ProStores Upgrades Platform, Simplifies Retailer Design and Administration
Editor’s Notice: Ecommerce service suppliers steadily launch new, fascinating merchandise, or concern upgrades to present ones. We tackle these new merchandise and upgrades periodically, and on this installment Contributing Editor Lisa Morgan explains eBay Prostores’ new improve to its hosted ecommerce platform. When you’ve got a brand new product or improve that would curiosity our readers, e-mail lisa@practicalecommerce.com.
eBay’s ProStores has simply issued a brand new improve to its hosted ecommerce platform. ProStores 10 simplifies retailer design and administration, and makes it simpler to run automated on-site promotions. In line with ProStores, the brand new improve places extra energy within the arms of retailers, so the non-technical businessperson can now accomplish extra duties that beforehand required help.
“ProStores 10 is a significant improve that enhances retailer design,” stated Lin Shearer, head of selling and income for ProStores. “It brings large retailer instruments to small and medium companies. ProStores primarily targets retailers which are small to medium sized companies who’re promoting or have the potential to promote from $100,000 to $5 million on-line. This contains
eBay sellers trying to develop to further on-line gross sales channels, impartial brick-and-mortar retailers trying to begin promoting on-line, or skilled entrepreneurs trying to begin an e-tail enterprise.”
Different buying carts and platforms additionally goal this phase together with Infopia, GoECart, NetSuite, and plenty of others.
Creating Skilled Storefronts Is Simpler
Small and medium retailers usually want there was a strategy to keep away from the time and price it takes to have interaction a designer, developer, or webmaster simply to make easy adjustments to an online retailer. ProStore’s new PageBuilder instrument makes it simpler for enterprise house owners and managers to create and edit key retailer pages. As an alternative of getting to code adjustments in SSML or HTML, retailers can replace the appear and feel of their websites utilizing pre-set layouts or drag-and-drop panels that can be utilized to remodel web page layouts. Colours may be positioned in and round panels and there are additionally choices for rounded and blended borders. There’s additionally a brand new theme obtainable that gives horizontal class navigation.
Horizontal class navigation on ProStores 10.
Most buying carts and ecommerce platforms present instruments for designing web sites, however usually customers have to decide on between pre-built design templates or custom-coding their websites. In line with Shearer, ProStores 10 is someplace in between as a result of it offers customers higher management of web page design and modifying than the same old templates. For instance, it’s straightforward to incorporate or exclude product data fields corresponding to portions and producers just by toggling the choice on or off, reasonably than hand-coding adjustments.
BigCommerce, one other buying cart vendor, additionally boasts easy website design and modifying. Like ProStores it additionally gives drag-and-drop design capabilities, though it’s not focused at eBay sellers.
Pre-built templates are good for novice or non-technical customers, and drag-and-drop capabilities present extra flexibility. Template design can usually change into “strait-jacket design,” though site-building instruments are typically getting simpler to make use of, extra versatile, and they’re offering extra choices than they’ve previously as a result of that’s what clients are demanding. ProStores is following that pattern.
Runs Compelling Web site Promotions Robotically
PageBuilder contains one other code-saving function known as Promoting Banners. It permits retailers to create banners tied to promotions that may run routinely on the location. The banners may be programmed to rotate or they are often offered in a grid format. Beforehand retailers needed to rent a designer that will create a Flash promotion after which add it to the location.
‘Promoting Banner’ editor on ProStores 10.
“The superior panels are new,” stated Shearer. “Earlier than, you could possibly code them however that they had restricted promotional use, so it wasn’t straightforward to make clients conscious [of special offers].”
Simplified Retailer Administration
ProStores additionally has some operational enhancements that make is less complicated to navigate, discover, and make adjustments to catalogs, orders, and invoices.
The brand new catalog administration options simplify the administration of enormous catalogs, and improve assigning merchandise to classes. There’s additionally higher eBay integration that permits retailers to take away all inbound listings or convert them into merchandise in a single motion. Retailers also can synchronize stock between ProStores and eBay Promoting Supervisor Professional.
Order and bill administration have additionally been improved so retailers can extra simply find an order, course of telephone orders, and revise orders. It’s also simpler to alter a line merchandise, apply a reduction or override transport after an order has been positioned. You may also add notes to an bill and seek for orders by buyer identify.
Order Administration on ProStores 10.
“ProStores makes it simpler to drive extra gross sales, promote extra, and save time,” stated Shearer. “The enhancements have all been pushed by suggestions from retailers.”
