Chapter 1: About NetStores

What the buyer sees

You can create a variety of storefront interfaces with NetStores.

• Browse Small Catalog: If you have a list of products (or services) that fits easily on one page, you should use the "gen-cat" (for "generate catalog") interface.

  The storefront for this interface includes any introductory text and images you want to use followed by a list of all your products. The ordering system uses of a series of HTML pages for each item along with generated forms for ordering.

  This interface works best if you want your customers to browse through your products and make impulse buying decisions.

  
  
• Search Large Catalog: If you have a larger list of items to sell, you should use the "gen-srch" (for "generate search form") interface.

  The storefront for this interface includes your introductory text and images plus a search form that lets your customers quickly find the products they want. The ordering system uses flat ASCII files to generate search forms and search results.

  This interface works best with customers who already have an idea of what they are looking for and what you sell. For example, this interface is great for repeat customers and wholesale customers.

  
  
• Configured Products: If you sell a product in various configurations, you should use the "gen-conf" (for "generate configuration") interface. This can be used as an extension of the gen-srch interface.

  This interface lets your customers fill out a form that answers all your questions about the product's configuration. For example, if you sell computers, you will want your customers to make decisions about speed, amount of RAM, monitor size, and more.

  
  
• Retrieve Orders: If you want customers to be able to retrieve orders they have placed and use them as templates for reordering, you should use the "gen-srco" (for "generate search for orders") interface, which is included as part of the basic the NetStores Ordering System.
  
• Retrieve Quotes: If you want customers to be able to store and retrieve quotes, you should use the "gen-srcq" (for "generate search for quotes") interface, which is included in the NetStores Quoting System.

You can use more than one type of storefront interface for a single business. For example, you might want to use the "Small Catalog" interface to show off your featured specials and the "Search Large Catalog" interface to put your entire catalog on the Web. To do this, you create to separate online "stores"&emdash;one that uses the gen-cat interface and one that uses the gen-srch interface. Then, create a Web page that contains links to both interfaces.

The following sections show an example of each type of storefront and outline the pages sequence your customers will follow. In addition, the sections refer you to instructions for creating each type of interface.

NetStores Administrator's Guide
1: About NetStores 2: Installing and Using NetStores	3: Troubleshooting 4: Technical Reference
Copyright © 1996 NetStores