Blog | dakis

AFFIRM Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) now available in the US

patrice.hugron@dakis.com (Philippe Hugron) — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 18:10:32 GMT

Affirm gives your customers a smarter way to pay over time, with no fees or surprises.

With Affirm, you can offer flexible payment plans to expand your customer base and increase average order value. And we'll be here to help along the way.

Affirm's hassle free onboarding process can allow to start using their Buy Now Pay Later feature on your website within days of your application!

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1. SIGN-UP

Here is the sign-up link

https://www.affirm.com/business

From the e-Commerce drop down, select "PHP" (dakis drop down will be added soon)

2. PLANS, RATES AND CONDITIONS

When you sign-up with Affirm, they will provide you the info.

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3. SETUP YOUR AFFIRM ACCOUNT

During the sign-up process, Affirm will provide info.

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4. MYDAKIS: ACTIVATE AFFIRM AS A PAYMENT METHOD

Here is the dakis help document to get setup

https://help.dakis.com/article/672-payment-methods-affirm

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5. CONTACT webdesign@dakis.com

To add the AFFIRM MARKETING WIDGET to your website product pages

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If you're not a dakis customer yet but would like to get more information about our services please make sure to contact sales@dakis.com or to give us a call at 514-931-8820 x221 , from there you can get pricing information and ask all of your questions! Once you're signed up we’ll offer you training and get you set up with all the necessary tools to help you achieve your goal of selling your inventory online.

PDF file upload is available to order dakis Photo Factory products (Free upgrade)

patrice.hugron@dakis.com (Philippe Hugron) — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 17:10:32 GMT

You asked we listened! Now it's time for you to activate this feature in your mydakis account. Not only can your customers use JPG and PNG files to create their Photo Factory products, but they can also use PDF files. This is an excellent feature for Pros who wish to upload a PDF file for corporate orders and better sell B2B products!

HOW TO ACTIVATE THIS FEATURE
In your mydakis.com account, go into the PHOTO main menu and select the left side menu MAIN CONFIGURATION. Activate the checkbox "Enable prerendered file gift feature." This enables the PDF file upload.

PRODUCTS SUPPORTING PDF FILE UPLOAD

All products from the dakis collection
Products you have created (YES, you can create your own products and designs in the dakis Photo Factory). You will need to activate the PDF upload feature per product. When you create a product, select the checkbox "Allow customers to upload prerendered file (PDF)

PRODUCTS NOT SUPPORTING PDF FILE UPLOAD

All third-party fulfillment products (out-lab).

GIVE IT A TEST DRIVE ON DAKISDEMO.COM
Want to give it a try? Test it out on the dakis demo website:

Canvas: https://dakisdemo.com/printing/30-x-40-canvas-1-25-inch-image-wrap/104390?variation=6687070

H1 Poster, 24x36: https://dakisdemo.com/printing/24-x-36-horizontal/2085?variation=6670340

HAPPY SELLING!

Photography equipment & printed photo products make for great holiday gifts

patrice.hugron@dakis.com (Philippe Hugron) — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 19:20:31 GMT

Holiday shopping this year will be quite different!

patrice.hugron@dakis.com (Philippe Hugron) — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 18:20:34 GMT

PEOPLE WILL DISCOVER AND BUY ONLINE EVEN MORE

Walmart and major retailers will close stores this Thanksgiving 2020 : https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/27/target-joins-walmart-in-staying-closed-for-thanksgiving-this-year.html
More than a third of U.S. shoppers who normally shop in store for Black Friday say they won't this year.*
Half of U.S. shoppers say the pandemic will affect how they'll shop for the holidays this year.*
The holidays are a traditionally heavy online-shopping season. Last year, 78% of U.S. holiday shoppers used three or more channels to do their holiday shopping, and 58% of shopper-reported purchases were made online. This year, we expect those numbers will grow, as almost 75% of U.S. shoppers who plan to shop this season said they will shop online more for the holidays than they did in previous seasons, and a similar number said they would browse for gift ideas online and not in store.*

WHAT ARE CONSUMERS EXPECTING?

Make sure your online presence is ready to meet the needs of consumers.

When people do shop in store, they plan ahead and research online
Optimize your website for speed and user experience
Prior to the pandemic, the in-store shopping experience often began long before shoppers arrived at a store. This is even more true today, as availability and local convenience has become a priority. In fact, 67% of shoppers said they plan to confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it. Plus, searches for "available near me" have grown globally by more than 100% since last year, underscoring the importance of accurate inventory information.*
People will seek safer, digitized ways of shopping in store.
When shoppers do decide they're willing to shop in store, it's no surprise that safety is a key concern. This means what's considered "in-store" shopping may look different this year, as alternatives like curbside pickup and contactless buying become the norm. As proof, 53% of shoppers that plan to shop this season said they'll choose to shop at stores that offer contactless shopping. And 47% of planned shoppers said they'll use options to buy online, pickup in store/curbside pickup.*
Our research found that 70% of shoppers said they intend to plan their shopping earlier to avoid crowds, and 80% of planned shoppers will consolidate their shopping to make fewer trips than they did in previous years.*

* source: Think with Google

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SHOPPERS WILL BE THINKING, AND BUYING, WITH A DIGITAL-FIRST MINDSET

To stand out this year, give shoppers the information they need and the experience they expect.

High-Performance Responsive Website
WebStore for Camera Store
WebStore for Photo Labs
Automated Smart Store
Online Photo Solutions (Responsive)
Photo kiosks
Pro Event & Pro Event HUB
dakis Concierge Service

Online Selling Marketing Assets and More!

ryan@dakis.com (Ryan Fleury) — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:24:48 GMT

To help dakis users deal with this sudden new retail reality, we've packaged a collection of website assets. You will find website banners optimized for desktop, tablet and mobile, along with Facebook and Instagram friendly files. Photoshop templates are also available in the package so you can quickly modify them with your logo and other information.

Available Marketing Packages:

April 27th 2020

Click and download : retailer-marketing-assets-Apr27.zip | 341MB

You will find the following content:

Store Service Video Transfer : Eblast template, website and social media assets
Store Service Film Developing : Eblast template, website and social media assets
Store Service Shoebox Scanning : Eblast template, website and social media assets
Commandes en ligne : Ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
Décor Mural : Ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
Service en magasin - Développement de film : Courriel, ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
Service en magasin - Numérisation de photos : Courriel, ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
Service en magasin - Transfert vidéo : Courriel, ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
All files in JPG and photoshop format
Required fonts to edit content

March 26th 2020

Click and download : retailer-marketing-assets-Mar26.zip | 142MB

You will find the following content:

Order From Home, lab and camera retailer version: website, social media and store signage assets
Order Wall decor: website and social media assets
Consumer Message: eblast and store signage assets
Collecte porte-à-porte: Ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
Commande de la maison: Ressources pour site web
Livraison gratuite: Ressources pour site web et réseaux sociaux
All files in JPG and photoshop format
Required fonts to edit content

March 19th 2020

Click and download : retailer-marketing-assets-Mar19.zip | 62MB

You will find the following content:

Curbside Delivery Service
Order Photos Online
Free Shipping
All files in JPG and photoshop format
Required fonts to edit content

Disclaimer - Use of the dakis Marketing Material.

These images are protected by copyright laws. You must be a dakis Photo Factory, dakis Online Photo Solutions and/or dakis kiosk paying customers to use the dakis Marketing Material. You may solely use these marketing assets to promote your dakis services. You may not use these images for any other reasons. You may not create any derivative work with this marketing material. If you are not a dakis paying customer for the services listed above you may NOT use these images for any reasons and by using these images you are breaching copyright laws and are subject to legal actions against you.

The Lab WebStore: Everything you need to thrive online

ryan@dakis.com (Ryan Fleury) — Fri, 01 May 2020 18:24:46 GMT

We’ve mentioned it more than once! It’s never been more obvious that having a fully functional and transactional website is paramount for the present and the future. Luckily dakis has the tools to help you thrive online, and you can start upping your online selling game right away. We’ve evaluated the needs of the average photo retailer and built a version of the dakis WebStore that’s tailored to their needs at an affordable cost.

What’s the Lab WebStore?

Our WebStore library contains over 140,000 categorized products which are available to every retailer depending on the data package they’ve subscribed to; what we’ve done is create the Lab WebStore, which allows you to activate and sell a selection of products that will enable a lab to sell products online! Here’s the list of product categories that are included in the Lab Webstore, you can click on the category for a sample of items.

Note that the selection of items found on our demo website is just a small sample of what's found inside of our full database

The Lab Webstore has all the same features as the dakis Standard WebStore, meaning that you can activate products from our library, price them, set online payment methods, set shipping rules and shipping modes, set taxes for various regions, create your own products and more!

If you already have the Online Photo Solution you’ll be able to benefit from the fact that the Lab WebStore and Online Photo Solution can coexist on the same website and share a shopping cart, meaning a more pleasant and streamlined buying experience for your customers.

Ideal for the photo and print retailers!

Built with the independent print and photo retailer in mind, this new iteration of the WebStore will allow these businesses to sell their items online with ease. This is very important as the retail landscape has taken a sudden turn and as mentioned before, your website has become the cornerstone of your business, having a new tool to help you sell online is a welcome addition to your selling strategy.

If you’re already a dakis customer you can easily bolt this new feature on to what you currently have, meaning that if you have a full High Performance Responsive Website or simply the Online Photo Solution we’ll be able to enable the new version of the WebStore for you quickly. If you’re not a dakis customer but wish to benefit from the Lab WebStore give us a shout and we’ll show you how we can be of assistance, you can contact sales@dakis.com for more information about features and pricing.

Getting your inventory online is essential!

As mentioned, generating foot traffic into your brick and mortar store may prove difficult these days, but anyone with an internet connection can complete a purchase if you’ve set yourself up to do so. With the click of a button your customers will be able to make a transaction that they otherwise could not have been able to complete had your products not been online. Simply put your selling potential will explode, in some cases going from “null” to having a “full and comprehensive product catalog available online”.

If you have our Online Photo Solution, you’re already benefiting from the fact that our engine creates crawlable content that can be found by search engines. With the addition of the webstore you’ll have even more content and keywords out there, meaning that you're not only adding the ability to sell, but also multiplying the chances that you'll appear favorably in website queries.

With all the products and product information/specifications available to you, adding all relative information for products to your website will become an easy task, there’s no need to hunt down images or to spend your time looking for a handful of specs and product descriptions, we’ve done all that work for you! We’re adding new products to our database all the time, it’s part of what we do everyday! If you feel that we’re missing a certain film camera, or type of film or anything from a category included with your Lab WebStore data you’re welcome to make a request for us to add the items to our database, after which it can be added to your inventory. Note that for frames we only add items for a handful of brands.

Maybe you’ve also heard that we’ve started encouraging people to sell store service online as “Mail-In Store Services” ( read more about that here ), you can do that with the Lab WebStore! We’ve added Store Services as products to our WebPIM so now you have an extra reason to get signed on to the service, we’re really pulling all the strings to help you survive despite our collective daily struggles.

Get creative and sell!

Yes you can take advantage of our database to activate products and make them available to sell, but there’s more to it than that! Since you can create your own products in the WebPIM why not use your imagination and go beyond the product categories and products we’re offering? With our tools you can create your own classes , gift cards and more! You can also create things like branded mugs and t-shirts or create frames built by a local artisan, the only limitation is your imagination! If you take the time you can really create a personalized and unique shopping experience that can reflect your business’ identity.

Alright, how do you get started!?

The benefits to the Lab WebStore should be easy to see, the most important feature of this WebStore is that you can start to affordably and easily get your products online quickly, unlocking online selling potential.

On a side note if you want to get started with the Lab WebStore but don’t have the time to manage it or are intimidated by the process of getting set up, we can always do the heavy lifting for you through our Concierge Service. Setting up inventory is just one of the many features the Concierge Service can provide you. When you’re finished getting set up you can shift your priorities to other tasks, like marketing your WebStore or improving your online visibility by making sure you rank better in organic web searches.

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To get started make sure to contact sales@dakis.com or to give us a call at 514-931-8820 x221 , from there you can get pricing information and ask all of your questions! Once you're signed up we’ll offer you training and get you set up with all the necessary tools to help you achieve your goal of selling your inventory online.

Store Services : Not Just for the Store Anymore

ryan@dakis.com (Ryan Fleury) — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 18:24:50 GMT

It has never been more obvious that your website is now the cornerstone of your business, therefore it's important to improve upon it to increase it's online selling potential and generate more revenue!

Store services are a significant part of your business. The good thing is that store services do not only have to be sold solely in-store! It is time to start thinking of store services as services that can be offered in-store and also online, by mail, for curbside drop-off and via your store drop box.

Landing pages for top selling services

We’ve taken it upon ourselves to create three landing pages for dakis website users to include on their website, the goal of these pages is to create a place where consumers can get informed on these store services and quickly complete a purchase. The good news doesn’t end there as we’ve also created a selection of store services that can be activated into your dakis Photo Factory or dakis WebStore (or both!) enabling your customers to complete a purchase for these services. The three store service we decided upon were:

Take a look! Click on the link to see what we’ve built for each service. Although very similar, you’ll notice slight differences in each. We’ll get into the service page DNA a little later in this article.

How to Sell These Services

Traditionally you’ve probably been in the habit of selling these services in-store, yes you likely have a page dedicated to the service but has it really been generating revenue for you? This is one of the main reasons these pages have been built, to quickly help you sell more online and even in-store once the dust settles.

Aside from selling in-store, we’re encouraging you to have customers submit orders to you by online channels using the Photo Factory or the WebStore to compliment more traditional methods such as printing out an order form and sending it in with your film , video footage or scannable prints (shoebox scanning) .

You could also get creative and suggest that customers use “curbside drop-off” to submit their orders or install a dropbox (if you don’t already have one) where customers can place their orders. If you’re wondering what curbside drop-off is, it’s pretty much the opposite of curbside pickup; your customers would give you a call telling you they’ve arrived at the store and you would go get their package and completed order form.

The Store Services as Online Products

With the dakis system you can opt to use either the Photo Factory or the WebStore to get your products online, you can easily activate the services through the templates we’ve created for you.

The Store Services in the WebStore

When using this option, store services will appear in your dakis WebStore and your customers will be able to purchase them with the simple click of a mouse. By applying a pre-defined parametric search to a link you can easily segregate the different service types ( Video Transfer vs Film Development vs Shoebox Scanning ) for an easy selling flow.

This is a great option if you already have the dakis WebStore, labs who have only been using the Online Photo Solution can take advantage of a more affordable version of the WebStore tailored to labs. The Lab WebStore will give you access to the pre-built store services as well as the following product categories:

Albums and Portfolios
Album Refills
Archival & Storage Supplies
Bags and Cases
Batteries
Battery Chargers
Battery Packs & Adapters
Film
Film Cameras
Film Camera Accessories
Frames
Paper

If you’re interested in using the Lab Webstore contact sales@dakis.com for information on how to get started.

The Store Services in the Photo Factory

In this setting you can offer your Video Transfer , Shoebox Scanning and Film Development services as Photo Factory templates, it’s a good option if you plan on offering options on items like film, where you can suggest a choice of media and prints . The catch is that a customer will have to go through the creation engine to place an order which is not that much of a big deal if you explicitly state it in the template (which we’ve done for you). Using the Photo Factory provides you with an easy way to create upsell possibilities and increase your sales in the process!

Mail-In Order Forms

While we’re adamant that you can sell store services online there’s no reason to neglect the good old fashioned mail-in order form.

Taking Advantage of Prepaid Mailing and Business Replied Mail (BRM)

Essentially what you’re doing here is creating a way for your customers to send you their media free of charge! This option is built into the store service landing pages by default, however you have to sign up to the service.

Once you’ve acquired a label make sure to have a PDF version of it to include on your website, your customers will be able to print it out to affix it to their package.

To find out more on how to sign up for prepaid mailing and business reply mail, check out the following ressources.

The DNA of a service page

Let’s explore how these pages are built as well as how you can build and request your own service page.

There are 6 main sections to these pages

The Header
Small Marketing Section
The ordering process for various channels
Informative description section
Contact Information and quick useful information
Customer ressources

The Header

This is simply a section for you to place a “definitive” image of your product and place the service’s name. The service name has been placed inside a H1 tag to improve webpage visibility in searches, good basic SEO principles. We welcome you to provide us with your own image if you chose to personalize it.

Small Marketing Section

This is where we paint an attractive picture of the service, using trending keywords to increase page visibility. We studied the services, looking at various pages from different stores in order to intelligently build these pages using the useful keywords.

You’ll also notice an image to the right that allows you to place some secondary eye candy, it’s also handy to throw in a little catch phrase in there to engage your customers. If you click on the image you’ll notice that you’ll be redirected to the products so that they can be ordered.

The ordering process for various channels

This may come as a surprise, but this was the hardest to think up. Not all services have the same ordering process. For example, if you compare Shoebox Scanning to Video Transfers you’ll notice differences.

We’ve identified 3 tracks for Video Transfers :

You can purchase online without printing out an order form then send in the footage
You can print and send in an order form then send in the footage
Walk into the store and place your order

While Shoebox Scanning is most popularly done with 2 tracks

You purchase the Shoebox Scanning service online
Walk into the store and place your order

Informative description section

This is where you go into detail about your services, talking about the specifics adding your own touch in defining what the service is. The marketing section is meant to attract interest while this section is meant for those who are actively hunting out more substantial details. Not to be overlooked!

Contact Information and quick useful information

Need we say more? If a customer needs to contact you about the service they shouldn’t have to look very hard to get the information, this is the place for it! This is also a good place for some quick reassuring information, such as “you can’t print the order form or mailing label because you don’t have a printer? Get in touch we’ll send it to you”.

Customer resources

If you have an FAQ section or a full pricing table in PDF format, you can make them available to download. Embedding the pricing table to the actual page is a good idea too, while if you want an FAQ about your store service, we’d request putting that on a separate page dedicated that encompasses the whole sum of what you do.

How to get your Store Service Landing Page

These landing pages are available to dakis website users, if you have this service then you know that all that you need to do to get started is to contact the dakis team, send an email request to qb@mail.dakis.com.

You will need to adapt the text to fit your own offering. Once contacted you will be asked to supply information about the services you wish to create landing pages for, we have an easy to understand document available for you to fill out. That being said, don’t be shy to take advantage of the images and text that already populate these template pages.

Aside from your text, images and preferences, we recommend that you also supply us with the following documents:

Service specific price lists
Service specific order Forms for mail ordering
A shipping label (BRM)
An FAQ section

Useful resources and documents

After having sent in your page specifications and preferences to qb@mail.dakis.com we’ll get right to work! While waiting for the page to be built you should take the time to get a head start on activating the Store Services and double check your shopping cart settings in your MyDakis account. Here is a list of useful online tutorials that can be found at help.dakis.com.

If you would rather have a dakis specialist take care of all the heavy lifting for you, considering the dakis Concierge Service would be worthwhile. For the cost of a part-time employee we’ll help you set up your mydakis account, making sure Store Services are to be efficiently offered on your website! For more information about the Concierge Service and its pricing, please contact sales@dakis.com .

So now that you're familiar with how you can pair landing pages with the dakis Photo Factory and dakis WebStore you have no reason to wait! Get your landing pages built, activate and price your services and promote them either by putting a banner on your homepage, posting to Instagram and facebook, sending out eblast, writing blog posts and more! If you're looking for a quick collection or marketing assets you can take a look at a few we've put together.

If you're not a dakis user but would like to start using our tools to improve your online sales and revenue, make sure to reach out to us at sales@dakis.com or call us at 514-931-8820 x221 today! We can have you up and running quickly!

Attend our scheduled ProShow Sessions via Webinar

ryan@dakis.com (Ryan Fleury) — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 18:24:51 GMT

Attend the scheduled dakis ProShow sessions via webinar.

Due to topical circumstances we're all too familiar with we sadly won't be able to meet up with you at the ProShow, that shouldn't stop you from finding out the ins and outs of the Automated Smart Store nor should it stop you from attending the dakis User Group session.

We're excited to be hosting these sessions as webinars.

If you would like to schedule a one-on-one session with a dakis guy just click here and send us an email so we can book a time for you.

March 12th, 2PM to 3PM EST - Automated Smart Store (with Ryan Fleury and Patrice Hugron)

The Automated Smart Store is the retailers' Holy Grail! Many PRO Members have already adopted it, come hear about it first hand from them! Many many more are making the move this year. Learn why the Automated Smart Store is a game changer. Save time by automating your POS inventory pricing and availability to your dakis WebStore. Never enter another product spec sheet thanks to dakis' Product Information Service. Keep your sanity with Instant Savings (Manufacturer Instant rebates) done right! Sounds complicated? It's not! Step-by-step explanation on how to get started and how dakis helps make this a smooth upgrade for your business. Don't forget to book your dakis 1-on-1 meeting for this week!

Open to all retailers regardless of the systems you use.

March 12th, 3:30PM to 4:30PM EST - dakis User Group (with Patrice Hugron and Ryan Fleury)

So many exciting things to talk about! Connecting your dakis Photo Solutions and kiosk to your POS, the new dakis shopping cart, new customer journey emails and more! The dakis Concierge Service is the most appreciated service we offer. Come hear why PRO Members love it and how they are using the dakis Concierge Service. The 2020's will be banner years to grow your business and outpace the competition. See what's new at dakis, the roadmap, voice your feature request & wish list and learn a thing or two.

Open to all retailers regardless of the systems you use.

If you would like to schedule a one-on-one session with a dakis guy just click here and send us an email so we can book a time for you.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 18:10:31 GMT

We’re very excited to announce a new dakis feature! We’ve been working tirelessly at improving the way retailers interact with customers via email and are proud to announce our new Customer Journey Tools Suite. This bundle of awesome new tools will add an exciting new dynamic to your daily workflow, making it possible to automatically send out customized messages depending on where the customer is in their purchase process.

‍ By the way, you can always skip this article and go straight to the "How-To" instructions.

We’ve already quietly deployed the customizable Consumer Account Password Reset and Project Share Invitation features and we are now ready to unleash the Order Confirmation Email tool. From now on you will be able to further personalize how an automatically generated email looks as well as the message it conveys once a customer submits an order to you.

The Order Confirmation Emails will permit you to attach your brand identity, add a personalized message to your customers, embed marketing materials, create click-through to product opportunities straight from the email; you will now truly be able to let your imagination loose and get creative when interacting with your valuable customers. As with all of our upgrades, the Order Confirmation Email tool, as well as all other tools related to the Customer Journey, will be made available to every dakis customer at absolutely no additional cost, another free upgrade from dakis!

Patrice, our CTO, had this to say about the Customer Journey Tools Suite.

" The customer journey update will allow retailers to better communicate their high touch service and branding to consumers via customized email touch points which retail and lab staff can send out via Job Downloader or the MyDakis.com.

The new communication center page in MyDakis will quickly become the nerve center for your customer service touch points allowing you and your staff to track and communicate order status' from the moment the order is placed all the way through to post sale communications with the consumer.

We envision that this update will greatly help retailers navigate the busy holiday season will upping their service game as part of dakis' Automated Smart Stores initiative. "

Happy Selling
Patrice Hugron
CTO

Off the record he's also added the words "boom" and "dynamite" as well as some positively infused choice expletives so clearly he's giddy about the potential of these new tools.

To help you along the way we’ve created a short instructional video as well as a help article that outlines how the basic uses of the tool , enjoy!

While we're on the topic of new toys, here are the Customer Journey Tools that are currently active in your MyDakis account:

Order Confirmation Notification
User Account Password Reset
Custom Printing Order Notification
Custom Shopping Cart Notification

And here's what's down the pike:

Abandoned Cart Notification
Shipping Notification
Order Ready For Pickup Notification
Order In-Transit to Store Notification

We're also cooking up some additional Customer Journey tools to be announced at a later date. As you can see we're very busy improving you and your customer's online shopping experience!

If you are not a dakis customer and would like more information about our services please feel free to reach out to us! We're only a phone call or an email away!

sales@dakis.com
514-931-8820 x221