Evaluating 
Web Store Features
by. J. Carlton Collins, CPA

I have developed the following list of questions to ask to help me evaluate web store catalog solutions. If you have additional features or functionality that you think should be added to this list, I'd love to hear about them. I hope you find this feature set useful. When evaluating web store solutions, the most important factors to consider fall into these four general categories:

1.      Pricing
2.      Producing and Publishing the Web Store
3.      Synchronization 
4.      The specific features provided by the web store solutions.

With these four categories in mind, presented below are the proper questions to ask when evaluating a web store solution.

1)      Pricing

a)   How many e-commerce and web modules are there? Describe each.

b)   How much does each e-commerce and web module cost?

c)   Do I have to purchase any specific accounting software modules in order to use the web store solution? If so, which modules and how much do they cost?

d)   What are the typical consulting fees associated with developing and publishing a web store?

e)   Does the web store solution offer a ready and waiting web server, and if so, what is the initial cost (if any) and additional monthly charges (if any)?

f)    Do I have to sign a long-term contract obligating me to these monthly charges?

g)   If the solution does not provide a ready and waiting web server to contain my web store, how much will it cost me to rent space on another web server, or purchase and implement my own web server?

i)        Cost of hardware

ii)       Cost of software

iii)     Cost of implementation

iv)     Cost of connection to the Internet

2)      Producing the Web Store

a)   Does the web store solution offer a web creation wizard?

b)   Does the web store creation wizard automatically extract the necessary information out of my accounting system?

c)   How long does it typically take to create a web store?

d)   Can I create the web store myself, or should I hire a consultant?

e)   Does the company offer web store hosting in which a hosted web server is already set up and awaiting my web store information? If not, what procedures must I take to secure space on another web server or implement my own web server in-house?

f)    Does the web store creation wizard allow you to select the items to be transferred to the web store on an item-by-item basis or category-by-category basis?

g)   Does the web store creation wizard allow you to transfer the following item information to the web store:

·        Item number
·        Description
·        Pictures
·        Quantities on hand
·        Dimensions
·        Shipping weight
·        Pricing
·        Categories

h)   Does the web store creation wizard allow you to select the customers to be transferred to the web store on a customer-by-customer basis or category-by-category basis?

i)    Does the web store creation wizard allow you to transfer the following customer information to the web store:

·        Ship to addresses
·        Bill to addresses
·        Customer purchase history
·        Customer payment history
·        Discounts earned
·        Discounts lost
·        Detailed customers orders
·        Detailed customers invoices

3)      Synchronization:

a)   Once the web store is published to the web, are inventory item descriptions, quantities on hand, pictures, etc automatically synchronized to my accounting system?

b)   When I change inventory item descriptions, quantities on hand, pictures, etc – how many seconds, minutes, or hours does it take for that information to be reflected on my web site?

c)   Can I control the intervals at which my accounting data is synchronized to the web store? If so, what are my interval options?

d)   Are web orders entered into the web store automatically downloaded into my accounting system for processing? If so, at what intervals are these orders downloaded?

e)   Is the web store synchronized directly to my accounting system in my office (security issues), or is it synchronized to a copy of my accounting system data which is push from my accounting system to a web server on the other side of my company’s firewall? Or do I have either option? For a better understanding of this concept, you may want to read this article: http://www.accountingsoftwareadvisor.com/ec/ecfirewall.htm

4)      Other Specific Features

a)   Does the web store allow you to assign items to web categories, including multiple web categories?

b)   Does Creation wizard pick up categories from inventory module?

c)   Does the web store allow you to create subcategory relationships?

d)   Does the web store provide drilldown capabilities into web subcategories?

e)   Does the web store allow you to attach a unique banner, logo, index, or file to specific web categories?

f)    Does the web store allow you to generate additional item fields as necessary?

g)   Does the web store allow you to create extended descriptions of items to deliver more information to the web shopper?

h)   Does the web store allow you to attach graphics, audio, video, and multimedia objects to deliver more information to the web shopper?

i)    Does the web store allow you to optionally restrict customer access to only certain items, such as items on their price list?

j)    Does the web store allow you to extend discount and sales pricing features to your web store ?

k)   Does the web store allow customers to securely access their order information ?

l)    Does the web store allow you to easily change customer passwords?

m)  Does the web store allow customers to view orders online?

n)   Does the web store allow you to edit order status?

o)   Does the web store allow you to create security groups?

p)   Does the web store allow you to display order statistics?

q)   Does the web store allow you to display unlimited text and graphics in the notes section of the item drilldown?

r)   Does the web store identify existing customers via login ID, password, and prompt?

s)   Does the web store pick up customer billing and ship-to information from the accounts receivable module?

t)    Can customers edit their billing and ship-to information within the web store? If so, is this information automatically synchronized to the accounts receivable module?

u)   Does the web Store calculate appropriate item pricing using the customer’s specific pricing matrix?

v)   Does the web store allow the shopper the option of accepting partial shipments?

w)  Does the web store allow the web shopper flexible item selection through category and item drilldown?

x)   Does the web store provide definable search options?

y)   Does the web store support multiple predefined freight calculation methods?

z)    Does the web store provide essential checkout and purchasing capabilities?

aa)  Does the web store shopping cart provide remove item and/or change purchase quantity option?

bb)  Does the web store generate web order notifications online?

cc)   Does the web store verify billing and ship-to addresses for established web customers?

dd)  Do shopping carts support the ability to select shipping method?

ee)   Does the shopping cart ask the shopper to approve presented charges?

ff)     Does the web store support automatic sales tax calculation based on ship to zip code?

gg)    Does the web store support payment option selection via credit card or terms, if appropriate?

hh)    Does the web store support e-mail notification for order confirmation?

ii)      Does the web store support e-mail notification for order shipment?

jj)      Does the web store process credit card purchases online?

kk)    Does the web store allow you to customize order confirmation, shipment notification and order rejection notification forms with a text or HTML editor?

ll)       Does the web store provide predefined Web store templates, including themes and styles?

mm)   Can the web store be fully edited and customized with standard HTML editing and development tools?

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