e-commerce features
e-commerce checklist
picking the right features for your website
Koala Web Design designs and builds bespoke e-commerce websites for online retailers. We are happy to provide this checklist of standard features we can offer as part of an "entry-level" website, as well as some of the extras frequently asked for by our clients.
Even defining what you want in the ever-changing world of e-commerce can be defining: use this checklist to evaluate what's best for your online sales channel.
Features in Detail
Flexible Product Catalogue
- Support for up to 20,000 products with product images
- Create unlimited number of product sections and subsections
- Define unlimited product variations such as size and colour
- Optionally assign different prices to different product variants
- Add additional images in a pop-up window
- Add additional text or images in a supplementary page, or a pop-up window
- Specify shipping weights for each product
- Set up different shipping zones with different tariffs
- Add shopper definable fields for personalised products
- Export product and section data
- Import product and section data
- Explorer-style 'drag and drop' style interface to access product items quickly and easily
- Multiple page layout options, including product list with single 'add to cart' button
- Create links to external files or urls
- Show product choices as radio buttons, drop downs or button grids
- Define additional components for each product
- Use one product as a component of another
- Support for downloadable products such as mp3 music
- Hide products and information items from selected customers or customer groups *
- Show different payment methods for online and offline orders *
Customisable Store Design and Layout
- Design Wizard to help you choose your site layout, buttons and colour scheme.
- Wizards to help you set up your store; configure Actinic for your web space; and set up product options.
- Real-time preview of your store as you build it
- Full site customisation using an intuitive 'point and click' interface
- Multiple preview modes provide easy navigation and instant access to any part of your store
- Select from a range of pre-designed themes or mix and match elements to create a unique design
- Complete flexibility to edit of site colour scheme, product/section layout and variables
- Library of design snippets to be used in creating a design
- Create additional content and information pages - build a complete web site
- Word-style toolbar for changing fonts and text styles
- Easy to use 'point and click' HTML code editor
- Create conditions for specific content to appear on the web site
- Integrates with Macromedia Dreamweaver enabling design to take place in Dreamweaver
- Set up different data fields for different types of product, eg Author for books *
Comprehensive Store Management Functionality
- Built-in order-processing module processes orders from receipt to shipment
- Accurately calculates shipping, handling and taxation costs
- Product prices can be both entered and displayed exclusive or inclusive of tax
- Display prices in two currencies simultaneously, using a fixed exchange rate
- Full range of payment options for online orders
- Supports SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for displaying the 'Golden Padlock'
- Print invoices
- Print packing lists and address labels
- Handles both online and offline orders
- One click order processing to allow fast processing of orders, with user-definable actions
- Edit order details
- Monitors stock levels during order processing, with alerts for low stock levels
- Associate actions and dates with orders
- Create and view sales reports such as fastest selling items and best customers
- Generate customer emails with support for unlimited custom email templates.
- Prompted backup and restore feature
- User logon for catalogue management
- Import customer account information
- Single-page order entry form for telephone, phone, fax and mail orders *
- Direct credit card payment processing for telephone, fax and mail orders
- Rearrange the fields in the Orders tab *
- Barcode support *
- Interface directly with Sage Line 50 and QuickBooks accounting systems to transfer orders and import product and customer data *
- Interface directly to an EPOS application *
- Dynamically link products to an external database *
- Real-time credit card processing for offline orders (requires Actinic Payments account) *
Powerful Marketing Features
- Generates search-engine-friendly web sites
- Meta keywords, meta description and title tags are automatically generated
- Meta keywords, meta description and title tags can be edited by the user
- Image alt tags automatically generated from product and section names
- Create customer accounts to increase shopper loyalty
- Google Analytics integration provides comprehensive monitoring of site performance and ROI (requires free Google Account)
- Create Best Sellers list for publication to the web site
- Create Related Product lists to encourage additional purchases
- Automatically generate a New Products list and publish to web site
- Create Also Bought lists to show products other shoppers have purchased
- Apply discounts based on order value and display in the shopping cart
- Apply discounts based on quantity or specific products ordered *
- Apply merchandising discounts such as 'buy one get one free', date-expiring discounts and multiple use coupons
- Generate email lists and mailing lists including mailing labels, envelopes and reports
- Advanced mailing list generation allowing filtering based on a variety of criteria *
- Set up a range of customer groups and apply specific criteria (discounts, messages, payment methods) to each group *
- Make notes under customer details and create action-due dates, and also sort by action-due dates *
Customer Friendly Stores
- Online shopping cart with industrial strength security
- Automated site navigation features including menu bar, section list, site map and 'breadcrumb trail'
- Automatic email confirmation of order
- Remember me' option for returning visitors.
- Cart content summary visible on every page
- Cart contents can be saved for later completion, or as a 'wish list'
- Fast product search
- Search by product variants such as colour and size *
- Fully integrated with all the leading online Payment Service Providers
- Support for secure offline payment processing
- Postcode lookup on the web site for online orders (Postcode Anywhere account required - annual fee applies)
- Postcode lookup on the desktop for offline orders (Postcode Anywhere account required - annual fee applies) *
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