What's New in eCommerce?
This topic provides a consolidated list of enhancements, process changes, or fixes in eCommerce. It covers Accelerator, eFollett, SODA, OMS, and the Order Fulfillment process.
eFollett
“Online Only” Message Update for DSV Products
Effective December 14, 2021
For All Stores with DSV Products.
DSV product lead time varies by vendor and often have shipping address restrictions.
Some customers may miss the detail in the PDP Lowdown description section. Consequently, to provide more visibility to our customers with a goal to reduce customer frustration and cancellations, we have added the following message to DSV product descriptions for emblematic products:
“ONLINE ONLY - ALLOW ADDITIONAL LEAD TIME. SHIPS TO CONTINENTAL U.S. ONLY. NO PO BOX/ APO/ FPO/ DPO.”
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The label is shared across all DSV products on all Follett bkstr.com websites.
Note: Canadian stores do not currently have DSV products.
Order Status Email Design Update for Digital Delivery
Effective December 2021
Digital order details now display at the beginning of the order status update email, in a new section titled, Accessing Your Digital Materials.
Enhanced Contact Info Email Hyperlink in Order Related Emails
Effective December 2021
When shoppers click on the Email store hyperlink from their order email, the new email sent to the store will automatically include the customer’s order number in the subject line and the email body. This should reduce store labor and the number of emails exchanged with customers, as stores often had to contact customers to get the order #.
Security enhancement for debit/credit card online transactions
Effective November 2021
As part of a series of security enhancements for all debit/credit card online transactions, all campus store websites will verify the customer’s billing address zip or postal code when the customer submits payment information through the check out screen. If the billing address information associated with the card matches the information entered at checkout, the order will be submitted as normal.
If the billing address zip or postal code does NOT match the card, when the customer clicks
Place Order, they will be redirected to the shopping bag page with the following error message: 
We were unable to verify your [card brand] payment information. |
When they try to check out again, the customer can resolve the issue by revising the billing address and postal code to match the credit card company's billing address and zip on file.
If customers reach out to you with this error, please instruct them to try again and verify the billing address they select at checkout matches the debit/credit card they provided for payment. If they continue to have difficulty, please log a ticket with the Follett Support Center.
Creating a New Account
Effective October 21, 2021
The following topic illustrates the customer benefits of creating a website account, and the methods and process for how to create an account on the website.
Creating an account has the following benefits for the customer:
Customers can view their online order history
Customers can view the status of their recent orders
Customers can save addresses and payment information to their profile for easier checkout
Customers can create and manage their Text Rental Agreement.
An account is required for customers to rent print textbooks online. The customer’s Text Rental Account is accessed within their website “My Account” screen.
Customers can save items to their Wish list and share their wish list with others.
The customer has two primary ways to create a new website account online:
Option 1: Create an account from the website header navigation.
Option 2: Create an account during the Checkout process.
Note: If the customer created a Text Rental Agreement in the store at the Point-of-Sale (In-Store Express Rental Registration), a website account will be automatically created for them using the email address they provided at the POS. More info can be found in the Rental topic.
What the Customer Sees:
Option 1: Create an account from the website header navigation.
Experience on Desktop:
Customer selects Sign In link from the website header navigation.
The Sign In details are displayed. Customer selects Create Account link.
The Create Account screen is displayed. The customer provides all their information, checks the box to verify they are not a robot, and selects Create Account.
The account is created, and the customer is navigated to their My Account screen.
Experience on Mobile:
Customer taps the person icon from the website header navigation.
The Sign In details are displayed. Customer taps Create Account link.
The Create Account screen is displayed.
The customer provides all their information.
Checks the box to verify they are not a robot, and taps Create Account.
The account is created, and the customer is navigated to their My Account screen.
Option 2: Create an account during the Checkout process.
Experience on Desktop:
The customer is at the first step of the checkout screen. The option to Sign In or Create Account is displayed.
Customer selects Create Account link.
The Create Account screen is displayed.
The customer provides all their information, checks the box to verify they are not a robot, and selects Create Account.
The account is created, and the customer is navigated to the next step of Checkout process, as a Signed In customer.
Experience on Mobile:
The customer is at the first step of the checkout screen.
The option to Sign In or Create Account is displayed. Customer taps theCreate Account link.
The Create Account screen is displayed.
The customer provides all their information, checks the box to verify they are not a robot, and taps Create Account.
The account is created, and the customer is navigated to the next step of Checkout process, as a Signed In customer.
Accelerator
Effective August 6, 2021
Store Specific Integrated/ePay Financial Aid Payment Message
Stores can add custom financial aid messaging that a customer will see during checkout.
If the school doesn’t provide the financial aid file until right before financial aid opens, this messaging is useful to inform customers about the date that financial aid will open. This reduces calls to the bookstore and avoids potential customer service issues.
If a store specific message is added in Accelerator, the messaging will display next to the integrated financial aid payment name in checkout (see example in screenshot below).
See Add a Store Specific Integrated/ePay Financial Aid Payment Message in Accelerator for instructions.
Store Hours The store hours section has been enhanced with the ability to edit the store hours name field.
This allows the user to create a set of store hours that can easily be updated without having to create new or delete existing store hours.
eFollett
Effective April, 2021
New Only On eFollett title designation
An enhancement went live in CourseTracks on April 23 related to titles that are flagged as New Only On eFollett.
Any textbook order lines that are flagged as New Only on eFollett will not get substituted from the New to Used condition, if New is not available.
The textbook order line will also not be substituted, even if the customer or system chose to Allow Substitutions at the order level.
Effective January, 2021
The language in the textbook substitution pop up pictured below was updated January 2021 based on field feedback.
Display of the updated textbook substitution pop up:
Note: As of October 2020, the option for a customer to select a preference to substitute a textbook condition was removed. See OMS Management of Automatic Course Materials Substitution for more details.
Support for Multi-Carrier Tracking URLs
As shipping services expand, e.g., UPS Mail Innovations, United States Postal Service (USPS), system changes were made to ensure a tracking URL was included in Order Status Update emails and the Order History page directs the customer to the correct shipping carrier website so the customer can track their order.
SODA
Effective March 1, 2021
SODA Fix for A/R Split Tender Scenarios for Online Transactions
A fix was deployed in SODA to correct the below issues. With this release, a manual intervention to process these transactions should not be needed.
Processing issues related to A/R split tender transactions containing tax-exempt and non-tax exempt tenders for online orders.
Before the fix, SODA did not support split tender scenarios within the same transaction for one item, and as a result, customers were charged incorrectly for the full amount.Processing any digital transactions, including the digital fee, containing tax-exempt and non-tax exempt tenders for online orders.
Before the fix, orders were stuck in the system, which resulted in stores not able to process these transactions.
If issues with either of these transactions persists, go to the Follett Support Center and select the Back Office System Support category to log a ticket.
