Last March, we launched the 'Vendor Portal', a new tool designed to help businesses, establishments, and physical stores managing and organising promotions for their customers and visitors.

This new tool has replaced the previous 'Validation Portal' which was used by physical stores to validate the prizes that users won through an online promotion and then redeemed in-store.

Both tools have coexisted until now, allowing administrators to continue using the old portal and giving them more time to adapt to the new tool and train their teams, with the ultimate goal of migrating their old portals to the new Vendor Portal.

To ensure that all old portals transition to the technology of the new Vendor Portal, an action has been scheduled for December 1st: all old validation portals will be automatically redirected to the new Vendor Portal.

The new Vendor Portal uses the last technology and internal architecture of the platform to maximise the potential of Easypromos. It offers greater robustness, improved security, a simplified interface, and an optimised design for mobile devices.

Differences between the Validation Portal and the new Vendor Portal

Below, we explain the main changes between the Vendor Portal and the old Validation Portal, both in terms of configuration and user experience at the point of sale. 

1.1. Changes in the configuration of the Vendor Portal

In the screenshot we show below, we highlight the main differences in the configuration and customisation options of the old Portal compared to the current one:

1. Logo: The "Logo" option has been introduced, allowing you to upload an image with the brand's logo. Unlike the Validation Portal, this logo will now be placed in the menu or header of the page.

Note: The size of the logo has changed, recommending a 200x200 image in transparent PNG format.

2. Login image: The option to upload an image is still available. The image is shown above the introduction message (if any) or above the access password and/or code text box. 

3. Background image: The option to upload a background image has been removed, aiming to simplify the design of the Portal and enhance usability.

4. Color: The option to customize the color used for the buttons that appear on the Portal has been introduced.

5. Introduction message: A new text field has been added, to share more information about the portal if needed. The message will appear at the top of the page.

6. Custom message after redeeming a prize [in case of Prize Redemption]: The option to display a text that will appear on screen after redeeming a prize has been introduced. 

7. URL of the vendor portal. The format of the URL for the Seller Portal has changed compared to the Validation Portal.

Below, we show an example of the design and presentation of the Seller Portal:

1.2. Changes in the employee experience of the portal at the point of sale

The operation of the vendor portal is very similar to the previous validation portal: to access the portal, staff at the physical establishment will need to log in through the new URL using their access password, just as they did in the validation portal.

However, two new features have been introduced that staff at the point of sale will notice upon accessing the Portal, which we explain below:

1. Integrated tools in the vendor portal. Staff at the physical point of sale will encounter the following change: after entering the access password, the vendor portal will display two integrated tools which are:

• QR Promotions
• Prize Redemption

In this case, they will need to click on "Prize Redemption," which is the tool that allows verifying the prizes that users present at the point of sale:

2. Integrated QR Code Scanner. Another new feature of the vendor portal is an integrated QR code scanner, which allows employees to scan the prize QR code directly instead of manually entering the prize code.