Starter Store Highlights

You've built a dynamic storefront, and customers are ordering. Now what? Many commerce packages fall short at this point, but merchants know that the key to success is repeat business. Repeat business is generated by a positive customer experience - not only during the shopping process, but after the order is placed. How well the order is managed is often what is most remembered by the customer. StoreSense gives you the tools to manage the entire customer experience with its powerful, easy-to-administer back office.

Checkout
Items to be purchased are placed in an electronic shopping cart. The cart shows all items in the cart, their price, and estimated shipping charges. Visitors can view their cart at any time.

The purchase process is very easy and straightforward. New customers are asked to provide their billing information and address. Next, they are presented with an online invoice/receipt showing the details of their order, including tax and shipping. They are asked to confirm or cancel. That's it. Quick and easy.

Existing customers just provide their email address and password. They are then presented with the details of their order. Again, quick and easy.

Customers are presented with familiar payment options, including major credit cards, PayPal®, their store card, electronic and paper checks. The entire purchase process is SSL enabled, reassuring customers that their personal information is transmitted securely. Additionally, all payment information is encrypted.

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Customer Service
Immediately after an order is placed, an order confirmation is sent to the customer via e-mail. This helps to reassure the customer that their order is being processed. The information contained in the confirmation can be customized to fit your store requirements.

In addition, StoreSense allows you to build in critical customer service information as you create your store. Within the Setup Wizard, StoreSense offers Store Locator, Frequently Asked Questions and Privacy Statement templates, which you can customize with your own store details. Offering this information allows you to easily provide a superior level of service to your customers while reducing overhead for your business.

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Store Administration
The StoreSense back office is organized by functional manager, with each having responsibility for a specific aspect of store operations, much as in a physical retail location.

The Store Administration home page gives you a high-level snapshot of store activity and key business metrics. You can select and customize the information to be displayed on this page. "At a Glance" information regarding store activity is also available on each manager landing page.

StoreSense is packed with wizards and context-sensitive help to simplify complex tasks and assist with managing your store on an ongoing basis. For example, wizards are available to help you set up your shipping and billing, helpful tips appear on more complex pages, and an extensive Online Guide is available in the toolbar.

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Billing Preferences
Payment option include credit cards, store cards, paper checks, electronic checks, PayPal and World Pay. You can accept all of these or just a few.

If you do not have an Internet merchant account, StoreSense allows you to apply for one online. Upon confirmation of your application, usually within 24 hours, StoreSense will automatically generate your account. No more lengthy applications. No more weeks of waiting and faxing paper back and forth. StoreSense brings you the power of the Internet in a way that's immediate and tangible for your business.

If you prefer not to invest in an Internet merchant account, you can accept payments in your online store using PayPal, electronic checks or paper checks.

For secure, real-time transaction processing, you may choose from one of the many popular real-time payment processors already integrated into StoreSense. If you already have account established with one of these companies, one can easily configure StoreSense to leverage that existing account. If your credit card processor supports it, you can collect an additional credit security code from your shoppers.
View a list of payment processors/gateways currently integrated with StoreSense.

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Shipping & Sales Tax
Determine how shipping will be calculated based on your business model and product offering. You can choose to calculate shipping based on order dollar amounts, order item count or on order weight. Or, use the StoreSense built-in shipping capabilities with FedEx®, UPS®, USPS®, or Canada Post®.

Tax is calculated automatically and presented to the shopper based on their billing or shipping address. You determine the states where tax should be collected. Or, calculate tax automatically by adding the external CyberSource Tax Calculator service.

If you conduct business in Canada, StoreSense offers sophisticated tax calculation capabilities to determine GST (Goods and Services Tax) and PST (Provincial Sales Tax).

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Orders
StoreSense allows quick and easy access to orders by invoice number, tracking number or customer name.

View and manage pending orders by their status (awaiting authorization, ready for shipping, etc). If you are processing payment information offline, it's easy to update order status and mark orders shipped. For those merchants processing credit card information in real-time, the entire process can be completely automated - from credit card authorization through settlement.

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Products & Inventory
Managing your products is quick and easy with StoreSense. For smaller changes, an easy-to-use interface is available that allows you to view and update product information. For large changes to your product inventory, you have the option of importing products from a database. Changes are available immediately to shoppers.

Also from within the Product Manager, you can place individual products on sale, including start and end dates.

In the event that you discontinue a product, it can easily be removed from your store's product count while keeping the information for invoices and reports. Additionally, it will not be included in your store's product limit.

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Customers
StoreSense allows you to automate many of your customer service functions, creating a positive experience for your shoppers. An automated e-mail look up of lost passwords is available to provide a quick response if someone forgets their password.

If a customer does call, their order history and profile are accessible, enabling you to easily respond to account inquiries. Customer profiles are maintained that contain billing information, such as address and payment information. Once a customer has purchased from you, the next time they buy, they do not have to reenter their billing information. A search engine allows you to retrieve all customer profiles, or individually by last name, e-mail address or customer number.

At any time, you can update a customer's record. Additionally, you can add a new customer's information through an easy-to-use interface or export the data to use with other business applications.

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Reports
Customers are coming to your store, and they're buying. The entire process is managed to provide superior service and generate repeat business. Now what? StoreSense provides you with the information you need to stay on top of trends and continue to satisfy your customers.

Get a quick view of your site's activity in the Store Administration console, which is customizable to meet the needs of your business and is accessible at any time. The console highlights the number of visitors, number of orders, new customers, sales, number of carts created and abandoned, as well as the best selling product. This information is presented in real time.

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