Daily store routine #

This page is for the store manager, or the owner who is also the store manager. It gives a short routine for every working day, in the order that catches problems earliest, and says who on the team does each step. It assumes the store is live; the full picture of daily, weekly and yearly tasks for businesses is in Running a store day to day, and this page is the version you can pin to the wall.

Before you start #

You need an account of your own with the shop/administrate policy, which opens the Store tab, the dashboard, the order list and the customer list (kernel/shop/module.php). Sign in with two-step sign-in if your site has it (Two-factor login). Never share one shop account between several people: the order status history and the audit trail then cannot tell who did what.

The routine #

What the dashboard shows is described in Store dashboard and order statuses: orders today and in 7 and 30 days, open orders, orders waiting too long, abandoned baskets, best sellers and the "Next steps" list worked out from your data and settings.

Step by step #

1. Open the dashboard #

Store opens the dashboard. Read the "At a glance" row first. A sudden drop in orders today, compared with your usual day, is often the first sign that something on the site or at the payment provider is broken.

2. Work through the orders waiting #

The "Work to do" list puts the orders that wait longest first. Open each one, check the items, options, address and any comment the customer left, and move it on. Orders waiting for the customer (Pending, Awaiting payment, Payment failed, Ready for pickup) are highlighted after a shorter limit than the others (Store dashboard and order statuses).

3. Look at failed payments #

Sort the order list by status (Order list sorting). One failed payment is usually a customer's card. Several in one morning point at the payment step or the provider; see Payment gateways.

4. Read the "Next steps" #

The list is the store's own checklist: pending orders older than two days, no payment step on checkout, a 0 percent VAT type in use, basket cleanup settings that would delete baskets kept in sessions. An empty list is a good sign. Anything that needs a setting changed goes to your host or partner.

5. Check the order mailbox #

The shop sends a copy of every order mail to the address in site.ini [MailSettings] AdminEmail (kernel/classes/confirmorderhandlers/ezdefaultconfirmorderhandler.php). If the copies stop arriving, the customers' mails have probably stopped too; see Order confirmation mail.

6. Compare with the payment provider #

Once a day, compare the payments in your provider's account with the paid orders. A payment without an order, or an order marked paid without a payment, needs a look the same day.

7. Set statuses as the work is done #

Move each order the moment the work happens: Packed when the parcel is ready, Shipped when it leaves. The dashboard's waiting times are only as true as the statuses. The meaning of each status is on Order statuses.

At the end of the day #

• To do: No order older than your promised handling time is still in a "new" status.
• To do: Every Shipped order has its tracking number noted where your team agreed (the shop has no field for it by default).
• To do: Customer questions answered or handed over.
• To do: Anything unusual written down for tomorrow, or for whoever covers.

When the usual person is away #

Whoever covers needs their own account, the status path of your store on one page, and the contacts of the host and the payment provider. A handover list is on Running a store day to day.

Related pages #

• Orders day to day
• Store weekly checklist
• Store reports
• Running a store day to day (for businesses)
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.