Our last blog post outlined how SNAPnTAP provides collaborative payment channels so customers can order from multiple merchants at once. What happens next – specifically, how merchants receive their orders – is explained here.
When a transaction consisting of items from different merchants is placed, SNAPnTAP’s software does two things in quick succession:
Therefore, when a transaction is made, merchants will receive only their items for fulfillment. It is the exact same way merchants handle fulfillment today.
To illustrate this workflow better, consider a previously mentioned use case of a brewery and taco truck collaborating with each other. With SNAPnTAP, customers can order from the brewery and the food truck through a single transaction, via any of our payment channels. Let’s imagine the customer orders the following:
Once this order is placed, SNAPnTAP’s back-end software gets to work. We send the brewery a ticket for the 16oz IPA. We send the taco truck a ticket for a Taco Platter. Both merchants fulfill their tickets, and the customer can either receive a notification to pick up their items, or their items can be run out to them (SNAPnTAP tickets include names and table or seat #s for staff).
In this illustration, we see an order get “split up.” The brewery receives a ticket via our Staff App for a 16oz IPA. The taco truck receives a ticket via their printer for a Taco Platter. Although a customer ordered from both merchants at once, each merchant receives and fulfills tickets separately.
The result of this workflow is a beautiful, powerful balance between collaboration and independence for merchants. While merchants collaborate by sharing their product catalogs so customers can order from multiple merchants at once, merchants can also control and manage their own fulfillment.
Of course, SNAPnTAP is incredibly flexible when it comes to collaborative operations. For example, there may be an operation where all merchants use the same kitchen or inventory for fulfillment, and employ the same staff. In this case, SNAPnTAP wouldn’t need to split a ticket by merchant. Instead, we would simply send the entire ticket to a single destination for fulfillment.
We pride ourselves in how customizable SNAPnTAP is, which is a prerequisite when it comes to collaboration. We invite you to pitch us your collaborative concept, and we’ll discuss how SNAPnTAP can bring it to life.
