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The focus of WinSell Web is to allow your customers and
salespeople to utilize the Internet to directly order goods and services from your business.
WinSell Web is designed to handle both business-to-consumer and business-to-business situations.
WinSell Web also allows for payments to be accepted at the time the order is placed.
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WinSell Web features two main functional areas:
Allows a user to run the WinSell Pro executables remotely over
the Web. All that is required is a fixed IP address server with an ADSL line, although a
dial-up connection gives useful performance levels. The intrinsic design and network
efficiency of WinSell Pro makes this type of connectivity very efficient and cost-effective.
Dedicated, leased lines are not required.
This Web based connectivity allows a user to access the WinSell
Pro database from anywhere in the world at any time of the day. Any function that can be
performed locally can also be performed remotely. Orders can be entered, invoices can be
cut, and reports can be pulled down. This remote connectivity suits businesses with remote
or dispersed salespeople, and management who are not always able to be on location.
The modular aspect of WinSell Pro allows this technology to be
used in business-to-business situations. For example, a key customer could have an order
module on his local computer that is connected directly to the supplier’s database.
This same Internet connectivity allows for a multisite
installation with a centralized database. This is particularly ideal for businesses that
want to connect smaller satellite locations to the main location.
We currently have a "Head Office" module in development for
central price and purchasing management, and data consolidation. top
The shopping basket allows WinSell customers to offer a Web
browser based buying tool to their customers. WinSell Web offers an e-commerce solution for
both consumer-to-business and business-to-business applications. WinSell Web gives users
with standard Web browsers the ability to check inventory levels and pricing, pull up product
pictures, create orders, pay for orders, inquire on the status of orders, and keep their customer
information up-to-date. top
The remainder of this white paper focuses on the WinSell Web
browser based shopping basket.
There are several huge benefits using the WinSell Pro/WinSell Web
system.
WinSell Web allows your customers to create orders on a worldwide
/ 24 hour a day basis. Customers can query the status of orders and check pricing and
inventory levels at their convenience.
Salespeople who work away from the office can directly enter
orders without having to call or fax the office. They can also check inventory levels and
order status for their customers, giving them the ability to enhance the service they provide to
your customers.
By pushing data entry to the "front-end", more efficient use is
made of staff and order accuracy is improved.
Customer information is directly added to the database from the
browser. There is no retyping of information. The customer can update his information as
required.
Customer orders immediately become orders in the WinSell Pro
database ready to be processed through the WinSell Pro order fulfillment system. There is no
delay waiting for e-mails. Again, there is no retyping of information and accuracy is
improved.
There is only one database to maintain. The WinSell Web
database is either physically the same database that the store uses, or it is the store database
that has been replicated to a Web server. Pricing at the store level is automatically and
immediately changed on the Web site. New items in the store can also immediately be added to
the Web site. top
Key features include:
 | Worldwide 24 hour a day access to your business
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| Handles new and repeat customers
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| The ability for customers to create sales order directly into
the WinSell Pro database |
| The ability to check current inventory levels and pricing
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| The ability to check the status of orders in the system
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| The ability to set up discount prices for preferred customers
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| Qualified customers can have their orders put "On Account"
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| Integrated credit card acceptance
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| Inclusion of sales taxes and shipping charges on orders
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| Catalog creation directly from the web site
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| WinSell Web, working in conjunction with the WinSell Pro
database, keeps track of all your Web customers and sales to those customers, including full
sales history. |
| Repeat customers can login with their own password to avoid
having to fill in customer information again. |
| Customers can maintain multiple ship to addresses which can be
selected during the checkout process. |
| Customers can update and make changes to their address, phone
number, e-mail, etc. |
| Selected customers can be authorized as "On Account" customers
and can charge their purchases against their account. top |
| Customers can be assigned automatic discount levels, which
will allow them to buy from your web site at preferred prices. This is very useful if you
have business customers or customers that belong to buying groups or other clubs.
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| Sales and promotional prices available to your store customers
can also be made available on the Web. |
| Web customers can be setup with special "Web only" prices.
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| Discounted prices, savings in dollars and savings as a percent
can all be displayed on the product page and in the customer's shopping basket.
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| Web customers can earn "customer loyalty" or "frequent buyer"
points based on their Web purchases. These points can be combined with points earned on
in-store purchases. |
| WinSell Web also supports the WinSell Pro "referral" points
program. Purchases made by customers who were referred to your business by an existing
customer can earn points for the original customer. top |
| When a customer uses WinSell Web to place an order, the order
is created directly in the WinSell Pro database, just as if you placed the order at your own
sales terminal. The reporting functions in WinSell Pro will keep you abreast of all of
your new orders. Your customers are sent automatic e-mail confirmations of their order.
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| When an order is filled, it is just a matter of a few mouse
clicks to turn the order into a customer invoice. If an order is only partially filled,
the system can automatically create a backorder for the remaining goods to be shipped.
|
| If a pick slip is required for the warehouse, a copy of the
order with quantities but no prices could be printed as required. This could also be used as a
packing slip. top |
| The inventory displayed by WinSell Web is the same inventory
you carry in your store database. Items flagged as "Web items", will be part of your web
site. Items not flagged as "Web items" will not be shown on the web site, giving you
control over your Web store. |
| Since WinSell Web draws from the WinSell Pro database, prices
are always current. If you change the price in your store database, the Web price is
updated as well. In addition, if you add new products to your store database, they are
immediately available on your web site if you flag them as web items.
|
| Inventory levels can be displayed, hidden or qualified on your
web page. Inventory levels are the current level taken directly from the WinSell Pro
database. |
| Depending on your business model, you can show your customers
your current stock level, or you can use a qualifier such as "Over 1000", "Under 50", etc.
The qualifier will change as predefined inventory levels are hit.
|
| If you prefer not to show stock information, that information
can be kept confidential. |
| Product images can be displayed as thumbnails that
automatically expand to full size when clicked on. |
| Text based product information of an extended nature can be
stored with each item and displayed in a formatted manner automatically.
|
| The items may be categorized extensively for display. top |
| WinSell Web interfaces with
PC Charge and
Authorize.Net for secure online
payment. Both PC Charge and Authorize.Net can be used with most major banks in United
States. They allow you to accept payment by credit card when the customer order is placed.
Additionally, pre-authorized customers can place their orders "On Account". The On Account
orders are tracked through the WinSell Pro system. top
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| WinSell Web integrates seamlessly with the WinSell Pro
database. WinSell Web uses the WinSell Pro Toolkit approach to pull information out of the
database and post orders to the database on a real-time basis.
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| Once WinSell Web is set up, it is like having thousands of
point-of-sale stations worldwide, all connected to your system. Your customers do the
front-end data entry for you, you receive and fill the orders and collect payments.
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| Then you use the WinSell Pro Inventory Control back end to do
the order fulfillment, just as you would with an in store customer.
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| There is no waiting for orders to be emailed to you from your
ISP. You do not need to manually enter customer Web orders on your store POS.
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| WinSell Web, combined with the WinSell Pro database, contains
all the essential items required for providing a catalog. It automatically provides an on-line
catalog with the following:
 | Item name or description
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| Part number |
| Price |
| Picture |
| Extended product definition catalog text
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|
| One of the advanced features of WinSell Web is the ability to
take this information and create an online and/or printed catalog. Catalog pages can be
restricted to categories, allowing for smaller, focused catalogs. The online catalog is
directly linked to product pages for one click movement from the catalog to product detail page.
The catalog function gets its information from the current database, assuring that all prices
and products are up-to-date. |
| For example, if a customer requested a catalog outlining your
line of "Large Widgets", you could quickly, easily and cost effectively, create a current
printed publication containing all the information required by the customer for an email or mail
out. |
| Custom printed catalogs, including pictures can be generated
in Microsoft Word or other publishing applications. top |
WinSell Web is a seamlessly integrated component of the WinSell
Pro invoicing/point-of-sale/order fulfillment/inventory control system.
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| ASP based Web shopping basket accessing Microsoft SQL Server
RDBMS top |
| Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP top |
| Server - Pentium III, 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 300 MB free disk
space top |
| Static IP Internet Connection (ADSL, or similar)
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| Internet Information Server
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| Microsoft SQL Server 7 / 2000 or the free run-time version of
Microsoft's SQL database engine (MSDE) that is provided on the WinSell Pro CD.
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| WinSell Pro |
| SSL installed on IIS (available from Verisign)
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| PC Charge or Authorize.Net
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| Merchant Account usable by PC Charge's IP-Charge or
Authorize.Net top |
- Web User <> ISP <> Internet <> Sever in store (connected
by ASDL line, or other high-speed connection) <> WinSell
Pro system
- Web Users <> ISP <> Internet <> Hosted Sever < Database
replication > In store or head office database (connected by ASDL linetop
| The HTML defining the appearance of the website is a template
that is fully editable with Microsoft Front Page. |
| A moderately experienced WEB designer can modify the
appearance of the system to suite any retail web vendor’s requirements.
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WinSell Web draws data directly from the WinSell Pro database and
displays information on Web pages. Consequently, most information that is available in the
WinSell Pro database can be made available in WinSell Web. Information such as stock
availability, pricing, previously entered orders/quotes, can all be looked up by customers using
standard Web browsers. top
WinSell Web main menu includes:
| Store Home |
| Categories |
| Search |
| Checkout |
| Customer Area |
| Sign in and Sign out top
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The store home is an introductory page to the shopping area of
your web site. It will allow you to put up some copy regarding your Web based store as well
as pictures and graphics. It will also give your customers access to the store's main menu
and shopping features. top
Categories menu allows customers to quickly drill down to their
area of interest. WinSell Web supports three levels of categories/subcategories to allow
customers to quickly and precisely drill down the products they're looking for. Groupings by
supplier or manufacturer can also be integrated into the system. top
WinSell Web contains a powerful and flexible search engine.
If a product number or description is known, the product can be found instantly. Searches
can be done on partial product numbers and partial descriptions, bringing up subsets that will
include all items with that either partial number or partial description. This search
display can include thumbnails pictures of the products. Search limits can be placed on
categories and price ranges. The "wildcard" symbol (%) will allow any character string to be
found. In addition entire categories can be brought up or even the complete item database
can be displayed. Clicking on a product from the search results will immediately take you to
the product page. top
The checkout menu will take you directly to the shopping basket
allow you to complete your purchasing. top
The Sign-in and Sign-out menus allow customers to log in and out
of the web site. Existing customers will be able to update their billing and shipping
information. In addition, customers can be assigned discount levels that are automatically
applied to their purchases when they are logged in. The customer log in is protected by password
that the customer himself defines. top
A mini shopping basket can be shown below the WinSell Web main
menu. This handy display allows customers to see what is in their basket when they are on
the product pages. The mini basket is updated when new items are added to the shopping
basket. top
WinSell Web can be integrated into your existing web site.
When customers are ready to shop they will click a link (such as a "Shop" button) that will take
them to the WinSell Web Store Home on your server. top
WinSell Web has been designed to accommodate different types of
shoppers:
Direct purchasers are shoppers who know exactly what they're
looking for either by part number or part description - these shoppers are most likely repeat
customers, quite often other businesses. They can quickly zero in on the desired product by
searching for the product part number or part description, not unlike your own employees using the
point-of-sale system. top
Focused browsers are shoppers who are looking for a particular
type of item. These shoppers can quickly drill down through the three levels of categories
to browse through the narrow range of specific products that are of interest to them.
top
General browsers are shoppers who are new to your site or
exploring your product offerings. These shoppers can browse the category structure for items
of interest. top
The shopping experience will be different for each type of
customer.
Direct purchasers.
Once direct purchasers arrive at your Store Home, they will click on the customer Sign-in menu
item. Most likely, they already have a Web account with your business. If not, they
can create a new account. After entering their Customer Code and Password, they will click
on the Search menu item. They will search on the appropriate criteria, select items of
interest, add the appropriate quantity to the shopping basket and proceed to the checkout.
Predetermined discounts will automatically be given to these customers and they will see,
on-screen, their discounted prices and savings from your regular prices. Next they have the
opportunity to select the shipping address and method. At this point, a new ship to address
can be added. Clicking the Order Summary button allows the customer to view the order with
shipping charges and taxes (if appropriate) added. Next the customer enters his credit card
number and completes the order. If the customer is set up as an "On Account" customer, the
order can be billed to his account. Alternatively the order can be stored as a "Quote" which
can be added to or turned into an order at a later time. top
Focused browsers.
Focused browsers may be very similar to direct purchasers in that they may already have a Web
account with your business. Rather than using the search function, they would drill down
through the category levels and browse to the products of interest. Once the products are
found they would add them to the shopping basket and complete the check out in the same manner has
direct purchasers. top
General browsers.
General browsers may be visiting your web site for the first time. They can use the category
hierarchy to browse to items of interest. Once they drill down to the item level, products
are displayed with thumbnail pictures. When found, items can be clicked on to bring up more
detailed information and a larger picture. Appropriate quantities to the item can then added
to the Web shopping basket. When ready to checkout, clicking on the Check the menu item will
bring the shopper to the Web shopping basket. Clicking on Select Shipping will allow the new
customer to create an account. Once an account is created the shopper can proceed to
complete the checkout. top
Tracks:
| Customer name |
| Company name |
| E-mail address |
| Login code and password
|
| Billing address |
| Multiple shipping addresses (stored in the database and
reusable by the customer) |
In addition, WinSell Pro keeps a complete customer history
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Displays:
| Product number |
| Product description
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| Retail price |
| Discounted price for predetermined customers
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| Extended Web product description (user definable, any length)
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| Inventory status (either actual number on hand, user definable
triggered text (e.g. if inventory quantity is greater than 100 then display "Guaranteed
delivery", if inventory quantity is less than 100 then display "Order soon to avoid
disappointment"), or inventory status can be turned off
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| Thumbnail pictures on search and drill down (if available)
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| Larger pictures on product information page (if available) |
WinSell Pro keeps a complete purchase history for all products by
customer. top
Displays:
| Category and Subcategory name
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| Web text to describe category and subcategory
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| Picture or graphic representative of the category (if
available) |
| Sub Subcategory, Vendor and Manufacturer classifications are
also available top |
| Pictures or graphics in two sizes can be associated with each
item |
| Pictures are stored in separate folders for fast retrieval
|
| Pictures are keyed to the product by item number and are
automatically displayed top |
Search Parameters:
| Full or partial item number
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| Full or partial item description (restricted by "all words",
"any words", exact "phrase") |
| Any character string in either the item number or item
description (character string is prefaced by % - e.g. %dis will find items such as Maxell Diskettes,
Compact Disc, etc.) |
| Searches can be restricted by category
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| Searches can be restricted by price range
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| All items in the database can be brought up by using the % in
the search field |
| All items in a given category can be brought up by using the %
in the search field along with the category restriction top
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The main focus of WinSell Web is to allow your customers to order
goods and services from your business. WinSell Web allows customers to select items from
your database, pay for those items and direct where the items should be shipped. It also
allows for the payment of services. top
| Items or services being sold - selected from your database
through the WinSell Web product pages. |
| Customer identification - customer information entered and
maintained by the customer. WinSell Web supports both returning customers and new
customers. |
| Customer shipping destination - ship to information entered
and maintained by the customer. WinSell Web supports multiple shipping addresses for each
customer if required. Shipping addresses are saved in the database and can be used again
by repeat customers. |
| Shipping charges - WinSell Web maintains a separate area for
predefined shipping charges (e.g. Standard Shipping: $10, Overnight Shipping: $25, etc.).
|
| Sales taxes - taxes are automatically added to the order if
appropriate top |
WinSell Web utilizes PC Charge's IP-Charge or Authorize. Net for
secure online payment. WinSell Web is seamlessly integrated with both systems. When
customers enter their credit card number, the system carries out the credit card authorization in
real-time. Customers are notified whether the payment has been accepted or not.
Alternatively, preauthorized customers (i.e. customers that you
have authorized to give credit to) can put their order "On Account" with your business.
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The WinSell Web quote feature allows customers to select items
and move the order to the payment stage. At this point, they can save the quote, which will
do several things:
The quote will let the customer know the amount of the potential
order
The quote can be recalled and added to at a later time - in
essence allowing the customer to build a "running order"
The quote can be converted into an order when the customer is
ready to purchase
The Web Vendor can if desired, look at the quote and contact the
customer with additional information. top
Once an order is completed and paid for, customers automatically
receive notification by e-mail of the order details including billing and shipping addresses,
items ordered, shipping charges, applicable taxes and order total. top
WinSell Web orders are created directly in the WinSell Pro
database. There is no double entry or delay. Once the customer submits his order, the
order is filled through WinSell Pro following your normal fulfillment procedures. WinSell
Pro reporting, vendor ordering, back order handling, invoicing, etc. features are all available to
the WinSell Web order. top
WinSell Web allows your customers and salespeople utilize the
Internet to directly order and pay for goods and services from your business. Some of the
key benefits are as follows:
| 24-hour/day, seven-day/week, worldwide access to your
business. |
| Your business can potentially be exposed to many more
customers. |
| There are time savings, efficiencies and improved accuracy in
allowing your customers to enter orders. |
| There is only one database to maintain since WinSell Web
utilizes the WinSell Pro database (i.e. the same database that is used in the store).
|
| Changes you make to price, stock items, etc. are instantly
available on the Web. |
| Customer orders are directly inputted into WinSell pro,
allowing orders to quickly go to the fulfillment stage without any re-entry.
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© Copyright – David Zolkiewski – Calgary Software Factory Ltd. –
2002-2004 |
