eCommerce, selling services and products online, is no longer a thing of the future. With £46.6 billion spent online in 2007, a staggering one in every six pounds spent by UK consumers, and minimal overheads required to service the business, whether or not to sell online is an easy choice for businesses to make.

However navigating the eCommerce minefield can be a tricky process, requiring knowledge of; banking forms and rules, business and consumer protection regulations, payment services and gateways (the choice of which can vary depending on your business/product types and levels), not to mention having complex "shopping cart" web sites built.

Fortunately we specialise in this area and can help your business start selling online quickly.

Customers like Ruth Batten, Frogleaf and Premiere Cells completely understand this, which is why they chose us to get their businesses selling online.

We produce eCommerce sites at two levels, "micro" eCommerce sites - ideal for those selling a small number of items with a low monthly volume, and full "shopping cart" based eCommerce sites for those customers who want a fully featured retail online store.

Micro eCommerce sites

Our "micro" eCommerce sites are designed for customers who wish to sell a limited number, typically 20 or less, products or services online.

A "purchase" page is added to the customer site allowing customers to view a list of products or services, optionally with images, and select quantities of each before "checking out" and making payment through a payment provider (which is pre-selected based on customer budget and transaction volume).

Typical examples of this type of site are Frogleaf and Ruth Batten.

Full eCommerce sites

Our full eCommerce sites are ideal for customers who wish to have a fully-featured shopping site which includes shopping carts, stock levels, reviews, and much more. With this type of site you, your staff, and your customers have a much wider range of facilities including :-

• Personal and "guest" shopping carts
• Customer registration and multiple delivery addresses
• Printable receipts
• Viewable order history and order status tracking
• Payment through a variety of methods including Cheque, Credit/Debit Cards, BACS, and In-Person
• Customer product reviews and recommendations
• The abilty to view products by group, manufacturer, model, or see newly added products.
• Product searches

For the store owner, this level of site also includes :-

• A full "back-office" administration system.
• The ability to add, delete, edit, and categorise products into categories/group and subcategories.
• The facility to track stock levels and automatically or manually mark products in/out of stock.
• Customer email and newsletter facilities, to announce new products or services.
• Reports showing stock levels, custom transactions, best-viewed products and best-sellers
• Functional to put products on time-limited "special offer" price discounts
• Customer and account editing
• Order processing and tracking, with automatic notification to customers of order status changes.
• Credit and Debit card processing via a number of different payment providers.

We also offer additional "bolt-on" modules including :-

• Credit/Gift Vouchers - Allowing customers to purchase gift vouchers and email them to friends, and store owners to re-credit customer accounts or reward volume customers with credit amounts.
  
• Discount Coupons - The store owner can create coupon offers for customers to use at checkout time, coupons can be individual or available to all customers, can be used unlimited times or for a specified number of uses, and can be restricted to certain products or product categories. Ideal for offering fixed or percentage discounts when marketing to new prospect customers.
  
• Wish-lists, allowing your customers to create "wishlists" of your stock which their friends can then view and purchase for them.
  
• Site news, make new product announcements/update information available to all users.
  
• Integrated discussion forums.
  
• "News ticker" - A scrolling news box containing highlighted site news
  
• Articles - Enhance your store by providing you and your stuff with the ability to create a searchable archive of product or service information, ideal for hints and tips or usage instructions.
  
• Loyalty schemes - Reward regular buyers with "loyalty points", allowing the customer to use them for future purchases.
  
• Editable testimonials.
  
• Automatic download of electronically-deliverable products, e.g. Ringtones, eBooks, MP3s, etc.
  
• Media/MP3 preview for downloadable products

Typical examples of this site level are Style Exchange, Premiere Cells, and Karen's Cards.

The choice of site level is up to you, but by offering both levels and combining it with our knowledge of the eCommerce market, we can work with you to determine the best solution for your needs and get you selling online as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.