Newsletter 1 August 2009

Since early 2006 and the introduction by the banks of chip and pin we upgraded our sites shopping cart solution.
This enabled us to comply with the card scheme rules and using a payment gateway we were happy that our online order processing was secure as were the banks.

We continue to use a payment gateway, however with new software developments to our accounting package and with upgrading to Windows Vista the integration with our shopping cart would no longer function.
We looked around for a solution which suited us better and also something that would be more customer friendly.

And here it is !

Benefits for our customers.

• The way the new cart lays out the products makes it much easier for customers to browse through the entire range of spare parts easily, helping them find the exact part they are looking for.
• The ability to display multiply images for each product helping with identification of spare parts and the suitability of complete products.
• A single product on each page eliminating the confusion some customers had when purchasing.
• The ability to compare products side by side.
• The ability to shop by brand as well as category.
• Top Sellers List, possibly making shopping faster for some customers.
• A new products list, this used to be an issue as we do add products that our customers request, but it wasn't always possible to keep them informed when this happened. Now they can check periodically and watch out for them.
• A single page checkout.
• Customers can now create accounts, keep an eye on their orders and review their entire order history.
• RSS feeds and newsletters like this one, keeping browsers and customers informed.

Benefits for us.

• The integration with our accounting and other software will save us considerable time and effort.
• Adding products to our site will be easier and faster, and this will improve our customer service, a win win for everyone.

As you can see as of the 22nd of August 2009 the web site is still a somewhat work in progress, however we are adding our existing product range fast and have tested all the feature to ensure they work.
The template design doesn't really match our brand image and we are working on that one, and are happy that the result will be stylish and simple.
Our implementation date will be the 1st of October when we will transfer all our links to this site and make it fully operational both for our customers and ourselves.