Wayne N. Kawamoto
Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
ShopSite, Inc., a provider of Web catalog software, released version 6.0 of ShopSite, the company’s advanced e-commerce shopping cart application. ShopSite is available in three different applications: ShopSite Pro, ShopSite Manager and ShopSite Starter.
ShopSite Pro v6.0
Two major features that have been added to ShopSite Pro v6.0 include United Parcel Service’s Rates and Service Selection tool and National Processing Company’s processing credit card payment gateway. In addition, fraud prevention features, electronic couponing, digital downloads and improved performance capabilities have all been added to Shop Site Pro v6.0. Pricing for ShopSite Pro v.6.0 is $1,295 for a one-time/license fee. Monthly fees are also available.
ShopSite Pro v6.0 includes the following new features:
— UPS Rates and Service Selection enable online shoppers to compare, price and select UPS shipping services to best fit their needs and budget. This feature occurs on the first check-out screen and gives online merchants real-time UPS published shipping charges at the point of order entry, eliminating the need to estimate shipping charges.
— Merchant Account Application and Credit Card Payment Gateway from NPC allows an e-retailer to apply online for a merchant account and use a credit card payment gateway all from one vendor.
— Fraud Prevention measures now include having the shopper supply the 3-4-digit credit card code (e.g. located on the back of Visa cards) to help ensure the shopper actually has the physical card in hard.
— Electronic Couponing enables merchants to directly target customers by e-mailing a coupon link or code for a specific promotion. E-coupons will include a specific percentage or dollar amount off a product, group of products, or the entire order.
— Digital Downloads allow merchants to sell software, audio books, video clips, and pictures on their shopping sites. This can open new revenue streams and product segments for online merchants.
— Downloadable Orders into Intuit’s QuickBooks allows for near real-time data keeping, immediate display of orders, and an easy-to-use accounting system for online merchants.
— Improved performance made possible by shrinking the file size of ShopSite to one-tenth the size of previous versions, providing faster updates to the site while reducing the amount of disk space required by ShopSite.
ShopSite Manager v6.0
ShopSite Manager v6.0 has been enhanced with the following features: UPS Rates and Service Selection, fraud prevention measures, merchant account application and credit card payment gateway from NPC, product search, and improved performance. Pricing for ShopSite Manager v6.0 is $495.00 for a one-time licensing fee. A monthly fee is available as well.
About ShopSite Starter v6.0
ShopSite Starter v6.0 is only available through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and includes fraud prevention measures, the credit card payment gateway from NPC, improved performance and reduced footprint. The pricing for ShopSite Starter v6.0 is generally less than $5.00 per month and is usually included in monthly hosting fees from an ISP.
According to the company, statistics show that a large number of electronic shopping carts are abandoned once the online shopper finally sees what the shipping costs are estimated to be. By integrating UPS Rates and Service Selection OnLine Tool into the e-commerce shopping cart applications, shoppers do not have to wait to find out about the shipping costs, rather they get the shipping cost on the initial order screen.
For additional information on ShopSite, including a detailed features list, visit www.shopsite.com .