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| What
is PromoStores? |
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PromoStores is
a web-based e-commerce solution (and more!)
that works with your ShopWorks OnSite system
to take orders off the web without "double
data entry". It's built-in "shopping
cart" features are completely customized
for our industry.
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| What
do you mean by "e-commerce"? |
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"E-commerce" is
a broad technology term that basically means "doing
business over the World Wide Web (WWW)".
PromoStores is an e-commerce solution. It
has built in shopping cart features that
allow you present product on the web, and
take and process orders for that product.
These sales orders are then brought into
your OnSite system without having to manually
enter them.
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What is
meant by a "dynamic" web site? |
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In the "old days" (early
1990's!) if you wanted to make a web site
you had to know "HTML" programming
language. Creating and maintaining a web
site was a technical, labor intensive process.
Even worse, these web pages were essentially
text documents...they could not interact
with databases or other information. These
are known as "Static" web sites.
As technology
developed, the ability was added for web
pages to interact with databases. This
made business processes (like shopping
online) much easier...for both the person
using the web site and the person maintaining
it.
PromoStores
is dynamic in that all of the site maintenance
(adding and changing pages or product)
is maintained by a program you access through
a web browser. This makes maintaining your
site MUCH easier and cheaper. More importantly,
you can change your site often, keeping
it new and interesting for your end-users.
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Is PromoStores
for online shopping only? |
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Absolutely not. PromoStores
is a full-featured web tool that INCLUDES online
shopping. Many companies use PromoStores for
their entire web site. Click here for
a full feature set. |
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| How
does PromoStores work with my OnSite system? |
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PromoStores is a web-based
application that resides in a web server
and is accessed through the Internet. OnSite
is a network-based application that resides
on your server and is accessed over your
network.
Each is a separate
database, but they work together in two main
ways:
| 1. |
Product
information is exported from your OnSite
system and is uploaded or updated to
your PromoStores site. The same product
that is viewed on your web site is also
in your OnSite system. |
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| 2. |
When
orders come in from your web site they
are brought into the OnSite system in
a semi-automatic or "batch" fashion
using the OnSite EDP (External Data Processor).
This means orders coming in from the
web site will NOT have to be manually
entered into your OnSite system. For
more information on how the OnSite EDP
works please see your manual or call
technical support. |
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| Do
I have to own ShopWorks OnSite to use PromoStores? |
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No. Anyone can purchase a
PromoStores system and use it for their web
site or to process orders from the web. However,
by using OnSite in conjunction with PromoStores
you get all the benefits of the systems working
together. It is likely that PromoStores will
not be as integrated with other accounting
or business management software packages.
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| Is
my PromoStores web site hosted and support
by ShopWorks? |
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ShopWorks provides all of
the support for PromoStores. Instead of designing
the PromoStores product from scratch, we
teamed with one of the leading suppliers
of Internet stores and had them modify their
existing product to our industries needs.
Netsential is
a Texas-based technology company that has been
designing and hosting dynamic database products
for over 10 years. All PromoStores sites are
hosted on their redundant and secure servers.
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| Is
PromoStores customizable? |
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Yes. Unlike other ShopWorks
products you can have features added to PromoStores
specifically for your needs. Although this
can be an expensive process, certain projects
may be cost-effective. Please email
Jay Malanga with your needs and we will
contact you to set up a phone appointment
and provide a quote.
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| How
fast can my PromoStores be up and running? |
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Fast. Once you have purchased
a Domain Name (this is the name of your website...i.e.
www.joestees.com) we can have your site up
and running in a few days.
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| What
is a "Domain Name" and how can
I get one? |
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Your "Domain Name" is
the web address people will us to access
your web site. For example, "shopworx.com" is
our Domain Name and you access it using the
internet by typing "www.shopworx.com" into
your browser.
Unlike some other
shopping cart products, PromoStores allows
you to use your own domain name. This gives
you the opportunity to "brand" your
site instead of having it be a sub-site of
someone else's domain.
Once purchased,
Domain Names are your property so long as you
pay a small fee each year. You can purchase
a domain name from many vendors, each of which
have their own pricing. We recommend using www.dotster.com.
They are inexpensive, and have great tools
for searching and registering for available
names. Once you have a name call us and we
will show you how to point it to your PromoStores
web site.
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