Storefront Builders - Examples Of Storefront Builders

One example of a storefront-builder solution for small and medium-sized companies in the early 2000s was SME Commerce, an application from Vancouver, British Columbia-based e-commerce software developer 5click. SME Commerce was a hosted solution that allowed users to handle a variety of e-commerce-related Web site functions through one interface tool. It was scalable, meaning that functions could be added or removed based on a company's needs. Companies used template-based tools to build and design product catalogs, eliminating the need for programming skills. SME Commerce's features included a shopping cart function, the ability to display images of products with descriptions in either English or French, shipping and tax calculations on both domestic and international orders, inventory management, traffic and accounting reports, a product search tool, and the ability to accept credit card payments. Companies were charged extra for some options, including listing more than 3,000 products or accessing customer support after the first three months. Among the kinds of companies using SME Commerce were a bicycle retailer, a seafood company, and a software retailer.

Actinic was another company offering storefront building solutions in the early 2000s. Although its Actinic Business product had many features that were identical or similar to 5click's SME Commerce, including design templates, Actinic Business was not offered on a hosted basis. Companies purchased this solution from Actinic and then installed it on their own servers, or on a server operated by a different host or Internet service provider. The company argued that, compared to hosted software, this approach offered more control, stability, and security to e-commerce companies.

In addition to providing features that were essential for selling products and services to consumers, like a shopping cart and credit card processing capabilities, Actinic Business also supported business-to-business e-commerce. In this regard, it offered features like inventory monitoring, customer account management, and customized pricing schedules. An independent review of the application praised it for its detailed stock monitoring features, reports, and warning features. Additionally, Actinic Business offered a great deal of flexibility for companies seeking an international customer base. This solution supported more than 30 different currencies and was able to calculate taxes for many different areas throughout the world.

Lesman Instrument Co., a distributor of process control products, used Actinic Business as an e-commerce solution to effectively deal with a customer base that was growing and spread across a wide geographic area. By making the company's catalog of more than 16,000 products available online at its Web site, www.ReadyShip.com, Actinic Business provided Lesman Instrument with an e-commerce solution that was easy to use and alleviated pressure on its sales force. It also offered Lesman Instrument's customers more flexibility and convenience, giving them the ability to customize certain configurable products. After launching the ReadyShip site, Lesman Instrument added e-commerce features to its corporate Web site, and again used Actinic Business.

Microsoft's Commerce Server 2000 was a store-front solution that was useful to large enterprises engaging in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business e-commerce. Commerce Server 2000 provided companies with one scalable package that was able to perform a vast array of different functions, including the ability to manage products and services, process financial transactions, profile customers, and manage targeted marketing campaigns. Companies were able to rely on the application's analytical capabilities to create detailed reports that provided different views of their e-commerce efforts.

Starbucks Coffee Co. is one large company that used Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 as its e-commerce solution in the early 2000s. With revenues of $2.2 billion in 2000 and more than 3,500 stores located throughout the world, a company like Starbucks requires and elaborate storefront solution; simply posting available products on a Web site is not sufficient. Starbucks initially went online in 1998 and soon experienced traffic in excess of 1 million hits each day. In 2001, Starbucks decided to upgrade to Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 from an older Microsoft product. At that time, the company had several different business goals, including making the site more effective for customers, more controllable for employees, and certain technical goals.

Starbucks' staff managed the company's Web site by using an application called the Business Desk. This was located on a special server and was accessible only to authorized staff responsible for managing promotions, making catalog updates, running reports, and so on. Microsoft's Commerce Server 2000 supported some very elaborate e-commerce features for Starbucks. One feature was personalization. This enabled customers to save basic personal information, including name, address, and credit card numbers, at the site so the information did not have to be reentered at a later time. It also allowed them to build and save address books containing the addresses of people to whom they wished to send coffee-related gifts. Another feature was Starbucks' Gift and Taste Matcher, which recommend products based on different criteria provided by customers. Finally, custom programming enabled Commerce Server 2000 to give Starkbucks the ability to offer several different kinds of discounts, including ones for employees, shipping charges, special offers, and those tied specifically to certain promotions that required a special code to be entered.