Specifically designed for independent booksellers, IndieCommerce (IC) is a full featured e-commerce solution with powerful online marketing tools.
- Tier 1 offers the e-commerce essentials for a low-cost web presence that is simple to maintain.
- Tier 2 supports advanced features like Store Merchandise, In-Store Stock, Integration With POS, Multiple Store Locations and more.
(The comparison chart is a work in progress, please check again for updates)
Site Domain, SSL etc.
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Site Domain
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Use own domain for the website
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SSL Certificate
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Free SSL certificate for secure transactions
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Multiple Locations
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Support for multiple locations - Stock upload, Sales Tax, Store Pickup etc.
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Theme & Design
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Responsive & Mobile Friendly
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Custom theme designed and developed for a bookstore website, optimized for mobile and tested on various devices
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Multiple Designs
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Can have multiple user friendly designs, with one being active
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ADA Compliance
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Built into the platform : Color picker with contrast checker, fonts, required alt text field for all images, slideshow with transition control, navigate using keyboard, ARIA labels, ADA compliance seal and more.
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Multiple Design Elements
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Can choose from 3 Headers options, multiple Call To Action blocks, Slideshow, Banner, upto 7 navigation icons, grid with 1 - 9 images and much more. The design elements can be rearranged and/or disabled making room for customization.
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Clean Admin Theme
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Clean, powerful and accessible administration theme
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Admin Dashboard
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Clean and accessible front page of the admin UI, providing convenient and quick access for daily and common admin tasks
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Message Center
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A block in the Admin Dashboard for better communication between the IC team and the store staff, for the IC team to leave important messages from our team to yours.
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Search & Browse
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Book Search
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Search the entire ABA's Book Database System by ISBN, Title, Author or Keyword
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Audio Book Search
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Include Libro.fm audio books in book search
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eBook Search
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Include Kobo eBooks in book search
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Store Merchandise Search
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Search for store merchandise by Title or SKU
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Basic Browse
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Browse by Category / BISAC Code, with filter and sort options
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Customized Browse
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Create new categories, edit or delete basic browse categories, promote specific categories
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Predictive Search
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Coming Soon...
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Content Types
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Homepage
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Customizable Homepage using the easy-to-use design elements like Header, Slideshow, CTAs, Image Row, Navigation Icons and more
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Basic Page
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Simple content type with a WYSIWYG editor for basic information. Supports file attachments and webforms.
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Landing Page
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Customizable page created for particular campaigns, promotions etc. with Product Lists and CTA blocks
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Product Lists
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A collection of books and store merchandise making it easy for customers to make a purchase. Can be a stand alone content and /or included on the Homepage and Landing Pages as carousels
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Blogs
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Maintain store blogs tagged by categories
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Events & Events Calendar
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Single day and recurring events (weekly and monthly), feeding into a calendar with list view. Supports in-store, off-site and online events and links to third party services. Possible to promote books and store merchandise with events
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Staff Reviews
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Provide staff reviews per ISBN or for all formats of a title, displayed on the product page and product lists
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Bulk Upload Of Staff Reviews
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Upload multiple staff reviews in one .csv file
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Catalog
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Online version of a store catalog with a catalog cover, multiple pages with books and store merchandise listed, banner images on catalog page etc.
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Site Alerts
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Display critical, time sensitive message across the homepage. Can control the 'Start Showing' and 'Stop Showing' dates.
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Webforms
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Powerful and customizable for creating online forms and managing submissions
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ABA Curated Lists
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Includes Indie Next List, Indie Kids Next List, Reading Group Indie Next List and Indie Bestsellers
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Curated Catalogs
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Readily available to promote - ABC Group Best Books For Young Readers and Regional Holiday Catalogs
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Independent Bookstore Day
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Available to all participating stores - Marketing assets and Landing Page with the IBD products, ready to promote and sell online
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Policy Pages
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Privacy Policy, Return Policy, Shipping Policy, Terms & Conditions, ADA Compliance - Default copy provided for stores to customize
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Books & Inventory
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Inventory of 12 - 13 million titles
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Titles with metadata available on all sites, at the time of launch.
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Sync Store Inventory (Books)
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Automated syncing of store inventory for books from the POS system, several times a day. Manually adjusting the stock per product is also possible, if needed
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All Formats & Editions
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All available formats (Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Books, eBooks etc.) and editions listed on the product page
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Detailed Product Pages
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Detailed description, cover image, reviews, annotations, customizable availability text, on-hand stock, all available formats etc.
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Signed Copies - Advanced Feature
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An advanced feature to create Signed Copies as variations for the 'parent' book, with a unique SKU. Options available for price, stock, custom description, inscription and a separate format listing. Search will have reference to the signed copy.
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Signed Copies - Simpler Solution
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Let customers know that signed copies of a book are available by simply enabling the 'Signed Copy' flag on the book. Customers can place orders for the signed copy or the regular book.
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Used Copies
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An easy solution to create used copies of books as variations of new books, with unique SKUs and different 'conditions'. Options available for price, stock and separate format listing. Search will have reference to the used copy
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Remainders / Sale Books
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An advanced feature to create Remainders or Sale books as variations for the 'parent' book, with a unique SKU. Options available for price, stock, custom description and a separate format listing. Search will have reference to the bargain/sale copy.
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Books In Series
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When viewing one book, other books in the series included in a carousel on the book product page
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Preorder Titles
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Promote and offer pre-order titles for purchase on the site, with several options for the pre-order window
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Not For Sale
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Option to suppress and block the purchase of specific titles of choice. Upload of 'Not For Sale' titles in bulk is possible for Tier 2 sites
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Remove Books
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Remove certain books from being available on the site, customers will not be able to find it via search
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Bulk Upload of Not For Sale / Removed Titles
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Upload a file with a list of ISBNs
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Banners / Badges
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'PREORDER', 'STAFF PICK', 'DISCOUNTED', 'NEW RELEASE', 'SIGNED' banners / badges added to books automatically. (SIGNED is only for Tier 2).
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Independent Bookstore Day
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Automatically create Indie Bookstore Day products and landing page for participating stores only.
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Merchandise & Inventory
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Store Merchandise
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Offer unlimited number of merchandise (grouped by category) unique to the store
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Non-Shippable Store Merchandise
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'Store merchandise' that are not shippable products like event tickets and services like memberships
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Store Merchandise with Clothing Variations
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Clothing related attributes like size and color are readily available to create store merchandise with different combinations.
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Subscription
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Option to sell Subscription Boxes or services. Comes with various options for data.
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Sidelines From Wholesaler
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Calendars, maps, book-like sidelines, board games, puzzles etc. available on all sites at the time of launch
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Event Tickets
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Event Tickets as non-shippable store merchandise, good for virtual and in-person events
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Sync Store Inventory
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Automated syncing of store inventory for Store Merchandise from the POS system, several times a day. Manually adjusting the stock per product is also possible, if needed
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Bulk Upload of Store Merchandise
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Create several store merchandise from one .csv file
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Gift Registry
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For customers to create and share a list of products, between a gift giver and receiver. Stores can help create a registry for institutions like schools.
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Services
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Option to create, sell and manage services like workshops, classes, school visits etc.
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Bulk Upload of Book Variations
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Book Variations like Signed Copies, Used Books and Bargain Books can be uploaded in bulk. It is also possible to download reports as a spreadsheet
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eCommerce - General
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Guest Checkout
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No account necessary to place an online order. Only information required are name, email and phone number. Guest Checkout can be also be disabled.
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Flatrate Shipping Methods
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Multiple custom rates - Flat rate, Flat rate + per item, Flat rate per item with options for additional conditions per shipping method
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Pickup Options
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In-Store Pickup, Curbside Pickup, Off-site Pickup
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Payment Options (CC, Paypal, Pay At Store, Square, Purchase Order, House Account)
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Pay At Store, Credit Card, Paypal, House Account, Purchase Order and Square are currently supported.
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Sales Tax Options
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Source Based and Destination Based sales tax, tax for shipping and coupon discounts. Non-taxable product categories can be excluded from sales tax
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Tax Exemption
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Organizations and customers exempt from sales tax can make tax free online purchases
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Sales Tax Holiday
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Offer tax free sales during Sales Tax Holiday for all online purchases
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Fraud Alert
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Point based logic to alert store staff of possible fraudulent orders
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Promotions & Coupons
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Coupons and Promotions (with or without coupons) with various options
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IndieCommece Digital Gift Cards
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Built-in IndieCommerce Digital Gift Card available to all stores at no cost. Customers can purchase these Digital Gift Cards, have them emailed to a recipient, who in turn can redeem it online towards a purchase
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Gift Receipt
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Customers can request and receive gift receipts for orders
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Payment Options (Digital Gift Cards)
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IndieCommerce Digital Gift Cards can be used to pay for an order, these are treated as 'adjustments' on the order.
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Payment Option (Givex Gift Cards)
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Givex Gift Cards can be used to pay for an order, these are treated as 'adjustments' on the order.
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Abandoned Cart Management
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Automatically email customers who have started, but not finished, their orders, and make it easy to resume them.
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Gift Wrapping
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Option for customers to choose gift wrapping during checkout
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Captcha for Checkout
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Captcha can be enabled during checkout to prevent Bots attacks on the checkout form
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Contact Preference for Customers
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Customers can indicate email or phone (call or text) as their preferred mode of contact for quick updates
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Custom Checkout Pane
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With a checkbox and a text field, good for collecting Membership, Rewards information
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eCommerce - Order Processing
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Store Fulfillment
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Process and ship orders from the store, or process for store pickup
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Wholesaler Fulfillment
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Mark the order for Customer Direct Fulfillment and have it shipped from a wholesaler (Ingram) directly to the customer, with a single click.
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Manage Orders
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Edit and process customer orders, create new orders on behalf of customers
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Order Tagging
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Multiple, custom, color coded tags to tag orders. Each order can have multiple tags
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Manage Payments
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Multiple payments per order, with options to capture, void, refund or cancel payments
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Manage Shipments
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Multiple shipments per order, each with its own tracking information updated on the order and shared with the customer
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Bulk Operations
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Process in bulk - Orders, Order by SKU, Payments and Printing Invoices
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Pick Lists
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Downloadable list of ordered items with availability information to streamline order processing and packaging of orders
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Order Reports
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Sales Report; Sales Report by SKU; Customer Report; Sales Tax Report; Tax Exempt Report; Coupon Usage Report; Sales Tracking from Product Lists, Landing Pages and Catalogs
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Financial Reports
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Credit Card Charge Report, Paypal Charge Report, Gift Card Report, Commission Report, Transaction Report for wholesaler fulfilled orders
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Handling Large Orders
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An improved experience for customers and store staff processing orders
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Search Orders by Customer Name
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Make it possible for stores to search orders by customer name and not just by email.
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Coupon Usage Report
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Sales Tracking Report
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Track sales generated from Product Lists, Landing Pages and Catalogs
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Integration With POS Systems
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Manage Inventory
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An automated upload of stock inventory from the POS to the website, multiple times a day, for books and store merchandise. Available for Anthology, Booklog, Basil, IBIDie, WordStock and iMRCHNT
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Sync Online Orders To The POS
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Automated, at regular intervals, making it easier for stores to process online orders on the POS.
Available for Anthology, Basil, Booklog, IBIDie and WordStock POS, working on the other POS systems, one at a time. |
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Gift cards
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Available for IBIDie, WordStock and iMRCHNT
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WordStock - Sync orders to POS for multiple locations
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Sync online orders to the POS for multiple locations
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Integration With Third Party Services
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Libro.fm - Audio Books
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Audio Books - Search option for audio books and 'Digital-Audio' format included on the book product page
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Kobo - eBooks
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Kobo eBooks - Search option for ebooks and ebook format included on the book product page
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PirateShip - Shipping
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Basic integration with PirateShip to export order shipping information to print shipping labels and import tracking information
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Stamps.com - Shipping
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Basic integration with Stamps.com to export order shipping information to print shipping labels and import tracking information
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ShipStation - Shipping
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Basic integration with ShipStation to export order shipping information to print shipping labels and import tracking information
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Givex Gift Cards - Gift Cards & Payment
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Offer physical and e-gift cards for purchase on the website, balance check and redeem the gift cards towards an online purchase
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Constant Contact
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Email Marketing, Newsletter Signup - standard form or modal
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MailChimp
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Email Marketing, Newsletter Signup - standard form or modal
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MyEmma
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Email Marketing, Newsletter Signup - standard form or modal
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Social Media, GA & Email Marketing
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Social Media
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Built in icons to support Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, Vimeo, YouTube
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Email Marketing
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Integrated with Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, MyEmma and Brevo (could expand to other services in the future). Supports Newsletter signup forms on a page or modal
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Google Analytics
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Support for Universal and GA4
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SEO
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Meta tags, Schema, Site Verification
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Features Under Development
| Feature Name | Feature Description | Tier 1 | Tier 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
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Announcement Banner
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Add Announcements on the home page.
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Manage Orders Shortcuts
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Create shortcuts to assist store staff processing orders
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