Overall
The iCAT Web Store is one of the new generation of Web storefront creation packages. It is exceptionally easy to set up and its comprehensive help facilities will allow even the greenest of “newbies” to set up an effective, attractive, moderately priced Web store.
However the iCat Web store has one major weakness: the specification of shipping cost. Although merchants can now specify a surcharge for international shipments the facility is rather rudimentary. And even for domestic shipments there is no capability to specify shipping costs based on the weight of an order.
Set Up
Setting up an iCat store is straightforward. The build process is divided in to four clear sections – registration, store design, item entry and checkout options – with a summary being presented at the end of each stage for confirmation. The store can be viewed at any time so the impact of changes can be quickly assessed.
The store is built using a series of wizards that are run through a normal Web browser – there is no capability for more savvy merchants to bypass the wizard and upload their own HTML files. Graphic files are transferred to the site using an explorer-type interface – no plug-in needs to be downloaded.
The appearance of the store is controlled through predefined store layouts and styles. There are four store layouts to select from; these define the overall structure of the store, for example the number of columns on each page. Store styles define the graphics to be used for buttons, headers and the background. There are over sixty store styles to choose from and custom graphics can also be used.
A number of store options can be selected. These allow shoppers to send e-mail to you, display a link to another Web site, include your name and address, add a welcome page, define customer footers or add search-engine keywords.
Once the store layout has been defined, product data needs to be entered. This can be done either item-by-item using a wizard, or by importing information from an existing database. This is achieved by either creating your own tab-delimited file or by completing an Excel template provided by iCat.
The original iCat service was one of the few Web commerce solutions not to allow pricing attributes to be defined. This meant that, for example, a merchant selling a t-shirt in a range of 4 sizes and 5 colors would have to define and display in their store a total of 20 different items!
Thankfully the latest release (August ‘99) has fixed this, with merchants now being able to define up to 3 attributes per item. A useful feature is the ability to specify invalid combinations. For example, if a merchant sells t-shirts in 3 sizes (small, medium and large) and two colors (red and blue) they can specify that a medium-red t-shirt is not a valid combination.
In addition to the wizards, there is extensive support available. A detailed product walk through combined with a series of tutorials provides an excellent overview of the set up process. Each step has context-sensitive help available, and an Online Handbook can also be accessed.
The cost of the store is dependent on the number of items offered for sale. A store with one thousand items costs $249.95 per month whilst a store with 50 or less items is $49.95 per month. There is no set up cost.
For online payments, iCat have recently dropped CyberCash in favor of a new partnership with ClearCommerce branded as the “iCat Commerce Online Payment Service”. This new solution is rather expensive: it costs $495 to set up plus a monthly fee of $45.
Order Processing
Once the store has been designed, the next stage is to set up the order processing options, again by using a series of wizards.
The merchant first defines what payment methods are to be accepted. By default, there are five credit card types to choose from, with an option to use the new iCat Commerce Online Payment System for real-time verification and processing. Other payment methods such as checks or additional credit card types can be easily added. Optional currency formatting is also available.
The underlying assumption is that all merchants will choose only to accept online orders. However, it is also possible to specify that fax and phone orders will be accepted as well.
All transactions with the iCat store are secured using SSL. If a merchant chooses not to use the real-time verification option, they are responsible for obtaining approval for each of the credit card orders placed in their store, using normal bank and credit card procedures. The order reports provided contain all the information needed to retrieve credit card information.
Sales tax can be defined to a great level of detail: it can be specified by US or Canadian Zip Code, by US state, or by individual item. If the zip code option is chosen, then sales tax is automatically calculated using TaxWare tables maintained by iCat.
The specification of shipping costs is the Achilles heel of the iCat system. Merchants can choose to offer up to three methods of shipment: standard, 2 day or overnight. Costs however, can only be calculated based on the invoice value or can be defined for each item.
In my original review of iCat (back in April ‘98) I criticized it heavily for its inability to take in to account the distance to be shipped. This meant that merchants had to charge the same amount whether shipping to a neighboring town or to the other side of the world.
To help remedy this, iCat introduced in August the capability for merchants to specify a surcharge for international shipments. However, this facility is still very rudimentary as only a single surcharge can be specified. This premium is then added applied to all international shipments regardless of the distance to be shipped or the value or weight of the order.
Other weaknesses include the lack of inventory management facilities, no online order tracking facility, and the inability to automatically apply discounts for volume purchases or to selected customers.
On a brighter note, customer orders can be acknowledged with an email that contains a unique ID number and whose contents can be customized by the merchant. Merchants can also choose to be notified by e-mail each time an order is received.
Administration
Store administration is straightforward, using the same wizards that are used to set up the store. All information about an item can be quickly altered, by clicking on it and selecting the property to be changed.
There is a wide range of merchandising activities available: the merchant can mark items as being “On Sale” or a “Featured Item”. They can also define items as being “Accessory Items” to help promote cross selling.
And an excellent suite of reports is provided:
- Customer reports provide detailed information about customers, including their location, the number of times they have ordered, the average amount they have spent per order, and which customers have spent the most.
- Order reports provide information about the orders placed in the store, including names of customers placing orders and numbers of orders placed on specific items.
- Tracking reports cover all aspects of the store’s performance, including the shopping histories of specific customers, the sales success of specific items, the number of times the store has been viewed by shoppers, and the total income the store has received.
By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
October 6th, 1999
iCat Web Store
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