MagneticOne News and Articles

vtiger CRM Integration for osCommerce - Step-by-Step Tutorial

2009-03-27T10:57:49Z

vtiger CRM Integration for osCommerce will bring integrity to your business by keeping your inventory, customer and order information in your online stores and vtiger CRM synchronized.

Store Manager for Magento

2009-03-25T13:51:22Z

Store Manager for Magento is a Windows application to quickly and effectively manage your Magento online store. Management of products, categories, product attributes, orders and a lot of other things is much more convenient and faster with this tool, do not waste your time with routine tasks - automate store maintenance.

Manage Magento products, Magento product attributes, categories, manufacturers, orders and other things
Export Magento products into Excel file, edit it and then import products into Magento store - batch updates are so fast now!
Import products into Magento from your supplier - Magento product import is one of the prominent features, import from Excel/CSV into Magento in seconds
Manage Orders and Customers
and more

Store manager for Zen Cart

2008-09-23T14:32:23Z

Why Would you Want Cre Loaded for your E-store?

2008-09-22T13:32:21Z

by Anna Bergman
an internet marketing assistant of a New York-based company called TemplateMonster.com

Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the Internet was opened to commercial use. Since that time it has evolved from online billboards to a fully functional, personalized shopping experience. A major turning point came when people started to trust online shopping, and then the business started picking up. Among the numerous inventions necessary for ecommerce to survive is the online shopping cart. The shopping cart is made by software that allows the buyer to shop quickly and easily – and it is perhaps the most important invention.

There are several e-Commerce store-management software programs available on the Internet at present. The three major ones are OsCommerce and its two spin-offs - Zen Cart and CRE Loaded. Zen Cart and CRE Loaded are similar to the osCommerce core set of operations. OsCommerce is considered the simplest version of ecommerce website and is widely used with stores that do not have a lot of traffic. Zen Cart is considered to be the most user friendly ecommerce system. CRE Loaded is considered to be the most comprehensive and comes with by far the most included options and features which can be activated or deactivated as the owner wishes.

The development of CRE Loaded began after Chain Reaction Ecommerce was founded in 2001 and was undertaken in response to hosting customer demands. Created from the direct feedback of thousands of customers and users, the features and capabilities of CRE Loaded are grounded in real capabilities that are fully tested in the real world.

CRE Loaded currently has 39 additional modules over and above the many that are already included in the default OsCommerce installation. CRE Loaded also offers powerful shopping cart solutions in both the free and paid editions. CRE Loaded has a better template system and its “affiliate manager” allows you to specify the per sale payment percentage rate for each of your affiliate accounts as well as providing a tiered structure that is based on sales performance.

Basic reporting tools are also included, showing the products viewed, purchased, and customer orders total. A database backup manager is also a part of the tool set, as is a basic newsletter setup for e-mailing to your customers - which means that you have online marketing without having to pay for that service.

Product Management with CRE Loaded is very simple. You can add new products to your store in no time. You have a tool for adding products and categories and there is no limitations on the number of products, categories and subcategories. You can easily copy and move products between categories as well. CRE Loaded also offers you Advanced Product Management capabilities, which includes no limitations for attributes determined to products and option type features.

The only drawback for CRE Loaded is that it might seem a little more difficult to manage at first because of all this variety of features. But the new 6.2 version offers a solution to this. In addition to five new menus, it features a better organization and layout. It has a new Admin "Control Center" – that comes in two versions - a PRO version with additional functions for power users and a FREE one for normal users. Plus, security and fraud protection is improved and the installation is made even easier with a new installer.

In regard to concerns about standards compliance, the CRE Loaded system benefits greatly by having a quality standards compliant template design.

With CRE Loaded templates you can set up your webshop designs and optimized layouts for many different types of businesses: your personal online store, huge corporate online store, or an offline presentation. CRE Loaded templates are easy-to-install and easy-to-customize designs – saving you time and money. CRE Loaded templates come with all the necessary files to start your CRE Loaded online store. These files include: PHP, CSS, and image files. Installation instructions and outstanding support services are provided with every template. The database of CRE Loaded Templates has the very highest level of security which makes CRE Loaded eCommerce stores more popular with users.

On a final note, with more than 100,000 units in distribution, an aggressive release schedule and numerous industry partnerships, Chain Reaction Ecommerce and CRE Loaded will remain at the forefront of eCommerce well into the future.

osCommerce Store Manager - video

2008-09-08T13:50:11Z

Ten Free eCommerce Shopping Carts In Open Source

2008-08-21T11:52:18Z

Sources from www.ecommerce-guide.com

Online store is one of the wonderful tools to drive more sales to your business. If you think this is another channel in marketing. One of the most cost effective way is use some of the commercial e-store software. That’s I found many offer in monthly subscription fees from $19.95 to $69.95 depend on the function or features of their shopping cart software. While you can pay a few extra dollars for shopping cart software when signing up for a hosting account or looking for a freelancer to design a layout for you. This is where Open Source software comes in to save thousand of your cost on setting up your own ecommerce business.

Open Source Software
Many like-minded programmers create software that costs nothing and can be edited just as freely. The result of this collaboration of professional programmers is software that is often as feature rich as its commercial competitors. Best of all, of course, it’s free. Open Source software is nothing new, but it was once considered to be lacking in features and incredibly difficult to install without the help of a trained professional. However, now many Open Source e-commerce packages are as intuitive as commercial solutions. And, with such a vibrant and active Open Source community, there are many options available and lots of support should you need it. To help you decide what’s a good fit for you, we’ve highlighted the features of five Open Source platforms we recommend.

osCommerce

osCommerce is one of the most widely used and highly respected shopping cart applications available. The software itself has been developed and improved over the past six years and new additions and add-ons are submitted on a daily basis. The result is a user-friendly, secure and stable e-commerce environment.

Zen Shopping Cart

The Zen shopping cart is another feature-packed, simple-to-use solution backed by a very strong community. As well as offering the same template design structure as osCommerce, Zen Cart offers an excellent range of advanced features that go beyond the general realms of shopping cart functionality. An e-mail and newsletter manager is a very beneficial tool and the flexibility in product and price options is also excellent.

Agora Shopping Cart

Agora Shopping Cart is actually only one Open Source product offered by Agora and it is a good one. The shopping cart and catalog can be completely customized to exactly match your requirements thanks to the use of CSS files. This also enables you to change the look and feel of your entire site in just a few minutes and with just one or two changes.

NoPCart

NopCart, created by NopDesign, is an extremely simple shopping cart application with the main difference when compared to others being that it is written entirely in JavaScript. This means you can use it on your Web site without having to have CGI access. One potential drawback is that NopCart is lacking in some of the more advanced features. It is only really possible to update basic product information, tax information and a minimum order level.

Commerce.Cgi

Commerce.Cgi is one of the oldest and best established of all e-commerce applications. Nearly 10 years have passed since it became the first Perl shopping basket, and being open source, that means a huge amount of development has ensued. As well as a mass of features, Commerce.Cgi provides a backend system that is simple to install and even simpler to manage.

VirtueMart

VirtueMart is an Open Source E-Commerce solution to be used together with a Content Management System (CMS) called Joomla! (and Mambo). Joomla! and VirtueMart are written in PHP and made easy for use in a PHP/MySQL environment.

FistCart

FishCart is an e-commerce system for products, services, online payment and online donation management. The unique of this software is they have a add-on module that gives you the tools to exporting FishCart orders into Quickbooks! This is a real boon for small businesses, saving mistakes and hours of tedium rekeying orders.

UberCart

Ubercart is an exciting open source e-commerce package that fully integrates your online store with Drupal, the leading open source content management system. This is a killer combination for anyone looking to build a community around a product, sell access to premium content, offer paid file downloads, and much much more!

Magento’s

Magento’s commercial open source business model yields a product that is superior for a fraction of the cost. They let you control every facet of your store, from merchandising to promotions and more. There are no limits to creativity with Magento.

PrestaShop

The PrestaShop e-Commerce Solution was built to take advantage of essential Web 2.0 innovations such as dynamic AJAX-powered features and next-generation ergonomy. PrestaShop guides users through your product catalog intelligently and effortlessly, turning intrigued visitors into paying customers.

Zen Cart vs CRE Loaded

2008-08-13T15:46:41Z

Sources from www.ecommerce-guide.com

osCommerce is a powerful and open source e-commerce storefront system, that's not without a few shortcomings. We pointed out a few of them in our review here a little while back. We also pointed out that one of its great strengths was its extensibility, which is manifested in many user-contributed modules as well as spin-offs. Two such spin-offs of osCommerce are Zen Cart and CRE Loaded — both of which are based on osCommerce and both of which enhance it in a number of ways.

One of the most disturbing items that I found when originally evaluating osCommerce was its lack of a proper security setup for an administrator. I'm pleased to report that both Zen Cart and CRE Loaded have addressed this issue and both have some form of a proper administrator login. Both of these applications are based on osCommerce and as such have a similar core base of functionality and operations. Where they differ is in the new modules/features added and how close or how far they stray from their progenitor.

Zen Cart

Zen Cart carries the moniker, "the art of e-commerce" as its tagline and as a virtual mission statement for how the software should work. Installation of Zen Cart, much like osCommerce, is simple and easy to follow. The step-by-step installation goes a step beyond the ordinary by alerting you if something is not properly configured, for example file permissions. Though this may sound trivial at first, it can be a serious troubleshooting issue later on, as file permissions are not always what they should or need to be right off the bat. By identifying any potential 'gotchas' at the installation phase Zen-Cart facilitates a pleasant installation experience.

This setup screen in Zen Cart allows users to create electronic coupons.

Though Zen Cart is based on osCommerce and has a similar menu setup, the default setup does not look like a typical osCommerce installation. The main Zen Cart Admin screen starts with a "dashboard" type approach that lays out the core statistics of your e-commerce activities (hits, sales, customers, products, orders). This is different than the default osCommerce (and CRE Loaded) main screen, which is a list of admin options. From a business point of view, starting with the core statistics is probably a good thing and gives you an immediate first glance at what's going on. From an admin point of view though, you need to navigate through the lengthy pull down menus to get to the various administrative options. For a novice the pull-down menus may seem a bit overwhelming at first.

The default configuration of Zen Cart does not, for some reason, have an inline WYSIWYG HTML editor enabled (that makes editing certain content easier) by default. For that you'll have to select the option under the configuration menu and enable it.

Added Features

Beyond some aesthetic changes, the major differences between osCommerce and Zen Cart come from Zen Cart's long list of added features. Among the modules included are a Gift Certificate/Voucher module which allows you to create, send and manage the digital coupons. The Downloads Manager enables you to effectively manage downloadable sales (pdf or other media files). Attribute configuration options in the Download module allow you to configure how many days the download is available for and how many downloads per purchaser.

Zen Cart also has an option that allows for integrating phpBB bulletin board support, though you'll need to install that software on your own separately.

I found the documentation for Zen Cart to be very un-zen in that it is disparate, text heavy and not always easy to follow or understand. There is a 59-page Administrator Manual that is available as a separate download, but unfortunately it is not up to date and currently matches Zen Cart v1.1.2. This large tome is detailed and indexed properly but is likely overwhelming for the average user. There is a much simpler "First Steps To Setting Up A Cart, Newbie Guide" that a user contributed in the support forums that, though less detailed, is probably sufficient enough to get going with the application and to properly set up a reasonable storefront.

One of the Index page templates included in Zen Cart.

CRE Loaded

CRE Loaded looks and feels much like osCommerce (as opposed to Zen Cart which has its own Zen Cart "look" by default) such that it even carries the osCommerce logo (by default before customization). The purpose of CRELoaded is to supercharge osCommerce - a purpose which is stamped on the footnote of every page with the statement, Powered by osCommerce Supercharged by CRE Loaded Team.

Installation of CRE Loaded lacks the "gotchas" notification for file permissions that Zen Cart has. This can be a bit annoying once you get into the program and realize that you need to go back to your server to set the appropriate permission. The installation setup also does not allow you set up the original Admin user/password setup. Though, if you read the README.txt file (which I didn't) you'll discover what the default is admin@localhost/admin). The administrative capabilities of CRE Loaded are greater than those of Zen Cart, as it includes multi-admin capabilities, which allow more than one admin to be specified as well as permissions for different admins.

The Store Management and Setup page in CRE Loaded allows users control over all functions of an e-commerce Web site.

Added Features

All told CRE Loaded currently boasts 39 additional modules over a default osCommerce installation. Some of these perform the same functionality as Zen Cart like the Download controller and Gift Voucher/Coupon features. Then there are others that are not, including a Newsdesk, FAQdesk, Wishlist, Banner Module that includes Google Adsense code examples and an Affiliate manager.

I've always thought that affiliate marketing is a powerful addition to an e-commerce business as it helps to expand your marketing reach by easily allowing those who want to help you sell and promote your product to do so. The Affiliate Program module allows you to specify the per sale payment percentage rate as well as allowing for a tiered structure that is based on sales performance.

Like most affiliate programs, the program is banner advertising based and relies on a user cookie to determine if the sale came from a buyer that originally clicked on an affiliate advertisement. The Affiliate Program module user configuration menu sets the lifetime for the cookie and also the payment threshold at which point the affiliate is paid, which can be via PayPal, check or bank. Affiliate sign-up is user driven and done through an online setup. Affiliate administration by the site owner is easily handled via the Affiliate menu screen which lets you know exactly what's going on (hits, clickthroughs, affiliates) with your affiliate program.

In looking for CRE Loaded documentation I kept getting a link to a "for sale" manual that Chain Reaction Web (the people behind CRE Loaded) is trying to sell. (There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs to make a living, right?) The osCommerce manuals, as well as the osCommerce support forums, offer a wealth of expertise if you want to save the small expense. Then, of course, there is always the trial and error method of figuring things out yourself.

The categories/products setup page in CRE Loaded allows users to define product categories to be included in an online storefront.

Zen Cart vs. CRE Loaded

Where Zen Cart and CRE Loaded differ most is not necessarily in their included list of added features but rather in how they treat them. For example, both applications include admin menus for Layout boxes and catalog entries. They have the same essential functionality. They just look different and lay out the features in a different way (CRE Loaded image vs. Zen Cart images.)

I don't know that one approach is necessarily better than the other. They're just different.

At present, the affiliate module, as well as the robust admin management features, are real kickers for me — which is why, if forced to choose between the two disciples of osCommerce, I'd lean towards CRE Loaded. That said, they are both excellent e-commerce storefronts that dramatically improve the osCommerce experience to the point that I would recommend (for casual, non-hard core users that fancy themselves as development types) to stay away from the default stable osCommerce and instead choose from its spawn.

Whether supercharged by CRE Loaded or spiritualized by Zen Cart, you'll be hard pressed to find an osCommerce - or for that matter any Free Open Source e-commerce storefront application - that is as good as either of these robust applications.

__________________________________________________
Store Managers for osCommerce, X-Cart, CRE Loaded, Zen Cart

Sell More With Amazon Export Feed

2008-08-04T11:48:51Z

Owners of online stores are always looking for different ways to sell more products. They public their advertisement in mass media; attract customers by means of various special offers, etc. One of the most effective ways for online stores to sell more via internet is to use online marketplaces.

Their main goal is making the task of selling and buying products easier. There are hundreds of such resources all over the Internet, here are some of them: Amazon.com, MySimon, Price Grabber, Shopping.com, Shopzilla.com, etc. Visitors can see a lot of variations of a product they are looking for, with descriptions and prices from a lot of online stores and it is very easy to compare them in one place.

One of the main and well-known among them is Amazon.com - it is an American e-commerce company. Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods by Internet. It started as an on-line bookstore, but soon diversified to product lines of VHS, DVD, music CDs, computer software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, etc – Wikipedia.org

Thus, Amazon.com is quite effective marketing channel for your online store. To start using this online marketplace you need to publish (place) there a list of your products with some details - your Product Feed. Though, it is quite complicated to make product feeds for all of your products and export all of them to this marketplace manually, especially if you own a large store. There is perfect software created to solve this problem – Amazon Export Feed by MagneticOne. Amazon Data Feed assures the easiest export of your products into Amazon.com

This software will help you to make product feeds for all of your products easily, considering the demands and peculiarities of Amazon.com. Preparing Product Feeds for each site with all products and regularly updating it can be a real nightmare. Using Amazon.com, you will automatically get more sales and more traffic to your store, and you won’t have to pull your leg into details. People from every corner of the world will be able to review your products and choose ones they would like to buy. Amazon Export Feed offers great number of features, such as:

multi-language support

multi-currency support

ability to export only selected categories

ability to include/exclude products marked "out of stock"

capability to strip HTML from Product Names

capability to strip HTML from Product Descriptions

capability to set default shipping cost

ability to limit number of products exported

ability to set currency that is used during export

and even more

Amazon Export Feed gives you a unique opportunity to increase the number of your potential customers. Now you do not have to spend days and hours to create product feeds for those products, which you would like to export to Amazon.com. Software by MagneticOne allows you to do this work fast and easy. Find out more about Amazon Export Feed and its features here:

osCommerce Amazon Export Feed

CRE Loaded Amazon Export Feed

X-Cart Amazon Export Feed

Zen Cart Amazon Export Feed

MagneticOne Team | Facebook

2008-07-23T17:48:19Z

MagneticOne Team | Facebook

osCommerce Data Feeds

2008-07-23T17:29:21Z

Learn More About osCommerce Store Manager

2008-07-08T15:43:55Z

If you are looking for a reliable, easy-to-use and powerful software to sell your products and services online. If you need to manage an existing e-commerce store or to build a complete new one, and you don't know how use all advantages of doing business online. If you're tired to customize your store database to your shopping cart software, when it has to be vice versa. You're looking for the powerful tool for your online store and it's too tiresome for you? You can stop your search now, the perfect solution for you is Store Manager for osCommerce. It is easy to use software with free technical help and support whenever you need it.

Store Manager is a powerful e-commerce tool, with lots of features to help you to create and support your own store. So, let's have a look at the main aspects of installation process and store connection opportunities below.

First of all you need to load archive with fresh version of Store Manager and to follow few steps of installation Wizard:
to accept License Agreement
to select Destination Location (where should Store Manager be installed)
to choose which components should be installed (all, compact or custom)
to select Start Menu folder (where to place program shortcuts)
to perform additional tasks (optional)

After successful installation, you'll be able to enjoy the advantages of osCommerce Store Manager.

In order to start working with a specific store you need to setup store database connection. It can be done in preferences window, which appears automatically on the first start-up. The good thing is that all your previous settings will be saved if you want to install the latest updates over the old version.

Now let’s talk about various details of your store connection. osCommerce Store Manager requires direct MySQL database connection. Most of hosting companies allow direct connections to MySQL database. However in most cases you have to go to your control panel and add your home/office computer IP address or domain name to Access List - list of IP addresses allowed accessing MySQL port 3306 from outside. This option can be found under MySQL settings. Direct connection allows you to see all changes you make to your online store right away, no synchronization, no delayed updates.

If direct connection is not allowed by your hosting company, there is another way - secure SSH connection. Actually SSH is a kind of tunnel between two computers - yours and your server. You can use SSH as well as for FTP connections for MySQL database. The only info you need is SSH user name, password and remote port number - basically the same as for typical MySQL connection.

If neither direct MySQL nor SSH connections are possible PHP-MySQL bridge connection can be used. Bridge is just another way to connect to your database. Normally program uses direct MySQL connection to remote database installed at website or some other web server. In some cases this type of connection does not work - your hosting provider may not allow direct connections or your LAN settings/firewall prevent connection from being established. Bridge allows you to work with remote database without direct MySQL connection established.

While working through bridge you must store your temporary data in local database. Bridge is used only for two major operations - get data from remote database and post data to that database. You must understand the difference between bridge connection and MySQL connection. Bridge is not a connection itself, actually this is just a way to transfer files between remote and local machine and nothing more. To configure the PHP MySQL Bridge Connection to your remote database enable the corresponding check-box in the Store Configuration Section. PHP MySQL Bridge and Local Database Connection Settings Section will appear. But if you want to see changes you've made on your online store you have to post your changes to your remote database store. After you'll post all your changes, your store will reflect them. Also it is recommended to get Data from Web, before you make any changes locally to be sure you see the latest data.

Hundreds of additional features are included in Store Manager to simplify typical and more advanced tasks. Store Manager also provides multiple stores management; you can manage many stores and quickly switch between them.

osCommerce Manager is compatible with Zen-Cart and osCMax. osCommerce Store Manager is developed as a powerful e-Commerce tool for small, medium and full-sized merchants as well as wholesalers. Do not hesitate! Try Store Manager for osCommerce right now http://www.oscommerce-manager.com

10 Things to Know for More Repeat Sales

2008-07-01T15:27:57Z

Increasing repeat sales for your online store is hard work. Our newest CRE Loaded partner, MyStoreRewards, is the world's leader in driving repeat sales for online sellers. MyStoreRewards shared these top ten ideas for driving repeat sales with us:

1. Focus on Profits. A repeat sale is far more profitable than a new sale. Driving repeat sales is critical to your success. No retailer can survive without strong repeat sales.

2. Measure Repeat Sale ROI. Marketers religiously measure new customer ROIs, but often fail to track the same for repeat customers.

3. Defend Your Assets. Your competition is doing everything they can do to steal away your best customers. Do what it takes to keep customers loyal.

4. Break the Cycle. New customers sourced from PPC/Adwords will go right back to Adwords on their next shopping trip. Get them to your store directly.

5. Expose the Myth. "Great customer service, with great pricing, is enough to increase repeat sales." If that were true, every customer would be a repeat buyer. You need a tool like MyStoreRewards to drive repeat sales.

6. Timing is Everything. Driving repeat sales means offering your past buyers the right product, at the right price -- at the right time.

7. Second is Better than First. The second sale is the foundation of your buyer's loyalty. A second sale within 30-days increases your customer's life-time value dramatically and can lead to 3-5 more sales in 12 months.

8. Communicate. Opted-in emails are the single best way to drive your repeat sales. MyStoreRewards creates and manages an intelligent, opted-in email marketing program so you are always fresh in your buyer's mind.

9. Frequency. Frequency of communication matters. Every 15 days seems to be the right cadence. Don't let more than 31 days pass without an email.

10. See Number One. Driving repeat sales should add profits to your business without excessive costs. An automated tool like MyStoreRewards requires no additional overhead and lets you choose reward levels. Most importantly, it is guaranteed to work. If you don't see results-- like a 10% increase in repeat sales -- you don't pay a thing.

Brought to you by MyStoreRewards: In 15 minutes you can add MyStoreRewards to your CRE Loaded store and see results almost immediately.

Slow osCommerce Queries. How to Speed Up osCommerce

2008-06-27T14:01:24Z

I’m sure that you, as every Internet user, have had a similar experience: you find a webpage, which you are really interested in but when you start opening that web site, it takes a long time. Than you will probably agree with me that it is quite irritating. Imagine that your customers have the same experience at your online store. It won’t take them long to switch to different one. There’s software which can help you to avoid this problem – Performance Module. This module speeds-up web page loading process. So that page loads faster and the process takes less time.

What is the principal of Performance module work? The essence of it is that it makes caches - temporary storage area where frequently accessed data can be stored for rapid access (wikipedia.org). So, it implements smart way of caching - storing and reusing parts of page that take much time to load/generate. It gives much higher speed up osCommerce comparing to standard shopping carts caching because of smarter approach. First time when page is accessed - it is generated as normal (no speed gain), when page is accessed second time - it is taken from cache.

Thus, if you are the owner of a large online store with, let’s say, 12 000 products and 1279 categories, the speed before performance optimization: 4.33 sec - after performance optimization: 0.64 sec, 676% increase.

For medium-size stores with about 800 products and 23 categories, the speed before performance optimization: 2.23 sec - after performance optimization: 0.41 sec, 212.38% increase. No other proves needed - the numbers tell for themselves!

Performance Module for osCommerce has the following features:
… greatly increases performance
… greatly reduces server load
… supports unlimited number of products /categories (supports large stores)
… very easy installation, 5 cut & paste steps necessary - start using in 5 minutes!
… enable/disable with few mouse clicks
… completely automated - no additional support/management necessary
… multiple configuration options: Cache Time Cache Folder Folder Size Cache Folder Compression
… easy to install and use

Performance module for osCommerce has been created to speed-up the loading process of web pages. Slow loading of a web page is irritating and suspicious. Don’t loose your customers because of low speed rate. Performance module has been created to help you get more loyal customers; increase your sales and income. This software makes your store seem stable and trustworthy to the existing customers and for interested visitors as well.

You should know that according to statistics customers don’t wait for loading a web-page more than 5 seconds. Than they leave it and switch to another one. It doesn’t matter whether you own a large online store, a medium-size one, or a really small one. The question of better performance refers to you anyway. Remember – the module is completely automated. Thus it will take only few steps to install and see how it works.

You got interested and want to know more about the Performance Module for osCommerce?
Here is the link for you - How to Speed Up osCommerce

Behavioral Targeting Tools

2008-06-27T11:50:32Z

Behavioral Targeting Tools
http://www.scribd.com/doc/1959440/Behavioral-Targeting-Tools

XCart Modules Expand the Abilities of Internet Stores

2008-06-19T15:49:59Z

Your store is based on X-Cart, isn't it? So are many others. You can make it stand out among the competitors using numerous X-Cart modules for example. These are various tools created to make your store unique, different from all others. Modules help online merchants to add number of features to the online store, which help to attract new customers, save the existing ones, increase customers’ trust and loyalty. All of the above certainly increases the number of sales, thus the store profits.

Let’s take a closer look on how online store can benefit from X-Cart modules. Here are just a few examples of the number of modules, which are available separately.

Follow-up Autoresponder Module for X-Cart is an effective marketing tool to follow-up prospective customers through e-mails at different time predetermined intervals. This module gives an ability to send unlimited number of customized follow-up messages. These follow-up messages are sent automatically, offering related products based on multiple predefined algorithms. These offers are based on previous order details, to suggest products that customers are interested in, except purchased ones.

Social Bookmarks Module for X-Cart helps your store to have higher ranking in search engines. If the store appears in the first pages of search results, it is much easier for interested people to find it. The rank of your online store depends on quantity of links to your site on other sites. The more people bookmark your store – the higher is your rank. This module makes bookmarking of your store very easy. It supports almost all of the most popular bookmarking services. Multiple predefined layouts are available.

Survey Builder Module for X-Cart helps to create various surveys and questionnaires, to improve customer feedback. Surveys are based on customer’s actions – while one’s purchasing a certain product, after one has made the purchase, etc. There can be separate surveys for different groups of products available at the store. The efficiency of the chosen marketing strategy can be evaluated basing on survey results. Another feature of this module is the possibility to see the statistics – answered/unanswered questions, responses to each of the questions, and general survey results.

These are just few examples. The possibilities and benefits X-Cart modules got to offer are much bigger. Implementation of these modules can open new horizons for your online business. These multiple software expansion modules have even more features to offer than you can imagine. The web site has to be always fresh and updated, following all the new trends in order to attract the customer. X-Cart modules allow you to do this easily offering something new and interesting all the time, which leads your online store to success.

Have you already decided to try some of the offered modules but don’t know where you can get them? We advise you XCart Modules created by MagneticOne – one of the most trusted online store software development companies. They offer wide range of modules created for online business by team of professional programmers. They are easy to use and meet clients' needs perfectly. High quality guaranteed!

Visit the MagneticOne website and see for yourself - Mods for X-Cart

Make Smart Prices - Earn More Money!

2008-06-18T16:38:05Z

Mass Product Changer for osCommerce is the unique software that helps you to manage huge lists of products in your store with few clicks only. You don't need to make changes to each of your products one by one, thus waisting your precious time. Select products you need and apply changes to all of them at once.

Mass Product Changer is an addon that helps you to make batch changes to multiple products safely, easy and fast. Mass Product Changer addon simplifies operations over multiple products and brings in additional important features:
... change product pricing in a few clicks only
... make product pricing "smart"
... apply changes to products that are related to different categories
... make your changes automatically, thus minimizing human mistakes

You won't need any help or any special skills to use this addon. Just select one or more products at the "Products" page in store manager and click right mouse button for pop-up menu. Select "Mass Product Changer" item, and when all changes are done click OK button to apply them to selected products at once.

Mass Product Changer at a glance:
... Smart List Price Modifier not limited within the categories
... Quantity Modifier
... Low Available Limit Price Modifier
... Other Product Fields Modifier

Smart list price allows you to select smart marketing price like $9.99 instead of $10.00 or $24.95 rather than $25.00. You can round the price to the number divisible by some specified value. As for example you would like your price to be at $25, $30, $35 but not $27 or $31. Set round value as 5 to automatically round the price. Also you can set value by which the price will be reduced.

As for example you will get 9.99 but not 10.00 when you set 0.01 as reduced value or get $9.95 when you set 0.05 value. But the best way to use those options is to combine them. Combine "Delta" and "Round" values to get smart price like $24.99 or $34.99. Thus when calculating new smart price, it's better to round the price first and then set the delta value.

Also you can modify other product fields with fiew clicks only (set some values to modify fields) and preview all products you're going to modify with both old (current) value and new (modified) one to check everything before applying.

The activation of Mass Product Changer addon is as simple as usage itself. There are no files to download and update, everything required for the extended functionality already exists in the main application. If the plugin is not registered, it'll work in DEMO mode - so you can test it and learn more about it's options, but you will not be able to post actual changes to your database.

If huge amount of products makes you spend your time at your PC applying changes to each of them separately, think how you could manage them simultaneously. Save your time! Reach high flexibility of your store. Earn more money faster now while making your products marketable. The only thing you need is to start using Mass Product Changer Addon together with your Store Manager for osCommerce.

So, double your profits while making your prices flexible with Mass Product Changer. Use your time properly. Manage your Store and earn money much faster with the help of our Mass Product Changer for osCommerce

osCommerce Make-A-Deal Module - Video Presentation

2008-06-18T12:08:41Z

osCommerce Make-A-Deal is completely automated mod that will make offer to your customers based on what they do in your store. Your store isn't just waiting for customer to make order anymore - it is making offers and deals for you!

Follow-up Autoresponder for osCommerce - Video Presentation

2008-06-09T14:45:29Z

osCommerce All-in-One Product Feeds - Video Presentation

2008-06-09T14:43:29Z

Online Surveys To Improve Communication With Customers

2008-06-02T09:57:18Z

Nowadays the number of companies and private entrepreneurs, who have a web site of their own, is rising constantly. It, certainly, influences the style and ways of handling e-business. Surveys and opinion polls have always been an effective tool for receiving various kinds of information from target groups. Modern means of communication, such as online surveys and questionnaires, have become very efficient for contact with the target audience i.e. web site visitors, business partners, potential customers, etc.

There are few ways the survey maybe offered to the audience: it can be send via e-mail, posted on the web site of the company, at the forums, blogs, etc. It can give the businessmen answers to a great number of questions. This service helps to understand whether the right marketing strategy has been chosen. It gives the opportunity to see drawbacks in company’s work, to see some errors that the owner didn’t even suspect, get suggestions on how to improve service quality, etc. The answers are received from those, who actually buy and use the products. Store owner can evaluate the situation with product quality, shipping conditions, customer’s attitude towards the offered price, and react instantly – make needed corrections, changes. Doing so, the owner makes his business more attractive for customers.

Surveys and questionnaires greatly improve the communication between customers and owners of online stores. They increase customer’s loyalty, and grab the attention of interested visitors right away. Another benefit of online survey is that this service allows questioning large number of people fast and efficient, instead of wasting time on personal interview.

According to statistics, online surveys have the highest level of sincerity. When people answer questions of online survey they are usually more frank and sincere. The reason for that is increased anonymity of such opinion polls. So, more people are eager to respond to this kind of survey. On the other hand, it gives the investigator opportunity to ask the questions, which can’t be asked during personal interview. Another reason is specific culture of Internet-users – curiosity, mutual assistance, etc.

Monitoring the statistics helps to analyze the results and make appropriate changes. It allows to figure out questions like why one product sells better than the other, which products are most viewed, which are more purchased, etc. Online surveys maybe composed based on customer’s actions – during the purchase of a certain product, after the product is bought, etc. Creating and filling out such questionnaires is much easier than regular ones. E.g.: questions can be customized even after survey has been launched.

Sending surveys to target audience makes it possible to see and analyze preferences of potential customers. Efficiency, flexibility, high speed – these are just some of the numerous advantages online surveys got to offer. The main benefit is better communication with customers and responding to their wants and needs. Such surveys can be an effective marketing tool when in the right hands and used correctly.

To learn more and see how it works, try Survey Builder Module offered by MagneticOne:
Survey Builder for osCommerce
Survey Builder for CRE Loaded
Survey Builder for X-Cart
Survey Builder for Zen Cart

RSS – an Efficient Way to Broadcast Your News Over Internet

2008-05-19T16:38:15Z

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is used for delivering regularly changing web content. In other words, it is a specific way of delivering information from web-pages to your web site, PC or blog. An “RSS-channel” contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text (news, article, video, etc). – Wikipedia.org

RSS is open file format for information export, which is used by various sites/services and most popular Internet browsers (like FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari etc.) to review and import your products. It allows you to easily stay informed by getting the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not having to visit each site individually. RSS ensures your privacy, as you do not need to join each site's email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News, BBC News, CNN and many others. RSS is supported by the majority of Internet browsers: Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Thunderbird and others. Viewers mostly use online services to read RSS at any place they want to - Google Reader, RSS.I.UA, Bloglines, etc.

RSS module holds numerous benefits for your online store. Let’s list some of them:

an effective way to broadcast your news across the Internet
brings more traffic to your store – more potential customers
multilingual support – comprehended by larger number of visitors
you can get updated information of your interest anytime you want
web-sites, which get the information from you, will get the updates as soon as you make them
higher SEO ranking - larger amount of your web-site content will be indexed by search engines
makes your online store more social providing efficient communication between you and your potential customers
easy to start up and use

News feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as it is published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. It is very convenient and doesn’t take much time and money.

The vast majority of web-sites are using RSS. It becomes more and more popular online marketing tool, as those who use it, have seen and experienced the advantages of RSS already. The fact that this software is multilingual gives you even more opportunities. Now you can translate your news feeds to number of the most spoken languages, so it is understood by large number of Internet users.

Do not lag behind and waste the chance to improve your online store. Make it more successful, profitable and competitive using RSS Export Module. Do not waste the opportunity to spread the news!

Try and see for yourself! Follow the link and get additional information:

Comparison Shopping Engines – Less Efforts, More Sales

2008-05-19T16:11:32Z

Today, more and more consumers are heading to Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs) as their first stop when purchasing goods online. These engines place the offerings of many online merchants side by side, allowing potential customers to make easy price and feature comparisons. Let’s name some of them: Google Base, Shopping.com, Shopzilla.com, Yahoo Shopping, MSN Shopping, Price Grabber, Amazon.com, Kelkoo, MySimon, and others.

Price comparison service allows potential customers to see lists of prices for specific products. Usually, these services do not sell the goods themselves, but get and store prices of online stores which, actually, sell these products. These engines offer many options not offered by regular search engines, including the ability to sort products by price, see merchant ratings, and get updated merchant information.
Comparison Shopping Engines help visitors to choose from a variety of products and to get wanted product for better price. Many merchants place their products in several shopping engines simultaneously. They know – the more people see their goods the profit they will get as a result.

To start using such Comparison Shopping Engines you need to place there a list of your products with some details, called Product Feed. In order to start you have to register an account with engine, prepare a product feed with a list of products, prices, descriptions (options, unique features), following every engine’s requirements. Uploading and monitoring your data is quite time consuming, especially if you want to register at couple of such engines and place a list of thousands products.

It means you will need some professional help. You may choose among free and commercial software. I advise you to try All-in-One Data Feed Modules Pack by MagneticOne.com. MagneticOne created such feeds pack for osCommerce, X-Cart, Zen Cart and CRE Loaded shopping carts. This is thoroughly developed software, which will help you to export your products to all of the most popular Comparison Shopping Engines.

All-in-One Data Feeds Pack by MagneticOne has numerous benefits for your store:
… allows you to list products in the most popular Comparison Shopping Engines
… gives you the possibility to get statistics from Comparison Shopping Sites so you can keep track of the results
… set up once and runs steady
… keeps you updated (includes 6 months of software updates)
… no monthly payments
… greatly increases the number of sales

The reason this software is better than similar free one is that free software usually supports only one Comparison Shopping Engine and has limited functionality. Which means if you want to broadcast your products in multiple engines you have to make separate data feed for each of them. As every shopping engine has the requirement of its own for Product Feed. So you need to follow all instructions for each separate engine. That's why you need All-in-One Data Feeds Pack by MagneticOne. This software will do this job for you!

If you want your online store to be successful, competitive, and bring profit – you really ought to use All-in-One Data Feeds for osCommerce, X-Cart, Zen Cart and CRE Loaded shopping carts Pack. See how it works yourself at MagneticOne.com/store

osCommerce Translate Module – a Key to Success!

2008-05-05T10:37:42Z

Top Ten Languages Used in the Web ( Number of Internet Users by Language )
TOP TEN LANGUAGES IN THE INTERNET	% of all Internet Users	Internet Users by Language	Internet Penetration by Language	Language Growth in Internet ( 2000 - 2007 )	2007 Estimated World Population for the Language
English	31.2 %	365,893,996	17.9 %	157.7 %	2,042,963,129
Chinese	15.7 %	184,001,513	13.6 %	469.6 %	1,351,737,925
Spanish	8.7 %	101,539,204	22.9 %	311.4 %	442,525,601
Japanese	7.4 %	86,300,000	67.1 %	83.3 %	128,646,345
French	5.0 %	59,207,849	15.3 %	385.4 %	387,820,873
German	5.0 %	58,981,592	61.1 %	112.9 %	96,488,326
Portuguese	4.0 %	47,326,760	20.2 %	524.7 %	234,099,347
Korean	2.9 %	34,120,000	45.6 %	79.2 %	74,811,368
Italian	2.7 %	31,481,928	52.9 %	138.5 %	59,546,696
Arabic	2.5 %	28,782,300	8.5 %	940.5 %	340,548,157
TOP TEN LANGUAGES	85.0 %	997,635,142	19.3 %	203.7 %	5,159,187,766
Rest of World Languages	15.0 %	175,474,783	12.4 %	440.3 %	1,415,478,651
WORLD TOTAL	100.0 %	1,173,109,925	17.8 %	225.0 %	6,574,666,417
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

There is number of features online store should posses in order to be successful. One of them is possibility to translate the web site to multiple languages. Translate Module is designed to meet this aim. This is professional software which helps to translate web pages into targeted language just with one click. You don't need to translate your store manually or install any additional language packages any more. Translate Module will fully automate the translation process by using major translation engines, such as Babel Fish (AltaVista and Yahoo) and Google Translate.

English, certainly, is considered to be one of the most spoken languages in the world and understood by vast number of people. But it should be considered that vast audience speaks Chinese, Spanish, Japanese or other languages as their native, and it would be much more convenient for them to read the web page in their native tongue. Thus, they will understand the specific character of online store and the terminology much better. All they need to do to switch the language – just to make one click!

This way the content of your store will be understandable for larger number of potential customers. As a result, you get loyal customers, who choose your store from the variety of others because you take into consideration their wants and needs. Shopping at your store will be much easier and more efficient for them.

The Benefits of Translate Module:
… Better Comprehension – gives your visitors the ability to read content of your store in their native language.
… Increased Loyalty – you get more loyal customers, who appreciate satisfaction of their needs.
… Multiple Languages Support - choose the languages your visitors are most likely to use.
… Increase your Sales – simplifies shopping for your customers, no miscommunication.
… Zero Maintenance Cost – just set up and use it.
… no need to translate your store manually or install any additional language packages.

osCommerce Translate Module is one of the essential features for any web site. All of the most known sites use this feature, as they know; the more people get interested - the more potential customers they have. You can choose from the wide range of languages this module offers - English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Portuguese, Korean, Italian and Arabic.

Professional automated translation is provided by Google, AltaVista and Yahoo. Which guarantees high quality of translation right than and there. Certainly, it is not as accurate as human translation, though it doesn’t eliminate mistakes either, but it’s less time consuming and costs much cheaper. In addition to that, it is constantly improving in compliance with the translation engines of Yahoo, Google and AltaVista.

You get to choose from the variety of predefined layouts and list of languages. Get more customers and more sales by attracting people of other nationalities to visit your store and become your loyal customers. It’s worth it!

Try Translate module right now! Click on the link http://www.magneticone.com/store/osCommerce.Modules/osCommerce.Translate.Module

Happy Easter Everyone!

2008-04-25T12:34:03Z

Happy Easter Everyone!

PS: Greek, Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter on Sunday, April 27, 2008.

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RSS – an Efficient Way to Broadcast Your News Over Internet

Comparison Shopping Engines – Less Efforts, More Sales

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osCommerce Translate Module – a Key to Success!

Happy Easter Everyone!