Search Engine Optimized HTML Catalog Builder: The Search Engine Friendly Catalog creates search engine optimized html files that the merchant places on his or her web server. These pages are designed to be attractive to the search engines and help drive traffic to the merchant's web site. This tool will create a .xml file in accordance with Google's Sitemap specification and a .txt file that follows Yahoo's submission specifications.
Froogle Data Feed: Nexternal clients can create a Froogle (www.froogle.com) data feed with the software. This feature makes getting listed in Google's product search easy and efficient. Merchants can have Nexternal's software create and ftp a Froogle data feed automatically every night.
Automated Yahoo! Product Submit Data Feed: Merchants can have Nexternal's software automatically create and send data feeds to Yahoo for inclusion in the Yahoo Shopping portal on a daily basis. This saves merchant time and is a good way to make sure their comparison engine has fresh product data.
Automated Shopping.com Product Submit Data Feed: Merchants can have Nexternal's software automatically create and send data feeds to Yahoo for inclusion in the Yahoo Shopping portal on a daily basis. This saves merchant time and is a good way to make sure their comparison engine has fresh product data.
Automated Shopzilla Data Feed: Nexternal clients can create a Shopzilla data feed within the Order Management System. This feature makes getting listed in the Shopzilla comparison shopping engine easy and efficient.
Automated NexTag Data Feed: Nexternal clients can create a NexTag data feed within the Order Management System. This feature makes getting listed in the NexTag comparison shopping engine easy and efficient.
Automated PriceGrabber Data Feed: Nexternal clients can create a PriceGrabber data feed within the Order Management System. This feature makes getting listed in the PriceGrabber comparison shopping engine easy and efficient.
Automated Windows Live Product Data Feed: Nexternal clients can create a Windows Live data feed within the Order Management System. This feature makes getting listed in the Windows Live comparison shopping engine easy and efficient.
Bulk Mail Wizard: The Mail Wizard allows merchants to create bulk e-mails and mailing labels. The merchant can select to send a message to either all of its online customers or just a specific segment of them based upon their purchase history. If they choose to send an e-mail, the format can be a plain text message or a rich HTML e-mail. Customers can automatically unsubscribe from the mailing list so that the merchant does not harass customers that no longer wish to be contacted. The mail wizard makes it easy to run promotions, allowing merchants with no coding experience to send e-mails with links that go directly to specific products in the merchant's online store or even a link to the store that automatically activates a coupon.
Tell-A-Friend: The tell-a-friend feature allows the merchants online store to promote itself. Customers will click on a button within the online store and be prompted to enter a friend's e-mail address. An HTML e-mail will be sent to that friend with a description of that product and a picture. Also included will be a link that allows the customer to jump directly to that product in the merchant's online store.
Affiliate / Marketing Tracking: Nexternal's software comes equipped with an affiliate module. Affiliates may sign up through this program and once approved, the merchant can track sales that are generated as a result of the affiliate's effort. Merchants can also set different commission levels for different affiliates and track payments to the affiliates. A very common use of this program is to track Return on Investment (ROI) from the pay-per-click search engines such as Overture. Nexternal's software is also compatible with Commission Junction and MyAffiliateProgram.com.
eCoupons: eCoupons can be a great way to retain existing customers. Merchants can setup percentage off coupons, flat rate coupons, and free shipping coupons. Coupons can be set for a specific number of uses or can expire after a certain date. Merchants can get fancy with coupons and run such promotions as "buy product x, get product y at 50% off."
Product Reviews and Ratings: Allow your customers to rate and review your products. Many customers like to see what others have said about the products they are thinking of purchasing. Enabling customers to write reviews of your products can increase consumer confidence which is proven to increase your conversion rate. All reviews and ratings are moderated by the merchant.
Customer Import: For merchants that are transitioning from an existing e-commerce solution, Nexternal provides a customer import feature. Using Microsoft Excel, merchants can import customer contact information. The merchant can then market to these customers using the powerful Mail Wizard. For the merchant's convenience, customer information can also be exported to both Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access formats.
Related Products / Up Sell: Merchants can setup relationships between various products in their online store and utilize these relationships to facilitate up sales. A merchant might say, "May we recommend accessory X?," on a product detail page for Product Y.
Always On Screen Shopping Cart: Nexternal has continued to receive more praise for its "always on screen shopping cart" than any other feature in the system. Online shoppers love the fact that they can always see what is in their cart as well as what the total purchase price without having to load up a separate screen. Customers can edit the quantity of a certain item or remove items from their cart. When coupons and customer discounts are used, these customers can see their discount in the cart, often times enticing them to buy more. The "always on screen shopping cart" is available with every storefront template.
Customer Selects Preferred Delivery Date: By utilizing time in transit information and merchant specified lead-times, merchants can allow their customers to select a preferred delivery date when checking out. This is a powerful differentiator for many merchants, especially those in the gift giving industry. Nexternal's Order Management System makes it easy for merchants to see which order should go out that day.
Single Click Reorder: The single click reorder feature allows customers to select a previously placed order and easily duplicate it. This saves the customer time and provides convenience. Merchants can also create reorders from within the Order Management System.
Currency Converter: International shoppers have the option of displaying prices is their very own currency. Those converted prices are carried through the entire order process.
Branded Storefront: Branding is important in making customer feel comfortable. Nexternal will brand the online store to match that of the web site. The layout of the store is very flexible and can accommodate every online merchant.
A Simple and Speedy Checkout: The storefront software was designed with two concepts in mind: 1) Make it as easy as possible for customers to find what they are looking for 2) Make it as easy as possible for customers to checkout. With Nexternal's "Smart Navigation" technology, it is impossible for someone to get lost in the check out process. Returning customer can login and checkout with just a couple of clicks of the mouse.
Allow Customers to Calculate Shipping and Tax Before Registering: The online store allows customers to determine shipping and sales tax before registering any information on the web site. This feature makes customers feel comforatable so that they are more likely to continue and place their order.
Display Expected Delivery Date: Upon checkout, a consumer can see expected delivery dates for each shipping method. Nexternal's software is able to accomplish this by capturing expected shipping times from the merchant in conjunction with using the carrier time in transit information.
In Stock Notification: Consumers can request to be notified when an out of stock item is added to inventory. The notification occurs automatically via email when the merchant adds inventory to the system.
Customer Can Specify Multiple Ship To Locations: Around the gift giving season, many customer want to place one order and yet ship line items to multiple locations. Nexternal's multiple ship to functionality allows this to happen. A customer can create separate shopping carts for different locations. This is a must have for gift basket companies.
Keyword and Advanced Searches: Every ecommerce site needs searching capability. Nexternal's shopping cart software provides both a keyword and advanced search. The keyword search will query every element of a product looking for a specific word and return all relevant matches. The advanced search allow the customer to get more specific and search for products based on multiple criteria such a product name and price.
Sory By Options: The Sort By Options feature allows merchants to control the options available to customers to sort products in the Online Store. Customers can sort product by price, popularity, rating, SKU, or any other custom field that the merchant defines.
Bread Crumb Navigation: Similar to highly visited portals such as Yahoo, the Nexternal storefront comes equipped with breadcrumb navigation. This navigation acts as a thread, keeping track of where a customers has been in a store and allowing him or her to easily go back to previously visited pages.
eGift Certificates: Gift buying is a common action among online shoppers. For those customers who can't decide what to buy for a friend, a merchant can offer them eGift Certificates. If the lucky recipient does not use the full amount during one shopping session, he or she can return and use up the balance. These gift certificates are distributed electronically and can be tracked in the Order Management System.
Gift Cards: Customers of merchants using Nexternal's ecommerce platform can redeem Paymentech Flexcache Gift Cards through the shopping cart software. These gift cards act much like the ones you can buy at Macys or Home Depot. These gift cards work great for merchants that have both a brick and mortar and online presence.
Direct Linking to Products and Categories: Nexternal realizes that many companies have already created product and category pages on their web site. A Nexternal hosted online store is meant to act as an extension of the merchant's existing site and does offer the capability to create direct links to products or categories in the online store from those already existing pages. These links are automatically generated in the Nexternal product management section. This feature is great for those companies that wish to feature certain products on their homepage and link directly to them in the online store.
Customer Comments: Often times online shoppers have special needs or requests that they feel must be communicated to the merchant prior to completing the order. With a Nexternal hosted online store, customers have the option to enter comments and those comments are read by the merchant.
Gift Card Text: Merchants using the software can give their customers the option to enter gift card text when placing an order. This feature is optional as it will not be applicable to all merchants.
Gift Wrapping: Merchants using the software can give their customers the option to request gift wrapping. This feature is optional as it will not be applicable to all merchants.
Live Chat: Nexternal has partnered with Live Person to offer live chat capability. The live chat program is sold separately through Live Person, but can be easily added to a merchant's online store. This allows merchants to provide superior customer service and close more sales.
Multiple Payment Options: One way to increase orders is to offer multiple payment options. While most customers will choose to pay by credit card, there are some that will opt to pay by a different means. A merchant can configure its Nexternal hosted store to also accept PayPal, C.O.D., or give its customers the option to be invoiced.
Integrated Help Desk: Merchants are able to use an integrated help desk to better serve their customers. Customers may submit a question about a specific product and also examine questions that other customers have asked. The questions are managed by the merchant through the order management system.
Activity / Store Traffic Report The software tracks where customers go in a merchant's online store. It tracks what they view, add to their carts, and order. The Activity Report displays all of this information to the merchant so that he or she can better understand its customers. Many retail managers say that this report is a "dream come true."
Search Term Report: This report allows merchants to find out exactly what their customers are looking for. All search terms entered in the online store are stored in the database. The results are presented in both a tabular and graphical format.
Order Report: Administrators can view orders grouped by a specified date. This report is commonly used by the merchant's accounting department to reconcile merchant statements.
Profit Report: Every successful businessperson knows that they key to existence is profitability. With the profit report, managers can view the profitability of their online channel. For this information to be accurate, the merchant must enter the cost of goods sold (COGS) in the product management section.
States Report: This report shows line items and totals by ship to state. This data is particularly useful in such industries where merchants can only ship limited quantities of products to certain states.
Printer Friendly Report: The printer friendly order report shows merchants order detail in a printer-friendly format. Merchants that have slow internet connections will find this report particularly useful. Merchants can select to print one order per page.
Product Report: The product report displays the following product information: product status, price, inventory, cost of goods sold. It allows product managers to get a quick snap shot of their product line.
Customer Report: This report shows aggregate product order totals by customer thus allowing merchants to see what specific customers are buying. This can be particularly useful information when initiating targeted marketing campaigns.
Vendor Report: This report shows product sales grouped by vendor. This information can be particularly useful when forecasting and reordering from vendors.
Affiliate Commission Report: Who are the best affiliates? What are the best marketing channels? This report shows order totals and commissions, grouped by affiliate.
Affiliate Category Report: This report shows aggregate affiliate order totals and commissions, grouped by affiliate category.
User Report: Nexternal's software can be used internally to capture phone, fax, and mail orders. The user report displays order totals by employee or user.
Sales Tax Report: The sales tax report breaks down sales tax collected by its lowest level of jurisdiction. This can really help merchants save time when filling out tax forms.
Google Analytics Integration: Nexternal's ecommerce software is integrated with Google Analytics for those merchants looking for extensive e-commerce reporting. Merchants simply need to put their Google Analytics account number into Nexternal's software and it takes care of the rest. It also integrates with many other on-demand web analytics packages.
Batch Order Processing: Batch order processing allows merchants to process many orders at one time. Merchants can process all unprocessed payments in one easy step as well as mark outstanding orders as "Shipped." This feature can save the merchant a significant amount of time each day.
Order Exports: From the Order Management System, clients can export all of their order transaction data to one of four formats. The formats are QuickBooks® , MYOB, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Excel. This exporting capability enables clients to take their online order information and easily bring it back into their legacy systems.
Single Click Credit Card Processing: Merchants that utilize payment gateways can take advantage of the single click credit card processing. Directly from a web browser, the merchant can click on a button next to an order number that will authorize and post a credit card payment. Nexternal's software is compatible with VeriSign's Payflow Pro, Authorize.net, and Paymentech. This feature is must and a big time saver for any merchant doing significant volume.
Ship Module: Merchants that use drop-ship vendors are able to take advantage of the drop-ship module. When a Nexternal merchant has the drop-ship functionality activated, the drop-shipping company automatically receives an email notifying them of the products that need to be shipped along with the relevant shipping address. Merchants can login to a vendor specific Order Retrieval & Update System where they can mark line items as shipped and supply tracking numbers. The entered tracking information is then available to both the customer and retailer.
Split Shipments: Merchants can split line items into multiple shipments when creating labels via UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS for one order. This feature allows merchants to ship line items that are in stock, while shipping backordered/preordered line items at a later date.
Packing Slip Creation: Nexternal's Order Management System can dynamically create merchant branded packing slips. These packing slips display the contents of the package and any special comments that the merchant wishes to send to the customer. Some merchants also choose to use the packing slip as a pick list when fulfilling orders.
Invoice Creation: Nexternal's Order Management System can dynamically create merchant branded invoices. These invoices display the order line items with corresponding prices.
Automated Email Confirmation: When a merchant marks an order as "Shipped" in the system, the customer is automatically triggered an e-mail informing them that their order has been shipped. If a tracking number is entered, the customer will also receive this in the e-mail so that they may further track their shipment online.
Integrated Package Tracking: Sometime merchants will receive call from clients wondering where their package is. If the merchant records the tracking number in the order management system, a button will appear that says, "Show Tracking Status." If the merchant clicks on this button, he or she will be able to see exactly where the package is in transit and can kindly inform the customer.
Capture Phone, Fax, and Mail Orders: Many merchants find that Nexternal's software manages their data better than their legacy systems. Many of those merchants will opt to use the software to capture all of their order information. Through a separate script, orders can be created in the Order Management system for phone, fax, and mail orders.
Create Bulk Orders For Specific Customer Types: Some merchants have a need to create the same order, for all of the customers of a specific type. Such examples include a winery that has a wine club with quarterly shipments or a vitamin store with customers purchasing the same product repeatedly. These merchants can use Nexternal's software to create such orders so that the can be conveniently processed through the Nexternal Order Management System.
Order Notification Emails: Merchants can opt to receive a notification e-mail every time an order is placed. This e-mail will contain a link directly to their Order Management System.
Rates and Service Selection Tool: The Rates and Service Selection Tool allows Nexternal's software to pull in real-time rates directly from the UPS database based on the ship from location, ship to location, and the total weight of the order. Merchants can create adjustments if they wish to charge more or less than the returned rate. This tool allows merchants to charge accurate amounts for shipping, helping reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Address Validation: The Address Validation Tool is designed to reduce erroneous order information. As a customer checks out, his or her address information is validated in real-time via the UPS database. If the city, state, and zip code combination are not valid, the system will inform the customer and provide them a list of suggestions. Reducing erroneous order information saves the merchant both time and money.
Tracking: The Tracking Tool is useful for keeping the customer informed of their shipping status. Nexternal has integrated the tool such that the point A to point B information is viewed in a merchant branded window.
Shipping: The UPS Shipping Tool allows merchants to create shipping labels directly from their Order Management Systems. This tool will also pull tracking numbers into the Order Management System directly from UPS, significantly decreasing fulfillment time and eliminating the need to use UPS World Ship software.
FedEx Rates: FedEx Rates allows Nexternal's software to pull in real-time rates directly from the FedEx database based on the ship from location, ship to location, and the total weight of the order. Merchants can create adjustments if they wish to charge more or less than the returned rate. This tool allows merchants to charge accurate amounts for shipping, helping reduce shopping cart abandonment.
FedEx Tracking: The Tracking Tool is useful for keeping the customer informed of their shipping status. Nexternal has integrated the tool such that the point A to point B information is viewed in a merchant branded window.
FedEx Shipping: The FedEx Shipping Tool allows merchants to create shipping labels directly from their Order Management Systems. This tool will also pull tracking numbers into the Order Management System directly from FedEx, significantly decreasing both fulfillment time and data entry errors.
Real Time DHL Rates: DHL RateIT calculates shipping rates directly, based on current DHL published rates. With this tool activated, rates generated by the tool are quoted (in both the Online Store and Order Management System) whenever possible.
DHL Tracking: The DHL Tracking Tool allows both you and your customers to track DHL shipments in a fully integrated manner. In the Order Management System, tracking information can be accessed from the Order Detail screen, whenever possible. In the Online Store (both BtoC and BtoB), tracking information can be accessed from the Order Status Screen, whenever possible. Customers can also access tracking information directly from the Shipped E-Mail.
DHL Shipping Labels: The DHL Shipping Tool completes the order process by allowing you to create DHL Shipping Labels and obtain DHL Tracking Numbers from within your Order Management System.
Real Time USPS Rates: The USPS Rates Tool calculates shipping rates directly, based on current USPS published rates. With this tool activated, rates generated by the tool are quoted (in both the Online Store and Order Management System) whenever possible.
USPS Tracking: The USPS Tracking Tool allows both you and your customers to track USPS shipments in a fully integrated manner. In the Order Management System, tracking information can be accessed from the Order Detail screen, whenever possible. In the Online Store (both BtoC and BtoB), tracking information can be accessed from the Order Status screen, whenever possible. Customers can also access tracking information directly from the Shipped E-Mail.
USPS Shipping Labels: The USPS Shipping Tool completes the order process by allowing you to create USPS Shipping Labels and obtain USPS Tracking Numbers from within your Order Management System.
10 Different Shipping Cost Calculators: Nexternal recognizes that merchants may want to calculate shipping cost in way that makes more sense for them. Nexternal's software includes 10 shipping cost calculators to fit any merchant's needs. Merchants can calculate shipping based on the number of items ordered, the price of the products, the weight of the products and many other techniques including simple flat rates.
Up to 50 Merchant Defined Zones: A Merchant can define geographic zones based within the United States. International Orders can be treated as a separate zone. Shipping methods can also be defined by zone.
3 Dimensional Rate Calculation: Merchants can define shipping rates based upon the cost calculation, the zone, and the shipping method. This gives the merchant the ultimate flexibility.
Setup Multiple Ship From Locations: Merchants may specify shipping methods and shipping rates based on multiple ship from locations. This is necessary for companies that drop ship or ship from mutliple warehouses.
Product Import and Update: Many clients desire to sell hundreds to thousands of products. Nexternal understands that for such clients, adding each product one at a time would prove inefficient and slow - especially if the merchant already has the product data in an electronic format. Merchants can use Nexternal's import feature to add or update products using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Merchants can also export their product data to both Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access formats.
Inventory Tracking: As products are ordered, Nexternal's Inventory feature will decrement inventory levels for the relevant SKUs. When levels reach a merchant defined level, the product status can change and the merchant is e-mail a note informing them of the product level deficiency. Inventory levels can also be imported using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Product Kitting: Nexternal's ecommerce software gives merchants the ability to setup product kits (products that are comprised of more than one SKU). Inventory is decremented for the child SKUs accordingly when a kit is ordered.
Copy Product: Often times Merchants have products that are very similar to one another. With the click of a button, such products can conveniently be added to the online store using the copy product feature.
Unlimited Attributes: Consumer goods can often be complex. A product may come in different sizes, shapes, or colors. Because of this, Nexternal allows merchants to create products with an unlimited number of attributes. Better yet each attribute (such as color) can have an unlimited number of options (such as green, blue, red, etc). The software will create all combinations and allow the merchant to define a SKU for each combination.
Pricing and Pictures per SKU: A merchant may define different prices and assign different images to products that have attributes. When a customer selects a specific combination of options for such a product, the screen will change to show the merchant defined price and image for that specific SKU.
Taxable/Non Taxable Products: For merchants that sell food items and non-food items, it is important to tax the order accordingly. Nexternal allows the merchant to define a product as either taxable or non-taxable and will calculate the total sales tax per order accordingly.
Write-In-Attributes: Write-In-Attributes are particularly useful for merchants that sell custom products. An example of would be a company selling shirts with Monograms. The customer could enter his or her monogram using the write-in-attribute.
Custom Fields: A merchant can create up to 6 custom fields for their product line. A clothing retailer might use such a field to designate "Brand" while a winery might use it for "Vintage."
Infinite Categorization: For the merchant selling hundreds to thousands of products, intuitive categorization of the product line is a must. Nexternal's software allows clients to have an unlimited product hierarchy. A merchant may have Categories, Sub Categories, Sub-Sub Categories and so on...there is no limit.
Assign Products to Multiple Categories: Merchants should make their products as easy as possible to find. Often times this means putting one product in multiple categories. Nexternal's software allows merchants to put a product in as many categories as it deems fit.
View Sales Per Product: By drilling down on a specific product, the merchant can view all information pertaining to a specific product including total product sales.
Volume Based Pricing: Merchants can opt to set up volume or quantity based discounting for a specific product. As the order quantity changes, the products unit price can change accordingly.
Quick Editing Screen: For clients that want to change certain elements of their product line (such as price) quickly, Nexternal provides a quick edit view that looks and functions much like a spread sheet.
Track Products by Vendor: The software is fully equipped with a vendor management section. As merchants add products to their online stores, they can specify a vendor. The merchant can use the system to track vendor contact information as well as create reports to view online sales by vendor.
Upload Product Images and Thumbnails: Nexternal's product manager allows merchants to easily upload product images and thumbnails with just a web browser. If the merchant does not have the capability to size the image using graphics software, he or she can specify a width or height and have the HTML resize the image.
Customer Specific: Often, merchants have a special group of customers that they give special deals to. This may be a merchant specific club or even employees. The software allows the merchant to assign specific customers a special discount. When that customers orders, they will see the discount in their shopping cart and on the final order screen.
Order Volume: With an order volume discount, merchants can their customers incentives to order more such as, "Buy X number of items and receive Y percent off of your order," or "Buy X dollars worth of products and receive Y percent off of your order."
Product Volume Based: Allow the unit price of a product to change based on the number of units ordered at one time.
Category Based: Category discounting allows merchants to offer a percentage off based on the number of products ordered within a category. If the merchant were a winery, they might use this feature to offer discounts on mixed cases of wine.
eCoupons: eCoupons can be a great way to retain existing customers. Merchants can setup percentage off coupons, flat rate coupons, and free shipping coupons. Coupons can be set for a specific number of uses or can expire after a certain date. Merchants can get fancy with coupons and run such promotions as "buy product x, get product y at 50% off."
Order Specific: Order discounts can be applied after the order is placed and apply just to the designated order.
Secure Socket Layer Technology (SSL): Nexternal uses the latest Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Technology. Security certificates are issued by Thawte - a leading data encryption company.
Visibility Rules: Merchants can setup different levels of access for different employees thus allowing just specified employees to see certain data and modify it.
24/7 Internet Connection Monitoring: Nexternal hosts its software at a state-of-the-art Internet Data Center. The facility is monitored 24/7 and has multiple backbone connections to ensure up time. Nexternal is guaranteed 100% uptime.
Secure Internet Data Center: Nexternal hosts its software at a state-of-the-art Internet Data Center. Access to the Internet Center is limited to just a select group of company employees.
XML Order Query: The XML Tools are designed to allow data synchronization and integration with third party systems housing similar data. Merchants with the proper technology and programming skills can query order data via XML for integration into third party applications.
XML Order Update: The XML Tools are designed to allow data synchronization and integration with third party systems housing similar data. Merchants with the proper technology and programming skills can update order status via XML including shipping dates and tracking numbers, when appropriate, from an external system.
XML Customer Query: The XML Tools are designed to allow data synchronization and integration with third party systems housing similar data. Merchants with the proper technology and programming skills can query customer data via XML for integration into third party applications.
XML Inventory Update Nexternal provides an XML interface that can update inventory quantities in the merchant's e-commerce system. For example, a merchant might wish for their point of sale (POS) system inventory data to sychronize with that of their Nexternal online catalog.
Password Protected Entry: The business to business module is much like the online store, the main difference being that it is password protected so only designated customers can gain access to it.
Customer Typing: In the Order Management System, a merchant can create an unlimited number of customer types. These customer types can be assigned to specific customers.
Product Pricing by Customer Type: Merchants can choose to set different prices per product, by customer type. Customers are recognized by type upon entry to the business to business module and can will see the appropriate prices as established by the merchant.
Product Allocations by Customer Type: Merchants can allocate products by customer type. Customers are recognized by type upon entry to the business to business module and will only be able to purchase a maximum amount of a given product as established by the merchant.
Capture PO Numbers: With Nexternal's software, customers can have the option of entering a purchase order (PO) number.
Exempt Sales Tax: Merchants may set certain customer types to be exempt from sales tax. This would more frequently occur in business to business transaction.