Nexternal Solutions eCommerce Blog – eCommerce News Articles

Nexternal Solutions clients that went live last month are:-

12c Wines launched their new online store powered by Nexternal Solutions. Winemaker Mike Smith of 12c Wines dedicates himself to producing a high quality cabernet savignon. 12c Wines are proud to offer their 100% Cabernet Savignon which represents the characteristics, reputation and quality of the prime Rutherford Growing area. Check out 12c Wines here:- www.12cwines.com

Branson Ridge Winery have gone live with their Nexternal storefront. Branson Ridge Winery & Marketplace offers a variety of specialty foods and gifts from Europe and other corners of the globe. Their online store offers delicious handcrafted wines from Missouri and around the world. Take a look at their site by clicking here: www.bransonridgewinery.com

Victoria Duvall The Cookie Couture was selected by Oprah Winfrey to appear on the O list in the October 2009 issue of O Magazine! The Cookie Couture is live with their new online store, powered by Nexternal Solutions. The Cookie Couture offers extraordinary cookie creations with sophisticated notes of refined flavors! Want to check them out? Visit www.thecookiecouture.com

Bildschon Haus have gone live with their online store powered by Nexternal Solutions. Bildschon Haus provide an array of items ranging from household accents, household furniture, Holiday items and baby products. Visit their site at www.bildschon.com

Las Vegas Day School are live with their online store. They provide school uniforms and accessories for students of Las Vegas Day School. Check out their online store at:- www.lvdsuniform.com

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

Many small ecommerce businesses are one-to-five person shops whose income is derived solely from their websites. As the ecommerce world evolves and becomes more sophisticated… Read More.

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

Not paying enough attention to your e-mail marketing effort can lose you customers and compromise selling opportunities. While e-mail marketing is a great way to stay in contact with your customers, if handled badly it also has the power to ruin the relationship. You’ll respect your customers and get the most out of your e-mail marketing efforts by avoiding these five critical mistakes:

1. No Opt-out Clause

The U.S. CAN-SPAM Act 2003 requires that your commercial e-mails contain an unsubscribe link making it easy for a list member to unsubscribe from your e-mails. It also makes good business sense. Read More…

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

The Microsoft, Yahoo! search deal announced in July still faces legal hurdles, but as more details have become available, it is clear that the companies’ combined search share… Read More.

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

Many ecommerce merchants use Google Analytics to track their pay-per-click advertising campaigns. Key pay-per-click statistics that can be tracked include revenue per keyword, number of conversions per keyword… Read More…

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp

Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

When merchants create their first online store, they are often so fixated on uploading products and creating an aesthetically pleasing site that they forget to establish good policies. Although establishing policies doesn’t fall into the “fun” category, policies can protect the merchant and are a necessity. The following is a list of Policies that every merchant should have: Return Policy, Shipping Policy, Privacy Policy, and Security Policy. This article will discuss each policy in detail.

The Return Policy is one of the most important policies a merchant can construct. It will vary from business to business and may also depend upon industry and what your competitors are doing. Some merchants like to say all shipments are final- period. Others will allow for exchanges and store credits, while others might offer a complete money back guarantee. Whichever category your business falls into, the return policy should mention a time component. For example, if someone attempts to return a product that they purchased 6 months ago, you may be less willing to take the product back then if they bought it 1 week ago. You should also establish shipping costs and how they pertain to returns. Is it the customer’s responsibility to pay for shipping if they return something or is your company willing to eat that cost? Also, what condition must the product be in to be returned? Having a clearly defined shipping policy is extremely important and unfortunately something that every online merchant will fall back on at some point in time.

A good shipping policy should set expectations for the customer. The most commonly looked for element in a shipping policy is the time element – how long will it take to get the package(s). Although you can’t control the shipping carrier’s time in transit, you can give the customer a good idea of how long it will take you to get a package in the hands of a carrier. Also, if there are days that you don’t ship, specify them. Many companies that sell wine or perishables won’t ship on Thursday and Friday because they don’t want the packages sitting in the carrier’s truck over the weekend. Merchants should also mention whether or not they’ll ship to PO Boxes.

In today’s world it is extremely tough to keep your email address off of spam lists. Consequently, consumers are more cautious than ever about giving out their contact information. Most merchant’s don’t sell their customers information or use if for other purposes and they should have a privacy policy that says just that. There are consumers that will not order from you if they think you are going to sell or rent their contact information. It’s not safe to assume that your customers will think you will not keep their information private.

The final policy that every merchant should have is a security policy. This will likely be an internal only policy, but should set guidelines for employees that have access to the Order Management System. Among other things, there should be policies in place for:

1. Discontinuing access to the Order Management System once an employee is terminated.
2. Defining Access Levels to the Order Management System.
3. Rules for handling files that are exported from the Order Management System.
4. Criteria for establishing unique logins and passwords to the Order Management System.
5. Guidelines for using antivirus software. It’s extremely important that merchants never login to an Order Management System if their computer has a key-logging program running.
6. Rules for accessing the Order Management System from other computers.
7. Timelines for periodically changing passwords.

Although the thought of writing policies makes most people yawn, take a couple hours and review the policies that your company has in place. Are there things that should be changed or added? If you haven’t reviewed them in a while, chances are that it’s time to revisit them.

83% of consumers who frequently shop on the web are interested in sharing information about purchases in online social communities, and 67% say they spend more online… Read More.

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

The way to a corporation’s heart just may be through the children of the parents who work there. Web 2.0 applications that deliver services on-demand, such as tools that allow users to share information with friends or broadcast it to the world, first gained traction among tech-savvy youth. Many businesses are now finding these solutions — and the cloud-based service concept itself — indispensable.

Like every new generation, today’s youth are unlike their predecessors, and they are poised to make a significant impact… Read More.

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Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

Online social networks like Facebook and MySpace accounted for 21.1% of U.S. online display advertising in July, says comScore Ad Metrix, an online ad-tracking service of comScore Inc. MySpace and Facebook account… Read More.

Nexternal: www.nexternal.com
Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp

Many people think of LinkedIn as a business community, but it can also be helpful for promoting your online store. It can help build your network… Read More.

Nexternal: www.nexternal.com
Features: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/features.asp
Demonstration: www.nexternal.com/ecommerce/demos.asp