesn't exist for him: other reps' customers never turn up in his searches. If one day you take Dave off his list, he loses access to Dave's account at that very moment.

How much discount can each rep give?

As much as you allow. It's the same old conversation —"can I give him 8%?", "can I throw in free shipping?"— and here you settle it once, on each rep's profile:

• Whether they can give a discount and up to what percentage on the products in the order.
• Whether they can offer free shipping, which is a separate permission.

In the cart, Mike has his own panel with those two options. If he tries to go over his limit, the shop won't apply it. And because the limit is a percentage, it still holds even if Dave adds three more cases afterwards.

It's a normal PrestaShop discount, single use and only for that customer: Dave sees it on his order and his invoice like any other.

How are sales rep commissions calculated?

Every order is recorded under the rep who placed it, and the commission is calculated automatically: a percentage of the products excluding tax, after discounts. Shipping doesn't earn commission, so giving it away doesn't inflate anyone's pay.

Each rep has their own percentage and, if a particular customer deserves it, you can set a different one. And there's a decision worth making before you start, because it changes what your business pays out:

1. Only the orders the rep places. If Dave orders on his own on a Sunday, that doesn't earn commission.
2. Everything their portfolio buys. The customer is "theirs" and they earn when the customer orders alone too.

Commission starts as pending and becomes "to pay" as soon as the customer pays for the order. If the order is cancelled or returned, it's voided automatically. You see what you owe each rep, export it to a spreadsheet and mark the ones you settle as paid.

What about customers on Net 60 terms?

When you sell to businesses, it's standard: Dave doesn't pay by card, he pays on 60-day terms. If your shop only offers card or bank transfer, the rep goes back to writing the order down separately.

The module adds a payment method, "Negotiated payment terms", that only customers who have them can see. You create your own —"Net 60", "30/60/90"— and assign them to each customer. The order goes through as confirmed, with its invoice, in its own awaiting-payment status, and the name of the terms is saved on the order.

You choose whether that payment method can only be used by the rep or also by the customer when they shop on their own. The first keeps you in control; the second saves Dave from waiting for Mike's next visit.

If you already sell to businesses, this fits with what we covered in how to set up a trade-only PrestaShop shop: a catalogue only approved accounts can see, and every customer with their own terms.

Do I have to use all of this at once?

No. Commissions, discounts, free shipping, negotiated terms and quick access each switch on and off as a whole. Whatever you turn off disappears from the menu, the profiles and the shop, so nobody sets up what they don't use.

You can start with just the first part, reps placing orders in the shop, and switch on commissions the month you want to stop reconciling them by hand.

And everything that happens is recorded. Every time a rep enters a customer's account, applies a discount or completes an order, it's logged with their name. If Dave calls on Thursday about an order, you know who placed it and when.

What if my sales reps are already in Odoo?

If you run your business on Odoo, your reps already exist there: each contact has its salesperson and its payment terms. With our Odoo PrestaShop connector the shop takes them from Odoo instead of you setting them up twice: each rep's portfolio is their contacts, and their payment terms become the negotiated terms. Every order reaches Odoo with its rep, its commission and its payment method.

Frequently asked questions

Does my rep need their customer's password?

No. They sign in with their own account and, from there, enter the accounts of the customers you have assigned to them. The customer doesn't have to hand over or change anything.

Can I place an order on behalf of a customer from the PrestaShop back office?

Yes, with "Add new order" under Orders. It works for office staff; for reps out in the field, without back office access and with their commission, it's better for them to order from the shop.

Does it work with PrestaShop 8 and PrestaShop 9?

Yes, from PrestaShop 1.7.5 to 9, with the Classic and Hummingbird themes and the themes built on them.

How much does it cost?

You have two options. The licence is yours for good and includes three months of updates and support. The Continuity Plan also gives you installation, the first year and an annual renewal. The price of each, in your currency, is on the page just below.

Where do I start?

Pick one rep and five of their customers. Give them their portfolio, their commission and their discount limit, and ask them to place their next order from the shop, in front of the customer. Within a week you'll know whether your office has stopped keying in orders. All of this is built into Sales Agents for PrestaShop: its page is just below, with what's included, compatibility and price.