IndieCommerce 2.0 Updates : August - September
The following new features / feature updates are currently available on IC 2.0 sites
Content
- Staff Reviews
- Taxonomy support - staff reviews can be tagged
- When a book has multiple staff reviews, store can reorder the reviews and decide which one shows on top
- Staff reviews will be used instead of the default book description in product lists. With multiple staff reviews, the first one will be shown in the product list
- Images
- Images can be arranged side by side in a grid without the table border. Tables are still used for arranging images, but… when the table has only images, the border is hidden
- Landing Pages - Stores can now add links to the ‘Conclusion’ section of landing pages
- Links
- Image Row links can be configured to open in a new tab
- Events
- A new date filter has been added to the events admin page to make is easier for stores to find events
- Events list page is styled with alternating gray and white background for better UX
- ‘Discounted’ Badge on book cover images is now optional
- ‘More Products Like This One’ carousel for store merchandise - Stores have the option to disable this carousel per product category
Social Media / Marketing / Email
- Support for Brevo - Newsletter Signup
- Added 3 new social media options - Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon.
- Changed Twitter to X
Design & Homepage
- New font options
- Available for all stores
- Support for Adobe Fonts. Stores who have a Typekit token can use this for custom fonts
- 4th Header - ‘Center’ - logo in the middle, search form on the left and icons on the right
- This ‘Center’ Header option is getting an update in the Sep/25/24 release
- Store address will be to the left of the logo, and search block is moved below the logo
- Rearrange / reorder the design elements on the homepage
- Disable drop shadows around book cover images and store merchandise images
E-Commerce
- Checkout / Cart
- Enable Captcha during checkout for guest checkout. This can help with minimizing actions by bots
- Disable guest checkout. This will force all site visitors to have an account to place orders on the website
- Custom label for E-Gift Cards during checkout - A custom label is possible if the site uses only the IndieCommerce E-Gift Card feature. Stores can change the default ‘Gift Card’ to ‘E-Gift Card’ or ‘Digital Gift Card’
- Customer Contact Preference - During checkout, customers (logged in and guest) can share their preferred mode of contact (for quick updates about their orders) - Email, Phone - call, Phone - text
- Banner images for emails from the site - Stores can upload one banner image that will be included in all emails, a way for store to add their branding to the emails
- Separate Admin and Order Comments into separate sections on the order view page
- These comments are removed from the Order Activities section
- Reports
- Orders by Name is now available to be downloaded as a CSV, and has additional customer information
- Weekly Bestseller Report - Works with the bestseller reporting cycle
- Bulk upload to Gift Registry - Previously, only site admins could bulk upload to gift registries. Now customers can upload to their own gift registries. This is true even if a wishlist is converted to a gift registry
Third Party
- iMRCHNT Gift Cards - Support to sell and redeem iMRCHNT Gift Cards
Bug Fixes
The following bugs are resolved
- Content
- Event updates - Updates to the body field of events were not saved, formatting (bold, bulleted lists, heading etc.) was stripped.
- Book Data
- It was not possible to access the product pages of Ingram products with SKUs that are not the usual 978 ISNBs (example : Bananagrams).
- E-Commerce
- Media Mail condition that checks if all the items in an order are eligible for Media Mail did not validate store merchandise.
- Site Configuration Steps - The Newsletter signup reminder kept appearing even when the store never wanted to use it.
Ready for the next release (Sep/26/2024)
New Features
- ‘Announcement’ banner on the homepage - This will be in addition to the Alert banner. Announcements cannot be dismissed by site visitors
Feature Updates
- ADA Compliance - Page structure updates to comply with ADA
- On many admin pages, the ‘Remove’ button caused confusion, content creators and order managers clicked on it by mistake. The button was big and placed in a location that could be confused for a ‘submit’. Replaced the button with a ‘Trash Can’ icon
- Fulfillment Settings - Option to customize the ‘Email or Call for availability’ copy
- Book Variations - Option to export as a csv file the book variations on the site
- Events -
- For content creators, creating, editing and managing Events (Instance vs Series) was not very user friendly. This update should address it.
- Option for store staff to filter events by Event Tag on the admin page
- Option to print receipt even for customers who did not select the option during checkout
- Navigation icon links can be configured to open in a new tab
- PirateShip Export - Include ISBN/SKU for the order items in the export
- Credit Card Charge Report - Order ID on the website does not match the Invoice # on Authorize.net. Added a new column and filter to the CC Charge Report for ‘Authorize.net Order ID’ to help stores with reconciling CC settlements
- E-Gift Cards -
- An email to the recipient is triggered as soon as the order for the E-Gift Card is marked as Completed / Fulfilled, if there is no preferred delivery date
- Added a field for Recipient Name when ordering an E-Gift Card, updated the email sent to the recipient to use the Recipient Name
- Date Format - Updated to use the same format across the site
Bug Fixes
The following bugs have been addressed
- Availability of Store Merchandise - If a store merchandise is not available for purchase (may not be in stock), the Add to Cart button is removed on the product page. But, the add to Cart button was available on the product lists.
- Search - Search did not work for a search term with a ‘/’ in it.
- IBID Order Exporter - Fixed a few bugs in the export file
Under Development / Testing
(Not limited to what is on this list)
- Content
- Option to hide the badges on book covers, globally
- Option to hide the badges on book cover per Product List
- Show the Publish Date for pre-order books on Product Lists
- Events
- Carousel for Events (similar to Product Lists), by Event Tag
- Event Lists and Upcoming Events List - Make the title and images links to the event details page
- Move the Event tag to the right side to utilize the empty space
- Updates to the Event Type filter on the calendar / list view
- ‘Remember’ the filter selection when moving from month to month
- Event Calendar - Updates to the display - Background color, different font, color per Event Tag etc.
- Local Store Inventory
- Sanitize the ‘Location’ field data - The upload fails when the location field has some special characters
- Make the location field optional, so it is not printed on the book product page
- Gift Cards
- Gift Cards (Digital and Physical) will not be tied to a customer account at the time the card is issued. Guest users can use a gift card for an order. The card will be attached to the first customer who uses it when logged in.
- Admin comments to update the store when an E-Gift Card email is sent to the recipient
- Form to check gift card balance
- Checkout / Cart
- Make Billing First and Last name required
- Order Receipt / Invoice - make it more printer friendly,
- Order Processing
- Order update emails will have the order number in the subject line
- Order Management shortcuts
- Easier option to add Order Tags
- Redesign the admin order view page
- Third Party
- POS Order Exporter upgrade for WordStock, IBIDie
- Bug Fix
- When viewing certain pre-order titles, the format selector shows the wrong format
- ADA Compliance
- Color contrast fixes for the slideshow overlay and New Release banner
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