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New shopping cart features recently added to
ProductCart 2.6

Version 2.6 of ProductCart represents another substantial improvement to our shopping cart software. Especially with regard to the product configurator module within the Build To Order version of the shopping cart. Dozens of ecommerce features have been added and numerous improvements have been applied to many different areas of the application. Below is a partial list.

New features that apply to ALL versions of ProductCart

• Help Desk
  We added to ProductCart a customized, "lite" version of our Bugs Manager issue tracking and project management system. This means that ProductCart now includes a full-featured Help Desk system, which will allow customers and store managers to communicate in an organized fashion. Both customers and store administrators can open a ticket and are notified via email whenever updates are posted. Multiple files can be attached to a posting. For example, a customer may use the system to ask a question related to an order, or upload a graphic to be printed on a T-Shirt they just bought. Similarly, a store administrator may use the system to update a customer on an issue related to an order, or show a proof of that custom-printed T-Shirt.

• Multiple package shipments
  ProductCart can handle orders that are shipped in multiple boxes. Products flagged as oversized are by default shipped in a separate package (a product can be easily set as oversized using the Control Panel). In addition, the administrator can now set a maximum weight per package in the General Shipping Settings area. If an order exceeds that weight, the order is automatically divided over multiple packages. This reduces the changes of no rates being returned from a shipping service provide such as UPS, for instance, because the weight limit has been exceeded.
• Handling of very light products
  On a product by product basis, you can now set how many units of the products make 1 pound (or 1 Kg.). This allows the system to properly calculate shipping charges when shipping extremely light products (e.g. business cards, pins, buttons, electrical parts, etc.). These are products that are typically ordered in large quantities. This feature works extremely well when combined with the Product-specific quantity validation feature mentioned below.
• Product-specific quantity validation
  You can now specify on a product by product basis whether a certain product can only be purchased in multiples of N, where N can be any number. For example, if you are selling products whose unit price is extremely low (e.g. business cards, pins, electronic components, etc.), you can force the customer to purchase a minimum of N units, and at the same time force the customer to always purchase a multiple of N units. For example, you could set up your store so that custom-printed business cards can only be purchased in multiples of 250.
• Customer Import Wizard
  ProductCart now allows you to import customer information from another application. This makes it easier for businesses to switch to ProductCart from another ecommerce software (otherwise changing ecommerce software would force all store customers to have to register again). It also makes it possible for you to import customer accounts that are already in your accounting software, thus making it more convenient for customers to start using your online store, as they will not have to register.
• Advanced Checkout Options
  ProductCart now features a series of advanced options that affect the checkout process and allow online stores in specific industries to collect important order information.
  • Order delivery date & time
    You can show delivery date & time fields during checkout (e.g. catering business). The date & time fields can be validated so that it is at least 24 hours in the future and against a list of blackout dates. Customers will be able to view a list of blackout dates during checkout.
  • Restricted delivery area: ZIP Code validator
    You will be able to limit delivery by ZIP codes. This feature is useful to stores that only delivery to small geographic areas (e.g. catering business). Customers will be able to view a list of accepted postal codes during checkout.
• Nickname and repeat orders
  Customers that place multiple orders on a store will now be able to "nickname" them to make them more recognizable in the View Previous Orders section of their password-protected account area. They will also be able to easily "repeat" a previously placed order, at which time all products are re-added to the shopping cart. Customers that periodically re-order the same products (e.g. office supplies) will appreciate this new time-saving feature.
• Search engine friendliness: generate HTML product map
  Who is not concerned about search engine optimization? Most of your store traffic typically comes from search engines. To this extent, we have added and we continue to add to ProductCart features that are aimed at increasing the search engine friendliness of your ecommerce store. For example, in v2.6 you can now easily generate an HTML page that lists categories and products, and links to the corresponding ASP pages. This page will help search engine spiders crawl and index you store catalog. Combine this feature with the dynamic Meta Tags generator that is already part of ProductCart for additional search engine friendliness.
• Other changes and improvements (this is only a partial list).
  • Ability to purge credit card numbers currently stored in the database, if any. Credit card numbers are stored in an encrypted format. This feature provides extra security as you can completely remove them from the store database when they are no longer needed (old orders). Note that credit card numbers are only stores in the system database when using offline credit card processing, or when using Authorize.Net or VeriSign Payflow Pro in authorization-only mode (in all other cases c/c information is not stored in the database).
  • Ability to display credit card information on the printer-friendly version of the order details page in the Control Panel to help with manual processing of credit card orders. This applies only to stores using offline credit card processing, or when using Authorize.Net or VeriSign Payflow Pro in authorization-only mode.
  • Ability to add an invoice number to the printer-friendly Order Invoice page, instead of using the order number automatically generated by ProductCart.
  • Ability to change the default name of any payment type, directly via the Control Panel (e.g. change "Credit Card" to "Visa & Mastercard").
  • Ability to show a product category only to a wholesale customer. The category is hidden to retail customers.
  • Ability to hide prices from the printer-friendly Order Invoice page, thus creating a Packing Slip.
  • Added ability to hide the "Preview Shipping Charges" link on the View Shopping Cart page
  • Added CDOSYS detection to the ProductCart activation wizard (email component)
  • Show total order weight on Order Details and Edit Order page in the Control Panel
  • Improved product cloning to including category assignments, brand, product options, and custom fields.

New features that apply ONLY to the Build To Order version of ProductCart

As mentioned above, we have applied significant improvements to the product configurator that is the center piece of the unique Build To Order version of ProductCart. The new features give you additional levels of flexibility in terms of how your customers can customize their product (or service) during the ordering or real-time quoting process.

• Associate a quantity field with any selectable item
  When setting up a configurable product or service, you can now show/hide a quantity input field for any of the options assigned to the product. This is a huge improvement to the product configurator. For example, when ordering a custom gift basket, customers will be able to select how many units they need for any of the products that they are adding to the gift basket, as long as you are allowing them to select more than one unit. Therefore, on the same product or service configuration page, you can have a combination of items that can be added to the configuration in more than one unit (i.e. the quantity field is shown), and items that can only be selected, but for which a quantity cannot be specified (i.e. they can only add one unit to the configuration - the quantity field is hidden).
• Set quantity discounts for selectable items
  Depending on the number of units of the configurable product that the customer is purchasing, and/or on the number of units of a specific item added to the configuration, the price of that item can change dynamically based on quantity discount tiers set for it. This powerful feature has a wide range of applications. For example, the unit price of the option "4-Color Printing" may change as the customer decides to purchase 2,000 instead of 500 custm business cards. Change the quantity and everything is recalculated on the fly, without refreshing the configuration page.
• Quantity-independent additional charges
  Continuing on the "business cards" example, an order for 500 business cards could be charged the same $150 setup fee that is charged on an order for 10,000 business cards. Similarly, having a Jazz Band at a wedding reception would cost $1,500 regarless of the number of guests. The price of the "dinner" portion of the wedding reception, however, does change based on the number of invited guests. ProductCart Build To Order now allows you to separate itesm that affect the product or service configuration regardless of the quantity ordered. You can associate N additional charges with the configurable product or service and organize them in meaningful categories. In the storefront, these charges are shown to customers on a page separate from the product or service configuration page. Continuing on the "wedding reception" example, the shopping cart will now allow customers to first configure their dinner (appertizers, first courses, soups & salads, beverages, etc.), where the total price is a function of the selected items and the number of guests, then add other items whose price is not affected by the number of guests (e.g. photographer, dj, flower arrangements, etc.).
• Show category-specific instructions on the configurator pages
  Configuring a custom product or service can be somewhat intimidating to a new visitor to your store. Now you can better guide your customers by showing comments or instructions above each category of selectable options. Especially on complex product configuration pages, this feature will make the ordering process much easier for the customer.

Note that this is only a partial list of the over 130 new features and enhancements added as part of the ProductCart v2.6 update.