Online purchasing tracks your buying history

Purchasing all your practice's consumables using the internet has a number of advantages, according to Just4Dental's Richard Muller. Not only does the Just4Dental website - www.just4dental.com - give you the option of shopping 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, it also stores a complete history of your purchases that you can refer back to whenever you need.

"Ordering through Just4Dental effectively eliminates the possibility of losing past purchasing documentation," Mr Muller said. "The J4D system stores complete records of all past orders and that information can be called up through the web site. You can select the specific period of time you want to check by choosing a 'to' and 'from' date, so the time period can be as wide or narrow as desired.

"There is also an option to select the purchase history by individual or all suppliers.

"Previous purchase records can also be used to place new orders. You can look at your past purchases and choose products you want to re-order. Then, by simply clicking with your mouse, you can place those items in your current 'shopping basket' (keeping in mind that you can always amend the product details before the order is completed).

"It's also a great facility to have when you're in a position of... 'now what was that thing we ordered last June?' or 'which colour did we get last year?'. The information is always available with just a couple of clicks of your mouse."

To order through Just4Dental, there is a sequence of steps involved that take the order from product selection to completion. This helps ensure that the order details (such as quantity, price, and supplier) are all correct. It also gives the person doing the ordering the assurance that they are in control of the process (rather than "the system"). For most people, J4D combines speed and accuracy with a practical check process for purchasing.

Once the order has been completed online, there is an option to print it.

"You can print-out your whole order which is grouped by supplier and includes all the relevant details. This can then be used to check against the invoices received from the supplier with your order.

"While some dental practices and labs may still prefer to write out purchase orders by hand," Mr Muller said. "Feedback indicates that this option is a huge time-saver and much more accurate."