Chapter 1: About NetStores

Browse a small catalog (gen-cat)

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

For an online example of this interface, see http://www.netstores.com/dwos-bin/gen-cat?vcp or http://www.netstores.com/dwos-bin/gen-cat?dwts (use "1" for the account number and "captain" for the password.

See "Setting up the catalog (gen-cat) interface" for details on setting up this type of store.

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 a series of HTML pages for each item along with generated forms for ordering.

Here's an example of the first page customers see in the "small catalog" interface.

This page acts as a "storefront". You can control the page background and colors, the store logo and slogan, the introductory section, and the list of products. The list can have hierarchical levels so you can list various types of products together. For example, your list can look like:

• Dogs
  • Big dogs
    • St. Bernard
    • Alaskan Malamute
  • Little dogs
    • Toy Poodle
• Cats
  • Tabby
  • Persian

When customers click on a product link in the storefront, they see an Item Page similar to this:

From an Item Page, customers can:

• Add the current item to the "shopping cart": If customers type a valid account number and password, they can add the current item to their shopping cart. They can add the same item multiple times to order larger quantities. Customers then see the Order Acceptance form, which lists the items they have ordered and computes the current order total as shown here.
• View the list of items in the shopping cart: This option also shows the Order Acceptance form (without adding the current item to the shopping cart).
• Remove this item from the shopping cart: Removes the current item from the shopping cart and shows the Order Acceptance form for items still in the cart.
• Open a new account: If customers do not yet have an account, they must create an account before adding items to their shopping cart. Setting up an account is free and doesn't require any payment or credit card information.

  Customers can choose their own account number or have one assigned. Customers must specify a name, account password, address, phone number, and email address. In addition, they may provide a business phone, fax number, tax exempt status, and "ship to" address. They can choose to confirm orders by email and to be able to provide an alternate "ship to" address when ordering.

• Return to the catalog of items or skip to the next or previous item.

The item page can also allow customers to select styles, colors, sizes, or other variations for your products.

In the Order Acceptance form, customers can choose to add more items to their order, clear the order, or pay for the order with any of the options you provide. For example, your list of payment options might look like the one shown here.

If customers choose to pay for the order, they see the Check Out Order page, which allows them to type a credit card number or provide other payment information. When they submit this information, they receive order confirmation and an order tracking number.

In summary, the pages that make up a small catalog store are organized like this:

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