New Features in Version 11 sp1

Below are a few of the most anticipated features released in ShopSite's version 11 sp1:

• Mobile Device Support (Pro, Manager)
  Using dynamically generated pages, customers accessing your site with their mobile devices can now use the new mobile-friendly interface to browse and shop at your store.
• Checkout by Amazon (Pro, Manager, Starter)
  Checkout by Amazon is now supported as a payment option.
• Latest Google Product Search Requirements (Pro, Manager)
  Products to be submitted to Google Product Search can now be configured to meet the latest requirements for Clothing and Apparel without using Extra Fields.
• Barcode Scanner Support (Pro)
  ShopSite can now create barcodes for order numbers that can be used for order handling and packing slips.
• Indexing Performance Improvements (Pro, Manager)
  Large stores should see a marked improvement in the time it takes to index pages and products.
• New Interface for Arrange Items (Pro, Manager, Starter)
  A new drag-and-drop interface can be used to arrange the order of the items on a page.

A complete list of new features can be found at the URL below:
http://www.shopsite.com/help/11.1/en-US/new-features.html

New Payment Method: Checkout by Amazon

In version 11 sp1 ShopSite added an integration with Amazon. Checkout by Amazon is the new payment management system available from Amazon. When you enable Checkout by Amazon, customers will be presented with a pre-shopping cart screen allowing them to select either the standard ShopSite checkout process, or Checkout by Amazon.

If a customer selects Checkout by Amazon, they will first be prompted to login to their Amazon account and then will be taken to the second ShopSite checkout page. It will appear as though customers are still in your shopping cart, while making it so their payment information is really being entered on the Amazon server.

In order to accept payments using Checkout by Amazon, you must have an Amazon Merchant account. NOTE: You will need your Marketplace ID, which is only attainable during registration. If you don't have your Marketplace ID, go through the steps to register using the same information that you provided before to get your Marketplace ID. All other fields can be retrieved from your Seller Central account.

With eBridge's ShopSite integration to accounting systems, customer and sales order information is automatically entered into the back-office financial system from the ShopSite storefront. In turn, product information and order status updates are automatically entered into the ShopSite platform to provide customers with essential and up-to-date information. eBridge currently supports over 40 accounting and ERP systems from Microsoft, Sage, Intuit, SAP, and more.

Merchant Tip

Question: I want customers to be able to share news of my products with their friends via email and social media, but I see two options in my ShopSite store—Tell A Friend and Share With Friends—which should I use?

Answer:  We recommend that merchants use the share with friends feature by doing the following:

• If using ShopSite Manager or Pro version 10 sp1 or greater (including ShopSite 10 sp2 and ShopSite 11) then under Merchandising > Social Media > Share with Friends select the “Share with Friends” radio button instead of the “Tell a Friend” option.
• If using ShopSite Manager or Pro versions 8 through 10 then under Merchandising > Tell a Friend disable the Tell a Friend feature since it could by used by 3rd parties to send Spam.

The ShopSite knowledgebase article concerning this can be found at the URL below:
http://support.shopsite.com/KBase/questions/2541

The Support Queue

Question: No USPS First Class Mail rates for products with 'First Class Package' container type as of January 22nd, 2012?

Answer: On January 22nd, 2012 USPS made changes to their rate request servers that adversely affected the USPS integration in ShopSite (and many other applications that integrate with the same USPS APIs) for some products. ShopSite merchants using USPS real-time shipping have noted that US shoppers do not see the First Class Mail option for qualifying products (less than 14 oz) with an assigned USPS Shipping Container setting of 'First Class Package'.

SOLUTION

This issue is caused by changes USPS made to the service (shipping option) name of the First Class Package container type returned by their rate request API. Note that products assigned the First Class Letter and First Class Flat container types are not affected, and should still get First Class Mail rates in the cart (as long as they otherwise qualify).

ShopSite has issued an order.cgi patch for the current version of version 11 (11 sp1 r2) and version 10 (v10 sp2 r2) to address this issue, and the same change will be included in all future versions of ShopSite.

Merchants that are no longer hosted with a ShopSite partner can contact ShopSite by using this form: http://www.shopsite.com/help/contact/info.htm

Designer Tip

Question: How can I add the version 11 sp1 mobile detection/redirect feature to my custom templates?

Answer: To add that feature, first copy and paste the following code to the <head> section of your page and more information page templates:
[-- IF SS_MOBILE --][-- MOBILE_JAVASCRIPT --][-- END_IF --]

Then add the following code just below the <body> tag in your page and more information page template:
[-- IF SS_MOBILE --][-- SS_MOBILE_REDIRECT --][-- END_IF --]

Additional mobile tags and mobile specific template tags can be found at the following URL: http://www.shopsite.com/templates/cookbook/tips-tags-11-SP1.shtml 

ShopSite and Avalara have partnered together to deliver on-demand, fully integrated sales and use tax management solutions – saving time, ensuring accuracy, and providing transactional tax compliance. As the leading provider of sales tax management solutions, Avalara is delivering a broad range of calculation and compliance solutions that removes the tedious work and complexities involved with calculating, reporting, returning, and remitting sales and use tax.

Industry Articles

SEO: Title-Tag Optimization for Ecommerce Sites
"Optimizing title tags is a bit like eating your vegetables. No one wants to do it, but everyone knows it's good for you. Search engine optimization professionals universally agree that title tags are the most influential on-page element. SEOmoz recently confirmed the importance of title tags in a report that strongly correlated title tag optimization to higher rankings."

Has Your Site Been Pandalized by Google?
"Small businesses may be suffering an unintended consequence of Google’s effort to cleanse the Web, but there are things you can do to minimize the effect, according to Aaron Wall."

Tips for Winning Over Angry Customers
"Winning over angry customers has to be the single hardest problem customer service team’s face every day. Thankfully, in our field we do not deal with face to face interactions, so it can often be easier to handle angry customers then in person.  By far the best thing you can do to win over angry customers is to give your “5-star” attitude: Sit up straight, breathe, give your full attention, be extremely patient, and be efficient. When you need some extra tips though, here are a couple great ideas that should help you provide excellent service to rude customers."

Recent ShopSite Blog Articles

The following articles were recently added to the ShopSite Blog:

Is It Time For A Google+ Page?
"In October, Google+ crossed 40 million users.  While that is a large number, it is much less than Facebook’s 800 million users.  That being said, Google is growing and with the leading smartphone OS – Android – you can be sure that Google will take advantage of its mobile market share to push Google+ as much as possible."

Place Dynamic Products In Your Blog
"If you blog or have a web site where content is not published by ShopSite, then you’ve probably used ShopSite’s OrderAnywhere feature to put order buttons and product info on your site.  With OrderAnywhere, you select in ShopSite the product you want to add to an external site and then ShopSite gives you the HTML code to paste into your content management system (CMS) or blog."

Increased Purchases from Shoppers using Tablets
"A recent Wall Street Journal article indicates that shoppers using tablets like the iPad spend more than those using personal computers or smartphones.  Not only do they buy more often, but they also spend more per order (up to 10%-20% more!)  That’s great news for online merchants."

McAfee® PCI Compliance Service is a simplified, easy-to-use system for Level 2-4 merchants that need to successfully and confidently complete the steps necessary for PCI certification. Originally developed for Visa International, the service includes automated state-of-the-art scanning, an online self-assessment questionnaire, McAfee Technical Assist (extensive technical support, such as vulnerability remediation assistance), and the PCI Wizard to help manage compliance activities.

Recent Knowledgebase Articles

The following articles were recently added to the support knowledgebase:

No USPS First Class Mail rates for products with 'First Class Package' container type as of January 22nd, 2012 (USPS changes)

v11 sp1 r1 fixes some problems with v11 sp1

ShopSite tellfriend.cgi used for sending spam emails

new Google Product Search requirements for data feeds as of September 22, 2011

April 2011 email from Google Product Search regarding new requirements for data feeds (unique identifiers, tax, shipping)

March 2011 email from Google Product Search regarding deprecation of the Google Base API

Current Version of ShopSite

Latest Releases:

• Version 11 sp1 on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and Windows (2003 and 2008 (32-bit))

To upgrade your ShopSite store, contact your authorized hosting partner. You can find contact information for all our partners here.

Read the previous Merchant Newsletter.