MageeNET: ecommerce for e-everybody
Building an Online Store with MageeNET
MageeNET designs, develops, implements, and maintains web sites and online stores for museums, not-for-profits, wine stores, ad agencies, and virtually any other organization that needs a functional web site and a profit-building online store.
 Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen A one-page order form |
- Quicker web site design
- Faster online store revenue
- Easier implementation
- Easier maintenance
And all at a much lower cost than you ever imagined.
MageeNET Online Stores include extended functionality, speed, security, inventory control, and much much more. We can give you a full-function online store with search, shopping cart, saved customer information, and customer order history, or we can build a simple one-page order form that integrates easily into any web site. Either type of store includes all of the security and credit card ordering functions you need, plus the tools to fulfill orders and manage inventory. You can add, change and delete products, and alter prices at any time using a simple management screen. Where necessary, context-sensitive help is provided on both user and management screens.
Search Capabilities
 Francos Wine Merchants |
MageeNET offers two types of searches. With our free-form “QuickSearch,” a user enters any words in a single-line request and MageeNET deduces implied criteria from those words and returns an intelligent, meaningful response. The search results window shown here in our Francos Wine Merchants web site is the response to a QuickSearch for "France Burgundy $40" - which returns all the French Burgundy wines that sell for $40/bottle or less. Our search engine can find it quicker than a clerk! Click on the image to see the result at the real web site.
The specific search is a fill-in-the-blanks form that allows users to search according to any of the product specifications available for that store database.
Both types of search return the same tabular list of search results from which items may be placed directly into the shopping cart or from which complete item descriptions may be displayed in another browser window using a “hot link.” (These hot links allow changes in one area of the site to be reflected accurately in another area.)
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A product description page. | |
View Product Descriptions
MageeNET builds web sites that display detailed descriptive information (including images) by using “hot links.” In addition, the site webmaster may manually configure a variation of the “hot link” in static page content. The window displaying detailed item information includes the ability to place the item in the shopping cart.
Buy (Place in Shopping Cart)
Users may specify any quantity of any item and place that quantity of item(s) in the shopping cart.
Shopping Cart Management
During any shopping session, MageeNET displays a small, separate window with the contents of the shopping cart, and updates that window every time the user selects an item to buy. (You may elect to have the shopping cart displayed in the main window.)
Also, a user may fill a shopping cart without logging in. When the user is ready for checkout, or if the user wishes to preserve items in the current shopping cart, the user must then log in. As soon as the user logs in, the contents of the current shopping cart are merged with the contents of any stored shopping cart for that user. Any shopping cart contents associated with a logged-in user is preserved until the checkout and order processing functions are completed (except when an item is deleted from the shopping cart if the user reduces that quantity to zero).
Logins and Accounts
Existing and first-time users access the login screen; existing users enter a user ID and password to log in. First-time users must supply a name and email address along with a user ID and password. The user ID must be unique within the store. Logged-in, active users may change their personal account information, address, credit card authorization, or password, and can view their Order History as well.
Checkout
The current (or merged) shopping cart always displays at the top of the checkout screen, so the checkout process is easy to use for even first-time users. Users can easily navigate the screen to select shipping method, specify shipping address, enter a gift message, and enter credit card information. The system “remembers” data for existing users, keeping checkout time to a minimum. Touching a single button clears the shopping cart and resets the process.
Processing Orders
 Francos Wine Merchants Order history, wine store |
Pressing a single button on the checkout screen submits an order for processing and directs the user to a terms acceptance page. When the user accepts the terms, MageeNET holds that amount on the user’s credit card, displays an order confirmation page, and send a confirming email to the user’s email address. The email contains an active link to the status page for that particular order. The credit card transaction is not completed until the store manager fulfills (packs and ships) the order, at which time the credit card is charged.
Order History
The Order History screen shows all the orders ever placed by that individual customer. The system displays the order status (including changed, shipped or cancelled status). The actual item names are “hot links” that allow the user to easily purchase an item that he purchased in the past. The user can also print individual orders (or all of them) or cancel any orders that are not yet filled.
Store Management Capabilities (Fulfillment)
The store manager may fill the order as entered by the user or may partially fill the order, adjusting quantities and shipping charges as appropriate.
The main fulfillment web page will print each order on a separate output page (Internet Explorer only). These pages may be used as pick lists prior to completing the fulfillment process. The fulfillment process charges the user’s credit card for the appropriate amount and prints a packing list/shipping label.
Inventory Management
 Inventory management |
The store manager can add, update, change, and delete inventory items, selecting items by SKU, or processing the database sequentially. The full search capabilities of the online store are always available to assist in locating the desired items. The manager can also build a new database or refresh an existing database from a database copy. MageeNET helps clients load and build inventory databases; this can include syncrhonization with a customer's in-store systems.
Security and Privacy
Web pages containing sensitive data are transmitted using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption. MageeNET hosts these web pages in our secure data center, and our data center site is identified using a digital certificate issued by Verisign, a recognized public Certificate Authority.
MageeNET encrypts passwords and credit card numbers before they’re stored in the database, and all password and credit card activity is performed over a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection, a totally secure protocol for transmitting private documents over the Internet.
One-page Order Forms
 Cynthia Cerny A one-page order form |
For individuals or small companies that sell a small number of items, our one-page order form is often the ideal solution. This simple page can be added to an existing web site, or included as part of your new site. All of your products are shown on the one page, organized into categories (for example, recordings, memorabilia, sheet music), and all of the customer's information is entered on this same page. Your customer does not have to open an account, but simply makes his purchase in one step.
Even with this simple design, the store operator has all the same security, order management and inventory management capabilities as with the regular store. Order pages are normally designed to look just like the customer's web site, unlike many other online store products where the purchase is done on another site which looks different from yours, and from which your customer might browse other vendors' offerings and never complete the purchase with you. With the MageeNET solution, you keep your customer at your site, buying your products.
