ecommerce packages

When a customer logs back into their account on your website, a message such as Welcome back Name would be displayed on the website. If preferred, a cookie can be placed on the user’s computer when they initially register (with their permission) to allow them to be logged in automatically.

At each point that the customer is invited to log in to their account, the option will also be there for them to enter their email address to have their password emailed to them.

If the wish list functionality is integrated a link on each product page will allow the customer (when logged in) to add a product to their wish list rather than straight to the basket.

Within the customer’s account a list of these ‘favourite’ items will be shown with the ability to delete or move to the basket for purchase.

The wish list functionality does not include a ‘wedding list’ system to allow 3rd parties to view and buy items from an individual’s wish list. This feature can be developed if required – please contact us to discuss your exact requirements.

By this we mean taking dynamic URL’s and ‘flattening’ them to create static URL’s.

In practice this means taking a URL that would have been automatically generated (for example when you added a new product to the website through the content management system) and may have a URL that looks something like:

http://www.awebsite.com/product.aspx?productid=15

and automatically converting it to look like:

http://www.awebsite.com/product-15-The_Product_Name.html

this has the benefit of adding keywords to your URL. In addition, from a human browser experience, they look ‘friendlier’ and from a search engine spider viewpoint the more easily accessible structure of the URL may speed up the indexing process.

We use this facility to indicate the type of Ecommerce site we would recommend, based on our experience, that a business would need.

These figures are not set in stone and we do not physically limit any website to a number of products and/or variants – It is possible to run a Starter site with 4000 products however our experience shows that our pro and custom functionality may prove useful when operating larger businesses.

The number of levels of categories that can be shown in the menu structure of your website are limited to the following: Categories and Sub-Categories within the Starter package, Categories, Sub-Categories and Sub-Sub-Categories within the Pro package and, dependant on design, there are no limits within our Custom websites.

This facility allows for products to be individually given additional options (engraving / gift wrapping etc.) for the customer to select before adding the product to their basket.

For example, to choose for the item to be giftwrapped, adding a name for engraving or uploading an image to be printed on the product.

Options available to be added to each product are:

• Text
• Number
• Yes / No choice
• Choose from a list of options
• Image upload
• File upload

Each option can be marked as required or not and have an additional price (percentage or fixed) associated with it.

For example, a necklace could have the option of entering an initial for engraving (not required and a £5 additional cost if chosen) plus the option of choosing from a list of 3 colours of wrapping paper at no extra cost.

Each product can have multiple variants such as size and colour. In theory the number and type of variants are unlimited however we would recommend that, if you have more than three variant types per product or more than 30 actual variants per product (ie small / blue would be one variant), we should discuss the most effective way of displaying these to your customers.

Each variant can, if wanted, have a different product code, description, prices, weight, supplier details, VAT rate and stock level.

The ability for each product to have a 'price-break' structure, whereby the cost for purchasing one of an item would be different to the item price when purchasing 5 (for example). Both the prices and the 'breaks' are completely customisable for each product and the costs are automatically updated as the customer alters the quantity in their basket.

Standard integration involves the customer entering all their details on the website except their credit card information and being taken from the checkout page to the card processing page to input credit card details in a secure environment.

Depending on the gateway used, the card processing page can be customised to a greater or lesser extent and customers can be returned to your website once the order has been confirmed.

Please talk to us before entering into any agreement with a bank or payment gateway, although all can be integrated we have had many years of working with these gateways and each have specific pros and cons which may influence your final decision.

Credit card details can also be taken on your own website and passed through to the receiving bank without your customer ever leaving your website.

Using this system will require a compatible payment gateway and SSL certificate (to pass through the information securely) please contact us to discuss the suitable options. On-site payment processing can include 3D Secure if required.

We would usually recommend the on-site processing option simply because of the higher level of control you have over the checkout look and feel. In addition, you have the benefit of keeping the customer on your own website and eliminating some of the occasions where a customer can be lost.

An on-site checkout can also be included on a Starter website if required, just ask us about any upgrade costs.

A fast checkout enables to customer to place an order without having to register on the website.

This doesn't mean that data isn't collected from a customer, just that the information is gathered in the background and a password is automatically generated rather than requested.

The fast checkout works well as a complement to the standard system, although it can be used as a complete replacement if preferred. By using the two in tandem, customers can initially place orders without feeling that they are being asked for any unnecessary information (although we would always recommend that the information asked for was the minimum required to process an order) and once the order is placed they still have the order tracking information available in their automatically generated account, should they wish to access.

Email addresses can be collected simultaneously through a dedicated newsletter sign-up form on the site and an 'opt-in' field at registration.

Once collected, the sign up details are available to be exported as an Excel file

The Email to a Friend functionality allows your customers to send product details directly to a friends email address with a personal message.

The email received will have your website details, the senders name, email & message plus a direct URL to the product being discussed.

For up-selling purposes, the website can suggest alternatice or related products to customers, for example; Customers who bought this also bought' suggestions

These suggestions can be set manually by the website owners or selected randomly

Competition pages can be a very useful source of additional traffic for websites - competitions should be run to promote your products and service to new customers and as an incentive to entice current customers back to the site.

Competition pages are designed to encourage visitors to browse your website (for example to find the answer to a competition question) and to sign up to your mailing list.

Please call us to discuss the many different ways we can suggest for you to market your website

Please contact us to see a demo of our Ecommerce content management system, TVI Commerce in action

When orders are placed and paid for through the website they are automatically added to your open orders area within TVI Content.

From here you can mark each order and item as on order, refunded, cancelled or dispatched. When dispatched, items in an order can be added to multiple packages for delivery, each with their own tracking number and each with a dispatch note.

We are a Sage partner and have also integrated TVI Commerce with many 3rd party warehousing and stock control systems.

Please talk to us about your business requirements and we will recommend the best type of integration for you

We use very comprehensive Forum software when required for our websites and integrate the systems so your customers only need one login for both the shop and forum.