24sevencart Multi-Store Version: A Dream Comes True For Online Retailers

A multi-store ecommerce solution for RMS can synchronize individual store POS systems along with RMS HQ in such a way that you get the power to server almost any order made online.

With your business, your worries grow too. You have a one-shop retail business; you run it through a simple POS system. You start selling more and you take Microsoft Dynamics RMS to run the business. With RMS on board now, you take the store online with an ecommerce RMS integration solution and you start selling as if there is no tomorrow to buy! You now think of expanding to other cities, other localities. You start managing multiple stores.

Consider another situation - a quite simpler one. You are already BIG, you have dozen different stores across three different states, and you are selling pretty hard. What you need now? Of course, a multi-store version of your RMS - what else? You get a multi-store version, get it set up on your headquarter, synchronize all the individual POS at each store and you are automated. Smart work, isn’t it?

But think about your online store. Instead of one, you have now 12 different places to look for a single product, with 12 different quantities. Isn’t it amazing for your business? Well, not quite, if you don’t have the right system in place. Let’s suppose you are selling a product XYZ through your ‘chain’ of retail store and the individual stock in all 12 stores are not more six; but at the online store, the stock will be say – 50. Walks in your happy customer and generously orders 10 out of the lot and pays. Now comes the problem; no store has more than six items and you have to ship ten; no store individually can serve the order! In fact, a true ecommerce RMS integration solution (like 24SevenCart) can only solve this issue with order-split facility. Unlike much other ecommerce solution for RMS, in such a situation, the one with order split facility will give you unprecedented flexibility to generate multiple sub-orders and process each order individually.

Unleashing the true power of a headquarter-based application is in ecommerce RMS synchronization. You take your web store and synchronize it with ecommerce RMS integration using a multi-store version; only then, you can make the true use of your entire system and start giving your customers flexible option. The result – 35% more profits as compared to any ordinary ecommerce solution for RMS that merely ‘connects’ the head quarter only.

Being big is not always troublesome and for a retailer with multiple stores is not at all a problem provided you have the right solution in place to support you. The smart way is to optimize your resources, make the most out of your product, and continuously keep on ‘satisfying’ your customers. The secret is in maneuvering your tools in such way that you do not miss anything. Needless to say, flexible multi-store version of an ecommerce RMS synchronization application is one such business app that can go with you a long way.

Microsoft Ecommerce Store: Your Gateway To Success

Microsoft Ecommerce Store: Your Gateway To Success

The hallmark of a successful retail business is in its use of technology. What point of sale system you are using, whether you and your employees are IT efficient or not and finally, if you are selling online through an integrated process. Use of technology in the retail business is a necessity these days so that you can augment your sales and remain ahead in the completion all through the year. Microsoft Retail management system is one such application that can take your business to places and to give new wings to your retail business, you may go for a Microsoft dynamics RMS cart application.
Microsoft dynamics RMS cart is usually a complete shopping cart system that integrates Dynamics RMS and your ecommerce store. The whole application is developed on .NET platform (although this can be done on PHP as well); through a web integrator (that generates and reads XML files), the Microsoft ecommerce cart communicates with Dynamics RMS running at the retailer’s end. The web integrator uploads your product details from your RMS to the Microsoft ecommerce store and once orders are passed, the same web integrator can help you to download the orders from your Microsoft ecommerce cart to the retail management system. The whole process can be either manually controlled or completely automated. Depending upon the frequency of orders and the state of your inventory, the stock updating and order download processes can be scheduled and can be maintained in almost real-time.

The top benefits of Microsoft ecommerce cart are as follows:

• To manage a Microsoft dynamics RMS cart application you do not need to maintain two separate work forces. The same workforce who manages your retail store can also manage the Microsoft ecommerce store comfortably

• Both your brick-n-mortar store and the Microsoft ecommerce cart are served through Microsoft’s powerful Retail Management System resulting in flawless operations in all aspects of your retail business

• You can give any look you want to your Microsoft ecommerce store. Your customers will experience the same ease of movement and friendly environment while they shop.

• All your business figures are consolidated – your physical store and online sales. You no longer have to process your sales report separately and later collate everything in a painstaking way.

However, getting the right vendor for Microsoft ecommerce store is not so easy. There are not many in the market flexible enough to give you the right options/features to run your business. They may offer plenty of features; but at the end, it matters what you need for your online retail business and not what they offer. So, instead of offering a set of pre-made options, the Microsoft dynamics RMS cart provider should be capable of developing all the modules or options that you actually need. Above all, the vendor should not charge you a fortune for the solution; your Microsoft ecommerce cart system should be affordable too, besides being flexible.

Right Option For The Right Business

24SevenCart is not just a collection of modules and options. Options are there; all necessary features are given. But what makes 24SevenCart truly standout is its flexibility! We have a strong dev team in place that can create any module of your choice. The motto is not to serve the retail business as a whole; we want to serve specific business. If you have a wine store, use the features meant for wine storeowners only and not those for a cosmetics retailer. 24SevenCart RMS integrated web store has the right option for the right business.

Am I talking sales a lot? Well…I should talk about the product…I mean my 24SevenCart and how it can increase your revenue?

Increase Your Store Foot Traffic Through Your Online Store

The key behind getting continuous store foot traffic is in spreading the awareness of your products en masse. People SHOULD have visual ideas about your products, know the pricing, aware of any discount options, your credentials and above all, they should have the ‘feeling’ that you can serve them well. In a nutshell, to increase the foot traffic to your store, you will need to take your products to people. Now tell me, what best way can you think of other than using a flexible online store that would represent your retail business?

An online store powered by a custom shopping cart solution will not only help you to get huge additional sales, but it would spread the ‘word’ like wildfire also. Your online store can become the replica of your physical store on the web that people can easily access from home, from office, while travelling, from simply anywhere. People can check everything about your products online and would simply walk into your store to buy. Forget those “do-you-have-that” questions from your potential customers; they would already know that you have the right product for them! Now tell me – isn’t that what you want for your business?

Get any payment gateway on 24SevenCart

Talking about payment gateways is one of the things that I love most. In almost every first meeting with my prospects, the third question that I get – “what are the payment gateways that you support?” Well, I say – “we have many”. Next question – “do you support xyz?” My answer – “I’ll have to check; if don’t, we will add that for you at no extra cost”.

The question is - why everybody asks this. My analysis tells that most of the shopping carts, although rich in feature, only support a handful of payment gateways. Even the market toppers are not that flexible too. If you have a payment gateway that doesn’t come in the top bracket, you are a game! You will have to pay some fat fees to get it integrated in your store!

Well, we understand your pain and that’s why we act differently. 24SevenCart, any payment gateway, no extra cost. We have 50+ merchant accounts already added in 24SevenCart and the list is growing. Recently, we added St. George for Australia, Sage and RealEx for UK/Europe.

So, don’t you have another reason to sign up for 24sevenCart?

Just another Blog.com site 24SevenCart + RMSlink = A Microsoft RMS Integrated eCommerce Solution

Microsoft Dynamics RMS is perhaps the most popular application for Retail Management today. The application gives an intuitive interface to manage point-of- sale processes and store operations, provides centralized control for multi-store retailers, and integrates with Microsoft Office programs.

A 100% developed in house solution, a powerful shopping cart 24SevenCart and web integrator RMSlink, has taken Microsoft Dynamics RMS system to the next level.

Our solution is:

Flexible:
A standard installation comes with a ton of ecommerce ready features. We can further customize it to any degree as needed. For example, Gold Medal Wine turned to Lan Services when they wanted to integrate Elypsis WineClub Manager. Stanford University signed up with us ONLY because of the flexibility we provide. Customers have the options to host it with us or on their own server.

Scalable:
Shopping cart is built on Windows2003/SQL2005 platform, which allows thousands of visitors at a time and the ability to host unlimited items. Our datacenter is setup in Fremont, California with full 24/7 security and redundant bandwidth & power supply.

Affordable:
A standard Microsoft Dynamic RMS and 24Seven Cart integrated solution gets you started at less than USD 2000. There are no annual license fees, no inflated hosting fees and no per sale fees. Customer support and training is always FREE.

With RMSlink you get unprecedented near real-time connectivity between Microsoft RMS and the 24SevenCart shopping cart. The duo can conjure wonders for your business as you get various options such as:

* 100% Customizable solution
* Update 1 or more shopping websites from the same Microsoft RMS database
* Scheduled inventory updates between 24Seven Cart and RMS
* Orders downloaded automatically into Microsoft RMS
* Accepts payments through over 50 payment gateways
* Creates new customer records in RMS database
* Updates Shipping and Billing Information on each customer
* Handles all shipping and tax rules from RMS and more

With the 24SevenCart and RMSlink in place, you can now conveniently manage your shopping cart from anywhere. Whenever the sale occurs, you and your departmental heads have the information instantly.

The cost-effective RMS integration solution (we, in fact, suggest you to compare the pricing of other providers), can take care all your shopping cart related needs and you can now concentrate more into your business growth and strategic planning.

Ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System

Ecommerce for Dynamics RMS is an effective solution to take your retail business to the next level and help you stay ahead in the competition.

Microsoft Dynamics RMS is one of the most popular point-of-sale applications for retail management and globally it has a lot of admirer. RMS can help you to streamline your business processes and at the same time, it reduces your overhead costs by optimizing the efficiency levels of your existing workforce. Of all POS applications available in the market today, RMS is probably one of the most user-friendly applications. But the real benefit of using RMS is not in user-friendliness. In fact, the use of RMS opens great avenues to augment your sales in hitherto ‘unchartered’ and ‘unreachable’ markets.

As a retailer, it’s necessary that you have an online store and as an online storeowner, it is necessary that your shopping cart integrate with your Dynamics RMS. If you do not have an online store, your sales are limited and will remain so unless a lot of people with pocket-loads of money migrate to your area and they form a serpentine line for buying products from your store! On the other hand, if you own an online store besides your regular brick-n-mortar one, your work is doubled. You manage your inventory and order at two places and you have to keep an eye on your stock every time a sale is made. There is the anxiety that someone will place an order for an item on the online store that has a nil-stock at the RMS down at your physical store. The result? Well, you cut a sorry figure before your customer who gives you an untold confirmation that he would never make a return to your store! The solution? Get ecommerce for Dynamics RMS.

Ecommerce for Dynamics RMS is the utility that can directly help you to MULTIPLY you sales figures. Unlike any ordinary web store, ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System is powered by an online store engine that synchronizes your Dynamics RMS and the ecommerce store database on the web. Your products details from the RMS and your online order information are always synchronized and up-to-date. So, what do you get? You have the options to go online with your entire database of products and sale wherever you without bothering an iota about synchronizing stock or orders. Your store powered by an ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS will always have the most updated information online and you serve your customer in an unprecedentedly better way! Not only will your customers, your workforce remain happy too – as you will stop asking them to do the same thing twice!

In the ever-competing world of retail business, the key to success is in managing your running cost at the minimum simultaneously providing the best shopping experience to your customers. If Microsoft Retail Management System solves the former riddle, ecommerce for Dynamics RMS is the answer to the later one. In fact, a flexible, customizable and affordable ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS has the potentiality to take your business to the next level and help you to get that month-on-month sales figure that you used to think only in dreams.

Online Store For Microsoft Retail Management System (Dynamics RMS) Retailers

How many times do you look at the “discard” row of your store? I mean the row of your retail store that displays the least sold products? Well, I bet whenever you look at it, you sigh. Wish you could sell them!

Now let me ask you something else. How many times do you feel that if you had more customers, you would have sold your HOT-CAKE product ‘X’ in truckloads? I am sure many times. But, you can’t as you do not have many customers!

These are some of the day-to-day scenarios for retailers like you using Microsoft Dynamics RMS to manage your physical store. You have an excellent system in place in the form of Microsoft Retail Management system but you do not have the necessary means to augment sales. You have saved time and resources by using Microsoft Dynamics RMS, but you haven’t capitalized its other capabilities. Besides managing your retail business, what Microsoft Dynamics RMS offers is the ability to integrate an RMS shopping cart for your business.

Yes, using an RMS integrated online store solution, you can give your Dynamics RMS wings – you can take it to places!

A Microsoft Dynamics RMS integrated online store can take the item information (including your inventory) from your RMS and publish it on the web site. Once an online buyer visits your store and purchases a product, the RMS shopping cart gets the order details downloaded in the RMS. Isn’t it just amazing? What you need simply is to start an RMS integrated online store powered by an RMS shopping cart like 24SevenCart.

So, more worries for unsold products or selling more products to new customers! You can now tap and reach any customer on the web and make multiplied profits!

Online Retail Store: Will It Dictate Business Terms In 2011?

Greater number of shoppers’ preference to buy online than going to a brick-and-mortar store has given the online retail industry a tremendous boom.

Where are you planning to shop this festive season? When more than a thousand Americans were asked the same question as a part of a shopping survey, a good 74 percent of them said that the best and the easiest way is to shop for gifts online because they are sure of getting the best deals and heavy discounts on a variety of items. Although a good number of shoppers still feel that brick and mortar retail stores offer best deals and season concessions on a wide variety of items, the retailers who are operating both the type stores are actually the bulk of the booty. For these retailers, the online retail stores help driving foot-traffic to their brick and mortar store.

The difference in opinion on whether you should buy from an online retail store of a physical one, is not something new. For quite some time, the consumers in the country are divided in their preference over online shopping and shopping from physical real world stores. However, what is different this year is that never before, such a high percentage of people voted favoring online shopping stores. 52 percent people said that the best deals are available online and this means that only 48 percent people prefer buying from brick and mortar stores, as they believe that they will get the best money saving deals there.

Out of those who prefer online retail store, 54 percent said that one of the main reasons for their preference is that shopping for gifts online prevents them from over-spending, thus, keeping them within their budgetary limits.
The time of online shopping store has come and has come in a big big way. Retailers, including large-scale departmental store operators have adopted aggressive online marketing and selling strategies to enhance their sales and make the most of the current trend, the marked increase in the number of online shoppers. The only hitch is the absence of holiday and festive spirit that manifests itself in shopping from real world shops and selling units. Nevertheless, powered by the meteoric rise in the popularity of social-media networks, more and more shoppers are driven towards online retail stores and they enjoy the festive mood even in the virtual world.

The shopping season is just halfway through and already the shopping records and sales figures are climbing to new heights. Record sales on cyber Monday and subsequent voluminous sales on everyday as the month of December passes, online retail store sales are rapidly growing across all markets from apparel to books to cosmetics. Even sports goods and wine retailers are also enjoying the fruits bulging online sales. Surely, as experts predict online retail will dominate the global in 2011 and beyond.

Shopping Season Kick Starts With Booming Online Retail Sales

For online retailers, the year-long wait is over as the shopping season is in full swing now. Despite a sluggish recovery, there is no shortage of enthusiasm for online shoppers who are already on a buying spree. Thanks to flexible and innovative strategies of online retailers, the web shoppers are finding it more convenient to shop online.

Around 72 percent of the 2000 shoppers interviewed in a survey conducted by a renowned online retail platform provider in the United States said that this holiday season, they are planning to shop for various gifts and items online, instead of the regular brick and mortar stores. The reasons for this shift in preference largely because of the following:

• Ease of buying (79%)
• No need to queue up (72%)
• Option to compare products through comparison sites (63%)
• Attractive deals and discounts (61%),
• Vast collection of items (51%)
• Efficient customer service (50%)
• Fuel savings (49%)
• Free or low-cost shipping and lower sales tax (36%)

In fact, a good number of them had begun their shopping before Thanksgiving itself and the sales on Cyber Monday marked a new record. Only 2 to 4 percent consumers said that they would begin after December 15 and a good percentage is going to wait for more lucrative online shopping deals and discounts to complete their holiday gift shopping.

Though they follow a single point agenda of buying the best product from a online shopping store, the shoppers are to an extent divided in their preference as to what do they expect from an online shopping store before deciding to shop from there. Comparison-shopping is the buzzword as 63% shoppers affirmed that they would make their purchases from 3 to 4 different sites and 23% said that they would consider 6 to 7 web sites. The factors that will influence their website decision include lower prices (69 percent), deals and discounts (65%), site loyalty or previous experience with the online retailer (32%), amongst others. Many online shopper prefer sites that have return policies that are pretty much flexible (26%), have positive customer feedback (20%) and even give away freebies with purchases (15%).

Books, video and audio stuff dominates what with more than 54% of online retail store visitors preferring them to other things followed by Electronics at 50%. Food items, cards, furnishing items, jewelry and fashion garments and accessories are amongst other preferred gift options for shoppers this holiday season.

However, 28 percent of shoppers still prefer to shop from regular high street stores and they have some unique reasons for continuing the tradition. The majority prefers seeing the thing physically before making the purchases while 25 percent people just love the feel of shopping in stores, braving the crowd and enjoying the festive spirit. Naturally, the 75% of those 28% brick-and-mortar lovers are the real ‘unconverted’ customers of online retail store owners and next hurdle for these ecommerce store owners is to convince these people to shop online instead of buying from physical shops. Again, the name of the game will be to innovate, attractive and more useful for their online customers.

Budget Process – A Little Investment To Optimize Business Expenses

Budget process is as much necessary for any online business as it is for the offline business. It not only helps to make right and timely decisions but also highlights the non performing business practices. Many online retailers do not see it as an important activity because of the misconception that it is just for traditional offline business. Second factor that stops the online retailers from budget process is its cost, which they think may be too high- while it is not so.

Cost of budget process depends upon the business model. Generally, start-up businesses have more heads to be covered under budget process in comparison to mature retailers. It can be done in-house or can be outsourced. Both have unique positives sides; selection depends upon the particular parameters. However, cost of budget process in the both the options vary at large. Therefore, the right selection of process for budget process is important to get it done at bare minimum cost. If you know enough about the technical terms and microscopic components that budget processing involves, you would certainly be able to get effective budget process at amazingly low price. The following part of this write up highlights such important factors of budget process.

Net profit is the difference between gross profit and expenses. You need to estimate revenue. To calculate gross profit, subtract the cost of sold goods from revenue. Major E-business expenses include the cost of development, maintaining and promoting (marketing) the web store. Providing world-class customer services including guidance, after sales, warranty etc also generates recurring expenses.

SEO (search engine optimization), arranging genuine e-mail lists and sending informatory e-mails, appointing new affiliates and offering more attractive discounts etc are few of those marketing activities that need considerable expenses. Generally, retailers are suggested to invest 10-12% of total revenue for customer acquisition. Retention cost includes the expenses like customer segmentation tools, promotion and e-mail campaigns etc. It is kept 5-8% of revenue.

The cost of search engine marketing includes the charges of pay-per-click, submission to different directories & search engines, banner postings and placing advertisements on relevant popular sites etc like services. The fixation of this cost entirely depends upon one’s budget and may vary from $2,500 pm to $25,000 pm. Comparison Shopping Engines are effective traffic generators. Registration to these engines depends upon the size of business and nature of services or products. The cost of affiliate marketing is generally kept around 20% of revenue; however, selection of this business marketing strategy depends upon particular business model.

The cost of e-mail marketing depends upon the volume of mails in each phase. This cost can be adjusted both way according to the budget limits and response. Customer Relationship Management consumes considerably major part of marketing budget. It needs to be very effective because repeat and reference business volume solely depends upon its success.

Social Media Marketing and Mobile Marketing are relatively new marketing practices. Both of these low budget exercises have been successful in establishing brand image as well as making it popular among the masses. Content management and Imagery creation practices also help in making the brand popular and unique. This practice needs considerable good budget. Under this practice retailers modify the promotional materials and programs, offered by manufacturers, according to local market and clients. Online Merchandising is another marketing strategy that includes categorizing of products and associating them with other products, which are more in demand.

When we talk about the technology of e-store, there seems no limit because we see new developments in internet technology every day. The budget selection depends upon the facilities, an e-retailer wants. Development of E-commerce Platforms, Order Management Systems, Fulfillment and Customer service are the major activities of Online E-business that need special consideration. Budgets for creating E-commerce Platforms may be anywhere from tens of thousands to million dollars; budget for Fulfillment may be around 20-12 % of total revenue and budget for customer service is kept around 2-7% .

If the budget allows, retailers may opt for having Site Search costing around $2500-10,000 pm; Personalization/ Product Recommendations costing $1200-2500 pm; Ratings & Reviews costing $2000-3000 pm and Web Analytic costing $500 to 15,000 pm like facilities too.

Therefore, we see that budget process gives us enough freedom to choose our own way that suits to our business and targeted customer segment. Budget processes guide us to optimize the distribution of funds for various business activities. Because of the increased accountability, it becomes easier to improve the efforts and strategies according to the identified voids well before the loss occurring.