For over 45 years, Farcountry Press has been publishing works that explore the beauty and richness of the western American landscape out of their family-owned operation in Helena, Montana. Their list is special: fiction and nonfiction, yes, but also photo books, calendars, nature reference books, maps, and hiking guides that are popular at bookstores, gift shops, museums, and visitors’ centres in national parks and tourist destinations across America.
Farcountry’s strong emphasis on customer service and partnerships with wholesalers and retailers (their B2B accounts) meant their website needed something different: a custom purchasing portal where accounts can sign up and place bulk orders. We worked with the press to design and build a portal that would be integrated with a normal ReaderBound customer-facing presentation, so wholesalers and retailers can browse book collections, subjects, and series and view rich metadata on title listing pages before they order.
The process is simple:
- A B2B customer registers for an account
- Their account is approved by a member of the Farcountry Sales team
- The customer browses the site, adds books to their order, and places an order
- Farcountry sales staff is notified. They review the order, call the customer to confirm, and make any necessary changes, including adding more books or adjusting the customer’s discount level
- The order is marked as final and sent to the fulfilment team
- The order is fulfilled and shipped
To facilitate this process, the portal includes:
- Secure and self-managed customer account registration and log in
- Automated email communication from the website to customers and Farcountry staff (sales and fulfillment)
- Custom order form functionality integrated with book title pages
- Customer account approval and rejection
- Custom sales workflow with editable orders
- Discounts by percentage or quantity
- Coupon codes and special promos
The press has seen strong uptake from retailers and wholesalers already, with dozens of accounts opened and many orders placed. “It’s already making it easier for our partners to browse, connect with our team, and place orders, and the early feedback has been very positive,” says Farcountry’s Hilary Page.
