Shopping Cart Focus – CoreCommerce

CoreCommerce is an all-in-one eCommerce solution, providing webhosting through Rackspace, site building tools, a shopping cart, and integration with several (26) payment gateways.Unfortunately, you cannot host CoreCommerce with a third-party provider because it is hosted on their servers. You can though make CoreCommerce a subdomain of a domain you have hosted with a third-party provider.

CoreCommerce integrates with eBay so you can post your products in an auction or at a fixed price. CoreCommerce also integrates with QuickBooks to simplify all the bookkeeping and inventory. A long checkout process often leaves abandoned shopping carts, so to avoid this, CoreCommerce lets your customers place an order on a single page. One particularly innovative feature is allowing the customer to personalize the product. This is ideal if your product will be engraved or otherwise personalized. CoreCommerce is all web-based, you don’t have to install any software.

Key Features

• No setup fee
• No transaction fees
• Ability to sell “soft” or downloadable goods
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Search engine submission
• One Page Checkout
• Auto resize of images
• eBay and Facebook integrations

Is anyone currently using CoreCommerce? How is it working for you?

Good article written by the Mercury Payment Systems staff about the success of their payment processing system

For Dan Horrocks, a POS reseller and owner of Horrocks Point of Sale Systems, the topic of card data security naturally comes up when he’s upgrading a client’s POS software or performing maintenance. It’s an easy way to discuss the importance of following PCI compliance best practices with customers on an individual basis.

One objection Horrocks often fields during such conversations is the price of ensuring PCI compliance.

“There’s some resistance from customers to PCI data security compliance,” he says. “Independent restaurants often don’t see the need to pay for preventative measures because they aren’t concerned about a security breach occurring at their business.” However, more than 90 percent of the compromises occur at small to mid-size merchants, according to recent statistics. And 81 percent of the victims were not PCI compliant.

“Mercury has done a good job of proactively helping dealers stay at the forefront of security,” says Horrocks. “Mercury’s education puts us in a good position to help our merchants be PCI-compliant.”

Armed with the latest PCI information, he can help clients overcome their hesitation.

“PCI compliance may cost money, but it’s better to be on the security forefront than playing catch-up,” Horrocks tells clients. “If there is any kind of problem, they’re going to pay the price and wish they had implemented secure practices and processors.”

Horrocks is especially concerned for his non-Mercury customers because he has experienced Mercury’s commitment to PCI compliance and their POS-specific transaction knowledge. When one of Horrock’s POS customers was still using a non-compliant processor, he urged them to consider Mercury.

“We conveyed the PCI-compliance features of Mercury with Maitre’D,” says Horrocks. “After interacting with Mercury’s sales team and considering their options, our client switched to Mercury.”

Shopping Cart Focus – 3D Cart

3D Cart is put out by a Florida-based company. Their shopping cart product includes installation, security and hosting, various shipping features, marketing and advertising features, and product management. It was designed to allow modifications to the title tag of each individual page, meta tags, and alt tags for images, on content pages, and on item pages. The software automatically creates breadcrumbs which saves time during the building of the site. The company will create a custom design for your site for an additional fee (as needed). You do not need to know HTML to build your site because of the content management system. The software allows you to import the products, setup the shipping/billing options, and submit your site to the search engines (if you really want to go that route). This shopping cart is offered at a monthly fee, with no contracts.

Key Features:

Fully-Customizable Design

Unlimited Images for Products with Flash Image Gallery

“Email-A-Friend” Referral System

Customers Can View and Track Orders In Real-Time

Quickbooks Integration

Search Engine Friendly HTML URLs for SEO/SEM Campaigns

Real-Time Shipping Via UPS®, USPS, FedEx® and Canada Post

Good article by Bala Janakiraman of the E-Commerce Times talking about shopping cart abandonment.

Shopping cart abandonment is an e-commerce evil, but it’s not a necessary one. Researchers have uncovered some of the top reasons customers walk away, and e-tailers that choose to ignore them do so at their peril. Taking a holistic approach to protecting shopping carts can go a long way toward protecting, perhaps growing, revenue.

Up to 70 percent of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts before completing the checkout process, according to SeeWhy, a company specializing in abandonment tracking software. This rate, which rose substantially from 2005 to 2008, is in part a reflection of the intensified comparative shopping that visitors conduct on many sites simultaneously.

The ability of consumers to move easily between and among competitive retail sites has increased the likelihood of shopping cart abandonment. For merchants, this abandonment equals lost revenue. Particularly in this economy, it is imperative that merchants do whatever it takes to guide consumer shopping carts through the checkout process to achieve authorized transactions.

Choosing the right payment management platform can make a big difference to help merchants drive conversion through seamless transaction. Below are some things every merchant should consider to improve overall customer satisfaction until the checkout process is complete.

Convenient Shopping

One of the most important ways to ensure that consumers do not abandon their carts is by providing a clean, hassle free user interface. Consumers who feel overwhelmed or underinformed are likely to abandon their carts immediately.

First, assess how many steps are in the checkout process. Nothing is more frustrating than taking 10-20 minutes to complete a transaction; this type of delay will likely drive consumers away. If you require registration for purchases, consider addressing this step before the user reaches checkout. Forcing a user to wait for a confirmation email before they check out correlates strongly with abandonment rates.

Once a consumer decides to buy, be sure to provide a clear and convenient guide through the checkout process and build confidence along the way.

If you need to collect a large amount of information, make sure to break things up. Separate the required fields into two to three pages to make the checkout process less intimidating. Show the consumer all the costs associated with the purchase either in the first step of the checkout process or in the product description. Specifically, place your shipping rates, guarantee, return, privacy, delivery, customer service and security policies in visible and relevant areas throughout the entire process.

The top reason given for cart abandonment in a May 2009 PayPal Checkout Abandonment Study conducted by comScore was high shipping costs. The survey also found that providing shipping costs up front might have resulted in substantially more customers completing their purchases.

Be sure to include your physical address and contact information at the bottom of every Web page. Usability studies suggest adding “About Us” and “Contact Us” links to build further confidence and trust with the consumer. Ultimately, consumers are less likely to abandon a cart if they are aware of estimated shipping costs and anticipated delivery dates, and if they have an option to call or request live service before they even place an item in their cart.

Alternative Payment and Credit Vehicles

Given the current credit crunch, it is getting harder for some consumers to access credit, so alternative payments are being used more widely. For others, alternative payment brands imply a greater level of personal identity security during online transactions. Alternative payments will represent 31 percent of online dollar volume by 2012, estimated Javelin Strategy & Research.

In order to satisfy customers, merchants need to provide early and consistent messaging throughout the shopping experience, making customers aware of alternative payment methods and clearly educating them on promotional offers available.

Twenty-four percent of shoppers cited a lack of their preferred payment option as the reason for not purchasing, according to the PayPal Abandonment Study. Awareness and a standard payment experience create the conditions of consistency that help drive consumer conversion. Among the most popular alternative payment options available today:

PayPal

By letting customers know that you accept PayPal, you can increase conversion. PayPal is particularly attractive to younger online consumers without credit cards — a significant segment these days. On average, 21 percent of PayPal shoppers at well known merchants’ Web sites would not have made the purchase if PayPal had not been available.

Bill Me Later

Bill Me Later drives incremental business for many merchants because it extends credit at the point of purchase to consumers purchasing high-ticket items. Several merchants have seen a lift beyond 30 percent using alternative payment methods such as Bill Me Later. In addition, Bill Me Later is often recognized for its potential to drive higher order values.

Robust Security

Just as consumer payment methods are influenced by customers’ sense of security, so too are their decisions about where they will shop. Prominently display your efforts to secure the check out process and detect transaction fraud.

These will help to reassure your buyers. Always remember that the actual security of your site may not convince a shopper to purchase if the perception of security is lacking.

User Reviews and Product Ratings

Tapping into social media and online communities are some of the new ways merchants are building word of mouth for their products and services. Online comments and reviews are second only to word of mouth as purchase drivers for Web users, according to a 2008 Rubicon Consulting study.

Once you’ve improved your ability to drive consumers through the purchasing process, you may also want to consider methods such as these to keep them coming back.

The Right Payment Management Partner

Payment processing is significantly more important than most retailers think. Fifty-five percent of consumers think about payments before the final checkout page, for example, according to a report released last year by PayPal and JupiterResearch (now part of Forrester).

Merchants should look at payment management across two fronts:

• First, what should I do to optimize the user experience so that full shopping carts result in fully authorized transactions? What counsel can I get on how to build general navigation and shopping cart checkout? And what role does my payment processing connection play? For many retailers, this will include consideration of how gateways are or are not used. Faster, direct-to-network connections often result in better authorization rates and less delay for the consumer.
• Second, what can my payment management partner tell me about solutions for capturing completed sales from more consumers? What role do alternative payments play? Which alternatives are right for my business? What data is available to help me decide what’s right for me — and for my customers?

Not all of the solutions discussed above work for every merchant, but they should be discussed with a payment processing specialist to determine what payment options will help meet your individual business objectives.

This more holistic approach to protecting shopping carts can go a long way in helping you protect, and perhaps grow, your revenue. Don’t let consumers abandon their carts. Evaluate your conversion rates, consult with a payment processor, and make sure your site is designed for the ultimate shopping experience — one that generates conversion.

We added a new page dedicated to all the POS eCommerce solutions currently out in the market. If you have used any of the solutions, please feel free to comment on them. We will be updating them frequently if we receive any new information.

Pretty convincing article by POSNation (http://posnation.com/articles/coupons.shtml) on the benefits of distributing e-coupons to your customers.

77.3% of consumers used a coupon in the year 2000.

Over 50% of consumers used a coupon in a store or restaurant that was not a grocery store.

The average face value of a coupon was 71 cents in the year 2000.

(for more coupon statistics, see website http://couponing.about.com/cs/aboutcouponing/a/couponusage2000.htm)

That means of the customers that spend money in your store or restaurant, 50-75% of them are actively use coupons in their shopping practices.

The majority of consumers will bring a coupon into a store, and purchase more then just the item the coupon is valid for. Grocery stores offer a few door-busting specials, every week, to bring customers in the door. Once there, most shoppers purchase the rest of their groceries in the same trip. Many other stores offer coupons such as $ 5 off $ 25 or more.

Most coupon-bearing patrons of a restaurant will come with a friend or two that does not have a coupon. One discount can bring a few customers in the door.

Many stores and restaurants offer coupons that are valid at certain times of the day or week, to bring customers in during their ‘dead hours.’

Shopping Cart Focus – Pinnacle Cart:

Pinnacle Cart is a shopping cart solution that is, according to their Website, “built by marketers for marketers “. Their management team has over 30 years of combined sales and marketing experience. They have an impressive client list that includes NPR and American Body Building. The cart is enriched with features that include:

• Unlimited secondary images
• One-Page Checkout feature – “Fastest checkout available on any cart”
• Export data to QuickBooks™, Peachtree™ or other accounting programs
• Supports downloadable (Digital) products
• Supports up to 3 different levels of wholesale pricing
• Create “buy x get x free” promotions
• Ability to create Product Update Newsletters

Additional features can be found at http://www.pinnaclecart.com/shopping-cart-features.htm

Pinnacle Cart is built using PHP / mySQL, which is considered to be the programming language of the internet. Therefore, almost any developer with PHP experience can make customizations to the cart. The cart currently costs $54.95 Per month hosted, $597 Licensed.

Have you or are you currently using Pinnacle? How does this compare with other shopping cart software out there?

Retail Pro is a POS integration system that currently operates in 19 different languages,45,000+ stores and over 75 countries worldwide. The system supports the simplified operations of the entire store through receiving, sales, inventory management, and replenishment. Role-based security ensures that access to specific functionality is limited to the appropriate levels.

Some of its key features include:
* Multicurrency and multi-lingual
* Wireless device enabled using Citrix or Terminal Services
* Built-in serialization and lot tracking
* Integrated credit, debit, gift card and check verification processing

Anyone used this software before? Care to comment on it? How does this compare with other POS integration software in the market today?

A great article by Daniel Yi of POSmatic (http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/point-of-sale-systems-101-the-basics-467633.html) about the basics of Point of Sale Systems. If you are looking for one, read this.

Point of Sale Systems 101

The chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re searching for a point of sale system for your business. Before you make a decision on purchasing anything, it is imperative for business owners or operators to learn and research as much as you can regarding the product in question. You need to ask yourself a few questions. One of them being – “what features & functions would I need from a POS System for my business?”. While you think about that, let us explain briefly on the basics of a POS System.

Which factor makes a point of sale system most valuable? A POS system should help you alleviate the daily chores of your business. A POS system should not interfere or make it harder for you to run your business. It should run parallel to your business operation. A perfect POS system should run your business for you, but not in a literal sense where it takes TOTAL control. You want one comprehensive package for your entire business, either small or large. And it should scale as much as your business grows.

Apples to Oranges : Electronic Cash Registers (ECR) vs. Retail POS Systems

Being in the retail environment, we’re sure you’ve experienced the highs and lows of the industry. Disregarding that fact for the time being, compare a retail store with a POS System to an almost identical store with a standard electronic cash register – there are much differences than first meets the eye.

Generally, small businesses (even medium sized businesses as well) avoid using a Point of Sale Systems. The major reason being the cost. Secondly, they may be so used to their current ways of manually punching in each item into the register, counting inventory on paper and jotting down the daily summary into a log book.

A big portion of these business owners are afraid of investing the time and money in a POS system to only end up regretting it because it just didn’t work as they had hoped for. And this is very understandable. The cost of a complete Point of Sale System with all the necessary hardware & software isn’t cheap for small business owners.

The Misperceived Fear

Although this fear of trying something new and failing is very real, businesses running out-dated electronic cash registers are actually hindering their own growth. Ringing up sales is just about what an electronic cash register is capable of. So in the long run, they’re missing out on all of the necessary elements that help a business grow and flourish. Especially in the retail industry, it is important to have such tools that only a Point of Sale System can provide at your fingertips. The most obvious being: error-free sales transactions, accurate pricing information, inventory management, customer tracking & forecasting, automated purchase orders and sales/daily closing reports.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Now, if you consider and really analyze all of those missing links in your business – then things start to become a bit clearer and evident. The return on investment (ROI) differences for the two businesses become astounding. Simply put, a business has to invest in itself, be it time or money – to be able to grow.

Consider this, with a point of sale system, the long line at the checkout counter can move much faster. Being able to just scan all of the items into the system, while automatically deducting each sold item off the inventory count, generating the total price, receiving cash or swiping card, printing receipt, bagging items if necessary and the customer is out the door before you can say “oh, wait!”. Just think about how much longer it’ll take with just a plain old cash register (keep in mind the inventory count factor). Even a few seconds is a drastic improvement to your turnaround times. Imagine how many more customers you can checkout. And we haven’t even considered the returns and exchanges!

A Point of Sale System provides all of the necessary information a business needs to make critical decisions. It provides flexible reporting and cost & labor saving inventory management tools that help identify vulnerable areas of the business.

Another feature that just cannot be done without a retail point of sale system is customer loyalty programs /frequent shopper program. Such initiatives reward loyal customers with incentives that in turn encourages them to purchase from your business more frequently.

Additional Revenue with Streamlined Operations

Electronic Commerce, aka Ecommerce – is a booming trend for Small Businesses. Once something that could only have been realized by large corporations, it is now possible for small businesses to sell online with ease. For retail stores that might want to venture out into selling on the internet, a retail point of sale system will prove to be most beneficial. All of the sales in the physical location can be in sync with all of the online sales.

The online shop will know when the item is sold out at the retail store, in turn stating that the item is out of stock. And this happens in real time. One price adjustment can affect both operations, coupon codes can be streamlined and discounts can be applied in one effort. All of these features help you run your business your way, the way it’s meant to be run – plus it keeps your customers happy.

Many point of sale systems are capable of ecommerce integration, but research the details. Each company may offer different things. Learn about which features can be streamlined between the pos system and the online shopping cart, and if it suits your business’ needs. A point of sale system can help propel your retail business, regardless of current size or future goals, to new heights while satisfying all of your business needs.

Basic Features of a Retail POS System

• Sales – Simplified checkouts for both, business and customers. Reduce long lines with easy to use scanners and quick touch screens.
• Customers – Build an ever growing community of loyal shoppers. Retain info and history of purchases to learn more about your customers and what they buy. Entice and increase sales with a rewards program.
• Inventory – Easy management of stock levels. Effectively reduce unnecessary investment while protecting against out of stocks by tracking on-hands, on-orders, and shipments.
• Ecommerce – Grow your business by reaching a wider audience. Set up shop on the web with ease.
• Security – Provides a peace of mind. Ensures protection for your business and most importantly, your customer’s sensitive credit card information.
• Reports – Know everything there is to know about your business. Access, process, and print various data to meet, your business’ every needs.

Benefits of a Retail POS System

• Customized – Helps you run your business the right way, which is your way.
• Personnel – Improve customer service. Reduce the time spent by your employees behind an antiquated cash register and free up their time to pay more attention to sales.
• Organization – Eliminate the small headaches. Provides an invaluable tool that allows you to not only process purchases but integrates inventory, customer info, returns, exchanges, credit card processing, rewards programs, sales, records, etc all on one machine.
• Growth – Beat your competitors. With all the necessary information at your fingertips, make faster and better business decisions.

Great article by Erez Katz Bridgeline Software (http://blog.bridgelinesw.com/2009/02/integrated-ecommerce-and-pos-systems/) about why companies should integrate their cCommerce with a POS system.

While evaluating a new eCommerce solution one must pay close attention to Online/Offline integration capabilities. In today’s distributed computing world, real-time and perpetual connectivity with your back office systems is critical.

In this post, I want to concentrate on the integration of online commerce platforms with in-store Point of Sale systems. Obviously, Online/Offline integration goes well beyond that. ERP, Warehouse fulfillment, supply logistics and Accounting Systems are all great examples of Online/Offline integration platforms. However, for brevity and simplicity I will concentrate here on POS alone.

Many traditional “Brick and Mortar” retailers have expanded their reach to the online community with an eCommerce platform (often called Online Shopping Cart).

After all, 24 by 7 availability and the expanded geographical presence of an online store have no match in traditional retail. I find many retailers treating their online store as just another shop in their chain. In fact, with careful planning and strategy, they can leverage their Online/Offline infrastructure to great advantage.

Let’s take just a few simple real-life scenarios and see how a fully integrated retail infrastructure can help.

For most retailers, the average cost of online transactions is dramatically lower than in-store transactions. However, customer loyalty and a good geographical presence must be nurtured and capitalized on. A traditional store’s customer-base can provide a solid early adapter crowd to a newly launched online store. A physical store can distribute personalized coupons to customers during checkout, enticeing those customers to log on and potentially makes purchases online. A convenient shopping experience builds loyalty and with just a few smart marketing techniques, a store can expand their reach virally on the web. “Refer a friend” is a feature that can work very well online. You email a product or a store recommendation to a friend and when that friend makes a purchase, you, the referrer, get a coupon towards your next purchase. This coupon can be redeemed in-store, on-line or in both. This is just another example where you can drive behavior with relative ease as long as you have a good data sharing infrastructure between your traditional POS and your online system.

Another simple advantage for integrating your two retail platforms is inventory availability. Wouldn’t it be nice if you as a store owner can provide real-time inventory access to your customers from their home? How disappointing is it for a customer to come in and find out that the product that was on store shelves just yesterday is no longer in stock? Many retailers provide in-store pickup – allowing a local customer to purchase online but save the shipping and handling cost by physically picking-up their purchases.

With careful strategic planning, a retailer can take full advantage of both worlds. All it takes is an open mind, an executable strategy and the technology for real-time data sharing!