Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

Product Suitability

1. Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am a wholesaler / distributor?
2. Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am an eCommerce business?
3. Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am a manufacturer?
4. Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am a retailer?
5. Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I run an international business?
6. For which industries does Tsoaela Industries work best?

Ecommerce

1. What is Ecommerce and how does it work?
2. How much does our ecommerce services cost?
3. Do I need to be a designer or developer?
4. In what countries can I use the platform?
5. Which languages do we support?
6. What do I need to start selling on our platfrom?
7. What is dropshipping, and how can I dropship?
8. What happens when I receive an order?
9. What currencies do we work with?
10. What is a merchant account?
11. Do I need to ship items myself?

Inventory

1. How is an online inventory management system better than using spreadsheets?
2. How is an online inventory management system better than using ERPs?
3. How easy is to switch from using spreadsheets to an online inventory management system?
4. How does stock allocation work in Tsoaela Industries?
5. Does Tsoaela Industries support kitting / bundling / assembling / bundles for products?
6. Does Tsoaela Industries support consignment?
7. Does Tsoaela Industries support dropshipping?
8. Does Tsoaela Industries handle returns?
9. Does Tsoaela Industries handle expiry dates, batches and lot numbers?

Sales

1. Can I use Tsoaela Industries to handle my marketplace sales?
2. Does Tsoaela Industries allow me to assign different currencies, price lists, discounts, price levels and payment terms?

CRM

1. Can I connect Tsoaela Industries to my eCommerce platforms?
2. Does Tsoaela Industries offer CRM functionality?

Accounting

1. Can I connect Tsoaela Industries to my accounting software?

Analytics

1. Can Tsoaela Industries help me identify my best selling products?
2. Can I connect Tsoaela Industries to my accounting software?
3. Can Tsoaela Industries help me with order forecasting, lead time and reorder point calculation?

Miscellaneous

1. How user friendly is Tsoaela Industries? Do we need any prior technical expertise?
2. How does Tsoaela Industries respect my data privacy needs?
3. Does Tsoaela Industries provide free technical support and customer service?

Ecommerce

• Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am a wholesaler / distributor?

  Wholesalers and distributors are who we serve best. Features like inventory Multi-Warehouse, price lists, Tsoaela Industries Payments or our Private B2B eCommerce Portal, and Mobile Product Catalog & Sales Ordering App form a perfect suite for wholesalers and distributors.

  We know that when it comes to wholesale, prices are negotiated with each supplier and customer, therefore we make it easy for you to assign specific prices and discounts to different suppliers and customers.

  On top of that, our Private B2B eCommerce Portal allows your customers to login and see only their assigned prices and to purchase products directly from their assigned locations.

• Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am an eCommerce business?

• Definitely. Tsoaela Industries lets you see which product is your best seller and lets you connect multiple sales channels to one master inventory that adjusts automatically according to sales, and create sales reports across all channels for comparison.

  By integrating your eCommerce platforms to Tsoaela Industries, you can also complete the fulfillment process for sales orders. For example, a pending order received from Shopify would be marked as 'Completed' once it is shipped from Tsoaela Industries. Businesses using 3PL services can also use our 3PL Exporter to send bulk order information across to the vendors for product shipping to take place. Lastly, if you are based in the US, you can use our fulfillment partner, ShipStation.
  
  

• Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am a manufacturer?

  Yes! Tsoaela Industries Manufacturing allows you to create single-stage Bills of Materials, manage Production Orders and track Batches. If you have insufficient stock to complete a Production Order, Tsoaela Industries will notify you so that you can adjust the order volume and order additional components.
  
  

• Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I am a retailer?

  If you are a retailer, Tsoaela Industries helps you sell online to B2C customers through marketplaces or eCommerce integrations such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Amazon, and many more!  Make sure to check out our Add-Ons Page.

  We do not cater to physical retail businesses at the moment though, as we currently don't have a standalone POS integration. However, do note that we have an existing integration with Shopify POS with some limitations. Please get in contact with your support or sales rep to find out more.
  
  

• Is Tsoaela Industries suitable if I run an international business?

  Yes. We support multiple warehouses, multiple currencies, and multiple tax types - which are usually the three most important aspects of running an international trade business.

  We also allow remote teams to have access to the same account and view updates in real time.
  
  

• For which industries does Tsoaela Industries work best?

  We support businesses with finished goods that aren't unique.

  Our happy customers come from industries including: Fashion and apparel, cosmetics, electronics, firness and sports, food and beverage, interior design and furnishings, jewelry and many more!

Product Suitability

• What is Ecommerce and how does it work?

  Shopify is a complete commerce platform that lets you start, grow, and manage a business.

  Create and customize an online store

  Sell in multiple places, including web, mobile, social media, online marketplaces, brick-and-mortar locations, and pop-up shops

  Manage products, inventory, payments, and shipping

  Shopify is completely cloud-based and hosted, which means you don’t have to worry about upgrading or maintaining software or web servers. This gives you the flexibility to access and run your business from anywhere with an internet connection.

• How much does our ecommerce services cost?

  choose a pricing plan that suits the size and stage of your business.

• Can I use my own domain name with Shopify?

  Yes, you can use your own domain name with Shopify. If you have an existing domain name, you can connect it to Shopify from your store’s admin. Learn more about connecting an existing domain to a Shopify store. If you don’t have a domain name yet, you can either buy one through Shopify or a third-party provider.

• Do I need to be a designer or developer to use Shopify?

  No, you don’t need to be a designer or developer to use Shopify. Customize the look and feel of your store with the online store builder and themes. Add features and functionality to your store with apps. If you need extra help, you can contact our support team, or visit the Shopify Expert Marketplace to search for and hire a certified Shopify expert.

• In what countries can I use Shopify?

  You can use Shopify in nearly every country in the world.

• Which languages does Shopify support?

  The customer-facing parts of your Shopify store, including ecommerce website, blog, checkout, and emails can be in any language if the theme supports it. Learn more and explore our themes. The admin of your Shopify store is currently available in English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.

• What do I need to start selling on Shopify?

  To start selling on Shopify, you’ll need a Shopify plan and products to sell. Get started by for Shopify. Then set up your store and add your products. If you don’t have products to sell yet, dropshipping might be a good option for you.

• Where can I sell with Shopify?

  Shopify lets you sell almost anywhere your customers are, including online, in-person, online marketplaces, and social media.

• What is dropshipping, and how can I dropship with Shopify?

  A dropshipping business is one where the business owner lists, but doesn’t own, keep, or ship inventory. When the store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party--usually a manufacturer or wholsesaler--who then ships it to the customer directly. This means there are no upfront inventory costs for the business owner. To start dropshipping with Shopify, and install the Oberlo app.

• What is a third-party payment processor?

  A third-party payment processor (also knows as a payment provider or payment gateway) lets you accept online payments.

• What currencies does Shopify work with?

  You can sell and accept payments in many currencies, depending on what payment provider (also known as third party payment processors or payment gateways) you use. For more information, you can view a list of supported payment gateways.

• What is a merchant account?

  A merchant account is an account where your money is deposited after your customers’ payments have been authorized and processed.

• Do I need to ship items myself?

  No, you don’t need to ship items yourself. You can use a third-party fulfilment service to prepare and ship your orders for you.

Inventory

• How is an online inventory management system better than using spreadsheets?

  Spreadsheets form bad inventory management habits because they allow you to change data without any paper trails.

  With an online inventory management system, you can minimize human errors because all data is automatically synchronized across different operations like inventory management, sales and accounting, shipping etc. It eliminates double-entries as all processes are streamlined. For example, stock levels are automatically adjusted when sales are made, sales and purchase orders automatically create accounting records etc.

  On top of this, you always have access to the change history to review administrative backlog. Also, your data can be accessible from any place you want to login and by anyone you invite from your team, while managing their permissions and seeing who did what changes.

   

• How is an online inventory management system better than using ERPs?

  ERPs are usually not specialized in inventory management and they tend to be quite costly to purchase, install and maintain (we are talking about 6-7 digit costs). They are usually customizable and can streamline more business processes, but they are too complex and costly for small to medium businesses.

  New technological advancements and tech business models allow small and medium businesses to use dedicated solutions at cost-effective monthly fees (pay-as-you-go or on-demand, usually 2-3 digit monthly prices). These solutions are also scalable as the business grows, as it is possible to upgrade them at any time.

  Being hosted in the cloud (online), they require no installation on-premises and usually allow multiple integrations with other business software hosted in the cloud, offering a streamlined solution.

  It is also quite common that a cloud-based solution has a much better design and user experience, since these solutions need to be easy to adopt and understand quickly without any training.

   

• How easy is to switch from using spreadsheets to an online inventory management system?

  Very easy! You can upload your entire inventory in CSV format into the system. If you have a list of customers or supplier information in your spreadsheet, you can do the same with these as well.

   

• How does stock allocation work in Tsoaela Industries?

  Stock is committed (reserved) when an Order is in the 'Active' state. This deducts stock from the total available stock. Once an order if fulfilled, the stock then leaves the 'On Hand' totals.

   

• Does Tsoaela Industries support kitting / bundling / assembling / bundles for products?

  Yes. If you want to do bundle promotions or simply bundle sales, we help you choose the parts that go into the selling bundle, and every time a sales is made, the stock of all components will be updated accordingly to the defined proportions. This is useful for wholesalers selling kits / bundles.

  Tsoaela Industries also works for one level of assembly manufacturing - linking raw materials to finished products. For example, 5 nails and 5 wooden planks make one table. We do not recommend this feature though if you do complex manufacturing (BOM - Bill Of Materials).

   

• Does Tsoaela Industries support consignment?

  Yes. Because we allow for multiple locations, you can assign stocks to each location you sell to on consignment. We have quite a number of customers using Tsoaela Industries to handle their consignment sales.
  
  

• Does Tsoaela Industries support dropshipping?

  No.

   

• Does Tsoaela Industries handle returns?

  Yes. You can return any order and Tsoaela Industries will  synchronize it with Xero, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Online or any other integrated accounting system. For sales channels, Shopify is currently the only channel that can accommodate refunds.  Amazon and other sales channel are being actively worked on for refund support. Please contact us in order to get the latest support information.
  
  

• Does Tsoaela Industries support expiry dates, batches and lot numbers?

  Yes we do. Reach out to one of our product experts or your Customer Success Manager for more information on how to get started on Batch and Expiry Tracking.

Sales

• Can I useTsoaela Industries to handle my marketplace sales?

  If you sell through Amazon, you can easily synchronize your inventory and sales data viaTsoaela Industries for advanced inventory management.

   

• DoesTsoaela Industries allow me to assign different currencies, price lists, discounts, price levels and payment terms?

  Yes, we do all that.

  You can even choose which currencies you want to use and we calculate the prices automatically (based on Google exchange rates or your pre-defined rates). Customers can see the prices in their currency, while your accounting records and intelligence reports will be kept in your base currency. All of this is automatically calculated and converted by the system.

  For example, if you import coffee from Italy and you sell it in Australia, you can set the Buy Price in EUR, which will be converted in your base currency for approximate costs. Or if you sell to a global market, you can set different prices in different currencies for your various customers.

  Regarding price levels, you can, for instance, assign an European customer to the Europe Wholesale Price in EUR while keeping your base currency in USD. Or you can set default discount rates for specific customers, as well as their payment terms. You can also set price levels for customers buying in bulk.
  
  

CRM

• Can I connect Tsoaela Industries to my eCommerce platforms?

  If you own online shops built with Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento you can easily connect them to Tsoaela Industries through our supported integrations.

  If you have a custom-built online shop, you can use our API to connect your shop to our platform, and benefit from our inventory management software. Once connected, all inventory and sales information will be automatically synchronized.

  In addition, Tsoaela Industries also supports connecting multiple sales channels (for example, a Magento shop, a Shopify shop, and a physical retail shop), as well as connecting multiple WooCommerce shops into a single dashboard.
  
  

• Does Tsoaela Industries offer CRM functionality?

  Yes. You can bulk import or manually add all your customers and suppliers. You can categorize them, view the order histroy for each one of them (automatically pulled from your sales and purchase orders), assign notes to their profiles, choose how much visibility you allow for each of your colleagues, and many more.

Accounting

• Can I connect Tsoaela Industries to my accounting software?

  If you keep your accounting records on Xero, you can use our Tsoaela Industries - Xero integration to automatically push invoices related to inventory sales and purchase orders into Xero. In other words, with Tsoaela Industries, you can forget about double entries.

  Similarly, if you keep your accounting records on Microsoft Dynamics 365, you an use our Tsoaela Industries - Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration to automatically push invoices related to inventory sales and purchase orders into Microsoft Dynamics 365.
  
  

Analytics

• Can Tsoaela Industries help me identify my best selling products?

  Yes. You can generate revenue and profit reports by products in just a few clicks.

  The report is easy to follow and you can also view a more detailed list containing sales volume, sales value, COGS (Cost Of Goods Sold), number of orders, average sales value etc.

  In addition, you can determine the time range for the report and don't worry about data accuracy. The system is kept up-to-date automatically, thus eliminating human errors.

   

• Can I connect Tsoaela Industries to my accounting software?

  If you keep your accounting records on Xero, you can use our Tsoaela Industries - Xero integration to automatically push invoices related to inventory sales and purchase orders into Xero. In other words, with Tsoaela Industries, you can forget about double entries.
  
  Similarly, if you keep your accounting records on Microsoft Dynamics 365, you an use our Tsoaela Industries - Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration to automatically push invoices related to inventory sales and purchase orders into Microsoft Dynamics 365. 

   

• Can Tsoaela Industries help me with order forecasting, lead time and reorder point calculation?

  Yes. Our demand forecasting system within Tsoaela Industries intelligence will help you work out when to order, what to order, and how much to order, based on forecast analysis from your inventory and sales data.
  
  

Miscellaneous

• How user friendly is Tsoaela Industries? Do we need any prior technical expertise?

  You don't need to be tech savvy in order to use Tsoaela Industries. Our system is very intuitive and does not require technical training. Our simple dashboard allows you to handle all your business operations from a single place.

  Products and contacts can be added through spreadsheet imports, barcode scanning, manual wizard, or automatically pulled from existing eCommerce platforms.

  Furthermore, your sales and purchase orders populate automatically with your data.

  Moreover, we also allow you to easily track and update your order status with a visual overview or generate reports depending on your needs.

   

• How does Tsoaela Industries respect my data privacy needs?

  Your data will be hosted on reliable and secure servers that allow backups. Tsoaela Industries uses Amazon Web Services for its data storage, the same servers used by the White House of the United States.

  You can also grant different permission settings to different users. For example, a sales rep can only have the ability to create sales orders and not adjust inventory information such as cost. You can also restrict your employees from seeing the sales and profits reports or any other analytics using the same feature.

  Feel free to check our data privacy statement.

   

• Does Tsoaela Industries customer service provide technical support?

  Yes. We want to help our customers succeed and grow their business, so we offer all technical support and advice, for free, to all our on-trial and paid users.