New Student Group Shop FAQs

Imperial College Union is changing systems for our online Student Group Shop, used by ICU clubs and societies to upload products to sell to their members. The ICU Activities team will be providing comms and training for you around this, and we have also created this FAQ guide for some quick answers to common questions arising.

For further information or support beyond this guide please get in touch with the Activities Team or utilise the SUMS quick-guides for support!

➡️ Log a ticket with the Activities Team

➡️ SUMS e-shop quick guides

Q: Why is the system changing?

A: As part of ICU's organisational strategy, we have been upgrading our digital infrastructure over the last few years to ensure we can serve our members as best as possible.

The current ICU Student Group Shop is hosted on our in-house, bespoke system (eActivities). You would have noticed our website has had significant changes over the past 18 months, which is also part of this project.

The next step in our digital transformation is moving the ICU Student Group Shop to a new system called SUMS. SUMS stands for Student Union Management System and will allow us to house many of our SU activities and functions centrally, and be managed by our trained, in-house staff team as well as utilise external professional support when needed.

The key aims of our digital transformation project are to future-proof our systems for years to come, and create an easier, more streamlined process for all our members.

You can read more about how this ties into our organisational strategy here.

Q: Where can I get support?

A: Your first line of support will be the SUMS user guides, under the EPOS > E-shop headings.

SUMS have prepared many FAQs and helpful web guides to help with common issues that may arise when creating products on the shop.

For any ongoing issues not resolvable via SUMS, you can lodge a ticket with the Activities Team for assistance here.

Q: Will existing listed products carry over to the new shop? What happens to my existing shop products?

A: Yes, these will carry over to the new store. If you are selling products on both stores in the crossover period, we recommend setting quantity limits on the current Student Group Shop and pushing sales via the new shop once you’re set up. Double check your quantity limits on both stores are set so you don’t exceed your maximum quantities.

Important dates:

Q: Will currently listed events carry over to the new shop?  What happens to my existing event listings?

A: Please continue adding and creating what’s on event listings as you usually do. The shop changeover will not affect what’s on event listings.

If you have product ticket links attached to your existing event listings, please make sure you update these links with new shop products to your new ticket links on the new shop.

Q: How do I submit a product to be listed in the shop?

A: SUMS have provided a step-by-step guide on how to set-up new products here.

Q: Why are my products no longer automatically listed?

A: The new system requires an approval process from our staff team for all new product listings. We understand this may be inconvenient, however, there is currently no workaround for this in the new system.

The Activities Team aim to promptly and actively approve new product uploads within 5 working days. We encourage you to plan product sales and events in advance to ensure your promotional plans can go ahead as scheduled and products are live for you to tell.

You can read more about product applications and questions here.

Q: Can I still access eActivities to view attendee lists or sign-ups?

A: Yes you can. Event listings are not affected by or attached to the new shop system.

Q: Can I still set permissions on who can buy products?

A: Yes you can! SUMS have a step-by-step guide for creating membership-only products here.