Monday, May 10, 2004 - Back

Press Release
SOURCE: Early Impact, LLC

ProductCart Build To Order v2.6 features improved product configurator

New version allows catering, printing, and other service businesses to effectively sell online

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 10, 2004. /For General Release/ -- Early Impact, an ecommerce software development company, announced today the release of ProductCart Build To Order v2.6, which includes an improved product configurator to allow businesses to more effectively handle the sale of configurable products and services over the Internet.

ProductCart Build To Order is a completely unique ecommerce system that combines a shopping cart, a product configurator, and an online quoting module. It is unlike any other small business ecommerce application in that it specifically targets businesses that sell complex product and services. Catering, printing, customer computer, custom furniture, industrial machinery... are just some of the many applications.

Version 2.6 contains a large number of significant improvements to ProductCart Build To Order's configurator software. The new features give businesses additional levels of flexibility in terms of how their customers can customize their product (or service) during the ordering or real-time quoting process. Among the new capabilities:

• Associate a quantity field with any selectable item. When setting up a configurable product or service, store administrator 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 they are allowed to select more than one unit. Therefore, on the same product or service configuration page, stores 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). View a demo gift basket >>
• 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 custom business cards. Change the quantity and everything is recalculated "on the fly". View a demo printing business >>
• 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 regardless 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 store managers to include in the product or service configuration items that add a set amount to the order total, regardless of the quantity ordered. 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 (e.g.: appetizers, 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, Disk Jockey, flower arrangements, etc.). View a demo catering business >>
• Show category-specific instructions on the configurator pages. Configuring a custom product or service can be somewhat intimidating to a new visitor to an online store. Now store managers can better guide their 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 to ProductCart v2.6. ProductCart Build To Order is available from Early Impact starting at $1,495 per storefront. Web designers and other resellers enjoy discounts, sales leads, and priority technical support.

For more information and a full featured demonstration of ProductCart Build To Order, click here.

About Early Impact

Since 2001, Early Impact has been developing ecommerce software for small businesses. Its ProductCart line of shopping cart software is now used by thousands of Internet stores around the world. A small sample of these stores can be found at: http://www.greatonlinestores.com. Hundreds of Web design companies have chosen it as their ecommerce system of choice for building online storefronts for their customers. Early Impact is privately owned and headquartered in Mission Viejo, CA.

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