With MyStore3 a customer can browse at will without regard to any special sequence of events.
MyStore3 paradigm emulates a traditional corporate business technique
for making a purchase: a buyer writes a purchase order to a seller. The purchase
order is a contract which which defines the entire transaction between
the two parties. It typically identifies the seller and buyer by name and address, provides shipping
requirements specified by the buyer, payment requirements of the seller, and a detail
list of the quantities, descriptions, and prices of the items being ordered.
It will also include any special instructions of either party.
This leads to a well defined , modular system for putting together the MyStore3 software.
First there is the database of products broken into individual tables by category along with the
associated table and category readers. The readers determine what and how the database information
will be presented to the customer. (In the Lite version there'll be only one category.)
Second there is the shopping basket where product selections can be viewed and edited.
Third there is an order form where the customer fills in all of the purchase contract
information except for the product selections themselves.
Forth there is the purchase order itself which combines the selection information with
the purchase information and represents the buy-sell contract.
Using MyStore3, it is perfectly acceptable for the customer to navigate at random among the modules. They can't do the wrong thing! Included are four ways to view product information and make selections.
The Browse button will return a list of product categories with examples
of items in each category. (In the Lite version this button takes the customer directly to
a product list)
A View Category link from the Browse page returns a list of
products within the category, sorted by product type. Selections to the basket
can be made here.
A '?' link from a type list returns a product type information page.
This page can have any image and/or promotional material on it that you want.
The page automatically displays a list of all of the items within the category and
type. Selections to the basket can be made here.
An Imbedded link in a product listing returns an item detail page. As
above this page can can have any images and/or promotional material on it that you want.
It too supports selections to the basket from a list of the type group in which the item resides.
The Search button returns an entry form where your customer can select
a category to search in using item description keywords. The keywords can be
separated by commas, causing a return of multiple lists of items grouped according
to the keyword. IE: A customer could search on "red, dodge" in a particular
category. This will return two lists: everything red and everything dodge.
This is considered an excellent search return to a shopper because it is actually
returning everything for which a shopper has preferences.
Selections to the basket can be made from the search return.
The other navigation possibilities along with Browse and Search are provided with the buttons at the bottom of the storefront window. All of these buttons can be your own custom images. They are:
Check Basket returns the shopping basket where selected items can be viewed and edited. Some of this action is designed to protect you the merchant. The Purchase Order is
a contract. So we provide you with an exact copy of what the customer was viewing when
they sent the order. There can be no dispute here. The confirmation text copy to the
customer requests a return in the event they did not place the order. This helps to
eliminate bogus orders from people using someone else's e-mail address.
Of course if on line credit card payment is being made, there are further checks. Feedback returns a standard form from which the customer can select subjects
about which to communicate with your store.
Order Form returns the form in which the customer provides their billing and shipping
information, optional gift wrap information, and payment information.
Purchase Order returns the purchase order itself. It include all of the contractual
information and is the only location from which the order can be submitted. There are
various checking functions built in to make sure all essential information has been provided.
When the order is submitted, both the HTML version being viewed by the customer and a text
version of the order are sent to the store. Usually the text version gets e-mailed with a
confirmation copy to the customer and the HTML version gets saved to a folder.
About returns the opening page to the store which contains generic information and
the side bar window with the customer confidence building logos.
One other link in the bottom row is the store name. This link points back
to your web site index file. This is usually the opening page to your site.