Autumn 2007

Shopcreator, the e-commerce storefront specialist, has launched a bid to attract small and medium-sized online retailers by unveiling two new software packages.

Like the full Enterprise edition, the new products are fully hosted and paid for under a monthly fee. This comes to £45 for the Start-Up version and £90 for the Retailer version. Shopcreator says it sees them appealing particularly to etailers looking for scalability.

In the words of Elias Moubayed, the head of sales and marketing: 'Today's first- and second-generation online retailers are rightly aspiring to sustained and exponential business growth.'

Considering that they are scaled-down versions, both products have an extensive range of features. Start-Up, for instance, includes banner ads, newsletter sign-up, cross-sell, 'email a friend', Froogle Feed and Google Analytics.

The software is said to be ready-integrated with all major payment service providers, including WorldPay, Protx and the latest PayPal offering - Website Payments Pro.

The Retailer version adds the flexibility of full design customisation, as well as accepting a wide range of pre-integrated feeds and interfaces from third-party systems. Features include advanced marketing and merchandising, e-vouchers, product personalisation, customer reviews, registered user discounts and fast order screens.

Shopcreator says it is hard to offer a direct cost comparison with the Enterprise version its product, in which design customisation and specific third-party integration are par for the course.

Implementations of the full system may also require automated fulfilment, as is the case with Shopcreator's integration with Capita Fulfilment Services (for RSPB) and DHL (for BHS). Prices can therefore range from a few tens of thousands of pounds to well in excess of a hundred thousand pounds, depending upon scale and complexity.

The company says the new packages are already in use with a number of users, including Waddesdon Manor, Black Essentials and The Red Arrows.