E-Commerce

Web Preference is an approved Sage Pay integration partner, and has developed bespoke e-commerce websites for Young Electronics, Caritaz, Plants Galore, The Protective Textile Company and The Cheese And Wine Company. We have also integrated our application with PayPal's Express Checkout API to ensure optimum security.

Listed below is a summary of the features our system offers:

Products and Categories

Unlimited products and categories. With respect to categories, create as many parents and children as is required. Once created you can alter the order in which they are displayed on the front end. You can also set how many rows per page are to be displayed under global settings. If the number of results exceeds this figure, the results are paginated
Create super categories (for example new arrivals, best sellers) to which products can be allocated. These super categories can also be shown on the home page
For each product you can upload a thumbnail and larger image, and an unlimited number of “extra” images (thumbnails and super large images) for display in a variety of ways on the front end. Most commonly achieved through a lightbox effect, and less commonly a “zoom in” effect
It is also possible to upload multiple files for downloading by users (eg product specifications in PDF format)
Any number of videos can be uploaded per product if desired
Meta information (title, keywords and description) can be entered for every single product (and category and page)
Products can be sorted on the listings pages by price or name. The number of results per page is set in global settings to determine the initial display, but it is possible for the user to set a specific range or to show all results. As with categories, results are paginated if the number of results exceeds the specified results per page
Elect to show related items for each product. If chosen when adding or editing a product in the admin, a list of all other products will be displayed so that you can relate them to the item in question. On the front end of the site, the list will be displayed on the product detail page. If you have elected to allow the user to add products to the cart from the listings pages, it is possible to add the related items to the cart from the product detail page
Price methods are not editable but include: regular, sale, option based, option based sale, volume based and display only. Regular means that you enter a single (tax exclusive price). Sale means that you enter the original and new price the display of which is shown on the front end of the site with the original price striked out. Option based means that you select the styles you want to show for a product and then the number of options. For every single option, you can enter a price, code (if electing to display product codes), weight (if chosen), dimensions (if chosen), stock (if chosen), buffer level (if chosen) and sort order. You can then add further style options when editing the product. Option based sale is the same as above, but that you can add a sale price in addition. Volume based pricing allows you to do this: Buy 1 for £10 each, 2 for £8 each etc. Display only means that the product cannot be added to the cart and no price is displayed
In order to create option based pricing, it is nececssary to set up the styles (eg size, colour) first, and then assign their options. It is possible to provide a colour swatch for each style option if desired. When the styles and options have been set up, the merchant can then create different price points, product codes, weights, dimensions, stock and buffer levels for each option when creating or editing a product.
On the front end, if option based or option based sale is chosen, and you have assigned different price points to each option, when the user selects his option the price displayed changes without a page refresh. Styles can be required fields, such that if no option is chosen for such a style, the user is unable to add the product to the basket
Set a minimum order quantity if desired. If the user tries to purchase a quantity below this level, an error message is displayed
Enter product codes for each product if desired
Products can be shown in lots (eg pack of 6)
Assign different tax rates to products - standard, exempt or reduced
Assign the weight and dimensions for each product (and style option) if desired
Manage stock for each product if desired by entering the opening stock and buffer stock levels. On the front end of the site, if a user purchases a product in a quantity which is greater than the available stock, an appropriate message is displayed. If a product is ordered which takes the stock level below the buffer level, the administrator is sent an email prompt to re-order the item

Cart Settings

Turn on/off the shopping cart. If turned off, no cart details will be shown on the front end, and users will not able to add to the cart.
Customers can buy without having to create an account (guest checkout)
Turn on/off the ability to add products to a favourites list. Product quantities can be changed, and items deleted from the favourites list at any time, prior to moving them to the cart for purchase.
Turn on/off the ability to add prods to cart from the product listings pages
Assign different payment methods (eg contact customer for cheque payments, credit card payments)
Payment statuses are preset and include pending payment, completed, pending shipment, partially shipped, incomplete, credit card failure and refunded
Allow sales to uk or international. If the merchant chooses to allow international orders, a list of countries with IS0 3166 codes is provided. This list can added to if necessary and amended. Countries can be made invisible to prevent orders from specific countries.
Allow users who are resident in an EU member state to provide a tax registration number in order that tax can be subtracted before the order has been completed.
A state and province list is provided for the US and Canada, which can be amended
Tax rates can be changed via the admin and added to; they include standard, reduced and exempt rates. When the merchant is adding or editing a product he would select the appropriate tax rate from the predetermined list
Turn on/off the display of product codes>
Lots (eg box of 6) can be set up separately in the admin and these options are then available to the merchant when adding or editing a product
Enable the usage of coupons. If enabled, you can create a code and name for the discount, assign it's type, set an amount and set an expiry date. On the front end, when users view their basket, they can enter the code to obtain the discount
Turn on/off the ability to manage stock. If selected, you would enter the opening stock levels for each product and style option, and also a buffer level. If the product reaches zero stock, or the total amount purchased reduces the stock level to zero, they will be unable to purchase the full amount and an appropriate message is received. Stock levels are adjusted when an order is completed. If an order takes the stock level below the buffer level, the merchant is sent an email detailing the product concerned in order to prompt a re-order. The email recipient can be administered via global settings
Turn on/off the ability to record the weight and dimensions of each product
Turn on/off the ability for users to provide a gift message for each product purchased
Turn on /off the requirement during the checkout process for users to accept the store's terms and conditions before completing the order
Product prices can be calculated to be inclusive or exclusive of VAT, and the appropriate tax description provided. If prices are to be shown including VAT, the site administrator would enter product prices to be inclusive of tax
Delivery charges can be calculated to be inclusive or exclusive of VAT, and the appropriate tax description provided.
Turn on/off the display of delivery instructions at checkout
Allow for order tracking via the merchant's chosen delivery company. If selected, the merchant can enter the url of the shipping company where the tracking code would be entered. This would be entered by the merchant when the status of the order is changed from pending shipment to completed.
Specify the target url on the cart page if the user wishes to continue shopping

Shipping

A custom script is written for each merchant's requirements, based on either (a) the total number of items in the basket (b) the weight of the basket or (c) the total value of the basket. Refinements can be made based on geography, and free shipping provided (for example) if the total value of the order exceeds a preset amount

Orders and reporting

The cart data and favourites data is stored in a cookie, so that information contained in a basket from a previous visit to the site, or a list of favourites stored previously can be retrieved assuming that the customer is using the same machine of course. As soon as the basket is viewed, we perform on a check on all of the items within it, that the product is still in the catalogue, that it is still in stock, and that its price has not changed since the cart or favourites data was originally saved. We also ensure that all parameters are present for products with styles and style options
When an order is placed the merchant and user is sent a confirmation email containing the details of the order.
Orders can be searched on and managed in the admin. When an order has been shipped, the merchant changes the status of the order to "completed"; this action generates another email to the user confirming that the order has been despatched
Once an order has been completed, it will contribute to the store sales record, details of which can be interrogated on an all time basis or over a specific time range

Users

Create user groups to which you assign users to. These groups can in turn be assigned a discount level, so that when a member of a group with for example a 10% discount logs into the site, he will see a set of prices discounted by this amount. Most users will be “standard” ie receiving no discount. All discounts are based on a percentage basis
When users have logged into the site they will be able to change their email address and password. They will also be able to update their billing information and create multiple delivery addresses. They can also review the status of their past orders. Prior to checking out, they can also update their billing information and add/edit a delivery address and be returned to the same point in the check out process. When checking the status of past orders, if they have an “incomplete” order in the list (one which has been saved to their cookie but not taken through to the check out process), they can retrieve its details and complete it by completing the check out process. As noted above, we check the details of a previously incomplete order to ensure all of the parameters are correct

Third Party Credit Card Processing

Web Preference is an approved Sage Pay integration partner. Integration with Sage Pay is provided as standard. We recommend using the Form method as this lessens the administration required to satisfy PCI compliance checks enforced by the credit card companies
We have also integrated our application with PayPal's Express Checkout API, a much more secure standard than Website Payments Standard which is often implemented

Miscellaneous

Recently viewed products (and all pages on the site) can be displayed if desired
A dynamic XML site map can be generated from the admin with a single click
Database tables can be exported in CSV form, and then manipulated and then reuploaded in order to expedite the data entry process
A daily database back up is undertaken to protect valuable data