We can set up an e-commerce system that incorporates a website, an online shop, secure credit card processing and stock control. The system allows you to update the website yourself so you are fully in control of every aspect of the online store.
How the overall system works
Your e-commerce system enables you to create and maintain your ecommerce site from your PC, allows your customers to look at your products and place secure orders from your website, and lets you handle those orders back on your PC.
- Software on your PC lets you update the ecommerce website
The website is run by an online database. This online database is updated by software which Cloudless will load on your PC. This software lets you add, delete, change products and you click an update button to automatically update the website.
- When an order is placed on your website the system sends the customers credit card details to a secure online payment area where yYour merchant account is credited. Your customers will still be on your website but on a very secure page.
- You are emailed to say orders await you just leaves you with the task of shipping the order out to the customer. You use your PC to download those orders.
More detailed explanation:
How placing online orders works
Customers can easily place orders at your web site. If a customer sees a product they wish to purchase then they click on the 'Add to Shopping Cart' button. The online catalogue then registers which product this customer has selected and the customer is shown an electronic 'shopping cart' that contains their product. This shopping cart is carried with them while they are visiting the site and it goes with them into the checkout.
Monitoring stock levels
The built-in stock monitoring feature allows you to monitor each product line individually, warning you as product levels run low and automatically suspending online ordering when necessary. You are able to print off reports detailing stock levels to help you with re-ordering stock items in plenty of time to fulfil your orders.
How will I know if an order is waiting at my website?
You will be automatically notified via email that you have an order waiting.The orders can then be downloaded at the most convenient time for you.
Orders will not be emailed straight to you, it is a bad idea for several reasons :
- Reliability: you will need access to a mail server in order to receive orders, and then if the server goes down for any reason, you will lose all record of the order
- Security: most email travels over the Internet in plain text and could be read by anyone
- Convenience: this method of downloading orders means that you are in control of how and when orders are received and processed.