Print and Design Company Montreal  

 



[E-COMMERCE]

Electronic commerce or ecommerce is a term for any type of business, or commercial transaction, that involves the transfer of information across the Internet. It covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge.

Ecommerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. Electronic commerce has expanded rapidly over the past five years and is predicted to continue at this rate, or even accelerate. In the near future the boundaries between "conventional" and "electronic" commerce will become increasingly blurred as more and more businesses move sections of their operations onto the Internet.

The road to creating a successful online store can be a difficult if unaware of ecommerce principles and what
ecommerce is supposed to do for your online business. Researching and understanding the guidelines
required to properly implement an e-business plan is a crucial part to becoming successful with online store building.

What do you need to have an online store and what exactly is a shopping cart?

Shopping cart software is an operating system used to allow consumers to purchase goods and or services, track customers, and tie together all aspects of ecommerce into one cohesive whole.

To start an online business it is best to find a niche product that consumers have difficulty finding in malls or department stores. Also take shipping into consideration. Pets.com found out the hard way: dog food is expensive to ship FedEx! Then you need an ecommerce enabled website. This can either be a new site developed from scratch, or an existing site to which you can add ecommerce shopping cart capabilities.

The next step, you need a means of accepting online payments. This usually entails obtaining a merchant account and accepting credit cards through an online payment gateway (we recommend method of accepting payments such as PayPal).

Ecommerce feature list

This is a comprehensive list of features we offer for the Ecommerce shopping cart. The software behind all the designs.

Store Administration

  •   Full online control panel for simple admin management
  •   Dynamically populate product pages without the need to touch the database
  •   Password protected
  •   Content management system integrated
  •   Restrict admin pages depending on login
  •   Simple process for adding / modifying / deleting products and categories
  •   Full online order viewing by date selection and search
  •   Product search within the admin section
  •   Editable order details
  •   Affiliate program included with online viewing of affiliate sales
  •   Optional Customer login for order history viewing and creating accounts
  •   Downloadable product inventory
  •   CSV database upload
  •   Language specific admin available
  •   Up to 3 languages supported from the same database
  •   Access / MS SQL Server / mySQL database.

Product / category options

  •   Unlimited number of products
  •   Upselling of related, bestselling, recommended products as well as suggesting products purchased by other customers
  •   Product reviews and ratings feature
  •   Gift certificate feature
  •   Gift registry and wish lists
  •   Spry tabbed panels
  •   Show recently viewed items
  •   Show multiple currencies
  •   Place products in several categories
  •   Allow customers to filter products by keyword, price, grouping etc
  •   Extra detail page for more detailed product descriptions with layout options
  •   Show multiple product images
  •   Image upload
  •   Allows for use of HTML in product descriptions to make formatting simpler
  •   Setup and assign Designers / Manufacturers / Drop Shippers to products and send them order details if required on receipt of orders
  •   Manufacturers page
  •   Donations feature
  •   Provision of coupons so clients can purchase at a discounted rate by entering their coupon code
  •   Apply discounts by product or category depending on total purchase or quantity ordered
  •   Specify the number of products per page
  •   Choice of product and category layouts, using one or multiple columns of products
  •   Optional images choice for categories
  •   Choice of product listing by price, id, user choice or alphabetically
  •   Product options allow for the selection of color, size etc.with price differences shown in real time - choose between drop down menus and radio buttons
  •   Product option selection can change product image displayed
  •   Multiple purchase feature for product options
  •   Allow clients to type in their own requirements for a particular product
  •   Product options can have their own product ID
  •   Clone products and product options for faster input
  •   Filter results option for products page
  •   Wholesale / retail pricing depending on login
  •   Quantity pricing option
  •   Option of showing the "buy" button or an "Out of stock message".
  •   Option of maintaining a product in your inventory but not showing on the store
  •   Stock management feature permits you to define the number of products in stock, and the store will
    automatically generate an "Out of stock" message once the last item in stock has been purchased
  •   Notify customer email when stock is replenished
  •   Stock management for product options
  •   Show number of products in stock on the products page
  •   Set minimum purchase total requirement
  •   Email to friend link option - product specific
  •   Choice of currency symbols and formatting
  •   Change all store generated language from one place
  •   Option to remove buy / checkout buttons making the plus version compatible for other uses eg. real estate listings, online catalog etc
  •   Order categories to suit your needs
  •   Option of showing list price / your price
  •   Show product ID, SKU, Manufacturer on the product pages.

Shipping / checkout features

  •   Weight based shipping by zone
  •   Flat rate shipping
  •   USPS shipping rate integration and order tracking
  •   UPS shipping and order tracking
  •   FedEx shipping and order tracking
  •   Canada Post
  •   Free shipping option (choose by country and / or total order or number of items purchased)
  •   Price based shipping
  •   Shipping estimator before checkout
  •   Streamlined checkout process
  •   Saved cart for non-logged in customers
  •   Customer shipping carrier selector
  •   Provide a different shipping method for international customers in respect to domestic buyers
  •   Global handling charge option
  •   Handling charge per payment provider
  •   Handling exempt products
  •   Offer customers a tracking number
  •   Compatible with all major tax systems (including Australia & Canada)
  •   Offline credit card processing
  •   Complete integration with the top payment processors, and / or email notification only
  •   Manual order creation
  •   Order status look up page for customers
  •   Automatic email to customers on order status change
  •   Integrates PayPal's Instant Payment Notification for secure order processing
  •   Cardinal Commerce 3D Secure system to provide Verified by VISA, Mastercard SecureCode and J/Secure functionality
  •   Email notification once an order has been placed
  •   Printable receipt on thanks page
  •   Google Analytics ecommerce tracking
  •   HTML header and footer for the confirmation email
  •   Download orders to a .csv file
  •   Print packing slips from the admin orders page
  •   Print invoices from the admin orders page
  •   Collect email address on checkout
  •   Send out newsletters
  •   Filter newsletter recipients by product purchased, location, wholesaler etc
  •   "Remember me" option for return users
  •   Javascript and Cookie disabled detection
  •   Block IPs or IP ranges.

* For development environment we require a UNIX / Linux server with a minimum of PHP 4.1 and a mySQL database. For hosting and domains please click here!
** If you don't know where to start please contact us for private consultation.