Just as the sun comes out NitroSell developers have released another way of improving your web store. For those amongst you that like giving their customers a way of personalising their purchase we give you Product Customization. This functionality allows you to give a shopper the means to select options on products that they are buying on your store. It can be as simple as a line of engraving or as sophisticated as you require.
Sample product customization
Using the example on the right you can see that the shopper is presented with three fields that they can change on this item. You can set almost any number of fields that to be customizable. These fields are by default text inputs but can be drop down menus, radio buttons, even colour pickers if you want to cater to those on modern browsers!
The text fields can be limited to a certain amount of characters that update automatically as the shopper types.
All fields types can be given a price which is added to the product in real time. The product total reflects this updated total.
It is also possible to buy multiple copies of the product with different customization on each item. So if you are selling medals and a local school football team look for individually numbered and named medals you can support it all online on your NitroSell web store without having to lift the phone once.
Any customized products added to the shopping cart are saved complete with their customization meaning that if someone takes a break from filling out their order, they can return to it the next day without having lost all their careful work. The shopping carts now shows which products have been customized. Updating a customization is only done on the product page.
When the customer buys their product, the customized items are passed down to the POS in the normal way. The customization data is passed down as a comment attached to the item.
Charging for Customization
The functionality is set up in such a way that you can charge for each type of customization that you offer. The cost can be vary from item to item and from field to field. It is possible to charge for certain fields and not others.
Limitations
As of June 2013 this only exists on the beta channel. In order to work certain options must be set in particular ways and certain templates must be reset or reworked to include new code. All of this is explained in knowledge base article 618 and the web cast below. The functionality uses the RMS tagalong feature so any existing tagalongs will need to be disabled.
Webcast
With that all finished, we’re off to the beach!
Since May 26th 2012, websites operating in the EU must implement the EU e-Privacy Directive. Under this law, websites are required to get visitors’ informed consent before placing a cookie on their machine. A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on the visitor’s computer to help track different things, like if you want to stay logged into a website, or your preferences within a website. This paradigm is ubiquitous on the Web, especially in the eCommerce industry. The NitroSell eCommerce platform uses cookies to maintain the customer’s basket as they navigate from page-to-page and for page and eCommerce tracking if you’re using Google Analytics.
To implement this directive in your WebStore, you should follow these 2 steps:
Step 1 – Enable the Cookie Policy option in your WebStore Manager as shown in the following screenshot.
Figure 1: Enabling the Cookie Policy option in your WebStore Manager
The option can be found in your WebStore Manager under Settings > All Config Options > Customer Tab. Having enabled the option, you should select in the dropdown menu the page where you have provided more information about the cookie usage on your WebStore. We recommend to include this information in the Terms & Condition Page.
If you are using the default footer template, then you do not need to do anything else. Otherwise, you will need to proceed to Step 2.
Step 2 – Just before the closing body tag in your footer template of your WebStore, you should enter the following NitroScript code:
{if (pageproperty['cookiewarning'])}
<script language=”javascript” type=”text/javascript”>
var sLearnMoreURL = “{pageproperty['cookiewarning']}”;
function setUsageCookie() {
nsc.cookie(‘cookiepopup’, ’1′, {expires: 1576800000000});
nsc.noticeRemove(nsc(‘.notice-item-wrapper’), 400);
}
if (nsc.cookie(‘cookiepopup’)) {
} else {
nsc.noticeAdd({
text: ‘This website uses cookies, by continuing you agree to their use. <a href=\” + sLearnMoreURL + ‘\’>Learn more </a> <input type=\’submit\’ onclick=\’setUsageCookie();\’ value=\’OK\’>’,
stay: true,
type: ‘success’
});
}
</script>
{endIf}
Having done that, your visitors will be prompted with a green dialog box at the bottom right of your homepage as illustrated in the following screenshot.
Figure 2: The Cookie dialog box
The Learn more Link points to the page that you have previously specified in Step 1. In this case, it would be the Terms & Conditions Page.
This feature is currently only available to Beta.
We are pleased to announce that you can now include breadcrumb navigation on your webstore on department, category, subcategory, product, and content pages.
What are Breadcrumbs?
Breadcrumbs enable users to keep track of their location within your webstore, it enhances the way customers find their way around. In terms of usability, breadcrumbs reduce the number of steps a buyer needs to navigate your webstore, making it easier to find the products they are interested in.
They are also an effective visual aid indicating the current location to the shopper, making it a great source of contextual information for landing pages.
How to Enable the Breadcrumb Navigation on Your WebStore
This feature is enabled through your WebStore Manager. If your webstore is on the Early Adopters’ channel you will find the option under:
WebStore -> Display
if your webstore is on the beta channel go to:
Design & Content -> Navigation
In both cases select ‘Enable Breadcrumb Navigation’
To be able to see it in the store, if you have customized your Header template, you will need to add the tag to in the WebStore Manager Layout section; the label you need to include is { include:breadcrumbs} where you want the breadcrumb to appear. (Our recommendation is to put it at the end of the header.)
To do this, go to ‘Edit template’, select the panel you need to modify and add the tag: {include:breadcrumbs}. Save your changes then ‘make the changes live’. You should now be able to see the new breadcrumb in your webstore.
To test it, click in any department, you should see the default breadcrumb, if you are selling fish it might look something like this:
Taking out the option is simply a matter of unselecting the tickbox in WebStore manager.
Changing the Design of Your Breadcrumb Navigation
Modifying the design of your breadcrumb navigation is done in the template editor. The breadcrumbs have their own panel located under the Template section.
You can choose to change the sign that divide the breadcrumbs: “>>” (») by a small image or by any other sign. ( ‘/’ is often used.)
Moreover, you can do fancy things with the CSS by adding new tags to the script:
Thanks for your attention, I hope you enjoy the new feature :)
We are delighted to announce that customers on the beta channel of NitroSell eCommerce can now accept Bitcoin payments.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a rapidly growing digital currency, with a number of features supporting security and privacy.
Bitcoin relies on a peer-to-peer network, meaning that there is no central authority, and no single point of failure. Bitcoins can be sent and received by users directly, without the need for an intermediary, and payments are tracked and verified by the entire network.
Over the last year Bitcoin has grown enormously — with a market capitalization of well over $1B at the time of writing, the currency has attracted significant interest from the worlds of business and media. Bitcoin has the potential to be a highly convenient and robust method for making online payments.
How to accept Bitcoin
Bitcoin transactions on NitroSell eCommerce use a payment gateway provided by Bitpay. Bitpay is one of the largest Bitcoin payment providers in operation, specialising in e-commerce and B2B payment tools.
The first step in enabling payments by Bitcoin on your webstore is to create a Bitpay merchant account. After creating your account and logging in, you will be able to access and create new API keys.
Once you have obtained your Bitpay API key, you can enable Bitpay payments in your WebStore Manager. If you are on the beta channel, you will see Bitpay among the list of payment methods available to you.
Paying with Bitcoin
In order to undertake a Bitcoin transaction, a Bitcoin wallet is required, providing addresses for sending and receiving Bitcoin. If you have enabled Bitcoin payments on your WebStore, your customers may choose Bitpay from the list of available payment methods.
When your customer proceeds, they will be brought to an invoice page hosted by Bitpay :
At this point, the customer is asked to pay the specified BTC value to the provided Bitcoin receive address. To make the payment, the customer must make a payment using their Bitcoin wallet. If your customer successfully completes their task, they are shown a confirmation.
Every Bitcoin transaction is confirmed by the network a number of times. For the best security, we consider a payment to be complete after six confirmations by default, a process that normally takes up to an hour. In the WebStore Manager, you may choose to accept a Bitcoin payment as complete after only one confirmation. If you require the extra speed that this allows, and can accept the increased risk, it may suit you to enable this option.
NitroSell eCommerce and Bitcoin
Bitcoin is accepted as payment by a growing number of online retailers — particularly in the areas of software, gaming, web hosting, and other digital goods and services.
Online stores using NitroSell’s platform number in the hundreds, collectively offering an enormous range of physical products, numbering over 2.3 million. NitroSell’s adoption of this emerging virtual currency gives your customers yet more choice in their online shopping, and represents another step forward for Bitcoin as a sustainable payment method.
For further information and discussion of Bitcoin, try the following links :
As NitroSell eCommerce grows we have added more and more functionality to the platform. Much of this functionality is made available to you, the retailer, through the WebStore Manager. As features have accumulated they were assigned to groups made long before the functionality was a twinkling in our developers’ eyes. We came to the realisation that some of the organisation is less than …optimal.
So today we are pleased to announce that we have re-organised the features into a more modern, more intuitive interface. We present WebStore Manager Mark 2!
Dashboard - The Landing Page
Among the first things you will notice is that we have categorized everything into a menu system along the top, matching how the Portal is organized. From here you can access almost any option from high-level menus. The options remain the same, they are simply re-organized into more intuitive groupings. Where an option belongs in two separate groupings, we have included the option in both groupings. So you will find Search in Products, Design and Settings.
Handy pro-tip: the top level item in each menu can be accessed by left clicking on the menu itself.
Options
Like before, the options are grouped with similar options. Taking Product Settings as an example you will find all the options grouped in their own dedicated panel under Products. The options are presented in an accordion manner in order to reduce visual clutter. Mousing over an option will present a synopsis of what the option does. Clicking on it will open up the option presenting the various input fields.
Taking the ‘Unit of Measure‘ option as an example (see right) we can review the various parts of the panel:
- To the left of the panel are two buttons. The top one will open a relevant screencast in a popup window;
- The second button will open the most relevant knowledge base article;
- On the right is a short description of the option;
- A check box allowing you to switch the option on and off;
- Various input boxes for the information that needs to be input;
- A save button.
The last two items will be greyed out until the check box is ticked. When any change is made to the panel, it’s title will change colour indicating if the WSM has successfully saved any change you have entered.
The old ways
Being creatures of habit we sometimes find change difficult. Those that could find their way round the old settings page like the back of their hand will be pleased to know that it is still present, simply click on Settings – it is the first item in the menu.
Feedback
We are always looking to improve the service we provide. Feedback and constructive criticism are welcome and listened to. Suggestions might not be always implemented but they are heard. Like all new functionality, these changes can be found on the beta channel only. To avail of the change and to be moved to beta please open a ticket.
We hope you enjoy the new experience and look forwards to hearing your feedback!
Our Partner Portal is really the linchpin of our solution providing our retailers with a “One Stop” area to access key data in addition to support facilities. Some of the facilities within the Portal may not be used very often and we suspect this may apply to the Performance section. Showing performance data is just one of the many benefits of the portal as it gives our retailers the ability to keep track of key data such as revenue growth, orders and visitor statistics. The information is updated on a monthly basis and comparative data is tracked using a graph view.
To access the performance graphs, login to the Partner Portal so that you are within the Dashboard page. Select “My Webstores” from the top menu bar and click your webstore URL. This will take you to the “Webstore Details” page and from here the “Performance” tab can be selected. You will see a selection of graphs as follows:
Traffic and Revenue Activity Graph
Revenue Growth Rate
Visitor Statistics
We are pleased to announce the following updates to the PayPal Payment Standard Gateway:
- Added support for delayed capture, void, and refund transactions. All these operations can be performed from GetWebOrders as discussed in this previous post.
Screenshot 1: The new option provided for PayPal Payment Standard. Note that only the first one is required.
For these features to work properly, you will need to enable the ‘API Access’ from your merchant account in Paypal. This can be done by going to My Profile -> My Selling Tools -> API Access and you choose Option 2 (Request API Credentials). Having requested your API Signature, a page will be displayed showing your API Username, API Password, and Signature. Copy and paste each in your WebStore Manager.
Screenshot 2: Getting your API Access Credentials
- The buyer is now returned to your WebStore once the payment process has been completed. This is to support the inclusion of the Google Analytics Tracking code.
- When the buyer decides to cancel the transaction and returns to your WebStore, he/she is now redirected to the checkout page.
Delayed capture and automated delayed settlement is supported like any other on-site payment gateway. All you have to do is to enable it from your WebStore Manager.
Having done that, you will be able to settle the transaction from your merchant interface on PayPal. Please note the following in respect to capture and void:
- When you authorized a transaction, you are given a 3-day honor period to settle it. You are also given a hard deadline of 29 days to settle it. Past the 3-day honor period, the transaction will have to be reauthorized. This process will be done automatically for you through the POS.
- The reauthorization period creates a new 3-day honor period for you to settle the transaction. This is by means a way to extend the 29-day deadline to settle a transaction once it has been authorized. For instance, if you reauthorize a transaction on the 28 day, the honor period will be just 2 days.
- You should capture funds within 24 hours after you ship your buyer’s order.
- You cannot capture for more than 115% of the originally authorized amount (not to exceed an increase of $75 USD) and up to $10,000 USD.
In order to have your customer automatically return to your WebStore, you should enable the AUTO-RETURN feature from your merchant interface in PayPal. This can be done with logging in to your merchant account Profile, under Website Payment Preferences, you should enable the Auto Return and specify the Return URL which is in the following form:
https://secure1.nitrosell.com/WEBSTORE_URL/store/go/checkout-callback/8/
(where WEBSTORE_URL is the live URL of your web store). For instance, it can look like this: www.mywebstore.com
Please also make sure that the Payment Data Transfer (PDT) option is NOT enabled.
In order to process refunds from the Point of Sales, please note that you need to enable the delayed captured option in your WebStore Manager.
Screenshot 3 : Enabling the Auto Return feature from your merchant account.
All these features are currently available only in beta and Early Adopters.
The WebStore Manager has been updated, providing a range of new options for users wishing to send their goods from the United States.
International shipping services provided by USPS are now available as part of your integrated shipping configuration. By choosing USPS (International) as a shipping carrier in the Shipping and Taxes section of your WebStore Manager, you can offer your customers new delivery choices, including USPS’s Global Express and Priority Mail International services.
USPS has also recently rolled out a number of changes to its shipping services. Two of the shipping services provided by USPS have been renamed:
- For domestic shipping, Parcel Post has been renamed Standard Post.
- First-Class Mail International Parcel has been renamed First-Class Package International Service.
Aside from the names, these services have not changed — users can continue to work with their existing shipping configurations. For users who are adding or configuring shipping integration with USPS, note that the names of the shipping services have been revised.
For details of previous updates to NitroSell’s USPS integration : USPS Rate Calculator API Upgrade
Attracting new business and retaining current business has long been the mantra for all retailers, large or small. As most consumers now live in a world where every penny counts it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing every sale must be driven by price and smaller players will be at a disadvantage to larger companies with greater buying power. Although it’s certainly true that all retailers must, to an extent be price competitive, many customers also have a high expectation of good customer service and this presents independent retailers an opportunity to compete with the “Big Players”, particularly with on-line sales.
Over the years NitroSell has added many features which help to offer those little extra services that help keep customers loyal. Newsletters are always high on the list of recommended ways but there are other subtle little ways of reaching out to your customers and standing out from the crowd.
Abandon Cart Email Query – If customers have gone to the trouble of finding your site, browsed for products, set up an account and suddenly “whoosh” they have left and abandoned your site without even waving goodbye, wouldn’t you be curious as to why? Ask them. Let them know you are interested by setting up the abandoned cart notification email which will be sent automatically to customers who have registered but for whatever reason have not proceeded with a purchase. Click here for more info. Abandoned Cart Email
Back in Stock Notification
– Out of Stocks are a real bug bearer when shopping on-line both for customers and retailers but you can reduce the inevitable frustration by adding this neat little feature to let customers know when more stock is available – Click here for more info. Back In Stock Notification Email
Start a Blog – There is no better way to connect with your customers than starting a Blog. Shout about who you are, what you do and why you are the best. Customers are more likely to trust and support a business they feel they have a connection with and who are passionate about what they do. A Blog helps maintain contact and build a rapport with clients. We have recently released an update on how to create and manage a Blog directly from your web store. Click here for more info. New Blogging Features for your Web Store
Customer Review Request Email 
– Positive customer reviews are friendly little nudges which instil confidence and help the customer decide to go ahead with their purchase. However, many customers are reluctant to share their views and in reality it’s common to see web stores which have just a handful of products showing customer reviews. To encourage more feedback, NitroSell has a feature that emails customers asking for reviews of items they have bought. Click here for more info. Customer Review Request Email
Loyalty - I’ve saved the best until last. Going back to the original point, when every penny counts customers will always look for savings where possible. If you have proved you care about your business and gained the trust of your customers then the icing on the cake is to reward them for purchasing from you. NitroSell have recently launched an integration with bLoyal to enable the set-up of on-line loyalty programs – Click here for more info bLoyal Integration with Nitrosell
Cork, Ireland – February 28, 2013 – NitroSell’s Dr. Franclin Foping participated in The 7th International Conference for Internet and Technology and Secured Transactions (ICITST-2012), held in London on December 10-12, 2012, where he presented his paper on “NitroScript: A PHP Template Engine For Customizing of E-Commerce Applications”. The authors of the paper were Jerry Walsh, Donogh Roche and Franclin Foping.
The conference, organized by IEEE UK/RI Computer Chapter, was an opportunity for researcher and practitioners to exchange ideas about present and future developments in trends in Internet Technology and Secured Transactions.
Paper Abstract: customizing webpages in a shared or SaaS operating environment is a challenging task because users have different needs and expectations. One way to facilitate the customization process is to provide users with a template engine. By using a template engine, variability points can be specified in the target document that will be replaced with the appropriate piece of information at run-time.
The paper presents NitroScript, a new PHP template engine. NitroScript is designed to be used in an eCommerce context, differing from other general purposes template engines such as Smarty. It enables retailers to customize their store’s pages easily, and the code generated by the NitroScript compiler is PHP bytecode, resulting in a performance boost over traditional template engines that rely on runtime interpretation.
The full paper is available for download here: NitroScript A PHP Template Engine for Customizing of E-Commerce Applications