By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
April 25th, 1998

See Also   How to Choose a Shopping Cart   StoreSense Pro   Click and Build   eCongo Free Commerce   EasyCart   FreeMerchant   Merchant Planet   Merchant Manager   Yahoo! Store   MerchandiZer

Overall
The iCAT Commerce Online package is a welcome addition to the latest 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 store.

Costs too, are moderate and the provision of a small, free store will encourage many businesses to experiment with Web based commerce.

Its only serious weakness is the inability to specify shipping costs based on shipping distance.

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, although a rather large plug-in has to be downloaded and installed to enable custom graphics to be transferred to the store. Once the plug-in is installed, graphics for transfer are selected using an explorer-style window complete with a preview pane. A simple click on a button then transfers the graphic into the store. This is much easier than using a normal FTP client.

The appearance of the store is controlled through predefined store layouts and styles. There are five 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 thirty 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 uploading a comma-delimited file or an Excel template provided by iCAT.

In addition to the wizards, there is extensive support available. A detailed product walkthrough 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 $250 per month whilst a store with 10 or less items is $9.95 per month. There are no set up costs. A valid credit card is needed to open a store - this applies to free stores as well.

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. Although the ability to accept orders electronically and the use of a virtual shopping cart are both optional, there is an underlying assumption that most merchants will choose to use both of these.

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 Cybercash real-time verification and processing. Other payment methods such as cheques or additional credit card types can be easily added. Optional currency formatting is also available.

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. There is no ability to take in to account the distance to be shipped. This means that merchants have to charge the same amount whether shipping to a neighbouring town or to the other side of the world. This is a serious weakness.

Other weaknesses include the lack of inventory management facilities, no on line 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 a unique ID number and a copy of the terms and conditions. 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.

Promotions are applied in a similar manner, by selecting items and then entering the new price or discount to be applied.

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.

Links
iCAT Commerce Online		http://www.icat.com