Chapter 17 - Conducting eCommerce with Ektron CMS400.NET
Note: eCommerce requires a special license from Ektron, Inc. If you do not see this feature under Ektron CMS400.NET’s Settings area, it may be because your license does not support eCommerce. For licensing information, contact [email protected].
This section also contains the following topics.
Setting Up a Basic eCommerce Web Site
eCommerce Configuration Screens
Introduction
No matter what kind of sales you need to support, Ektron eCommerce brings you all functionality you need, giving you an entire toolset for building out the online marketplace you want. As part of Ektron Ektron CMS400.NET, you’ll have a single application running both your Web site and online marketplace, letting you manage both from the same interface.
Total integration means total control over your site via the author-friendly Workarea, and you’ll open the doors to even more possibilities for marketing and revenue!
Core eCommerce Features
eCommerce supports all product types, from single items, to complex products (think movies available in DVD, Blu-ray or other formats), bundles, and kits.
eCommerce takes advantage of key CMS400.NET technologies, including Smart Forms and market-leading taxonomy and search. Product entry Smart Forms standardize how product information is entered; all information, attributes, and descriptive text is entered in one place and goes into the database as structured XML data (making it easy to repurpose this content wherever and whenever you need it).
Enhance product SEO in the Smart Form by setting attributes, adding metadata, and including photos and other media. Adding images of products auto-generates thumbnails and gives you complete control over sizes and number of images, as well as a clickthrough image gallery. Images can also be defined for a product type via the taxonomy.
Control over your product catalog extends to cross-sell and upsell features, and Ektron’s taxonomy enables products to be classified in multiple ways, providing more options for you to help customers find what they are looking for.
CMS400.NET’s Web 2.0 content review tools find new uses here, letting your customers post opinions and ratings on products. The product search uses Ektron’s unparalleled taxonomy, and can be filtered by price, ratings, reviews, and more.
Existing product data can be imported into eCommerce and the CMS using Ektron’s flexible, scalable API.
When a customer is a member of your eCommerce site, they can name and save shopping baskets for future purchases or as wish lists and registries. Your site administrators can always see which baskets are open.
Checking out is a multi-step process: you can display all steps on a single page or distribute them across multiple pages. While site visitors are checking out, they can save as many shipping addresses as they want, or simply check “same as billing.”
Shipping uses real-time rates by plugging into external providers, or you can use your own rates by setting up an internal shipping provider. Rates are quite customizable: they can be set up by package size, product weight, and even product price ranges.
Payment options are flexible with eCommerce too: you can decide if you want to accept credit cards, checks, and PayPal accounts. Also, payment gateways (such as Payflow and Authorize.Net) are supported out-of-the-box to authorize and capture transactions. Or, create your own payment gateway (one that allows terms or any other payment option).
Once the order is reviewed and submitted (and payment is authorized), it can go through a simple or complex routing through your own processing setup or plug-in to your existing CRM or ERP to process the order. When the order is processed, the CRM/ERP notifies CMS400.NET that it is complete. Online inventory is kept up to date; you can set properties so that when items on hand drop below a certain level, it triggers a sequence to notify your inventory control.
Ektron eCommerce leverages the advanced core functionality of CMS400.NET to give developers a complete toolset that works out-of-the-box or can be completely customized (and everything in between). Powerful Web 2.0 controls of CMS400.NET, including memberships, ratings, forums and commenting, enabling you to quickly implement an eCommerce site with the community-based information they want to help them to make buying decisions.
As a .NET application, eCommerce uses the same database as CMS400.NET to maximize efficiencies and takes advantage of SQL cluster capabilities to be truly scalable. There is no need for “glue code” to tie a third-party eCommerce application to your Web site. Ektron eCommerce utilizes CMS400.NET’s existing customizability to enable integration into any IT infrastructure. Open architecture and a new ektron.cms.commerce API makes any commerce configuration possible, letting you tie it to your back end systems.
Coupons, Taxes and Pricing
eCommerce supports a complete array of pricing schemes: individual pricing, separate pricing within complex products, tiered pricing to support volume discounts, and more. Online coupon capability is also included, letting you set the type (dollar amount, percentage) and at what level those coupons are applied (product level, basket level and type of item).
For global business opportunities, all international currencies are available. You are able to use conversion rates to determine prices or set flat costs for each product. This goes hand in hand with the tax options available. Set tax classes, including country, state, and local (by postal code) as well as taxes for specific classes of goods, and be able to sell to even more customers.
Developer Flexibility
Ektron eCommerce leverages the advanced core functionality of Ektron CMS400.NET to give developers a complete toolset that works out-of-the-box or can be completely customized (and everything in between). Powerful Web 2.0 controls of CMS400.NET, including memberships, ratings, forums and commenting, enabling you to quickly implement an eCommerce site with the community-based information they want to help them to make buying decisions.
As a .NET application, eCommerce uses the same database as Ektron CMS400.NET to maximize efficiencies and takes advantage of SQL cluster capabilities to be truly scalable. There is no need for “glue code” to tie a third-party eCommerce application to your Web site. Ektron eCommerce utilizes Ektron CMS400.NET’s existing customizability to enable integration into any IT infrastructure. Open architecture and a new ektron.cms.commerce API makes any commerce configuration possible, letting you tie it in to your back end systems.
Related Webinars
Ektron provides the following webinars to further your understanding of the eCommerce solution.
Introduction to the Ektron eCommerce Platform
Ektron eCommerce - Complete Control of Your Sales and Marketing Strategy
Building Your First Ektron eCommerce Site
Introduction to the Ektron eCommerce Workflow Engine
Utilizing the Ektron eCommerce APIs
