Overall
Over the last few years I’ve taken a look at most of the major Web-based storefront builders and I have found that they generally share one common failing: they are strong at the front end and weak at the back end. For while they allow a cosmetically attractive store to be created quickly and easily, when it comes to key back office tasks like order management and reporting, the underlying functionality of the software is usually weak.
WorldPay’s Click and Build however, breaks this pattern completely. The software is laden with highly desirable features such as multi-currency capability, multilingual language support, inventory management and a sophisticated report generator. Unfortunately though, its storefront design capabilities are fairly weak: the templates provided allow only limited control over the placement of items on the page and there are no pre-packaged themes or graphics provided.
Set Up
Click and Build stores can either be created using the supplied Quickbuild Wizard or by completing a series of online forms. Either way, the options for controlling the overall appearance of a store are fairly limited. There are no themed packages (i.e. a pre-specified package of template, fonts, colors, buttons and graphics) available and although there are fifteen templates provided for specifying the overall look of the store, these only allow very basic control over the page layout. For example, it is not possible to change the order in which menu items appear nor is it possible to change the wording of the menu links, although these can be replaced by images.
When building a store, it quickly becomes apparent that it is not possible to create layouts of the same sophistication as the example stores proudly displayed on the Click and Build Web site. WorldPay’s explanation for this is that in order for customers to achieve similar results they would need to be allowed to edit the store templates and that this would be a “security risk” for other WorldPay customers. It is possible to pay WorldPay or one of their partners to design a store for you in which case they can make the required template modifications and thus can produce stores similar to the displayed examples. I have suggested to WorldPay that they should be a little more honest on their Web site about the layout capabilities of their product …
In addition to the templates that control the overall appearance of the store, there are further templates that control the layout of the catalog pages, and it is possible to specify different templates for different areas of the catalog. There are also eleven pre-defined color schemes that define the colors of the background and text, although it is possible for merchants to specify all colors, background images, fonts etc. themselves.
Merchants need to provide all images, buttons and graphics for their stores as WorldPay don’t supply any. However, the process of uploading these in to a store is straightforward. The first step is to define one or more folders where the graphics are to be stored before browsing the local disk to select, one at a time, the files for uploading. This could be a lengthy process if there are a large number of files involved, however it is possible to upload a zipped file that contains all the required graphics.
While the store layout possibilities are fairly disappointing, the capabilities of the catalog structure are not and there should be enough functionality here to suit the requirements of most e-tailers. There is no limit (apart from disk usage quotas) to the number of categories and products that can be defined, nor is there any limit to the number of levels to which categories can be nested. Each product can have instructions and variants specified for it. Instructions allow customers to pass information to merchants (for example wording for a customized T-shirt) whilst variants handle things like different product colors and sizes. Click and Build can even maintain separate inventory levels and discount schemes for each variant. Product and category data can be entered manually or uploaded via a CSV file.
Click and Build has some other good features worth noting. The shopping and administration interfaces are multilingual, a guest book function is provided as standard, it is possible to add an unlimited number of custom Web pages to a store, and an automatic search engine submission service is provided. Finally, there is also good support for selling downloadable products like ebooks, software etc.
A detailed user guide is available for download that should answer most user questions. There is also a context-sensitive help function. Beyond these, support is provided by email and telephone. Email support is free and unlimited and most of my questions were answered within the targeted 24-hour period. However, telephone support personnel are based in the UK and calls therefore incur international rates. However, don’t feel too envious of e-tailers based in the UK – they are forced to use a premium rate number that carries a monstrous $0.75 per minute tariff, which is likely to be much more than the international call charges incurred by most non-UK customers!
The price of the Click and Build product varies depending on a merchant’s geographic location. By way of example, current costs for US based merchants are $49 set up, $75 per month (for up to 20MB of disk space, no item limit) and $0.35 plus 2.59% (4.50% for multi currency) per credit card transaction.
Order Processing
As mentioned in the introduction to this review, this is an area in which Click and Build excels, easily providing the best feature set I have seen in a product targeted at small and medium sized businesses. For example, the product includes multi-currency support, inventory management, sophisticated tax and shipping rules and easy to apply discount schemes.
One of the major advantages of selling on the Web is the ability to sell to a global audience, yet very few e-commerce packages allow customers to pay in their local currency. The WorldPay system makes it possible to accept payments in up to 160 different currencies with settlement – that is, the money that gets paid in to a merchant’s account – being made in the local currency. Before they start to shop, shoppers first choose which currency they’d like prices to be displayed in. These foreign-currency prices are then calculated based on exchange rates that are automatically updated each day. Pricing for this feature varies depending on the geographic location of the merchant, but for example in the UK three currencies are provided as standard with additional currencies incurring a one-off set up cost of £50 ($75).
Another rare feature in storefront software is the ability to specify tax and shipping rates in enough detail to satisfactorily handle the logistics of global delivery. Click and Build once again provides the most advanced features I have ever seen in a product aimed at small businesses. Merchants first define all the different shopper locations where they wish to charge different tax or shipping rates (e.g. US, Canada, Europe and Rest of World). Then tax rates are specified for each product and shopper location combination. Similarly, shipping costs are defined by product (based on weight, value percentage, fixed cost or per unit) and by shopper location. To make this process easier, it is possible to upload a shipping table formatted as a CSV file.
Inventory control is another notable feature. Click and Build enables inventory levels to be set for some or all products and for merchants to be automatically emailed once stock falls to a preset level. Once the inventory is completely depleted, no more orders will be accepted until the stock is replenished. A useful feature is that merchants can choose to have inventory levels displayed in their stores which should boost sales as customers are more likely to place an order when they know an item is actually in stock.
Finally, another highlight is Click and Build’s ability to manage discounts. There is no limit to the number of discount schemes that can be defined although they must be of one of three types: “x items for the price of y items”, “x% discount for orders over y value” or “free shipping on orders over x value”. Once defined, discount schemes can be applied to individual products as required.
As well as these important and unusual features, all the more mundane back end functions are provided too. For example, merchants are automatically notified when an order is received, while customers receive emails when their payment is processed, when their order is accepted and when their goods are dispatched.
Administration
Once again, this is an area in which Click and Build shines. For example, all e-tailers will welcome a feature that allows an unlimited number of users to be defined, each with a different profile. This allows, for example, customer service staff to access order history while being unable to alter prices, store layout etc.
Also welcomed will be the advanced report generator. This gives e-tailers access to all the data related to their store and enables them to define an unlimited number of custom reports. Although these reports can take some time to setup, once done they can be stored for later reuse. The only disappointment with the reporting function is that while it can display the number of visitors to the store over a given period, there is no way of tracking their progress through the store, nor is their anyway of accessing the referrer information to find out where the shopper came from (for example, which search engine they used).
Click and Build
By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
June 13th, 2001
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