Take a Tour of a LIVE IntelliMerchant Catalog

Jende's Flower Collection Jewelry uses IntelliCatalog, Inc.'s services to create the online catalog which supports their retail and wholesale sterling silver jewelry business.  They have graciously allowed us to use their site to exhibit some of the features of IntelliMerchant. Note: please be aware that Jende's Flower Collection Jewelry is an actual 'live' catalog site supporting their livelihood.  It is not a demonstration or test site.  Please don't abuse it by completing the 'Checkout' process unless you actually wish to buy their fine jewelry.  Thanks.

Overview

Although IntelliCatalog's service provides a complete catalog structure for showcasing a merchant's products, Jende's Flower Collection Jewelry also maintains its own web-site.  It is located at an ISP other than the one IntelliCatalog, Inc. uses.  The URL for Jende's Flower Collection Jewelry is www.jende.com   The URL for their online catalog is www.IntelliCatalog.com/JendesJewelry. To proceed through the 'Live Site' tour go to Jende's webpage.  Clicking on the red 'Jende' logo on Jende's webpage will take you to IntelliMerchant's 'Welcome' page.  This is the standard page supplied with IntelliMerchant however you have the ability to substitute your own HTML page if you wish. From the shopper's perspective your online catalog is divided into two major areas: administration (registering, checking order status, viewing store policies) and shopping (searching for products, ordering, product review). Additionally, at the bottom of the catalog page is a shopping cart summary section which displays the contents of the shopper's basket and provides links to the administration page ("Main Menu") and help. To get to the shopper's administration page click on the "Display Main Menu" link at the bottom of the page.  The first thing to notice is that you have the ability include your logo image at the top of every page.  You can specify background images to tile behind the various sections of the shopper's page or designate background color(s) instead.  You also can choose the color of the text and links (unvisited, active, and visited colors can be individually chosen) in each section of the pages.  For example, Jende has chosen to use contrasting colors for the shopping cart status section (small area permanently displayed at the bottom of the page) of her catalog. On the Main Menu page notice that the Customer Account section has links allowing the shopper to register or sign-in if they have previously registered.  Once the shopper has signed-in the Customer Account section will be replaced with one which allows them to update their account, add/change payment methods, add/change ship-to locations, and view any previous orders they have placed.

Shopping

On the shopper's Main Menu click the link labeled 'View by category or search'.  A page with three sections will be displayed.  The top section contains an area where the shopper can navigate through the catalog.  Beneath this is displayed a random selection of products in the catalog.  At the bottom of the page is the shopping cart summary section.  The "Your shopping cart is empty" message will be replaced with a list of products as they are added to the cart. The shopper can search the catalog for products by entering descriptive words in the textbox and clicking the ' Search ' button.  Products whose descriptions contain the entered words are displayed in the Product List section in the middle of the page.  Clicking on a "more details ..." link for a product in this list will cause the order page for the product to be displayed. Enter 'drop hooks' in the Search textbox and click the ' Search ' button.  The first 20 products in Jende's catalog which contain the words "drop hooks" will be listed in the middle of the page.  A navigational bar on the top and bottom will allow the shopper to easily get to subsequent pages of search results.  Notice that the search words entered (i.e. 'drop hooks') are displayed above the list of products as a reminder to the customer of what they were searching for.  To view a product's ordering page click on the "more details ..." link.  Notice at the bottom a link labeled "Redisplay Products List".  Click this to return to the page of 'drop hooks' products which you left. Enter "Rose or Sunflower Oval Earrings" in the Search textbox and click the ' Search ' button.  Then click on the "more details ..." link for the "Rose or Sunflower Oval Earrings" product; this will cause its order page to be displayed. A picture can be displayed with each product.  Clicking on the picture will cause another picture (presumably larger with more detail shown) to be displayed in a separate window.  You also may associate additional less important information with a product (for example a guarantee) which you would only want the customer to view if they specifically chose to do so.  In Jende's catalog the presence of this information is indicated by the image of a 'tacked note' (IntelliMerchant provides you with the ability to supply your own images, if you wish, which accompany the errors, warnings, informational messages and button links).  Clicking on the 'tacked note' will display the additional information.  Click on the "Return to Previous Page" button to display the "Rose or Sunflower Oval Earrings" product information again. Scroll down the product information section and notice that the earrings come in multiple flower/background color combinations.  Rather than having to create a new product for each color combination Jende's has taken advantage of IntelliMerchant's "Product Attribute" facility and has listed each combination as an attribute choice of a single product.  The customer selects the radio button next to the specific combination they choose to purchase.  IntelliMerchant's product attribute facilities are extremely powerful.  A product's price can depend upon the attribute selected (e.g., a size 'small' can be priced differently than a size 'XXLarge').  Similarly a product's S&H weight and/or S&H charge can depend upon the attribute selected.  As seen in the "Rose or Sunflower Oval Earrings" product display you can include pictures (both small and detailed) of each attribute.  You can use any number of attributes for a product (e.g., size, weight, color, style) and any number of choices for each attribute (e.g., tiny, small, medium, large, huge). Scroll to the bottom of the product display section and click on the "Put item(s) into shopping cart button".  Notice that the shopping cart status section has changed to include "Rose or Sunflower Oval Earring" in a dropdown box and that a "Checkout" link now displays.  In the search section of the page, select the "-- Products Viewed --" item in the drop down box next to the "- or choose category:" label.  IntelliMerchant remembers the most recent 10 products that a shopper has viewed the ordering page for.  This list of products will be displayed when the "-- Products Viewed --" item is selected.  Registered customers can permanently bookmark products.  Their bookmarked products will also be displayed when the "-- Products Viewed --" item is selected. Click on the "Display Main Menu" link and notice that the Shopping Cart Section includes the item and total dollar value of the cart's contents and 'View Basket' and 'Checkout' links are now displayed.

Customer account capabilities

In order to view the customer account features you will have to sign-in; click on the 'Sign In' link from the Main menu.  On the new page enter '3254130062' as the Customer Number and 'TesT' as the password and click on the 'Ive entered a customer number above' button.  Note: that the Main Menu redisplays and the account name, in this case "Testing Purposes Account", appears personalizing the catalog for the customer.  Also notice that the 'Customer Account' menu item provides links where the customer can change information about themselves (name, password, etc.), view their payment methods (IntelliMerchant accepts multiple forms of payment from the same customer and records it for convenience on subsequent visits), and view their shipping address information (IntelliMerchant allows multiple ship-to addresses per customer).  A link to the list of any previous orders is also provided on the Main Menu.  Click on the "Change Account Information" link in the Main Menu to see the information collected from the customer when they register. Once an item is put into the shopping cart, the shopper's Main Menu provides the "View Basket" link from where they can review and remove items from the cart.  Click on the "View Basket" link in the Main Menu.  Notice that the customer is allowed to enter a Purchase Order number, special notes or comments, and to change both their method of payment and ship-to location for this order.  If the ship-to location is changed the page will refresh with the new sales tax charge.  At the bottom of the page are two warnings, the first indicates that the customer must designate their payment method before the order will be able to be placed.  The second warning indicates that the order can not be placed because it would cause the customer's credit limit to be exceeded (this 'demonstration purposes' customer has a credit limit of $0).

Category dropdown list

In addition to searching the catalog for products by text the shopper can select from the list of your catalog's categories which is displayed next to the search entry area at the top of the page.  When a category is selected from this list, the first 20 products in the category are displayed in the Product List area in the middle of the page.  Additionally, navigation links to remaining pages appear at the top and bottom of the product list area.  Each product can belong to zero or more categories.  You can create an unlimited number of product categories, arranging them in any order, and nesting them hierarchically three deep.  This display of product categories is a convenient way to alert your customers to all of the types of the products that you carry.

Cross sell capabilities

IntelliMerchant has the ability to increase your sales through its cross-selling facility.  When a customer puts a product into the shopping cart a list of corresponding suggested products is available to the shopper.  To see this feature, click on 'Petite Sets' in Jende's Product Category listbox and then click on the 'more detail ...' link for the Petite Oval Pendant, Earrings, and Bracelet Set' product link.  Click the 'Put item(s) into the Shopping Cart' button.  The item is put into the shopping cart and the 'Thank you' page includes a link labeled: 'See suggested products'.  Clicking on this link shows recommended products for the item that the shopper has put in their basket.  A promotional message is displayed reminding the shopper that a silver chain may be needed to hang the pendant from.  You have the ability to designate one or more products and/or one or more categories of products to be cross-sold for each product in your catalog.  Additionally, you can designate cross-selling by category.  For example, you can designate one or more products and/or one or more categories of products to be cross-sold when any product from the category is put in the customer's basket.  This is an incredibly powerful sales tool of IntelliMerchant software that you just can't get in the templated cut-paste-FTP static HTML off-the-shelf catalog builders.

Linking into the catalog

You can bypass the Welcome page and link directly to the shopping page of your catalog.  To see an example of this go to Jende's Flower Collection Jewelry.  Clicking on the cross 'Monthly Special' link demonstrates IntelliMerchant's ability to link to a product category display.  On Jende's web page are four pictures of her jewelry.  Clicking on a picture's links directly into the catalog where that specific piece can be ordered demonstrating IntelliMerchant's ability to interface from a simple 'buy-me' graphic on your own web-site.

Error messages

Click on the "Checkout" link.  Notice that an error message appears at the top of the page.  This is due to the customer's credit limit being enforced.  (By the way, you have the ability to use your own graphical images indicating error and warnings in the catalog.)  The catalog owner can include text (and images) to be displayed to customers on this page -- handy for reminding them of shipping dates, special instructions, or just to say "thank you". Click on the 'Exit' link in the Main Menu.  A warning will be shown that you are leaving the catalog even though your shopping cart is not empty.  This IntelliMerchant feature helps avoid the problem of carts abandoned due to forgetfulness on the part of the shopper.

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The above brief tour of Jende's Flower Collection Jewelry's online catalog ('Thank you Jende') was designed to demonstrate to you the look and feel of an IntelliMerchant catalog.  It did not touch on even a fraction of the large number of features available to someone wanting to create their own catalog.  These features (multiple Shipping & Handling, Insurance, and customer and volume discount schedules, option products, commodity based pricing, customer terms and many more are described elsewhere on the IntelliCatalog, Inc. site.)


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