# Quote Process

Very often customers want to negotiate the price regarding the products they want to buy. For such a process, it is important that an eCommerce platform supports a more sophisticated process. Requesting a quote is a common use case especially for B2B business model, but within the Emporix platform, the quotes for B2C customers are also supported.

Below you can see the general, simplified flow:

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-494fe38e6a6f49aefa59ae08f82c50d0c1764912%2Fquote1.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Not only the customer is able to request quotes, but also the merchant's employee or a sales manager can generate a quote on behalf of the customer. This is described step by step in the 2nd demo scenario - Employee creates quote on behalf of a customer.

Roles included:

* B2B or B2C customer
* Merchant employee who needs to accept or decline a quote request

### Demo scenario - a customer (B2B or B2C) requests a quote

This is a step-by-step description of the quoting process within the Emporix Showcase and what to look for in detail.

1. Browse for a product by categories or use the search bar to find the product which you want to add to the cart.

{% hint style="warning" %}
This search uses Algolia as a search engine for displaying the search results. For a newly created tenant it works out of the box.
{% endhint %}

2. Choose the product you want to add to the cart and open the product details page.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-9c34d318d70c00b9e8ac16a3e23b9208e3c1866b%2Fproduct_details.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

3. Change the quantity, for example to 5 and add the product to the cart.

**Result**: The following screen is displayed:

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e56f35efc212afedad514026dd5aa3d6246bd68f%2Fproducts2.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

4. Within the cart you can change the quantity and a recalculation of the cart will take place.
5. To create the quote, choose the **Request quote** button.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-af4713209c461a64629c7dec91ea22511fc45036%2Fproducts4.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Result**: the quote page appears.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-5921cd3c4483221e7e7d1196efe13e6032ee93e4%2Fproducts5.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

6. To see the quote overview, choose the **Quote overview** button. The quote gets the **Awaiting** status.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-a5dc5bff3ad0706cdd8e26d1632f128a7ff0adef%2Fproducts6.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

7. Open the Management Dashboard and go to **Quotes**, the quotes overview page is displayed.

   * The created quote is displayed with the **awaiting** status.
   * The merchant employee is informed by email that a customer created a quote request. The corresponding sales representative or a customer service employee can then work on the quote request quickly.

   <figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-aa25dd06f1b7db96ae8c9694edaf3f67368b46d1%2FMDquotes.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
8. Open the quote and check its details, prices and discounts. Go to the **Approval** tab and choose **Approve quote** to accept the quote. You can add a comment from a merchant perspective if needed.

   <figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-9fb8a3eac7d1c2170eb8385f675e87bba8dbab08%2FMDquotes1.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
9. Click **Update status** and then confirm you want to change the quote status.

**Result**: The quote request from customer is accepted by the merchant and the quote status changes from **Awaiting** to **Open**.

{% hint style="success" %}
It is possible to work on quotes in Management Dashboard and to update them anytime needed. For details on how to work with quotes in MD, see [Quotes](https://developer.emporix.io/ce/management-dashboard/quotes) documentation.
{% endhint %}

10. In the Emporix showcase, the customer goes to the **My Quotes** view under **My Account**. The Quote should have the **open** status as well.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-13b712095a93e22bc9be9dd4dba4ea742b460a97%2Fquote3.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="warning" %}
After the merchant employee accepts the quote, the customer gets an email with the corresponding PDF. Within the demo the red bubble indicates that a new quote is available for the customer. In this case 2 quotes are new and available.

<img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-042dafc76c8022abc05fc897600a14946617bd74%2Fbubble.png?alt=media" alt="" data-size="original">
{% endhint %}

11. Customer opens the details of the quote and can decide if they want to accept or decline the quote.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-cd4654330f8f481eda22cbe1e039d155561fdbae%2Fquote4.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

In case they request a change or decline the quote, they have to select a change or decline reason with an additional text.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-3a9317cd2778a917c2ae960e08bb3067cb7e7b29%2Fquote5.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

12. In case the customer accepts the quote the status of the quote is updated within the showcase and also within the Management Dashboard.

* Showcase status - quote detail page:

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-7548d86577712adbe4f9f488d93316d4d4d6cbaa%2Fquote6.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="danger" %}
To get the storefront status updated you need to refresh the page.
{% endhint %}

* Backend status - Management Dashboard:

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-d258ff377e3cee831a8a5e20166751f941603c41%2Fquote8.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Result** The accepted quote creates an order within CE and within the quote detail the order link is available.

<figure><img src="https://3057647601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbTY7EwZtYYQYC6GOcdTj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e2d8032f5f6503096f3ac8ebe03b685eb5fee105%2Fquote7.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Employee creates quote on behalf of a customer

It is possible for you as an employee to create a quote on behalf of the customer in the Management Dashboard. For example, a customer calls a customer service department and asks for a specific quote.\
To create the quote on their behalf, you need to be logged in to the Management Dashboard as an employee.

Then, follow the steps described in the [Quotes - Creating a quote](https://developer.emporix.io/ce/management-dashboard/quotes/quotes-view#creating-a-quote) guide.

**Result**: After you follow the steps and click the **create quote** button at the end, the quote is created with **Open** status and the quote notification is sent to the customer by email, including the PDF.\
The customer can accept or decline the quote as described under Customer requests.

{% hint style="info" %}
To learn more about API used in this use case see the [Quote Service](https://app.gitbook.com/s/d4POTWomuSS7d3dnh4Dg/api-guides/quotes) and for user guides check the [Quotes](https://developer.emporix.io/ce/management-dashboard/quotes) and the [Quote Management](https://developer.emporix.io/ce/core-commerce/quote-management) documentation.
{% endhint %}