In a Nutshell: The Maple Ridge Farms Website and You
Welcome to the digital age! In these fast-paced, high-tech times, it's not always possible to be immediately on-hand with a catalog when your customer is looking for their gift options. Enter the website--your instant-access window into the world of food gifts.
At Maple Ridge Farms, we love to make all the information you could need readily available and easily accessible. Our website is a one-stop shopping option, chock-full of useful facts and exciting products, including those not featured in our print catalog.
Here are the highlights of what you can find at mapleridge.com:
The Sidebar
View E-Catalog
This is a digital version of our print catalog, easily paged through. It's quite useful for those times when your customer is referring to a specific page but you don't have a catalog handy--just pull up the E-catalog and you're ready to go.
Quick Search
Know exactly what item you're looking for? Enter the item number here to pull it up. Not sure just what you're looking for? It's a general search box, too, so you can input the terms of your choice and see what fabulous products match your needs.
Search by Price
This is perhaps the most powerful tool on the site, great for when your client is pushing their budget. Need gifts under $10? Does your client want to spend around $60, but no more than $75? Enter the range your client is looking for into the search boxes and see what comes up.
Both Quick Search and Search by Price will draw from all items on the website, including Outlet Store and web-only items, so you'll see a great variety even beyond what's available in the catalog.
Outlet Store
Sometimes items are discontinued to make room for exciting new options. Sometimes selected items are spotlighted. Whatever the reason, when items are discounted they are placed into the Outlet Store. This is a great option for clients working on a tight budget, as there are always deals to be found in this section.
New Products
When our new catalog goes live in July, you'll find all of our fantastic new products listed here. The updates aren't limited to the new catalog launch, though--any additions made throughout the year are listed here also, which makes this a great place to check for those sneak-attack new products.
Quick Ship Items
Although for the bulk of the year, our standard 5-day production time applies, this is the place to check come the fourth quarter for those last-minute orders; select items are added for expedited production.
Web Only
Any items not featured in our catalog will be listed here, which include standard items that were not included in the newest catalog, Outlet Store items, and new products launched since the newest catalog was printed.
Free Shipping
Throughout the year, select items are eligible for free shipping (to one location; see page for additional details). If your client has a tight budget and shipping costs are an issue, check here first! The perfect item may be included in those featured here.
Catalog PDFs
Are you looking to spotlight a particular item from the catalog for a client? Don't want to overwhelm them with a full-line catalog or all options on the website? Download a PDF of the catalog page you'd like them to see and email it to them with no fuss!
Email Art Guide
The art for your client's order is, naturally, of great importance. This section breaks down the details of our art requirements to make it easier to send the most appropriate art the first time, thereby avoiding delays while suitable art is acquired.
General Information
Curious about including gift cards? Questions on drop shipping? Looking for stock designs? Find that and more here! Helpfully broken down by topic, this offers a great quick reference for all those basic questions.
Submitting Your Shipping List
Is your client looking at shipping gifts to individual recipients? Here you can find not only instructions on formatting your list, but also a handy pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet--just complete it with your client's addresses and email it to us (contact us if you need the email address), and we'll take care of the rest!
Distributors Only
Looking to sign up for our mailing list? Need some flyers to send to your clients? Questions on how to get samples into your clients' hands? We'll give you those answers here, along with plenty more! (Please note that this section requires a passphrase to access--contact our Customer Service team to get yours.)
Included in the Distributors Only section are marketing tools (flyers, literature, an image library, sample information, and more!), educational resources (webinars, videos, and helpful hints), Maple Ridge Farms representative information, a handy FAQ, and plenty of other useful information.
The Home Page
Shop by Category
Does your client want a tower specifically, but doesn't know which one? Are they looking for a model vehicle to collect? This is a quick way to access a specific product type, broken down by general groupings--gift boxes, gourmet towers, &c. Some categories are broken down even further to a product type within the general category (e.g. pen & pencil cups in Desk Accessories), making it easy to see the options available in a particular type of packaging.
Featured Product
Sometimes new products, sometimes products being spotlighted for a particular theme, you'll always find great product suggestions here. They appear randomly as the page is refreshed.
Follow Us
If you're reading this, you're aware of just how important social media is! This section provides links to the Maple Ridge Farms pages on various social media sites.
Product Pages
Tabs
Although the front page offers various options for social media networking, the product pages include tabs to share the specific items. In addition to various social media options, there is also a tab for Stash--an easy way to put together a proposal for your client, all automatic online!
Price Grid
The price grid includes the item number, as well as the prices for the various quantity breaks. The first quantity listed on standard items reflects the minimum quantity, but watch out for Outlet Store items! The minimum quantity for those items is listed below the price grid in the bullet points.
Bullet Points
The bullet points include all of the item information: ship weight per gift, quantity per master carton, gift dimensions, imprint information, and any other information specific to the particular item.
It goes without saying that online resources are essential in this day and age, and Maple Ridge Farms strives to provide everything that you may need to assist your clients. Take some time and explore our website. You just might be surprised at what you'll find!
