Ecommerce Features from UniteU
Our commitment to merchant success insures that we regularly add new capabilities to our Connected Commerce® application suite, thereby delivering advanced integrated ecommerce solutions that serious online retailers demand. Below is a summary of just a few of the features that are currently available from UniteU. Contact us today to schedule a live demo and to receive a price quote. We'll make it easy for you to discover how you can upgrade your ecommerce system to have the latest features.
Features for Selling
Secure and Friendly Shopping Cart
Our shopping cart is designed to convert browsers into buyers. The entire checkout experience is constantly being streamlined to reduce the clicks required throughout the purchase process. The Connected Commerce® shopping cart is friendly and secure. The merchant has the option to delay registration or to make it less obtrusive to the shopper.
One-page-checkout is a proven approach that reduces abandoned baskets. Once the shopper has made the buying decision you want to make it fast and easy to complete the sale.
Follow-me Basket
Why push shoppers into the checkout line just because they placed an item in the basket? With this feature a subtle indicator shows that the item is in the basket, but the shopping continues uninterrupted. This feature can be easily customized to match a particular site look. The basket contents can be shown on every page, or it can "float" above it when accessed.
Product Catalog Management
The Connected Commerce® product catalog is database driven which provides salability, simplifies maintenance, enables structured searches and provides for automation through integration. The product structure includes "style matrix" for sku level management and attribute handling. The merchant can add, edit and remove departments (and an unlimited number of tiered sub-departments) and products on the website or through import tools.
Product Activation Scheduling
This feature allows the merchants to control when a product is available for display and sale on a merchant eStore web application.
Inventory Control and Stock Messaging
Availability messages can change automatically based on actual stock levels - items can be set to be backordered or not / messages will change or automatically hidden if out-of-stock. (This is an integrated feature.)
Security through SSL Encryption
All pages on the site that contain private customer information are encrypted through our partnerships with companies such as Verisign and Thawte.
Rich Transactional Emails
When they place an order and later when it's shipped, the shopper will automatically be notified by e-mail. The ship tracking number may be included in the ship confirmation with a link to the UPS website for tracking. Email confirmations are HTML enabled and the merchant can personalize the content and graphics.
Customer Registration
Customer information including preferences (such as email opt-in) are stored in the Connected Commerce® database and the website will recognize returning shoppers with personalized greeting. Returning shoppers will not need to re-enter their name and address. The customer can update their profile and request a forgotten password by email. Multiple, targeted email lists can be automatically generated based on the shopper selecting a mail list check box(es).
Price Groups - Great for B2B Ecommerce
This feature supports merchants in offering different price groups for the same product to specified shopping sets like retail and wholesale. In addition, merchants may have different price groups for different Multi-stores. Up to three price groups are possible with this feature. A group typically consists of MSRP, List Price and Sale Price. Therefore a particular site could be set up to utilize one group of MSRP, List Price and Sale Price while a second and third site (Multi-stores) could display a different group of MSRP, List Price and Sale Price.
Private Site Controls - Great for B2B Ecommerce
This feature allows the merchant to control access to a specific site or Multi-store based upon the shopper's "MemberStatus" attribute. Merchants can grant or deny site access to shoppers on the basis of eleven recognized "MemberStatus" values. This feature is very useful for controlling access to a wholesale site.
Tax Calculations
Tax tables are configurable and may be managed directly by the merchant. Both flat tax calculations and dynamic tax calculation options are available.
Secure and Flexible Payment Processing
Online Credit Card Gateway Services
Online credit card authorization and settlement protects merchants and speeds processing. UniteU has partnered with industry leaders and offers advanced online gateway services. As shoppers place their orders in the checkout, their credit cards will be validated, fraud screening occurs and funds are authorized in real-time prior to the order being generated. Then the credit card will be settled with funds transferred automatically once the order has been shipped.
PayPal
PayPal may be added to the eStore checkout as a payment option and the eStore Site Manager tracks when payment status. The merchant can also control their fulfillment integration to make sure that the product does not ship until payment has been secured.
Gift Cards Integrated with Retail Store
Gift cards may be sold online and they may be redeemed as a payment option, including split tender for partial payment by gift card, then the balance by credit card for example. UniteU supports a variety of gift card vendors including stored value capabilities so that shoppers may purchase and redeem across channels - buy in the store and redeem online and the reverse.
Google Checkout
The UniteU eStore integrates with Google Checkout which increases customer confidence and convenience. Shoppers are taken to a simple form to process their payment and complete their order.
Payment by Purchase Order - Great for B2B Ecommerce
If the merchant has customers with payment terms they can set up the site to accept purchase orders as a method of payment.
Online Merchandising Features
Product Reviews and Ratings
With this feature your customers are able to rate and review products. Many shoppers like to see what others have said about the products they are thinking of purchasing. Enabling customers to write reviews of your products can increase consumer confidence which is proven to increase your conversion rate. The merchant has the option of moderating the reviews and ratings and they can establish customized rating scales and graphics.
Filtered Navigation Search
Helping shoppers find exactly what they are seeking with as few clicks as possible is critical for successful e-commerce. UniteU offers simple free-text search, advanced criteria search through drop downs, search phrase breakdown and high performance through search result caching. Search structure and indexes are controlled by the merchant and the shopper can control sorting and display. Filtered Navigation Search includes a Search Database that can be controlled by the merchant. This level of search provides intuitive search results through the handling of inflections, full-text indexing and an optimized search index. This technology streamlines search attribute management and enables fast, on-the-fly product groupings and filtering - eliminating dependency on manually defined product categories.
Multi-Store - Great for B2B Ecommerce
This feature enables multiple web "store fronts" that all link back to the same database for efficient management of product and customer data and for streamlined order processing. Multi-stores allow targeted marketing. Each Multi-store can have it's own unique look and sub-set of products.
Flexible Site Navigation and Page Layout
UniteU offers a variety of navigation options to make it easy for shoppers to browse and find exactly what they are looking for in a simple, fast and friendly way. Product pages can have various images sizes and layouts - from a "slide show" display to an "order form" layout and everything in between.
Cross Promotions
Cross Promotions are a powerful up sell, redirect and suggestive sell feature. Cross Promotions are context sensitive and may be added to virtually any page on the site, including the product page, department page and basket. In addition, cross promotions can be assigned by type, such as "Similar", "Popular" and "Also Bought". Each type can have a pre-defined design and page location for maximum impact on increased add-on sales.
Coupon and Promotions Tool
This tool is used to set up promotions for specific products or all products on specified dates. Promotions may apply to targeted shoppers or all shoppers and may be triggered and tracked with a coupon code, or may be applied automatically based on shopper segment. The tool can be used for buy x and get y and the discount applied may be a % or $ amount of the purchase.
Product Packaging and Kits
With this feature the merchant creates packages of products by assigning parent/child relationships and defining kit level pricing. The site can also be built to display optional items for an additional charge - things that go with the kit but are not part of it. The merchant may include "styles" in kits and allow shoppers to select attributes and/or include single items that are added automatically. Shoppers can make selections and add the entire kit to the cart with a single click.
Value Pairing (Buy Both and Save)
This feature is perfect for special promotions! You can easily set up "pairs" of products. If both are purchased a discount is automatically applied.
Share with a Friend
The shopper can click on a link and invite friends to the website. The email will include a link directly to the site - even to a specific product.
Image Pattern Swatch with Swap on Mouse over
This feature provides the "virtual touch" of a product. Extra images can be displayed for product-level detail such as fabric pattern or color detail. Plus shoppers can mouse over a product image and a different image will appear (such as a different color based on a swatch).
Alternate Product Views (front, back, side detail)
You can increase conversions by providing that online virtual "touch" by adding multiple images per product. With this feature you can include a jumbo image, back views, etc.
Dynamic Imaging and e-Catalogs
Through our partnership with leading on-demand rich media platform provider Scene 7, UniteU eStores can have compelling imaging that increases conversions.
Wish List and Integrated Gift Registry
Shoppers can select "favorite" products and place them in a "Wish List". At any time they can return, view and edit their favorites and purchase them, and they can send an email invitation to friends and family to view and buy from their Wish List. In addition there is the ability to integrate an online Wish List with an in-store Gift Registry, including tracking "need' and "already has" history.
Gift Messaging and Gift Wrap
Shoppers can enter a message that they would like included on a gift card. This information will be included on the order for the merchant to respond to. In addition, a gift wrap option may be offered and the shopper may select from multiple wrap designs that appear in a drop down. If desired, the gift wrap may be set up to be billable. The gift messaging and/or gift wrap information, including charges if applicable, will be included in the merchant email and, for integrated sites; it will be included in the POS or fulfillment system Sales Order.
Akamai Edge Suite Image Delivery
Does your online business demand screaming fast page refresh rates - without sacrificing rich image delivery? To meet these needs, UniteU offers access to the Akamai EdgeSuite Image Delivery service. This technology delivers an environment where secure, on-demand capacity is available to ensure a positive customer experience and support for high volume transactional needs. Experienced online retailers know that Web site performance directly impacts the strength of your brand and your ability to win and keep online customers. Through the deployment of Edge Servers that sit between Web browsers and our estore web servers images and other objects are cached. This is accomplished thru DNS addressing which points to Akamai's physical network (the Edge Servers). Akamai then pulls up and caches fresh objects (images) from their network as needed.
For details on this ground breaking technology refer to this Akamai Whitepaper (145 kb PDF)
Akamai Edge Suite Includes (ESI) for High Performance Full Site Delivery
Edge Side Includes (ESI) is a simple markup language used to define Web page components for dynamic assembly and delivery of Web applications at the edges of the Internet. UniteU deploys the ESI mechanism to manage content transparently across application server solutions, content management systems, and content delivery networks. As a result, ESI gives the Connected Commerce® application control at deployment time over where the application should be assembled - thereby maximizing performance across the content delivery network.
Order Management
Order Manager
The Connected Commerce® Order Manager allows searching, filtering and viewing of orders. In addition, orders may be edited prior to fulfillment if needed. Partial shipments are supported.
Enhanced Order Manager
This optional module enables faster and more direct order creation, editing and management from within the Connected Commerce® Site Manager. The merchant's staff can quickly search and select products to be added to an order without navigating through the website front-end interface. In addition, discounts may be applied and prices can be modified if needed. The module tracks all order entry and edits for an audit trail of a particular order's history.
Order Hold and Release - NEW
Insert order control 'upstream' from the fulfillment cycle to facilitate exception handling and reduce errors and delays in your pick-pack-and-ship operation with this valuable feature.
Shipping Features
UniteU understands the importance of smart shipping rate calculations, automated fulfillment and the ability to offer free shipping when certain criteria are met. The merchant controls shipping preferences which will be calculated automatically based on weight, price or shipping provider integration.
Plus, to alleviate buyer hesitation because of unknown shipping costs. shipping estimates by zip code is standard on the basket page and can be site-wide with a Follow-me Basket. Our shipping pages are smart and friendly. For example, the merchant may choose to limit shipping methods based on shopper info (ie; only show valid options for the shopper's state). The merchant can also control the display order of shipping methods. Access to ship files in standard UPS World Ship format automates fulfillment.
Site Administration
Site Manager Tool
The UniteU Site Manager tool provides direct secure access to update and maintain the website content. It is available to the merchant 24/7. This tool actually involves two sites: Staging (Practice) and Production (Live). This allows "experimenting" and prototyping new designs and features as well as providing hot back up protection.
Import / Export Tool
This powerful tool puts data in the hands of the merchant in standard .csv format. Data can be transferred into other database applications or spreadsheet applications such as Excel. These files provide important marketing and operational information that is very useful to the serious online business. Some examples:
- Shopper records
- Orders
- Products and Departments
- Shipping records
- Abandoned Baskets
- Wish List Registry Detail
Email Manager and Rich Email Template Editor
With the Connected Commerce® enhanced Rich Email Template Editor there is a single, easy to use interface that consolidates management of site generated confirmation email distribution and handling. The merchant can directly control who gets copied on various event-driven emails.
Plus Site Manager includes pre-formatted email templates. The merchant can use these templates or create their own. The merchant has the ability to create and edit HTML emails for system generated confirmations.
Web Marketing
Search Engine Friendly
The underlying site structure of Connected Commerce® eStores is designed search engine friendly and tools are accessible for maximize visibility to search engine crawlers. This includes dynamically generated URLs that contain product and department names.
Advanced Analytics from WebTrends
This is state-of-the-art web analytics. It is both powerful and intuitive to use. Complex data about site traffic can be viewed in an extremely friendly, graphical way. For details on this new tool download this document: 10 Reports Every Retailer Lives For (1M PDF)
Shopping Engine Data Feeds
For online retailers who are seeking new ways to "get found" online, getting listed on shopping engines such as BizRate, Shopping.com and Froogle can be a very effective, economical option. To help our retailers in these marketing efforts we offer standard file formats as well as customization options and automated file creation and delivery.
One-click Email Opt-in
One of the most effective and least expensive ways for online retailers to grow their business is by communicating regularly with their customers through email communications. The impact of these email broadcasts depends upon a growing list of high quality opt-in subscribers. We have seen that those who offer a one-click email opt-in on the home page capture more email addresses.
EBay Integration
The UniteU eBay integration provides a powerful set of capabilities to merchants who want to leverage and enhance their web site investment with the eBay channel. With this feature, eStore products may be posted on eBay with just a few clicks and auction winners (or "buy it now" shoppers) will be directed through the eStore checkout for streamlined order processing. The solution also includes an eBay Administration page that provides a summary of eBay auction activity.
Amazon Integration
The UniteU Amazon integration provides a powerful set of capabilities to merchants who want to leverage and enhance their web site investment with the Amazon channel. With this feature, eStore products may be posted on Amazon through customized data feeds and sales completed through Amazon can be imported for fulfillment.
Affiliate Integration
Integration with Commission Junction, Linkshare and Avantlink allows you to connect with leading affiliates that drive traffic to your website.