On-Demand eCommerce Blog | Dynamic Merchandising by OrderDynamics

OrderDynamics Merchants Outpace eCommerce Holidays Sales by 57%

2012-02-01T09:55:00.004-05:00

TORONTO, ON - As the dust settles from the 2011 holiday season, e-retailers are slowly catching their collective breath from a very busy Q4. Various reports from the National Retail Federation and comScore - to name a few - indicate sales for the 2011 holiday period saw substantial growth over 2010, and boasted a noteworthy spike after a period of already higher than normal sales leading up to the holidays.

Many consider the Black Friday/Cyber Monday long weekend as the unofficial kick-off to holiday shopping, however reports from comScore suggest significant online shopping increases happening as early as the beginning of November. Retail sales grew 15% to $35 billion in 2011 over 2010 for online transactions occurring between November 1 and December 26 - a sign that online shoppers are increasingly open to an earlier start to the holiday shopping season.

Cyber Monday, however, remains the single largest online shopping day of the year with a 22% increase over its 2010 performance. Overall, OrderDynamics merchants saw a 93% boost in orders compared to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend of 2010, with the biggest increases for their Canadian merchants. Black Friday and Cyber Monday will undoubtedly also become a major online shopping period outside of the US.

OrderDynamics merchants generated a combined increase of 72% in 2011 sales over those of 2010 for the same November to Christmas period, leveraging the dynamic nature of the OrderDynamics On-Demand SaaS Platform. “The OrderDynamics platform and toolset makes it easy for retailers to capitalize on increased web traffic with its advanced online promotions engine, enhanced backend website control, and additional client services based on industry best practices,” says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics Corporation. “The platform is easily able to accommodate even extreme spikes in website traffic to minimize downtime and ensure the best possible online shopping experience.”

Mr. Benadiba attributes the growth in eCommerce not only to savvy online shoppers and general convenience, but also to the Dynamic Merchandising tools available to merchants using their On-Demand eCommerce technology. He adds, “OrderDynamics makes it easy for online retailers to optimize their websites for ultimate usability and to deliver a superior online experience during peak seasons”.

Dx3 Canada Recap - Review of the Show!

2012-01-30T16:59:00.008-05:00

2012 is off to a fantastic start, thanks in part to the first ever Dx3 Canada trade show held last week in Toronto. Dx3 is a Digital Marketing conference that touches on a broad array of marketing operations within the online world. With that said, the OrderDynamics team was pleasantly surprised by the level of interest and enthusiasm shown towards eCommerce at this event.

There is an undeniable shift happening in Canada with eCommerce and online sales. Marketing and technology professionals associated with retail sales continue to look to eCommerce as a way to bolster revenue and marketshare, and also as a way to enhance existing sales channels. We met a number of established online retailers interested in upgrading eCommerce platforms to drive better online experiences and increase sales. In addition, we met quite a few retailers looking to launch an eCommerce presence for the first time. It’s exciting to see the Canadian retail community buying in to eCommerce at the rate they have been over the last few years.

One of several recurring themes at Dx3 last week was emerging technology, its ability to affect consumer experiences and how marketing relates to that. One thing that is clear, however, is that as technology continues to evolve, retailers (and solution providers for retailers) must continue to put the consumer experience in front of everything. Dx3 suggested both retailers and solution providers are very focused on consumer experience too.

Several notable things that stood out to us at this event were Doug Stephens (the Retail Prophet)’s outstanding keynote presentation, LinkedIn’s trade show booth and free professional photo offering, Ortery’s 360-degree product photography, and Agility CMS.

We also wanted to give special thanks to Max Payne (Henry’s), Mark Zuckier (Walking on a Cloud), Paige Malling (Well.ca), and Marc Appana (FitForCommerce) for helping put together such an engaging eCommerce panel presentation. The session, “How Canadian Retailers Can Get eCommerce Right The First Time”, will be available to view online in the coming weeks.

We will be reaching out to all interested parties over the next two weeks. You may also contact us directly: Michael Turcsanyi solutions@orderdynamics.com.

In the meantime, we invite you to visit our website at www.orderdynamics.com to learn more about our On-Demand eCommerce Platform.

Sincerely,

The OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123

Dx3 Canada eCommerce Speaking Panel Moderated by OrderDynamics

2012-01-20T14:06:00.006-05:00

We’re all set to exhibit at Dx3 Canada next week, January 25-26 at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. This is a unique conference as it will feature a broad range of technologies and solutions that impact customer acquisition and growth within the Canadian retail industry. And certainly eCommerce and online sales play a big role in driving revenue for Canadian retailers.

In addition to exhibiting at booth # 318, OrderDynamics President Michael Turcsanyi will be moderating a special speaking panel aimed at helping merchants and retailers launch successful eCommerce channels. The session will explore all steps and decisions needed to build a world-class eCommerce website from concept to launch. The session, titled How Canadian Retailers Can Get eCommerce Right The First Time, will feature speakers from leading Canadian retailers like Well.ca, Henry’s, and Walking on a Cloud, with additional insight from FitForCommerce, a leading eCommerce consultancy.

Join us January 25 at 2:45pm at Dx3 Canada to learn how to get your eCommerce deployment right the first time. Please contact us if you are interested in attending the session.

Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays from OrderDynamics in 2011!

2011-12-22T16:14:00.003-05:00

It has been a great year, and the OrderDynamics team would like to extend our appreciation to all of our Clients, Partners and Vendors for their support and the wonderful opportunities we’ve had together in 2011.

This year was a year of exceptional growth for OrderDynamics and our clients. Our Platform Team launched exciting and cutting edge platform features to deliver power frontend and backend tools designed help grow B2C and B2B revenues. Our Project Team planned and launched over 15 new websites while our Account Services Team helped optimize current client’s websites and execute on their annual strategic plans.

With the release of our Highly Integrated Virtual Ecosystem, or H.I.V.E™, OrderDynamics continued integrations with numerous companies including ShopRunner, Commission Junction, PepperJam, ShopBot, Channel Advisor, and many others, providing services that fuse together to offer a streamlined and cost-effective way for our clients to leverage leading 3^rd party tools with the OrderDynamics Platform.

One of our biggest announcements this year was the release of OrderDynamics Mobile™. Our mCommerce platform is feature-rich and standards-based, allowing merchants to seamlessly integrate across eCommerce and mCommerce channels on any touch enabled device – giving them greater ability to drive revenue and satisfy their mobile customers.

For the second year in a row, OrderDynamics is obtaining FitforCommerce verification, and it will be valid through to the end of 2012. This program is an important part of how OrderDynamics helps our Clients grow by ensuring our platform meets the latest industry standards.

The success of this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday long weekend was a pleasant surprise for OrderDynamics and the eCommerce community. OrderDynamics processed 93% more orders over the same weekend last year and many OrderDynamics clients saw sales double and triple. The On-Demand nature of OrderDynamics platform proved to be our greatest strength during this record-breaking weekend for online sales, allowing our clients to easily accommodate extreme spikes in traffic and orders.

We look forward to continuing to service our clients with the most innovative trends in 2012, and building on the success of 2011. From our family to yours, Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year!

Recorders.com Servicing More Customers since Re-Launching with OrderDynamics

2011-12-22T15:42:00.001-05:00

Toronto, ON – The leading supplier of digital voice recorders and accessories, Recorders.com, recently re-launched their award-winning eCommerce website on the OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce platform.

OrderDynamics announces another successful website migration to their On-Demand eCommerce Platform with Recorders.com. The new B2C and B2B website was completely redesigned and re-launched on the OrderDynamics platform, enabling exciting new features designed to convert and service more customers. The new Recorders.com website provides the most comprehensive source for digital voice recorders, software, and accessories with integrated customer service tools that allow Recorders to deliver their award-winning support in real-time. In just 5 months, Recorders.com has seen dramatic improvements including:

· 33% Total Visits Growth

· 5% Revenue Growth

· 46% Organic Visitor Growth

"We are very pleased with the new website and the OrderDynamics platform which has put us in an industry-leading position. We are elite partners with our suppliers and OrderDynamics enables a single database for backend platform automation." explains Krish Michaels, CEO of Recorders.com. "By leveraging the latest eCommerce best practices and proactive service from OrderDynamics, Recorders.com is servicing more shoppers and delivering superior customer service tools over our competition. We’ve become a one-stop shop for support, customer service and training for an enhanced, streamlined customer experience," continues Michaels. In addition to the customer service tools, the new Recorders.com has seen significant organic search placement increases using out-of-box tools within OrderDynamics. The new eStore also leverages latest features like multi-select guided navigation, SEO, Promotions, Complex Pricing, Merchandising, Recommendations, Product Personalization, Content Personalization, Rich Imaging, Product Reviews, and more. In addition, Recorders.com provides industry specific shopping tools, like unique short description by industry, and integrated customer support tickets in the shopper’s My Account section using OrderDynamics Case Management system.

"The Recorders.com project was a huge success and we’re excited about enabling their revenue growth for years to come” says Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. "We congratulate the Recorders team on the launch and look forward to future phases".

About Recorders.com

Recorders.com is the leading supplier of digital dictation equipment in the United States. For over 10 years, Recorders.com has been in the dictation, transcription, and voice recognition industry and was established to help an ever growing Mobile Society communicate information quickly and easily. Recorders ships same business day on most orders and products are inventoried in 7 warehouses across the United States to ensure Quick Shipments.

OrderDynamics to Exhibit at the Dx3 Canada 2012

2011-12-15T11:32:00.002-05:00

Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, OrderDynamics Corporation, is an official sponsor and exhibitor at this year’s Dx3 Canada Trade Show.

OrderDynamics will be part of Canada’s Digital Superstore at Dx3 Canada’s 2012 Trade Show. Known as the Canadian Trade Show, Dx3 Canada will be taking over the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on January 25 and 26, 2012, to showcase exhibitors from the advertising, marketing and retailing industries.

Along with 34 other established companies, OrderDynamics invites the public to learn how to grow a business using the diverse digital tools being presented. Along with company exhibits, Dx3 Canada’s repertoire of workshops is designed to educate visitors in a variety of areas including SEO, Social Media Operations, and Mobile Marketing, among others.

For a dynamic, interactive experience, visitors can also explore various ‘zones’ presented by Dx3 Canada’s Trade Show sponsors: Moneris Small Business Zone, Facebook U, IAB Canada Spotlight Theatre, MobileZone and Incubator Zone. Expanding on networking opportunities, Say:Media will be hosting a party at the Steam Whistle Brewery at 5pm on the evening of January 25, offering exhibitors and visitors a fun end to the first day of the show.

Canada is in a great position to get more involved in eCommerce. In the past year, OrderDynamics has seen huge growth in the need for Canadian retailers to add or improve their eCommerce channel. With the overwhelming success of 2011 Black Friday through Cyber Monday, where OrderDynamics processed 93% more orders over the same weekend last year, Canadian retailers need to get equipped to reap the same benefits next year. Recent Canadian eCommerce successes such as Henry’s Camera, Kitchen Stuff Plus and Walking on a Cloud saw sales double and triple, indicating that the US Thanksgiving shopping weekend will continue to be lucrative for Canadian eCommerce.

OrderDynamics makes a great addition to the Dx3 Canada Trade Show with a diverse portfolio of digital services consistent with current eCommerce trends. At booth 318, visitors can learn about OrderDynamics’ on-demand eCommerce SaaS Platform which includes backend and frontend operations equipped with services for Order Management, Dynamic Merchandising including SEO, and Online Marketing, along with a plethora of others. With the recent release of the OrderDynamics Mobile Commerce Platform, visitors can also learn about seamless integration of mobile and eCommerce platforms to cater to multi-store merchants.

As an official sponsor of the Dx3 Canada Trade Show, OrderDynamics hopes to connect with growing Canadian retailers in need of adding or improving a dynamic eCommerce platform. The Show will also be a great opportunity to network with Canadian digital agencies to partner with on future eCommerce projects. “Canada needs a digital trade show,” says Michael Turcsanyi, president of OrderDynamics. “We are excited that Dx3 has put forth a major event that will be beneficial to digital industries in Canada”.

The Dx3 Canada 2012 Trade Show promises to be exciting and educating, and admission is free! For more information, visit www.dx3canada.com, or for speaking opportunities, email oliver@dx3canada.com. Also visit us at www.orderdynamics.com to learn more about what to expect from the OrderDynamics booth, #318.

Avalara Announces Strategic Partnership with OrderDynamics Corporation

2011-12-09T14:52:00.005-05:00

AvaTax for OrderDynamics now available for OrderDynamics customers

Toronto, ON – December 9, 2011 – Avalara (www.avalara.com), the leading provider of fully automated, up-to-date sales and use tax compliance solutions, announced today a strategic partnership with OrderDynamics Corporation, leading provider of On-Demand eCommerce solutions.

AvaTax for OrderDynamics is an easy-to-use sales tax calculation and filing solution that integrates with OrderDynamics to eliminate the hassle of tax compliance processes and reduce the risk of business audits. The web-based service delivers instantaneous sales tax calculations using a centrally-managed, highly accurate calculation engine leveraging up-to-date sales tax rates, rules and jurisdiction boundaries. Coupled with automated filing, remittance and exemption certificate management, AvaTax for OrderDynamics provides unprecedented sales tax functionality to boost business productivity while minimizing audit risk.

"At OrderDynamics, we constantly seek new and better ways to provide our clients with meaningful tools to run every aspect of their online business” says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics Corporation. “Through this integration with Avalara, our clients will be able to easily manage and remain up-to-date with increasingly complicated tax regulations.”

“AvaTax is the industry standard for automated sales tax solutions and we are proud to add OrderDynamics Corporation to the list of leading providers who have chosen to incorporate our service into their offerings,” said Scott McFarlane, CEO and co-founder of Avalara. “OrderDynamics customers now have the ability to focus on their core business without worrying about spending additional time and resources on calculating and remitting sales tax.”

For more information about AvaTax for OrderDynamics, please visit,
www.avalara.com/e-commerce/orderdynamics

About OrderDynamics Corporation

OrderDynamics Corporation is a privately owned eCommerce platform service provider for high-growth B2C and B2B businesses. The success of OrderDynamics is highly attributed to its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) eCommerce model and Dynamic Merchandising concepts which provide superior control and help drive revenue. The OrderDynamics solution caters to multi-channel retail, manufacturing, business-to-business, and complex online retail. OrderDynamics officially launched its On-Demand eCommerce Platform in 2006 after 2 years of research and development.

About Avalara
Headquartered in Bainbridge Island, WA, Avalara is the recognized leader in web-based sales tax solutions, and is transforming the sales and use tax compliance process for businesses of all sizes. Avalara’s AvaTax family of products provides end-to-end compliance solutions and is regarded as the fastest, easiest, most accurate and affordable way for companies to address their statutory tax requirements. Avalara is the industry's most trusted provider of sales and use tax automation solutions and is one of America’s fastest growing companies earning recognitions such as Microsoft’s SaaS Partner of the Year for 2010. For more information, please visit www.avalara.com.

To set up an interview with executive Scott McFarlane please contact Yvonne Lunceford, Marketing Manager at Avalara, at 206-826-4900 x1149, or email yvonne.lunceford@avalara.com.

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2011 Report

2011-12-01T20:07:00.002-05:00

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Mark a Huge Start for the 2011 Holiday Shopping Season

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics merchants saw a significant impact on sales with the onset of the US Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend. Trends indicated that many consumers began their shopping on Thanksgiving Day despite brick and mortar retail outlets being closed, leading to a 39% increase in online sales over Thanksgiving 2010. As reported by InternetRetailer.com, Thanksgiving Day web revenue grossed upwards of $550 million – a sure sign that many consumers are starting Christmas shopping earlier given the right promotion.

This year’s Black Friday also showed big numbers for eCommerce. While overall Black Friday sales were up 6.6%, online revenue boasted a growth of 24.3% over last year. Even daily deal site LivingSocial.com reported sales of almost 150,000 purchases. Many OrderDynamics e-retailers saw sales double, with some even tripling average daily numbers and saw strong sales perpetuate throughout the weekend. “We processed 93% more orders for Black Friday through Cyber Monday this year,” reports Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. “Overall, OrderDynamics merchants pulled in 140% more revenue over the same weekend last year. It’s very exciting to see that kind of growth.”

The greatest success was Cyber Monday, grossing the highest online sales in history at $1.25 billion. Though not entirely unexpected, e-retailers’ overall sales were up 33% from last year’s Cyber Monday. This year, the concept of offering large discounts the first Monday day after the US Thanksgiving was more heavily adopted in Canada, which likely contributed to the extra push. Canadian OrderDynamics merchants such as Henry’s Camera reported similar success to US counterparts, making Cyber Monday even more lucrative than Black Friday for OrderDynamics e-tailers.

Of course, several online retailers suffered a less than fruitful holiday weekend. Several site outages and performance issues lead to inconvenient downtime and lost revenue. Most notably, VictoriasSecret.com experienced an 80-minute interruption on Black Friday, while increased traffic to Ann Inc’s AnnTaylor.com triggered a Cyber Monday outage. American Eagle Outfitters’ site, ae.com, saw a total of 8 hours of downtime throughout the entire weekend, and a 350% spike in traffic caused difficulties for PayPal as well. Now notorious for frequent site outages, Target.com had several loading errors allowing pages to only be partially viewed. Catchpoint Systems Inc. put together a list of sites with the most performance issues over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Along with high profits, the Thanksgiving weekend offers lessons to be learned. The Conference Board Consumer Research Centre index reported on research findings that consumers have been viewing the current economic climate more positively lately, which through increased spending can continue to trend upwards. This, coupled with excellent online promotions encouraged an earlier start to the holiday shopping season. Online and mobile retailers should aim to prepare themselves for next year in a number of ways: offer promotions earlier, and make sure consumers are well aware of them with strong email campaigns; use ‘Thanksgiving Day-Only’ sales to intrigue those who may consider waiting until Black Friday. Thanksgiving weekend has proven to be far too profitable to risk site outages, and as such sites and mobile apps should be tweaked and tested to accommodate promotions and sustain higher than normal traffic.

To combat possible performance problems and to ensure the best shopping experience for the end consumer, the OrderDynamics SaaS platform enables extreme scalability under high order volumes. Using proprietary order processing technology that enables high rates of order capture, and the ability to elastically expand their cloud infrastructure, OrderDynamics helps ensure smooth running even for the most unexpected shopping surges. “We maintain significant on-demand capacity in our SaaS infrastructure to protect merchants against inevitable spikes” says Steven Berkovitz, Co-Founder and On-Demand Platform Architect. “In addition, we operate a single version of our software, allowing us to make performance enhancements to our core platform which immediately benefits all of our clients without needing to make costly customizations”. One of the main reasons for changing ecommerce platforms is due to instability and reliability problems of the existing website.

The start of the 2011 holiday shopping season proved to also be a great opportunity for mobile retailers. Thanksgiving Day showed the largest proportion of mobile sales at 11.09%, followed by 9.8% of online sales on Black Friday, and 6.6% on Cyber Monday. With a greater selection of advanced mobile devices, it is not surprising that purchases on smartphones greatly exceeded 2010 statistics.

OrderDynamics Enters CIX 2011 Contest for Hottest Innovative Companies

2011-10-26T19:27:00.004-04:00

For the second year in a row, OrderDynamics has entered Canada’s Hottest Innovative Companies contest put on by the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX), a must-attend conference for over 400 of the principal players in the innovation economy.

Every year CIX conducts an exhaustive search for the most innovative ideas, products, services and companies in the country. An expert panel of respected innovation leaders will select 20 companies to take the stage and showcase their business live. The CIX Top 20 serves as an elite index of the very best in the Canadian innovation ecosystem and connects the key players driving technology-based innovation with fresh new businesses to keep the wheels of commerce and innovation turning.

Taking place in Toronto on December 1, 2011, at MaRS Discovery District. Register here: www.canadianinnovationexchange.com.

OrderDynamics to Exhibit at IRWD 2012

2011-10-24T14:16:00.002-04:00

OrderDynamics has once again signed up to exhibit at the Internet Retailer Web Design and Usability Conference in Orlando, Florida. Taking place February 13-15, IRWD 2012 will focus on Designing Websites that Stand Out from the Crowd.

Attendees will be able to take advantage of 27 conference sessions hosted by eCommerce experts, covering current topics such as homepage, product page, shopping cart and multi-platform design, along with best practices for branding and boosting conversion. Boasting 46 expert speakers, the learning opportunities are endless.

As one of 50 exhibitors, OrderDynamics will showcase our On-Demand eCommerce SaaS Platform, as well as our recently launched Mobile Commerce Platform. We look forward to offering helpful insight on how to re-platform and design a website with a unique frontend experience supported by innovative backend operations. Visit us at booth 314 for some great conversation and networking!

IRWD 2012 will take place at the Omni Orlando Resort, and is offering Early-Bird discounts for those who register by December 31, 2011. For further details on how you can attend, visit http://irwd.internetretailer.com/2012/agenda/ .

OrderDynamics Announces Level 1 PCI Compliant Solutions with Hosted PCI Integration

2011-10-20T11:57:00.001-04:00

OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform provider delivers Clients 100% continuous Level 1 PCI compliant solutions by integrating Hosted PCI with its eCommerce SaaS Platform.

With increased pressure on Retailers to become Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant, OrderDynamics announces the ability to deliver Level 1 PCI compliant solutions, the highest possible rating for eCommerce Service Providers. PCI-DSS is a multifaceted security standard that includes intensive merchant requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures centered on protecting credit card data.

This new core platform integration with Hosted PCI combines their powerful Payment Vault Tokenization technology with the OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform. Retailers can now enjoy worry-free PCI compliance without compromising front-end flexibility, or backend integration options.

Through the utilization of Hosted PCI Tokenization, OrderDynamics merchants still benefit from critical features such as Re-ordering, Auto-Shipping, Credit Card Wallet, Call Center, Returns, and Order Management. OrderDynamics merchants will also benefit from 100% credit card breach indemnity as no sensitive card holder data ever enters the merchants environment.

OrderDynamics has also integrated the Hosted PCI Call Center IVR (Integrated Voice Response) system, removing the need for merchant call center staff from having to take credit card numbers over the phone, a necessity when running high volume eCommerce websites. With the Hosted PCI Call Center IVR enabled, shoppers are able to enter their credit card data into their telephone which returns a token to the call center agent who in turn enters the token into the OrderDynamics call center checkout page when processing telephone sales and service requests.

“By integrating Hosted PCI into our core platform payment stack and call center, OrderDynamics can deliver solutions that meet the highest level of PCI compliance without the traditional costs Retailers face” explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. “In our experience, many merchants need all the help they can get in the area of PCI compliance and we believe this solution does just that” Continues Benadiba.

“The seamlessness of the integration being offered with the OrderDynamics platform gives merchants a quick and easy way to achieve PCI compliance, no matter what level of processing requirements they’re held to” says Saurabh Soman, Co-Founder of Hosted PCI. “This solution not only saves the merchant money through expediting the compliance process, but also significantly reduces merchant costs to maintain compliance each year” Continues Soman.

OrderDynamics completed the integration as part of their Q2 platform release.

About Hosted PCI

Hosted PCI was founded in 2009 to deliver cloud based PCI compliance to the enterprise. In March 2010 Hosted PCI launched its first service for e-commerce merchants: Hosted PCI Checkout Express Edition. This service allows e-commerce merchants, for the first time, to have full control of their checkout pages while maintaining 100% PCI DSS Compliance. The heart of the HPCI system is the Payment Vault Tokenization module. Each HostedPCI solution is completely integrated with the payment vault allowing tokens to be seamlessly used between e-commerce, order management, call center and CRM applications. Hosted PCI also launched the Call Center Edition which allows multi-channel merchants to completely protect their calls centers from credit card theft while creating a straight forward path true PCI DSS compliance for the call center.

OrderDynamics Delivers Content that Sells through Agility CMS Integration

2011-10-17T16:08:00.003-04:00

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics and Agility CMS have recently partnered to deliver enterprise content management solutions for content rich eCommerce websites. The solution is designed to solve common content management limitations experienced by enterprises, publishers, and media websites that continue to ask for tight integration between their eCommerce platform and their Content Management System (CMS). When these systems are not integrated, the merchant is limited in their ability to create “content that sells”, unable to leverage important merchandising features of their ecommerce platform when publishing content.

Agility CMS is a flexible and highly customizable content management platform for enterprises and currently powers impressive websites such as Oprah Winfrey Network, Shoppers Drug Mart, World Fishing Network, and Cineplex. Agility CMS deploys as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and has robust features such as articles, blogs, forums, videos, approval workflows, template management, content syndication, social media, user generated content, and more. By integrating the two presentation technologies, merchants now have the ability to tie eCommerce content directly to the content published within Agility CMS.

“There are many online merchants that have significant content requirements that go way beyond the scope of a typical retail website” explains Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. “These merchants need seamless delivery of all content and want to harness the merchandising and selling power of their eCommerce platform on their content pages”. Continues Turcsanyi. Since Agility CMS content is hosted on the OrderDynamics on-demand eCommerce platform, these content pages can utilize powerful Dynamic Merchandising features such as product linking, dynamic product display, pricing, related items, ratings and reviews, recommendations, and more. This saves the merchant time and ties the otherwise static content directly into the selling process.

“The solution that we’ve delivered together is truly a best-of-both-worlds scenario for the merchant” says Michael Assad, CEO of Agility CMS. “There are a lot of synergies between Agility and OrderDynamics which has made this an exciting partnership”. Continues Assad. The two providers began initial partnership talks in 2010 and have already delivered the solution with two clients and have another project in progress.

About Agility

Agility is a cloud-based content management system for managing internally produced and user generated content across web, mobile and social media. Agility is designed to be easy for developers, editors, designers and marketers. It integrates with best-of-breed solutions for video management, ad serving, search, analytics, email marketing and more. Their Perfect Fit Guarantee ensures that you will be satisfied with your CMS implementation, or the license fees are free. You can implement Agility internally, or work with their implementation partners. Agility powers sites for Uncle Ben’s, Campbells, Subaru, Whiskas, Cineplex, CTV and Shoppers Drug Mart.

OrderDynamics to Exhibit with Dx3 Canada

2011-10-12T10:23:00.003-04:00

We invite you to visit us and 34 other established companies, and learn how to grow your business using the diverse digital tools being presented to you. Along with company exhibits, Dx3 Canada’s repertoire of workshops is designed to educate visitors in a variety of areas including SEO, Social Media Operations, and Mobile Marketing, among others.

OrderDynamics makes a great addition to the Dx3 Canada Trade Show with our diverse portfolio of digital services consistent with current eCommerce trends. At our booth, visitors can learn about our on-demand eCommerce SaaS Platform which includes backend and frontend operations equipped with services for Order Management, Dynamic Merchandising including SEO, and Online Marketing, along with a plethora of others. With the recent release of our OrderDynamics Mobile Commerce Platform, we will also exhibit how we cater to multi-store merchants with seamless integration of mobile and eCommerce platforms.

Dx3 Canada promises an exciting and educating show, and admission is free! For more information, visit www.dx3canada.com.

OrderDynamics is Sponsoring Ecommerce Camp 8: Innovative Mobile Apps – Ecommerce Solutions

2011-10-07T11:16:00.006-04:00

Ready to jump on the mobile app bandwagon? OrderDynamics Corp. is a proud sponsor of Ecommerce Camp 8 in Toronto, where experts will discuss how ecommerce solutions can take advantage of leading mobile applications.

Join the OrderDynamics team on October 17, at Fionn MacCool’s on the Esplanade for an excellent networking opportunity organized by Chris Long, Well.ca and M Marketing. Mobile consulting firm Mobile Fringe will be presenting their new Eaton Centre app, while industry experts will touch on apps by GroupOn, Brand Power, Canadian Tire and others. Ecommerce Camp 8 aims to provide great insight on how mobile apps are changing and can help companies grow their business.

The event is free to attend and open to everyone, with discussions beginning at 6pm. To register to attend Ecommerce Camp 8 visit http://guestlistapp.com/events/73137, and invite friends by Tweeting #eccTO!

Licensed vs. SaaS and Lessons in Re-Platforming

2011-09-27T09:27:00.002-04:00

The Target website outage of 2011 has “gone viral” throughout the industry. We wanted to provide some perspective for future merchants looking to re-launch.

At the end of the day, the Target outage is something that many online merchants struggle with and was unfortunately made worse by the timing of the re-launch of their website on a new technology platform. Although it is very difficult to avoid what happened, ultimately there are a few important considerations for merchants changing platforms that I'd like to share.

1. Licensed vs. Cloud. When making a decision to take the platform technology and delivery in-house (ie. going with a licensed software and hosting it), a merchant is now accountable for uptime, performance, capacity, and security of the systems. That means the merchant needs to maintain human resources, hardware, hosting, and security audits. Most “true Cloud”, or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms provide the delivery technology along with the ecommerce software itself in order to specifically provide the optimal "quality of service" experienced by the merchant with their software. In addition to the "tech stuff", many mid-market and enterprise SaaS eCommerce Platform Providers offer aggressive Service Level Agreements (SLA) that hold them accountable for these key performance indicators. "SLAs with teeth" (as they're often referred) will incent providers to keep the site performing in top condition.

2. When re-launching a website, large or small, it is important to understand that there is going to be a laundry list of small things that need to be address after the site goes live. Since it is impossible to fully replicate "real world traffic" (no matter how much money you throw at the project as with Target I'm sure the budget was significant for this project), and as a result it is impossible to fully understand what the real load on the system will be. So let this be a lesson to other merchants to use simple tactics to avoid crushing the website and annoying shoppers on the first day.

Tactic 1: Soft Launch -delay the national advertising campaign by a week or two so you can see how the system is performing.

Tactic 2: Phase the Launch -start with core functionality than phase in new categories, products, and features as you understand how the system is performing.

Tactic 3: Monitor and React Quickly -build dashboards that allow top products and pages to quickly alert the merchant’s IT team of load issues.

In summary, it is impossible to avoid bumps and bruises when re-launching an eCommerce website. As someone who re-launches 8-12 websites per year, I can say that these projects are significantly complex and the team is often under immense pressure from management and often given unrealistic timelines. However, merchants of all shapes and sizes should understand the critical difference between "owning and operating" ecommerce software vs. the new age of "cloud/SaaS" eCommerce platform providers. And finally, by taking simple steps during a re-launch a merchant can reduce the risk of an outage and keep shoppers spending money on their website.

Nutrasource.com Launches Their New Site with OrderDynamics!

2011-09-07T16:28:00.005-04:00

OrderDynamics is pleased to announce the launch of Nutrasource.com. Equipped with the most innovative eCommerce tools, Nutrasource.com features a comprehensive repertoire of vitamins, supplements, detox, nutrition and personal care products. Nutrasource.com offers a dynamic customer experience that is highly informative through displaying price comparisons, in-depth product descriptions and indications, and detailed ingredient listings while allowing shoppers to share their favorite items via various social media outlets. Their intricate Guided Navigation and Breadcrumb trails enable quick and efficient browsing based on brands, product types, health conditions, goals, top sellers, new arrivals and several other segments. Nutrasource.com accepts secure payments through PayPal, Google and Amazon Checkouts, and all major credit cards, and extends a 20% discount on first purchases. The Autoship feature and free shipping on all orders over $49 contribute to an online experience that meets their 100% Satisfaction Guarantee on all health and wellness products.

Visit Nutrasource.com to check out special offers on a reputable brands, and make them Your Source For Healthy Living!

Cascio Interstate Music Re-Launches with OrderDynamics!

2011-09-02T14:12:00.005-04:00

OrderDynamics would like to congratulate Cascio Interstate Music on the re-launch of www.interstatemusic.com. Interstatemusic.com is a premium online resource for over 60,000 musical instruments and accessories, organized with an excellent Guided Navigation system for easy searching and viewing of products.

The Wisconsin-based etailer is a haven for percussion, string, and brass and woodwind instruments, as well as a terrific source for audio accessories including books and DVDs. Pages are efficiently structured to display Breadcrumb Trails so as to not be overwhelmed while browsing, allowing visitors to easily traverse Interstatemusic.com’s extensive product offering. Product pages are equipped with detailed product overviews, customer reviews, warranty details and recommended products to ensure customers are thoroughly informed in their purchase decisions, while Wish List, Live Chat and Contests provide a fun and interactive shopping experience. Interstatemusic.com’s secure, single-page checkout, along with their current promotion of free shipping in the US on most orders over $99 add to excellent and exciting usability.

Visit www.interstatemusic.com to find your favorite instrument, or discover a new way to express yourself!

The 10 Do’s and Don’ts for B2B Blog Posts

2011-08-26T10:56:00.002-04:00

1. Do think about fit and finish. No one wants to waste time on something that is boring or difficult to read.

Include an efficient title; your blog post title should include the following:

· Who/what the post is about

· Why the subject is being written about

· What the reader can hope to gain from reading the post

Employ good formatting with posts that are a few short paragraphs, and use bullets and numbers to neatly organize ideas. Use images for exciting presentation – they also have good SEO value with ALT tags.

2. Don’t sound like an advertisement. Though you are ultimately trying to gain exposure to your product/service/company, readers don’t want to feel like they are being sold something when they are merely seeking information. Avoid a heavy promotional vibe with content that serves to educate the reader.

3. Do make reasonable use of in-text links. Using in-text links shows search engine crawlers that the keyword used as the hyperlink is among the most important in your post. Determine a few related keywords to focus on in each post that will link back to specific web pages on your site. Ideally, aim for no more than one link per every 100 words, otherwise you risk having your post branded as spam.

4. Don’t Plagiarize. Content scraping is a black-hat practice in SEO; while you may not be using entire articles, search engine crawlers can identify similar information between web pages, remember where it ‘originated’, then determine your ranking based on that. However, more importantly, readers can identify having seen something before and if they feel you’ve just stripped someone else’s information, they can discredit you. Sourcing is just a good practice.

5. Do determine who is meant to read your article, and stick to it. Your customer base is grouped into segments and you can’t expect to effectively appeal to all of them – doing so makes your content broad and uninformative. Decide based on what you’re writing which market segment and demographic will read your post, and then write in a manner that will grab and hold their attention, and no one else’s.

6. Don’t overshare opinions, and be conscious of what opinion you’re sharing. Simply put, if you’ve plastered an unbridled opinion throughout your post and the reader doesn’t agree, you’ve lost them and cut your traffic considerably. Content needs to reflect the opinions of your organization, which helps hold onto traffic that is relevant and filter out that which isn’t.

7. Do include a call-to-action, and measure it. Stimulate conversation. Ask readers to sign up for a mailing list. Offer promotions or contest for readers to enter. Solicit feedback. Offer a bookmark option. Figure out a way to have the reader interact with you and build some sort of rapport with your brand/what you’re writing about – it will keep them coming back. Then, employ the use of a tracking tool so you can understand if these calls-to-action are helpful.

8. Don’t forget about social media and syndication. Make the option available to Tweet and share your content on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. More importantly, ensure you are leveraging all your resources to put your content on the wire. It’s good for you, why wouldn’t you?

9. Do ensure you know what you’re talking about, and follow up regularly. You are the greatest resource for information on your company/brand/products, however if your content stretches your comfort level, make sure you’re at least knowledgeable enough about your blog content that you could carry a conversation on the topic. If your post consists of generic information that could be found anywhere, readers won’t use you as a resource. Further, if they ask you something and you don’t know enough to answer, this will also discredit you as a resource.

10. Don’t forget to proofread. The easiest way to lose readers and search engine ranking is to post an article laden with spelling and grammatical errors. You appear incompetent, unknowledgeable and careless. All your hard work and content research could end up in vain with a single error – always, always be sure to employ your best writing skills.

On-Demand eCommerce: Kitchen Stuff Plus Re-Launches Popular Retail Site on OrderDynamics

2011-08-16T10:56:00.001-04:00

Toronto, ON -- OrderDynamics announces another successful website migration to their On-Demand eCommerce Platform with Kitchen Stuff Plus. The popular Toronto-based retailer underwent a complete website redesign and ecommerce technology re-launch, designed to support their in-store experience and accelerate web sales. The new www.kitchenstuffplus.com website offers a fun and easy way to shop for thousands kitchen and housewares products.

"We’re very pleased with the new website and the position we’re in with the OrderDynamics platform" explains John Thompson, Director of IT at Kitchen Stuff Plus. "We now have the ability to quickly and easily innovate in areas of the site that will help us service more customers” continues Thompson. The new eStore features the latest frontend and backend eCommerce tools and best practices such as Guided Navigation, Quick View, Promotions, Advanced Merchandising, Recommendations, One-page Checkout, Content Personalization, Rich Imaging, Social Integration, and more. In addition, the new kitchenstuffplus.com provides tools to support their 10 locations in the greater Toronto area.

"The Kitchen Stuff Plus project has been very exciting and we’re thrilled with how the website has turned out” says Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. "We look forward to helping the Kitchen Stuff Plus team leverage our toolset to grow their online channel for many years to come”.

About Kitchen Stuff Plus

Kitchen Stuff Plus is a privately-owned, leading Canadian housewares and home decor retailer that has been voted one of Toronto's best places to shop again and again. Customers enjoy incredible savings every day, an ever-changing selection of quality brand name merchandise, and exceptional service. Founded in 1987 with the belief that customers deserve the best brands at the best prices, the company operates stores in the Greater Toronto Area, including urban locations, superstores and clearance outlet. With a carefully selected assortment, eye for quality and commitment to offering great value, Kitchen Stuff Plus makes it easy and affordable for savvy customers to experience their passion for cooking, eating and entertaining.

Kitchenstuffplus.com Launches with OrderDynamics!

2011-07-27T16:19:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Kitchenstuffplus.com on their launch with OrderDynamics! The Kitchen Stuff Plus website utilizes the most current ecommerce features to provide a user-friendly experience that stimulates higher traffic to drive conversion and sales. As a reputable Canadian retailer, Kitchen Stuff Plus carries an extensive offering of cookware and bakeware, cutlery and silverware, housewares, home décor and small kitchen appliances, organized into a chic online catalog.

With OrderDynamics, Kitchenstuffplus.com elegantly presents products with the ability to easily view product features and reviews, compare to retail pricing, and explore related and recommended items. The WishList and easy, secure online checkout complete a great user experience!

OrderDynamics in Internet Retailer Magazine June: People Power

2011-06-27T11:07:00.002-04:00

OrderDynamics was featured in an article in the June 2011 edition of Internet Retailer Magazine. The article, called People Power, showcases our Client Walking on a Cloud and how they use our Call Center and CRM to empower their customer service agents to service callers better for both B2C and B2B orders.

Here is an excerpt: "To meet those expectations multichannel shoe retailer Walking On A Cloud in February 2010 implemented an e-commerce platform and order management system from OrderDynamics. The retailer operates 36 bricks-and-mortar stores in Ontario, Canada, sells online and operates a wholesale division. The system enables Walking On A Cloud's three in-house contact center agents to access information for each business unit, including being able to look up customer information, in-stock availability and tracking information, says Mark Zuckier, the retailer's president. "We want our agents to have all the tools to help consumers place an order or resolve an issue," he says."

Internet Retailer June 2011: People Power

Read the article here

Digital Magazine to this Digital magazine article here

OrderDynamics Announces Integrated Mobile Commerce Solution

2011-06-27T10:35:00.003-04:00

OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform provider, announces upcoming mobile commerce solution fully integrated into its eCommerce SaaS Platform and Order Management System.

With consumer sales on mobile devices set to meet or exceed levels on personal computers in the coming years, OrderDynamics announces plans to deliver a fully integrated mobile commerce solution called OrderDynamics Mobile™. OrderDynamics services high-growth online merchants with mid-sized online revenues, typically between 5 and 50 million in annual online sales. These merchants require excellent platform technology for growth and a long-term partner to help them achieve their revenue goals. The OrderDynamics on-demand eCommerce platform provides powerful frontend and backend tools that help increase conversions and order sizes while streamlining web operations.

For a mobile channel to be successful with these merchants, the mobile solution needs to unify the consumer experience between traditional website and the mobile site and utilize the same merchandising and customer service features they’ve come to expect from OrderDynamics. Moreover, merchants require total and independent control over the mobile channel with seamless integration into the OrderDynamics platform, which includes an Order Management System and a powerful CRM toolset.

The fully integrated nature of OrderDynamics Mobile™ will enable exciting consumer features like real-time inventory, pricing, personalization, promotions, one-click checkout, ratings and reviews, wish lists, cross channel account tools, and more.

In addition to robust mobile shopping features, OrderDynamics is leveraging the latest mobile technologies in the development of OrderDynamics Mobile™. “We’re in the middle of the the second major wave of mobile commerce technologies right now” Explains Steven Berkovitz, On-Demand Platform Architect at OrderDynamics. “By investing in standards-based mobile technologies and building core platform support for mobile integration, OrderDynamics Mobile ™ will be the most full featured and robust mobile commerce solution available” continues Berkovitz. OrderDynamics Mobile™ is based on HTML 5, CSS3, and Jquery mobile technologies that many industry experts believe will be the future of mobile websites.

OrderDynamics Mobile™ will launch late summer 2011 with several existing customers already signed on.

IRCE 2011 Wrap-up: OrderDynamics Says Thanks!

2011-06-20T13:57:00.001-04:00

The OrderDynamics Team would like to thank everyone who attended Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition 2011. IRCE2011 had the most attendees and exhibitors of any previous year and offered a few new aspects to the show like the eCommerce Technology Theater. There were an overwhelming number of merchants looking to select an eCommerce platform this year after either outgrowing their current platform or looking to launch the channel for the first time. The four-day event was held in San Diego and was packed with great content, workshops, and nightlife! We look forward to IRCE 2012 in Chicago!

The first annual Avalara Rocktopia Party!, sponsored in part by OrderDynamics, was a huge success that ended off the week with a bang! We'll be posting pictures from the pary on the On-Demand eCommerce Blog.

For those of you that are considering a new platform or are planning for an ecommerce channel, please give us a call to discuss our leading On-Demand Platform technology designed to help B2C and B2B merchants grow their online sales.

Some notable companies that we thought were innovative and worth a closer look: ShopSocially, MoonToast, OPMPros, KivaSystems, and TabJuice.

We will be reaching out to all interested parties over the next two weeks. You may also contact us directly: Michael Turcsanyi solutions@orderdynamics.com.

In the meantime, we invite you to visit our website at www.orderdynamics.com to learn more about our On-Demand eCommerce Platform.

Sincerely,
The OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123

Avarala and OrderDynamics: Rocktopia at IRCE 2011!

2011-06-13T20:00:00.004-04:00

We're all set to rock out with Avalara and their team of sponsors for ROCKTOPIA, in San Diego June 16th, 2011 at 9 p.m. at Jolt'n Joe's in the Gas Lamp District. Stop by the OrderDynamics Booth (#121) for tickets to the event. We'll also be speaking at the Avalara Booth (#923) on Wednesday, June 15 from 12 pm to 12:30 pm and Thursday, June 16 from 12 pm to 12:30 pm. We're going to be discussing "Flipping the Switch: How to successfully change eCommerce platforms". See you there!

Congrats Walkingonacloud.com on the New Website Design!

2011-05-26T17:59:00.002-04:00

We congratulate our client, Walkingonacloud.com on a recent redesign of their Canadian and USA eStores. After launching on OrderDynamics 1.5 years ago, Walkingonacloud.com has seen significant sales growth, so much so that it fueled a complete redesign of their website – something that was not done during the initial launch. The new design enables many of the latest ecommerce features and best practices such as Guided Navigation, Search Within, Dynamic Merchandising, Up Selling in the Buy Area, Rich Imaging, Facebook and Twitter, Mini Cart, Personalization, and more. The new design will allow Walkingonacloud to convert traffic at a higher level and increase the average order size through these out-of-box features of OrderDynamics.

Walkingonacloud.com has over 8,000 shoes and accessories from over 90 brands. Congrats!

OrderDynamics Speaks at eCommerce Camp #7: Build vs. Buy, the Future of eCommerce Platforms

2011-05-26T17:49:00.004-04:00

What is the future of eCommerce platforms? OrderDynamics speaks on the panel at Ecommerce Camp 7, to be held in Toronto on June 6, 2011.

Ecommerce Camp is an excellent networking opportunity hosted by Chris Long, Well.ca and M Marking Inc. for both those who are familiar with the eCommerce world and those who are new to the game. Our very own Steven Berkovitz will be joining local experts from Shopify and T4G in deliberating where eCommerce is heading in the coming years and why we believe it is time to buy rather than build. This exciting debate will be moderated by a member from Sears Canada, and at the end research findings on the outlook for eCommerce will be exhibited by Google.

The event begins at 6pm at Fionn MacCool’s on 70 The Esplanade, and tickets are free! To register to attend Ecommerce Camp 7, and gain some valuable insight from its presenters, visit http://guestlistapp.com/events/57297 .

Congrats on the Launch, Recorders.com!

2011-05-25T15:16:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Recorders.com on the recent re-launch on OrderDynamics. The new Recorders.com website offers all the latest ecommerce features to support higher revenue growth and excel at customer service. One of the most comprehensive sources of digital recorders, transcription software, and accessories, Recorders.com offers a smart navigation by industry, rich product information, one-click support and integrated ticketing in the My Account section, powerful site search, alternative payments and more!

By leveraging industry specific product descriptions, product attributes, article integrations, and automatic upselling for discontinued but supported products, Recorders.com is leading the competition in sales and service.

The site was elegantly designed by our partner, www.gproxy.com.

eTail Canada Recap - Review of the Show!

2011-05-25T11:44:00.000-04:00

What a great way for eTail to open their first annual show in Canada! eTail Canada was highly attended by many leading Canadian retailers and manufacturers who are either already selling online or are in the process of putting together their business plans for an ecommerce channel.

We met with several merchants who were in the very early stages of putting their ecommerce business plan together and provided important tips for developing their ecommerce business plan and selecting a platform provider. We also had a chance to talk with many Canadian merchants who were already selling online and looking to take their online business to the next level. These were all very promising signals that the Canadian ecommerce market is heating up and here to stay.

It came as no surprise about the number of US retailers and manufacturers that attended the event with plans on opening up

or expanding their Canadian ecommerce operations. This should be a continued warning to Canadian retailers who have already had to compete with many US merchants who have launched Canadian websites, or are now shipping to Canada.

We also had a chance to listen in on several sessions from merchants who were speaking at the event, including our Client Henry’s Camera, all of who provided actionable advice and guidance based on years of already doing business online in Canada.

We look forward to sponsoring the event again next year and look forward to a huge year of growth in the Canadian ecommerce market in 2011 / 2012.

BTY Selects OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform Solution

2011-05-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, announces recent new client partnership with BTY (Boutique To You), retailer of high trend fashion apparel.

After a surge in growth in the past two years, BTY has decided a new eCommerce platform is needed to continue to outpace its competition. The retailer of the hottest designer clothes worn by celebrities has been taking the market by storm through its fast-paced marketing tactics, integrating social media, and its ability to fulfill the fastest trending items in celebrity fashion. As order volumes are at the highest levels ever, BTY is in need of a new eCommerce platform, one designed to help mid-sized online retailers grow and can guarantee site reliability, something that’s been challenging with such electric growth.

“Although we continue to grow at a significant rate, we’ve simply outgrown our current platform, both in technology and their ability to service us” explains Ann Smith, Co-Founder of BTY. “OrderDynamics proved to be a great fit both in service model and their proven ability to help their clients grow after moving onto their platform” continues Smith. As part of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) eCommerce platform, OrderDynamics includes proactive account management guidance designed to keep merchants on a constant path of success. The service includes a dedicated account manager and ongoing new feature releases to the eCommerce platform at no extra costs. In addition, each client receives a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA) that holds OrderDynamics accountable for the uptime, performance, and reliability of each website it powers. “We searched high and low for the right e-commerce fit. OrderDynamics provided the best out-of-the box solutions as well as the ability and willingness to flex and grow with our company.”

“We’re very excited about this project and helping Ann and Debbie grow their business” says Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. The new website is slated to launch in June and will incorporate many exciting features like Guided Navigation, Targeted Banner Personalization and Recommendations, Mini Cart, Mobile Commerce, and more!

About BTY

BTY evolved from what started as a small locally-based accessory style business into a multi-million dollar celebrity style online boutique. The initial concept was “brining the boutique to you” via the online medium. Back in 2004 when the online store started to take off, brining boutique and celebrity style items was a new concept for many shoppers. Fast forward to 2011 where shopping online is the preferred method for many customers. The long name has been dropped and the more sophisticated abbreviation, BTY has taken its place. BTY’s owners, Ann Smith and Debbie Susich have always been flexible and ready to adapt to the market on a dime.

OrderDynamics to Rock Out with Avalara at IRCE 2011

2011-05-11T09:52:00.006-04:00

OrderDynamics Corporation is partnering with Avalara in hosting the party of the year! We invite you to come enjoy an evening out with us at Avalara’s Rocktopia during the heart of the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2011 in San Diego, California.

On June 16, 2011 from 9pm to midnight, Jolt’n Joe’s in the San Diego Gaslamp will be opening its doors with Avalara to select IRCE 2011 attendees to put an intimate and exciting touch to the conference with Rocktopia. OrderDynamics is a proud participant and we welcome you to check out our booth at the conference to learn how you can get your hands on an invite.
Rocktopia promises to be a ‘rocking’ event while allowing guests to take advantage of great food, beverages, live entertainment and a chance to network on a more personal level with us, along with other prospective partners. The first 100 guests at Jolt’n Joe’s will be given wrist bands for open bar access throughout the night, and if you come find us on time in the crowd, we may have some complimentary drink tickets waiting for you! Avalara will also be giving away a free Apple iPad to one lucky attendee of Rocktopia. All you have to do is pick up a passport at one of the participating sponsor booths, have it stamped by each sponsor and be entered to win! Consider it a great ice-breaker for some valuable networking for the final day of IRCE 2011.
If you would like to help Avalara, join us in sponsoring Rocktopia to also earn some great exposure for your company. For more information on how to get involved, contact Yvonne via email: yvonne.tomascak@avalara.com.

About Avalara:
Headquartered in Bainbridge Island, WA, Avalara is the recognized leader in web-based sales tax solutions and is transforming the sales and use tax compliance process for businesses of all sizes. With point-and-click ease Avalara, the provider of AvaTax, AvaCert and AvaFile, provides the fastest, easiest, most accurate and affordable way for companies to address their statutory tax requirements. Avalara is the industry's most trusted provider of sales and use tax automation solutions, serving more than 40,000 registered users located throughout the U.S., Canada, and abroad, delivering more than 350 million sales tax transactions, and filing and remitting more than $10 billion in sales & use tax collections per year.

Melissa Itwar

OrderDynamics helps OLLY Shoes Drive Sales with ShopRunner

2011-05-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

OrderDynamics, Canada's Leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, helps OLLY Shoes grow website traffic and sales with ShopRunner, a recently completed integration into the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform.

As part of their expanding list of supported integrations, called OrderDynamics H.I.V.E.™ (Highly Integrated Virtual Ecosystem), OrderDynamics is pleased to announce the recent addition of ShopRunner into its eCommerce SaaS Platform. ShopRunner is an annual membership program that provides shoppers unlimited free 2-Day Shipping with no minimum order size from some of the biggest and widely shopped online retailers in the world. In addition, ShopRunner offers exclusive member only deals and ability to share a ShopRunner account with up to four members in the same household. With all of these member benefits plus a growing market place, ShopRunner will allow OLLY Shoes to increase qualified traffic, convert more shoppers, and capture more repeat sales.

"We're very excited about having ShopRunner on our website. We very quickly started receiving ShopRunner orders after we launched and referral traffic is up" explains Michael DiGuiseppe, Director of eCommerce at OLLY Shoes. "OrderDynamics launched ShopRunner ahead of schedule and included support in their core platform, which is important for our long term success with this channel" continues DiGuiseppe. As part of this project, OrderDynamics embedded support for ShopRunner in its eCommerce SaaS platform, ensuring complete frontend and backend support in addition to streamlining the implementation of ShopRunner for OLLY.

"The ShopRunner team is very pleased to have OLLY Shoes onboard" comments Michael Golden, President of Shoprunner. "Since OrderDynamics has embedded support for ShopRunner in their platform, they're in a great position to support OLLY and future merchants" continues Golden.

OrderDynamics deployed ShopRunner for OLLY Shoes as part of their March 2011 release. "ShopRunner promises great traffic and sales benefits for retailers like OLLY Shoes" says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. "We congratulate ShopRunner and OLLY in this initiative and look forward to future ShopRunner deployments" continues Benadiba.

About OLLY Shoes
OLLY Shoes is a leading retailer of shoes for kids with over 15 locations in the United States and Canada. For parents and children alike, shopping for new shoes can be a frustrating and tedious experience. Alack of industry-wide sizing standards and a shortage of well-trained salespeople have left many kids walking out of stores wearing ill-fitting shoes. Toronto, Canada-based Oily Shoes has come to the rescue of frustrated consumers, taking the headache and hassle out of shoe shopping with its revolutionary, patented OLLYSCAN® fitting technology.

About ShopRunner
ShopRunner is a members-only online shopping service that offers time-starved, savvy consumers unlimited, free two-day shipping with no minimum order size, and free shipping on returns across a wide selection of today's most popular retailers. ShopRunner members also receive access to exclusive deals that can be combined with fast, free shipping. ShopRunner's growing retail network includes relationships with America's most sought-after brands, including Toys R Us, Sports Authority, GNC, drugstore.com, inc., Borders and PetSmart , with millions of products in clothing, baby, beauty, books, electronics, movies, sporting goods, pets, toys, video games, luggage, automotive and more. ShopRunner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GSI Commerce®, (Nasdaq: GSIC), a leading provider of e-commerce and interactive marketing services. For more information, or to try ShopRunner free for 30-days, visit www.shoprunner.com.

OrderDynamics Upgrades Call Center Technology in its eCommerce SaaS Platform

2011-04-21T10:17:00.002-04:00

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics, Canada's Leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, has recently deployed a major upgrade to its Call Center module specifically designed for online merchants with customer care teams that support multiple eCommerce websites.

As part of their regular SaaS platform feature release cycle, OrderDynamics delivers another important upgrade to its multi-channel Order Management System (OMS) within its eCommerce Platform. The recent update to the fully integrated Call Center application provides additional features especially important for multi-store retailers and additional Dynamic Merchandising to support fast and easy cross selling and upselling. In addition, the Call Center module has been overhauled for performance to make it even more appealing for large catalog merchants with SKU counts beyond 100,000 and large customer databases. Some of the new eCommerce Call Center features include: multi-store impersonation, streamlined customer lookup, guided navigation product search, autocomplete product search, customer also bought dynamic merchandising, related items merchandising, stock availability, pricing overrides, and more.

The multi-eStore (often referred to as multi-site) technology allows merchant call centers, or a third party call center, to take orders for any branded websites that they support with all per-site features such as product pricing, promotions, customer records, transactional emails, payments, shipping rates, and more. In addition, the OrderDynamics Call Center utilizes a best practice single-page checkout page and latest shopping cart features that provide support for in-cart triggers, merchandising of bonus items, ability to add and remove promo codes, shipping rates, offline payments, and the ability the save the shopping cart as quote for lookup later. Another feature that was added is the ability for a merchant to lookup a shopper's saved cart from the CRM module and load that cart into the Call Center to help the customer checkout. The merchant can also retrieve saved quotes or any frontend shopping list, such as a wish list or shopping list that is part of a shopper's account, to assist with checkout.

In addition to these new features, the OrderDynamics Call Center has always allowed the merchant to process current customer orders securely, without requiring access to the shopper's credit card, assisting with PCI compliance. "The integrated frontend and backend nature of OrderDynamics is what mid-sized online retailers are looking for in their eCommerce platform" explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics Corporation. "The Call Center module is a critical part of our strategy to give high-volume, multi-store merchants the tools they need to quickly grow sales and operate efficiently" continues Benadiba.

As with all releases to their On-Demand eCommerce Platform, the new Call Center was seamlessly released into the core platform making it immediately available to all OrderDynamics Clients. OrderDynamics launched the upgrade in January as part of their winter 2011 release.

OrderDynamics Sponsors eTail Canada

2011-04-20T11:06:00.006-04:00

For the first time, eTail is coming to Canada and promises to draw a great group of retail executives and people in the Canada eCommerce scene. Held on Toronto on May 16th-17th, eTail Canada is the only Canadian event that is completely focused on multi-channel marketing and e-commerce optimization.

Come visit us at our booth, or contact us to setup a meeting at the show.

About eTail Canada.

Since 1999 the producers of the eTail conference have been researching with senior executives from the top retailers in the world bringing them together to discuss the latest trends that impact the industry. In the last two years Canada’s astounding growth in the ecommerce sector has been a prevailing topic of discussion.

A report from Statistics Canada revealed that window shopping has become one of the most popular activities online, with 52% of Canadians reporting that they window shopped online in 2009. 39% of Canadians also reported buying goods or services online.

At eTail Canada, retailers will engage with the top-level speaking faculty, and each other, to discuss key initiatives to bring back to the office. Initiatives that will cut costs and drive revenue for 2011.

Search Merchandising: 5 Tips to Optimize eCommerce Site Search

2011-04-09T15:59:00.004-04:00

Connecting shoppers to products quickly is the goal when planning an effective search merchandising strategy. A strong Site Search, in combination with a robust Guided Navigation system, is the first step to reducing the number of clicks for your customers. Once these tools are in place (and we realize many high-growth B2C and B2B websites are lacking in this area), it is important to constantly optimize your eCommerce platform in response to how shoppers are using your site.

Below are the Top 5 Search Merchandising tactics that should be part of your routine.

Monitor Search History
Keeping on top of what keywords shoppers are using on your website is a good way to understand how you should merchandise your products so they'll find them faster. An effective Search History report should provide you with the ability to drill down to each of your websites, define a date/time range, and immediately see the keywords used by your shoppers along with 1) How many times these keyword was used and 2) Average search results. This will allow you to zero-in on key consumer searches and prioritize the rest of your Search Merchandising Plan.

Optimize Product Keywords
Once you're armed with real-world data of how your Site Search is producing (or not producing) search results, you can begin to optimize the fields searched by your platform. This usually includes adding or removing keywords to your products, adjusting titles and descriptions, and any other fields your site search platform uses (like product attributes for example).

Create Search Overrides
Search Overrides are a great way to ensure a specific set of products are included in the natural search results or that they're the only products that are displayed. For example, if you have a promotion running for a group of products, using Search Overrides you can ensure these products are at the top search results when the shopper searches specific search terms, regardless of the natural results the platform may produce. An example might be appending these promotional products to the natural results when searching Product Sub-Categories that these products might appear in or competitive brands you do not carry.

Adding Search Redirects
Search Redirects are used to when you want to totally avoid sending shoppers to the product search results. It usually involves sending the shopper directly to a landing page that is better suited for the customer and thus more likely to result conversions. For example, some merchants will redirect shoppers to a Guided Selling Page, Category Page, or Brand page for broad-based search terms brand names, topics like "Gift Cards", and more.

Add Attributes for Guided Navigation
Product attributes that are available for use with Guided Navigation (also referred to as Faceted Navigation) make refining large search results quick and easy. This involves creating or updaing Product Attribute Groups with key attributes that can be used with guided navigation. Then each product is updated with its associated attribute value. For example, a sock that is made of wool vs. cotton. Using this efficient search merchandising tactic, shoppers can immediately filter their search results with what interested them the most.

For more information about Search Merchandising tools from OrderDynamics, contact us today!

Chiefsupply.com Launches on OrderDynamics!

2011-04-07T14:34:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to CHIEFSupply.com on the re-launch on OrderDynamics! The CHIEF team totally redesigned their high volume B2C and B2B website to lay the foundation for significant revenue growth over the next 12 to 36 months. The website is fully integrated with the CHIEF backoffice systems for Products, Pricing, Attributes, Inventory, and Fulfillment. Checkout their huge selection of products from categories like: Law Enforcement, Military and Federal, Fire and Rescue, EMS, and Medical and Scrubs.Here are some of the cool features of the CHIEF site:

Faceted navigation
Multi-level category pages
Brand pages
Sophisticated Promotions
Ratings and Reviews
Multiple Images, Zoom, and Video
Recently viewed, Top Sellers, Recommendations
Mini Cart and Streamlined Cart and Checkout

The new www.chiefsupply.com was designed by our partners, UXER Design.

Pilotpen.us Launches on OrderDynamics!

2011-04-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Pilot Pen on their recent launch of their eCommerce website on OrderDynamics! The Pilot team completely re-designed their site to create a fast and fun way to shop for pens and refills. Go checkout the wide variety of brands, colors, and styles of your favorite Pilot Pens and many more now available directly from www.pilotpen.us!Here are some of the cool features of the Pilot Pen site:

Multi-Select Faceted navigation
Easy-to-use Product Finder Tool
Brand pages
Shop for singles, multi-packs, refills
Multiple Images, Zoom, and Video
Mini cart and Recommended Products
Complete backoffice integration for Products, Inventory, Pricing, and Fulfillment

The new www.pilotpen.us website was designed by our partners, GPROXY Design.

Cascio Interstate Music Selects OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform

2011-03-29T08:44:00.001-04:00

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, announces recent new client partnership with Cascio Interstate Music, a national provider of music products for over 60 years.

As part of their long term digital strategy, Cascio Interstate Music will re-launch their flagship B2C eCommerce website, www.interstatemusic.com, on the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform to set the stage for significant retail and wholesale growth over the next 5 years. The new website will simultaneously deliver an improved frontend shopping experience and give Cascio the flexibility to rapidly evolve serving its customers online. The on-demand nature of OrderDynamics will enable Cascio to continuously leverage the latest frontend and backend eCommerce best practices and features while eliminating the need for internal software maintenance and website hosting.

“We are very excited about continuing to move forward with our digital strategy, which is an increasingly critical component of our Company's future” explains Michael Houser, CEO of Cascio Interstate Music. “OrderDynamics was selected because of their leading platform technology and service model centered around helping us grow” continues Houser. OrderDynamics wraps a proactive service model around each Client, designed to facilitate rapid growth through ongoing guidance and the prompt servicing of future projects.

“Our entire team is thrilled to be the provider chosen by Cascio” says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. “The project is exciting in many ways and we look forward to a summer launch” continues Benadiba. The new website is slated to launch in August and will incorporate many exciting features like Guided Navigation, Gift and Private Label Cards, Personalization and Recommendations, and more!

About Cascio Interstate Music

Since 1946, Cascio Interstate Music has based it's business around serving the needs of musician's and schools throughout the United States. Cascio Interstate Music is among the nation's top independent musical instrument retailers, ranking 14th in the nation. Cascio as been operating for over 60 years in the suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin marketplace, which houses it's retail SuperStore, Call Center, Web Center, Quality Assurance and Testing facilities for it's own brands of drums, guitars and band and orchestra products, and corporate offices. Its Distribution Center in Waukesha, WI handles over 40,000 items and distributes direct to consumers and schools/districts from the facility. Cascio Interstate offers a wide selection from the world's top brands." More information on the Company is located at www.interstatemusic.com

Aleva Stores Continues Multi-Store Rollout with Launch of SocksAppeal.com

2011-03-14T19:25:00.004-04:00

Today Aleva Stores launched their second of upcoming 4 additional ecommerce websites onto the OrderDynamics on-demand eCommerce platform, SocksAppeal.com. The new brand for Aleva Stores is targeted at sock enthusiasts and offers a wide selection of premium sock brands. The new site offers a fun “Sock Finder” tool, guided navigation w/keyword filtering, and an optimized cart / checkout.

Congrats on the launch Aleva!

OrderDynamics in Internet Retailer Magazine February: Everything in Order

2011-02-27T10:52:00.001-05:00

OrderDynamics was featured in an article in the February 2011 edition of Internet Retailer Magazine. The article, called Everything in Order, showcases our Client Henry's Camera and how they use our On-Demand eCommerce Platform to handle orders from multiple sources. Here is an excerpt: "The ability to manage orders across channels is also helping retailers to leverage the strength of the web across stores and call centers. At Henry's, particularly strong growth in e-commerce sales is helping to drive sales across stores and contact centers.

Online shoppers and call center agents, for example, can view products currently available in stores as well as in the distribution center and also see how long it would take the goods to arrive at the shopper's home. Because it can view the orders a customer has placed in different channels, Henry's is better able to run promotions across multiple channels without guessing about customer interest."

Internet Retailer February 2011: Everything in Order

Read the article here

Digital Magazine to this Digital magazine article here

Back from IRWD 2011

2011-02-23T11:32:00.002-05:00

The OrderDynamics Team wants to thank you for coming by our booth at Internet Retailer Web Design & Usability 2011 (IRWD), the only conference devoted to design and usability of ecommerce websites. The 3-day event was filled with great advice to help merchants re-platform with a new design or enhance their current website with the latest usability best practices. UXER Design delivered one-on-one website usability advice for many of the people who came by our booth and will be following up with you. Gproxy Design exhibited at the show for the first time and had a great theme of how they help their clients "score goals" complete with soccer balls and a net!

For those of you that are considering a new platform to go along with a fresh design, please give us a call to discuss how OrderDynamics powers custom designs and partners with you grow sales on our platform.

Sincerely,

The OrderDynamics Team

Re-Platforming: Top 4 Frontend Challenges

2011-02-23T10:00:00.002-05:00

The decision to change eCommerce platforms is usually made in part because the merchant has outgrown the features and capabilities of their current provider or systems. When evaluating a new platform provider, it is critical to challenge those you're evaluating and have them explain the types of Clients (in terms of online revenue / order volumes) they're focused on and are successful servicing. It is important to be aligned with a provider that has experience working with merchants of your size (or 2X-5X larger) and have case studies helping similar companies grow to your revenue targets.

Below are some typical frontend roadblocks that lead to a re-platforming project.

Hard to find products: Usability, Navigation, and Site Search

•Creating fast, easy Brand and Category based navigation that follows usability best practices

•Effective and accurate site search and search merchandising

•Ability to filter product results dynamically (Guided Navigation Filters)

No automated selling: Dynamic Merchandising

•Automatic cross sells and up sells based on traffic and order data

•Product recommendations (e.g. People that bought this also bought that)

•Delivering targeted content based on visitor (customer, IP geolocation, time of day, etc.)

High rate of abandonment: Optimizing Purchase Path

•Usage of persistent shopping carts, mini carts, more consumer controls in the cart (coupon, postal)

•Reduced checkout steps that encourage conversion and limit spots for abandonment

•Offering alternative payments (Paypal, Google Checkout, Gift Cards)

Cannot compete in SERPs: SEO and Search Engine Marketing

•Having easy ways to optimize on-page SEO for all Product, Category, and Brand Pages + dynamic pages

•Unable to leverage latest shopping aggregation and feeds

•Usually have inadequate Web Metrics to know what’s working

Having similar challenges? Give us a call to see if OrderDynamics might be the right platform partner for you!

Congrats on Design Re-Launch Frizzoff.com!

2011-02-22T22:32:00.008-05:00

Curly Hair Solutions, Frizzoff.com, re-launches their website design after growing on OrderDynamics for over five years. The new design, built from the ground up by the Frizzoff.com design team, makes shopping for popular curly hair products fun and easy.

The new website features Videos, Events, Magazine Articles, Press, Social Media, and Guided Selling Pages that walk customers through the right products for their hair types. In addition, the design incorporates kits and bundles that allow shoppers to add several items to their cart with 1 click. Using the Express Shopping option, shoppers can quickly buy multiple items at once from a single page.

Congrats Frizzoff! the new site looks great!

Come See Us at IR Web Design and Usability Show!

2011-02-02T23:23:00.002-05:00

The OrderDynamics Team is on the way to another great conference! Internet Retailer Web Design & Usability 2011 (IRWD), the only conference devoted to design and usability of ecommerce websites, promises to deliver action-oriented advice from industry leaders about how to create engaging websites and the "dos and don'ts" of delivering a high converting website experience.

We invite you to come talk about how having the right eCommerce platform can unleash a new age of control over design and usability that will set your website apart from the masses and convert more sales.

We're in booth 207!, checkout all the IRWD 2011 Exhibitors.

Be sure to checkout our partners also at the show:

Authorize.net Booth 205
Gproxy Design Booth 214
UXER Design (Booth 207)
Nextopia Booth 306
FitForCommerce eCommerce Know How Booth 313
SLI Systems Booth 301

We'll be sending a follow-up email after the show. You may also contact us directly to let us know you're coming or setup a meeting time with Michael Turcsanyi.

OrderDynamics Team

Congrats on the launch Barrons!

2011-02-01T23:22:00.000-05:00

We’re pleased to announce the recent launch of Barrons Catalog on the OrderDynamics eCommerce Platform! The new website is packed with over 20,000 products and offers many exciting new features when shopping for fine china, crystal, flatware, tableware, serveware, giftware and more.

The website was completely re-designed from the ground up including an overhaul of product categorization, enhancements of product data (with a significant amount of video, attributes, and related items), search engine optimization data, stock messaging, and more. The new top navigation includes multiple category landing pages (depending on the level you’re landing on) and guided navigation filtering that includes attribute filtering. Customers can shop by their favorite Brand or Product making finding and buying products in a collection quick an easy.

Several social marketing tools have been integrated to drive traffic and referral sales including Power Reviews, My Registry, Twitter, and Facebook. OrderDynamics is integrated with the Barrons Product Information Management system and ERP for Orders and Fulfillment.

Congrats to Nutrasource on the first site launched!

2011-02-01T10:55:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Nutrasource on launching their first of 5 website with OrderDynamics! The new Vitacorehealth.net website exhibits great use of popular ecommerce tools such as Quick View and Auto Ship, with information aesthetically organized and visually pleasing.

As the home of VitaCore Health Products, the website offers consumers superior products for cardio and joint care, as well as daily multivitamins teamed up with Dan Marino.

Vitacorehealth.net allows for easy and confident shopping with OrderDynamics through providing detailed product overviews and customer reviews, along with the added ability to submit questions to Nutrasource, and to read stories about how VitaCore products have improved the lives of its users. Congrats, again, Nutrasource!

Kitchen Stuff Plus Selects OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform for Growth

2011-01-19T03:00:00.000-05:00

OrderDynamics, Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce platform provider announces a recent customer acquisition of popular Toronto-based retailer, Kitchen Stuff Plus.

Voted one of Toronto's best places to shop, Kitchen Stuff Plus is planning to re-launch its popular eCommerce website, kitchenstuffplus.com. Kitchenstuffplus.com provides customer's in Canada, and the United States, access to significantly discounted prices from a wide selection of merchandise from top brand names around the globe. The eCommerce channel has been growing at a rapid pace and the new kitchenstuffplus.com will enable many exciting frontend and backend features to help grow traffic, conversions and streamline operations.

In addition, the OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform will be highly integrated into the Kitchen Stuff Plus point of sale (POS) system, keeping web customers up-to-date on inventory, store hours, and the latest deals.

“OrderDynamics was selected for their partnership approach, strong merchandising toolset, and ability to integrate on the backend with our ERP and POS systems." explains John Thompson, Director of IT at Kitchen Stuff Plus. "After running the eCommerce systems in-house since inception, we look forward to the on-demand nature of OrderDynamics -- it will reduce internal IT demands and make web marketing changes more seamless" continues Thompson.

"We are very excited about working with Kitchen Stuff Plus and the growth opportunities that exist for the website" says Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. “We look forward to being a part of their story."

The new www.kitchenstuffplus.com website is scheduled for Q2 2011 launch.

About Kitchen Stuff Plus

Kitchen Stuff Plus is a privately owned Canadian housewares and home décor discount retailer. Founded in 1987, the company operates stores in the Greater Toronto Area including urban locations, suburban superstores and a clearance outlet. Customers enjoy significantly discounted prices on an ever-changing selection of quality, brand name merchandise from manufacturers around the world. Voted one of Toronto's best places to shop again and again, the company continues to capture an increasing share of the market through its ongoing commitment to provide a value-added shopping experience that consistently exceeds its customers' expectations.

High Level Re-Platforming Goals, Changing eCommerce Platforms

2011-01-06T14:14:00.003-05:00

The following is an excerpt from a recent presentation we did for Tenzing Managed IT Services, a leading Managed Hosting provider focused on large-scale SaaS and eCommerce websites. We helped them map out some of the common, high-level goals most online merchants share when migrating to a new eCommerce platform provider.

Goal #1: Building Traffic

•Introducing new traffic sources to diversify sales by major traffic segments (i.e. Paid vs. Organic Search or Shopping Sites, Referrals, Affliates)

•Requires strategies for SEO (on-page and off page), social networking, shopping aggregators, contact acquisition, affliates

•Setting goals for growing specific sub-segments of traffic (advanced segmentation and digital analysis)

Goal #2: Increasing Conversions

•Many times there are significant opportunities to grow sales simply by increasing conversion rate vs. traffic

•Deals with: ability to find, research, and buy products quickly and easily

•Conversion rate data is available by industry and website (i.e. IR Top 500)

Goal #3: Website Control for Marketing

•Many marketing teams have limited or no control over the website and have to “go through IT” to make changes; marketing teams want to make changes quickly

•Common controls needed: Promotions, Targeted Content, Product Carousels, Cross Sells, Banners, SEO

•Launching new products, categories, and brands; customer segmentation

Goal #4: Integration with Business Systems

•Reduce manual efforts for Order Management, Customer Care, Fulfillment, Fraud; enable the Order Maintenance team to “pull up orders, customers, manage orders”.

•Enable access to leading 3rd party services; Marketing services, Social Networking, Payments, Search

•Streamline business processes related to eCommerce (re-educate, adjust workflow); legacy systems integration to automate ERP/POS -> eCommerce

For more information, Contact an OrderDynamics representative today!

ShopDiabetes.org Successfully Launches on the OrderDynamics eCommerce Platform

2010-12-22T10:26:00.001-05:00

OrderDynamics, Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, announces another successful website migration to their eCommerce SaaS Platform. Over a 5 month period, The American Diabetes Association's flagship eCommerce website was completely redesigned and re-launched on a new technology platform, allowing them to service more customers and attract business away from leading retailers like Amazon.

The new ShopDiabetes.org website is a fun and fast way to shop for diabetes books, gifts, apparel, and other great diabetes products. In addition, shoppers who buy from the official store of The American Diabetes Association help fund important diabetes research, education and advocacy efforts around the country. Last year alone, the Association funded more than $33.5 million for diabetes research.

"We're very excited about the new website and the strong position we're in with the OrderDynamics team" explains Brian Waller, American Diabetes Association's Director of Applications Solutions. "We've come a long way in a short period of time and look forward to growing with the solution" continues Waller. The new eStore features the latest frontend and backend eCommerce tools and best practices such as SEO, Navigation, Promotions, Merchandising, Recommendations, Product Personalization, Content Personalization, Rich Imaging, and more. In addition, ShopDiabetes.org allows shoppers to preview the pages of over 80 Diabetes Books and conveniently place a donation to The American Diabetes Association right from their shopping cart, making donating quick and easy.

"The ShopDiabetes.org project is very special and we're glad to be part of such an important cause" says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. "We look forward to helping the ADA team reach new customers and deliver exciting new products and services on their website".

The new ShopDiabetes.org was visually designed by UXER Design (http://www.uxerdesign.com) and the website went live November 1st 2010 in time for American Diabetes Month.

About The American Diabetes Association
The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight to stop diabetes and its deadly consequences and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, our mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. For more information please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit http://www.diabetes.org.

Happy Holidays From OrderDynamics!

2010-12-13T12:06:00.001-05:00

Season’s Greetings,

The team at OrderDynamics would like to thank our Clients, Partners, and Vendors for making 2010 an amazing year! With holiday consumer sales already ahead of estimates, many online merchants will enjoy higher order volumes throughout November and December. As a result, many retailers have recently been reminded how badly they need a new eCommerce platform provider, one that will help them grow and convert traffic while streamlining order management.

Give us a call to discuss upgrading your platform. Contact Us!

This past year, OrderDynamics has made significant investments in our On-Demand eCommerce Platform technology, making it the ideal choice for high-growth B2C and B2B merchants that are being held back by their platform.

In October, OrderDynamics achieved Verified Status with FitForCommerce, being one of the first mid-market platform providers to complete the program which gives retailers confidence in the platforms their evaluating.

Throughout 2010 we've had many successful website launches and the pleasure of working with really great people on exciting new projects. We want to congratulate and thank our Clients for another great year together!

From all of us, we wish you Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,
OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123

P.S. Be sure to visit us at Internet Retailer Web Design Show in February and Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in June.

Group-Buying: Long-Tail Marketing with Big Payback

2010-12-09T14:03:00.003-05:00

It seems despite the economic disaster from which the world is struggling to recover there is constantly a plethora of new products and services wriggling their way into the North American market – there are more things to buy, but less money to buy them with. Product developers essentially need to contend for the consumers’ money to get by. So how can today’s merchants compete for exposure without breaking the bank? Apparently, with group-buying – an online trend that is rapidly growing in popularity – this is entirely possible.

Group-buying is a concept originally introduced in China with a site called Tuangou and has popped up in the North American online marketplace this year. With highly successful copycats such as TeamBuy.ca, Groupon.com, and Wagjag.com - to name a few - as well as several other smaller franchises, the concept is spreading like wildfire. How does it work? These dealers are fuelled by a group of up-and-coming companies offering a daily new product bargain at steep discounts in exchange for the site’s promise to rake in plenty of customers – the catch is, you only get the deal if a minimum number of people sign up for it by the end of the day. This leaves the consumers working together and providing cheap, word-of-mouth advertisement. Suddenly a new and unknown brand becomes a little familiar.

Timer and Deal Tracker on Teambuy.ca, similar to those used on group-buying sites.

Aptly nick-named social commerce, group-buying has been racking up the brownie points in Canada through putting itself out on Facebook, Twitter and the like, taking full advantage of the relationships deeply entrenched within these social networks. It’s brilliant, really. Most offers are presented anywhere from 50-90% off – so cheap, it no longer matters that the company offering it is virtually unheard of; and given the current economic climate, treats such as fancy dinners and spa packages are a luxury – one can’t help but spread the word by posting it on their News Feed or sending a little Tweet in hopes that their friends, and friends-of-friends, and maybe even complete strangers catch on and sign up for the deal to make it a ‘go’. It sounds remarkably simple - and borderline viral - but it works.

Groupon.com’s list of daily deals. Group-buying sites often promote a large daily deal, with several smaller ones in the hopes of multiple purchases.

The interesting thing about group-buying is how similarly to traditional online ads it is presented to consumers, yet its virility gives it an extra push. Facebook displays ads along the side panels of its web page and I’m exposed to at least 3 new ones every time I refresh the page. Yet one might share my sentiment in that during the 6 years I’ve been subscribing to Facebook, I can’t ever recall clicking on one of those ads. Why? Well, how do I know that there is any truth to the deal? It may well be a waste of valuable time (it’s depressing for the producer, considering what I imagine the price of ad-space on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in and such to be). However, since first being introduced to the concept of group-buying a few months ago, I frequently sign-on to Facebook and notice a posting by friends about some kind of great deal for bedding, jewellery, even cheeseburgers; sometimes, I go so far as to check the website out.

This is where the group-buying model gets it right: they provide a vehicle for relatively small firms with low advertising budgets to acquire highly coveted ad-space on social networking sites without the social networking price. And since this allows the offers to be presented to consumers through their friends rather than by the retailer, the predisposed level of trust leads to an automatic subconscious absorption of the information, rather than unnoticed exposure - if my friend likes it, it must be good, right? Many group-buying sites boast thousands – Groupon.com brags about millions – of dollars worth of savings, allowing them to creep up from “fad” to investment-worthy.

A typical Facebook posting from a group-buying website.

Group-buying is still in its early-stages but has proven to be a medium of advertising worth considering and capitalizing upon. For companies looking for a bigger bang for their buck, this will grow to be a hot commodity as social commerce sites become more prevalent. As Mashable’s Pete Cashmore says, ‘it’s a good idea’, and the success stories speak for themselves.

Melissa Itwar

OrderDynamics Upgrades Embedded SEO Technology for Large Catalog Merchants

2010-12-05T22:40:00.001-05:00

OrderDynamics, Canada's Leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider has recently deployed upgrades to its multi-eStore Search Engine Optimization (SEO) system, specifically designed for large catalog merchants to grow organic traffic and avoid duplicate content.

As part of their quarterly feature release strategy, OrderDynamics delivers another important upgrade to its frontend presentation engine to help organically grow traffic to their Client's websites. The recent upgrade extends the capabilities of their already powerful SEO metadata toolset that allow merchants to optimize Product, Category, Brand, and Manufacturer landing pages. The upgrade enables control over all dynamic pages, referred to as Faceted Navigation (sometimes called Guided Navigation) pages and Search Results pages, a major contributor to the cause of duplicate content on eCommerce websites. The OrderDynamics platform now allows point-and-click control over SEO metadata for any URL, even dynamic URLs, including Page Title, Link Title Tag, Meta Keywords, Meta Description, Vanity URL, and Link Canonical tag. OrderDynamics also offers the ability to generate metadata using formulas and a combination of phrases and source data such as product names, descriptions, etc.

"OrderDynamics is squarely focused on helping our Clients grow their business by leveraging the latest traffic building and conversation best practices" explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. "We continue to lead in the area of on-page SEO and we are investing heavily in this area because of the significant benefit it brings to our Clients". The latest upgrade allows merchants to quickly optimize strategic landing pages, instantly improving organic traffic from search engines and reducing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising costs through increased page quality scores.

By enabling control over the Link Canonical Tag, OrderDynamics Clients can avoid duplicate content issues, a hot topic for all online retailers especially large catalog merchants that offer multiple points of navigation like brand, category, and search. In addition, OrderDynamics has provided the ability for keyword rich Product Attributes used in Guided Navigation to be appended to the URL to further optimize pages with no merchant intervention.

OrderDynamics made the feature live in its On-Demand eCommerce Platform in August as part of their Summer 2010 release.

OrderDynamics Achieves Verified Status from FitForCommerce

2010-11-08T23:42:00.004-05:00

OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, announces recent achievement of “Verified” status for its eCommerce Platform by FitForCommerce, a recognized leader in eCommerce consulting.

As part of their long term platform development strategy, OrderDynamics has recently completed a comprehensive assessment and verification of its On-Demand eCommerce Platform with FitForCommerce. FitForCommerce Verification, or “FFC Verified”, is a structured evaluation process by which a certified analyst reviews claims and proof points for over a hundred pre-defined features and capabilities important to an eCommerce website and online business. FFC Verification has recently become a widely recognized industry standard evaluation method for eCommerce technology. This is the first year FitForCommerce has made the certification available to platform providers and OrderDynamics is one of the first platforms to complete verification process.

“FitForCommerce provides the only comprehensive benchmark for the delivery of online retailing technologies. The verification process delivers Client value through transparency and access to technology that continuously meets the latest industry standards” explains Michael Turcsanyi, President of OrderDynamics. “We are thrilled about the program and excited to be one of the first mid-market eCommerce platforms to achieve this status” continues Turcsanyi.

“The process of selecting an eCommerce platform and moving a high-volume website is a complex undertaking for many online retailers.” explains Bernardine Wu, CEO of FitForCommerce. “FFC Verified helps retailers by giving them the comfort that the technology they’re considering has been vetted by an accredited third party, and more specifically rates the completeness of each feature at a detailed level.”

By achieving and maintaining FFC Verified status each year, OrderDynamics clients also benefit from any new features and enhancements needed to meet the latest eCommerce best practices.

About FitForCommerce
Sixty-seven percent of eCommerce projects end in failure due to poor planning or choice in solution. Working to bring that percentage down on a case-by-case basis, FitForCommerce has established itself as the leading boutique eCommerce consultancy by helping hundreds of online and multichannel retailers and manufacturers make informed eCommerce investment decisions. Using years of experience, state-of-the-art tools, strategic diligence and tactical planning, FitForCommerce helps retailers define business and technical requirements and find their "best fit" technology solutions - including eCommerce platforms, back-end systems and critical points solutions including mobile. eCommerceKnowHow.com, managed by FitForCommerce, is the eCommerce industry’s most comprehensive knowledge base and educational resource. For additional information, please visit www.FitForCommerce.com and www.eCommerceKnowHow.com or email media@fitforcommerce.com.

Congratulations on the Launch ShopDiabetes.org!

2010-11-05T10:06:00.004-04:00

We congratulate the American Diabetes Association for the successful re-launch of their flagship eCommerce website on the OrderDynamics platform!

The new ShopDiabetes.org website is a fun and fast way to shop for diabetes books, gifts, apparel, and other great diabetes products. Shoppers who buy from the official store of the official American Diabetes Association help fund important diabetes research, education and advocacy efforts around the country. Last year alone, the Association funded more than $33.5 million for diabetes research.

The new eStore features the latest frontend and backend best practices such as SEO, Navigation, Merchandising, Recommendations, Product Personalization, Content Personalization, Rich Imaging, and more. The ShopDiabetes.org website allows shoppers to preview the pages of over 80 Diabetes Books and conveniently place a donation right from their shopping cart.

This website was designed by UXER DESIGN (www.uxerdesign.com) and the eStore fully integrated with the ADA’s Inventory, and Fulfillment systems.

ShopDiabetes.org went live November 1st 2010 in time for American Diabetes Month.

OrderDynamics featured IR: SaaS – The fast track to the latest technology

2010-11-02T09:28:00.007-04:00

We recently participated in the November 2010 Issue of Internet Retailer Magazine discussing On-Demand eCommerce Platforms. Here is an excerpt: "Accessing software as a service lets an online retailer get up and running quickly and benefit from vendors' ongoing enhancements. And, because they're not paid a lump sum up front, on-demand vendors have a strong incentive to keep clients happy."

Internet Retailer November 2010: SaaS – The fast track to the latest technology

Read the artcile here

Digital Magazine to this Artcile here

OrderDynamics has entered the 2010 Canada’s Hottest Innovative Companies Contest

2010-11-01T09:36:00.001-04:00

OrderDynamics has entered the 2010 Canada’s Hottest Innovative Companies contest put on by the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX), a must-attend conference for over 400 of the principal players in the innovation economy.

Every year CIX conducts an exhaustive search for the most innovative ideas, products, services and companies in the country. Last year, 20 technology-based companies were selected via a qualified Selection Committee to showcase their innovative product and services in front of the CIX community.

Taking place in Toronto on December 7, 2010, CIX is a gathering of the key players in the innovation economy which will showcase and accelerate the development of the great technology-based innovation emanating from Canada.

GoVacuum.com Re-Launches on OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform

2010-10-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, announces the successful migration of GoVacuum.com, a leading retailer of vacuum cleaners and accessories for over 30 years who previously operated their eCommerce site on Yahoo! Stores.

GoVacuum.com has re-launched its high volume consumer website to deliver a better shopping experience, packed with the latest merchandising, promotional, and navigation technologies. The new GoVacuum.com website was completely redesigned to make shopping for vacuums and accessories fun, easy, and fast. Offering over 5,000 items from 150 brands, the new site streamlines navigation across categories, brands, and site search while dynamically driving cross sells and up sells. Shoppers can also use the “My Vacuum Accessorizer” tool to quickly zero-in on anything they need for their vacuum in 3 easy steps. In addition, the new GoVacuum.com is packed with valuable resources such as Video Reviews, the Research Center, the GoGreen Blog, Gift Options, and the Coupon Center.

“We’re very excited about the launch onto the OrderDynamics platform” says Sachin Anand, Director of Business Development for GoVacuum.com. “OrderDynamics is enabling us to implement more sophisticated merchandising tactics, while optimizing our order pipeline and customer service processes” he adds. OrderDynamics has significant experience migrating high-volume websites from Yahoo! Stores, which GoVacuum.com previously used for over 10 years.

The new site uses the OrderDynamics advanced on-page SEO system that includes canonical name support for guided navigation pages. This will help GoVacuum rank higher in organic search results and reduce their paid advertising spend through higher quality scores and more targeted landing pages. The OrderDynamics Order Management System (OMS) is also integrated with GoVacuum’s eBay store. This gives GoVacuum.com a single dashboard and fulfillment pipeline for web, call center, and eBay orders.

"The GoVacuum team is a great group of experienced online retailers that have grown tremendously over the past few years” says Michael Turcsanyi, VP of Sales and Marketing at OrderDynamics. “We are very pleased to be part of their story, and look forward to a great holiday season together” continues Turcsanyi.

About GoVacuum.com
Family owned and operated for more than 30 years, GoVacuum ships popular vacuums and hard-to-find replacement parts to customers throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. GoVacuum.com, in existence since 1999, has an impressive record of friendly customer service and great frequent-buyer-discounts. Customers love the site's ease of use, huge inventory, and unbeatable prices. GoVacuum.com sells a full range of vacuum cleaners, air cleaners, bags, belts, filters, parts and accessories for Dyson, Riccar, SEBO, Kirby, Electrolux, Hoover, Eureka, Powr-Flite, IQAir, Blueair, Roomba, AirFree, Bissell, Bosch, Dirt Devil, Earlex, Karcher, Koblenz, Ladybug, Love-Less Ash Fireplace Vacs, Lindhaus, Oreck, Royal, Rainbow, Sanitaire and more.

OrderDynamics Partners with LivePerson for Chat Services

2010-09-23T09:17:00.004-04:00

OrderDynamics recently solidified a partnership with LivePerson after years of having mutual clients. With consumers becoming more demanding about the availability of customer service tools while they shop online, services from LivePerson can help merchants save costs and increase conversions from new and repeat customers.

For high-traffic websites with sophisticated business requirements, LivePerson aligns people, process and technology to maximize incremental sales yield and orders/leads per labor hour. Hundreds of the world's most recognized brands have adopted LivePerson and increased online conversions at a lower cost per incremental order than any competing alternative.

A major benefit of the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS offering is that integrations like LivePerson are rolled into their HIVE Ecosystem (High Integrated Virtual Ecosystem). HIVE allows OrderDynamics' Clients to quickly adopt new third party integrations that are fully supported, saving them cost and time.

OrderDynamics adds Shoptoit.ca, Canada's leading Shopping Site

2010-09-20T09:15:00.001-04:00

OrderDynamics has recently added Shoptoit.ca to its built-in Marketing Services integrations, allowing their Clients to take advantage of Canada's most successful shopping comparison service. The automated product feed is one of many out-of-box marketing tools embedded in their Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based eCommerce platform design for growing B2C and B2B merchants.

When Shoptoit.ca launched on July 1, 2005 it was Canada's first shopping search engine that listed Canadian-based products in Canadian dollars. With unique features such as our Comparison Clipboard™ and Feature Filter, it ranks as one of the most popular online shopping destination for Canadians.

Shoptoit.ca is exclusive to merchants who have operations in Canada, making it a perfect fit for cross boarder retailers who run multiple sites with OrderDynamics.

A major benefit of the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS offering is that integrations like Shoptoit.ca are rolled into their HIVE Ecosystem (High Integrated Virtual Ecosystem). HIVE allows OrderDynamics' Clients to quickly adopt new third party integrations that are fully supported, saving them cost and time.

OrderDynamics Adds Givex Support to eCommerce Platform

2010-09-17T14:00:00.004-04:00

The OrderDynamics eCommerce Platform now supports Givex, a global provider of gift, loyalty and other closed loop card technologies that merchants increase customer acquisition and retention.

Givex manages the production of many millions of cards per year, offering gift card programs of varying scale and function which are suitable for merchants of all sizes.

Cards are activated at the time of purchase and their value decreases as they are used. Gift cards can be branded with your logo and design, and denominations can be pre-set, flexible, or bear any number of other features. Activations and redemptions occur in real-time via integrated POS system, magnetic card reader, barcode reader, telephone or web interface. Cards can be reloadable and customers can add money to their card in-store or online.

Merchants can manage their program through the secure, one-stop Givex administrative website. Givex offers a robust reporting package which is designed to facilitate reconciliation across all stores, and to provide insight into market trends.

OrderDynamics has added Givex into its robust Payment Stack that supports over 10 major gateways and over 25 Alternative payment brands. Clients like Henry's Camera who use Givex within their retail locations can now offer a seamless instore and online experience. The OrderDynamics checkout provides full and partial redemption, purchasing of new gift carts, and combining gift cart redemption with other payment methods offered.

As part of the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS offering, integrations like Givex are rolled into their HIVE Ecosystem (High Integrated Virtual Ecosystem). HIVE allows OrderDynamics' Clients to quickly adopt new third party integrations that are fully supported, saving them cost and time.

OrderDynamics Integrates Avalara Tax into SaaS Platform

2010-09-17T11:45:00.005-04:00

OrderDynamics has recently added Avalara AvaTax as part of its SaaS Platform.

This partnership allows multi-eStore online retailers to plug in to a proven automated sales tax solution, that streamlines cumbersome, error-prone tax compliance processes and reduce the risk of loss or penalty in case of an audit. AvaTax automated solutions automatically perform address validation, jurisdiction research and rate calculation and allow you to manage even the most complicated tax issues, such as situs, nexus, tax tiers, tax holidays, exemptions, certificate management and product taxability rules.

OrderDynamics has integrated AvaTax directly into its Order Management System (OMS) providing merchants point-and-click access to override the internal Tax system. The OrderDynamics platform also handles cart, checkout, and B2B tax exemptions with Avalara.

As part of the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS offering, integrations like AvaTax are rolled into their HIVE Ecosystem (High Integrated Virtual Ecosystem). HIVE allows OrderDynamics' Clients to quickly adopt new third party integrations that are fully supported, saving them cost and time.

OrderDynamics Enhances eCommerce Order Management with Fraud Detection Technology

2010-08-17T15:29:00.000-04:00

Toronto – August 17th 2010 -- OrderDynamics Corporation, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, has enhanced its SaaS platform giving high-volume online retailers automated fraud detection and tighter control over order management.

The OrderDynamics SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) eCommerce platform has a new fraud detection and management system embedded in its multi-channel Order Management System (OMS). eCommerce websites that are powered by the OrderDynamics platform benefit from a powerful frontend presentation layer that is directly integrated with a comprehensive backend (called eBusiness Manager) that includes order management, gateway processing, call center, customer relationship management, product catalog, promotions controls, reporting, and other important tools needed by high volume, multi-site retailers. OrderDynamics has recently made live a robust Fraud Management engine that is tied directly in to the order pipeline, reducing exposure to fraud without creating extra work for the a merchant’s order desk.

The powerful new Fraud Management engine is capable of catching fraudulent orders for sophisticated fraud cases where the order appears to be valid, such as with orders that successfully pass Address Verification System (or AVS) and other "card not present" technologies like Card Security Code (CVV2 for example) or even PIN systems like Verified by Visa. This is made possible by proprietary technology that inspects orders in real-time against customizable fraud chains, which are groupings of (AND/OR) rules with over 30 parameters and options defined by the merchant.

“High volume eCommerce websites require as much automation as possible to avoid manually handling orders” explains Michael Turcsanyi, VP Sales and Marketing for OrderDynamics Corporation. “This technology ensures that orders matching key conditions are held for review while all others continue normally” continues Turcsanyi. Once orders are flagged for possible fraud, the merchant can quickly review and action these orders within a matter of seconds. As the merchant’s business changes over time so can the fraud chains through point-and-click ease within the eBusiness Manager.

“Two of the competitive advantages our clients receive is personalizing the website experience for their shoppers and automating their back office. The Order Management System makes this possible” adds Turcsanyi. “The addition of Fraud Management into the OMS is part of our commitment to keeping our clients competitive”. OrderDynamics performs 4-6 major feature releases per year to its eCommerce SaaS platform, which are automatically made available to their current Clients at no additional costs.

Congrats on launch! OLLYShoes.com

2010-08-13T16:14:00.006-04:00

Congratulations OLLY Shoes for the successful launch of your eCommerce website on the OrderDynamics platform!

The OLLYShoes.com eStore offers shoppers a friendly user experience using latest eCommerce best practices like guided navigation, personalization, site search, rich imaging, product reviews, recommendation, and fast shipping options. OLLYShoes.com provides information about OLLYScan© and downloadable tools that can be used at home to aid parents in purchasing the right size shoes. The site also provides in-store gift card support and other multi-channel loyalty options. The new website highlights the OLLY School Shoes program, which is a partnership with local area schools that offer discounts on required shoes or percentage in sales back to fund school programs.

Although OLLY has a few stores in Canada, the website is currently only available in the United States. This website was design by our partners UXER DESIGN (http://www.uxerdesign.com/) and is integrated with OLLY's POS, Inventory, and Fulfillment systems.

Gproxy Design and OrderDynamics Team Up to Provide Superior eCommerce Platform and Marketing Solutions for High-Growth Online Retailers

2010-07-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

TORONTO-July 15, 2010 --Two industry-leading eCommerce Service Providers, Gproxy Design and OrderDynamics, have come together to help mid-market online retailers migrate to a superior eCommerce platform and achieve their sales and marketing goals.

This partnership is designed to give existing, high volume B2C and B2B online merchants the ultimate combination of on-demand eCommerce platform technology from OrderDynamics and next-generation Retail Web Design, Usability and Online Marketing Services from Gproxy. Both companies are leaders in their areas of expertise and the blend of their services creates the ideal solution for retailers generating between 5MM and 50MM in online revenues.

Gproxy Design is a leader in eCommerce web design and online marketing services, with one of the largest eCommerce portfolios in the market. For over 10 years, Gproxy has been differentiated through its professional and highly specialized approach to retailing web design that integrates client needs, ecommerce best practices and ROI oriented online marketing strategies.

OrderDynamics provides superior eCommerce platform technology and services aimed at growing sales. Their on-demand eCommerce platform is delivered as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solution and is an end-to-end platform designed for businesses that have outgrown their current frontend shopping cart and backend Order Management System (OMS), Customer Service Tools, and Merchandising Tools. The OrderDynamics solution facilitates revenue growth for online retailers through a proactive Account Management process, called Dynamic Merchandising, which increases qualified traffic, converts more sales, and improves operational efficiency. OrderDynamics specializes in multi-eStore deployments and highly integrated environments that provide complete branding control and near real time integration with over 25 ERP, Warehouse Management, and Accounting systems.

The success of the partnership between these two eCommerce leaders has been proven with an ever growing list of mid-market clients and worldwide-recognized brands that have trusted Gproxy Design and OrderDynamics to build them a booming online store. Some of these companies include: Consumers Interstate Corporation, ToilletPaperWorld.com, SuperSupplies.com, Pilot Pen of America, Walking on a Cloud, Recorders.com and Health Walk Shoes.

Both companies would like to thank everyone who visited OrderDynamics’ booth at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition IRCE 2010.

About Gproxy Design Inc.:
Gproxy Design Inc. is a Miami-based business and service provider of top quality Web Design and Online Marketing solutions for businesses around the globe. Gproxy Design is a customer and service oriented business that looks to create long lasting business relationships with customers. Gproxy Design has been working in the eCommerce industry for 11 years and has a portfolio of over 300 eCommerce websites.

For more information please contact:
Gerardo Pico
Sales & Alliance Manager
Gproxy Design Inc.
1-800-814-4761
design@gproxy.com

eCommerce Fraud Detection: Five Recommended Order Hold Rules

2010-07-09T18:31:00.018-04:00

Earlier this year we saw record-low reports of fraud rates related to online retail. In January Cybersource reported 1.2% of revenue lost to fraud in 2009, attributing the improvements to the way retailers are managing risk.

With many tools, services, and technologies available for retailers to manage fraud, we wanted to provide some simple tactics to be deployed within the Order Management System. This post provides five great order hold rules for every high volume online retailer.

But first, lets explain what we mean by order holding within the eCommerce Order Management System (OMS) as part of your anti-fraud strategy. We're assuming that the fraudster has successfully passed all "frontend" validation checks, Address Verification System (or AVS), and other "card not present" technologies like Card Security Code (CVV2 for example) or even PIN systems like Verified by Visa. In our example, we basically have valid payment details and the order will be shipped unless we stop it within the OMS. So how does a merchant protect themselves without manually checking every single order? The answer: creating custom business rules within the OMS to trap and hold orders that meet certain criteria.

Within the OrderDynamics eBusiness Manager, we provide a comprehensive Fraud Detection engine that allows merchants to create custom detection rules. Each rule is defined using over 25 parameters and can be chained using AND/OR operators to form a "Fraud Detection Filter". All "payment authorized" orders are required to pass through these filters prior to being cleared for fulfillment. Orders that are caught by the filter are placed in a special queue called "Pending Fraud Validation" requiring a manual review by the customer operations team. As the merchant's business changes or they want to change their approach to fraud, they can easily modify their filters (rules and chains) over time.

Five Recommended Order Hold Rules

Rule #1: Bill To Address does not match Ship To Address

This can be very effective but may also flag too many orders for fraud review depending on your business. For example, if gifting is a big part of your business this rule may cast the net too wide. However, these rules can chained together so you can easily tighten the scope using AND/OR operators with other rules.

Rule #2: Overall Order Value Greater than $X

This allows retailers manually review orders of a certain value that they may not be comfortable being completely automated. Customer Service Tip: Retailers should take the necessary steps to ensure their high-value customers are getting "white glove" service. This rule will give them the immediate visibility into their largest customers.

Rule #3: Customer Account Charge Backs Exceed 1

Merchants should automatically hold orders for manual processing if the account has a history of charge backs.

Rule #4: IP Addresses or Billing and Shipping Addresses Out of Country

There are fraud hot spots around the world. Flagging shoppers from uncommon shipping destinations is a great way to avoid fraud.

Rule #5: Volume of Products, Categories, or Brands

With popular, and expensive, brands and products (for example iPhone 4G by Apple) available for online ordering, it is often a good idea to flag orders with high quantities of these brands, products, or categories from a single customer.

By chaining these 5 rules within the Order Management System (OMS), merchants can create comprehensive, business-specific Fraud Detection Filters sure to reduce fraud without costly manual effort.

For more information about OrderDynamics, contact Michael Turcsanyi.

Henry’s Camera Completes Move to OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform

2010-06-24T16:52:00.003-04:00

Toronto (ON) -- OrderDynamics Corporation, Canada’s leading eCommerce Platform Provider, powers the new Henry’s family of websites, operator of over 30 photographic retail stores in Canada and multiple B2C and B2B websites.

As part of their 100th anniversary, Henry’s Camera re-launched their flagship website and adds two new B2C websites and a B2B site. The multi-phase project sees the successful completion of Phase 1 where each website was re-launched on the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS platform including a redesign of the popular web properties using the latest frontend user experience design best practices.

Henry’s implemented a new site architecture to service its 3 brands including a B2B site to streamline their business. OrderDynamics partnered with several leading companies to deliver best-of-breed services to Henry’s including FitForCommerce, UXER Design, Etilize, Givex, and Eosensa.

The new Henrys.ca and Henrys.com celebrates the moments their customers have shared for over 100 years in retail, allowing them to easily browse and shop over 25,000 products. The new Schoolofimaging.ca provides point-and-click access to courses offered exclusively at the Henry’s retail locations with the ability to see course schedules, reviews, recommendations, register, and cross-shop on the Henrys.ca website through a shared cart. The new Headshotsrentals.com site emphasizes the high-end brands and photographic systems sold and rented for professional and commercial use at Headshots Rentals in Toronto.

All sites offer the latest frontend features including navigation (category, brand, and guided), site search, product attributes, rich imaging, mini-cart, personalization, recommendations, and checkout. The OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS platform is highly integrated with the Henry’s back office systems through a web services infrastructure that delivers near real-time updates to the websites, integrated in-store inventory, gift card support, advanced content management, promotions, and order management.

"The OrderDynamics SaaS platform is highly flexible, allowing Henry’s to implement our desired user experience and achieve the highest level of integration with our business systems” explains Max Payne, Director of Marketing at Henry’s. “Now that we have successfully re-launched our website technology, we are in a much better position to innovate and continually meet the needs of our customers through our websites” continues Max. The OrderDynamics eBusiness Manager provides the Henry’s marketing and customer service teams an easy-to-use dashboard for site maintenance and customer service requests, something not possible with their previous platform.

"We are absolutely thrilled about the partnership with Henry’s and to be part of their extraordinary Canadian story” says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. “We thank the Henry’s team and look forward to helping them achieve their growth expectations each year” continues Benadiba.

About Henry’s Camera:
Cranbrook Glen Enterprises Ltd. operates Henry’s Camera, an independent photo, video, and digital retailer based in Toronto. Henry’s offers the latest in 35mm, digital SLR cameras, point and shoot, and advanced photo systems. In 2009, Henry’s celebrated their 100th anniversary making them one of Canada’s oldest retail businesses. Henrys.ca, SchoolofImaging.ca, and Headshotsrentals.com offer leading photographic and electronic brands from Nikon, Sony, Canon, Apple, Pentax, Hasselblad, and more with over 50,000 products. Henry’s operates in over 30 retail locations in communities across Canada.

Thanks for visiting us at IRCE 2010!

2010-06-16T09:49:00.008-04:00

The OrderDynamics Team would like to thank you for visiting our booth in Chicago! We look forward to setting up a time to continue our discussions.

Overall we were very pleased with IRCE 2010 and getting the chance to reconnect with our Clients and Partners. The feedback from attendees was very positive. Many expressed willingness to invest in platform technology to help them grow, making 2010 and 2011 major years for platform changes. We talked to many people about how to successfully migrate their high-revenue websites to a new platform and the majority were planning to make their decision this year. Most high-growth merchants we talked to were looking for a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution as the preferred delivery model for their eCommerce Platform.

Some notable companies that we thought were innovative and worth a closer look: Napkyn, Kampyle, AlaTest, LISTRAK, JetPay, AdShip, Gen 3 Marketing.

Special Partner Thanks!
• Audette Media
• UXER Design
• Gproxy Design
• Cardinal Commerce
• Avalara
• Global Power Merchants
• FitForCommerce eCommerce Know How
• SLI Systems
• Live Person

We will be reaching out to all interested parties over the next two weeks. You may also contact us directly: Michael Turcsanyi michael@orderdynamics.com.

In the mean time, we invite you to visit our website at http://www.orderdynamics.com/ to learn more about our On-Demand eCommerce Platform.

Sincerely,

The OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123
solutions@orderdynamics.com

OrderDynamics at IRCE 2010! Booth #379

2010-06-01T21:11:00.002-04:00

The OrderDynamics team invites you to stop by our booth (#379) at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition 2010 in Chicago from June 8th - 11th.

IRCE 2010 promises to deliver practical and action-oriented advice to help retailers "reboot" after recovering from the worst recession since WWII. The 4-day event will offer topics and workshops that focus on "Reinvesting, Refreshing, and Recommitting" anticipating double-digit growth rates from 2010.

OrderDynamics is excited to exhibit at the show again this year. We look forward to participating in the sessions and seeing our Clients and Partners and talking to you about your eCommerce platform needs.

What You'll See at Our Booth!

Live Platform Demos
Migration Advice and Scenarios
Multi-Site B2C and B2B Merchandising
Easy-to-Use Backend eBusiness Manager
Order Management System (OMS) & WMS Lite
Content Personalization and Recommendations
Facebook, Amazon, and eBay Integration
Over 25 Integrated Payment Brands (Amazon, Google, Paypal!)
Over 10 Integrated Shopping Sites and Market Places
Easily Integrates with leading ERP & WMS

Come see exciting offers from our partners such as GProxy Design, Audette Media, UXD Partners, Cardinal Commerce, Global Power Merchants, and more!

With many exciting new features and cutting edge SaaS technology, OrderDynamics may be the last eCommerce platform you'll ever need!

In the mean time, we invite you to visit our website at www.orderdynamics.com to learn more about our On-Demand eCommerce Platform

Sincerely,

The OrderDynamics Team

Online Retailers Stay Competitive, Lift Traffic, and Score Conversions Using Search Merchandising Technology from OrderDynamics

2010-04-19T21:46:00.002-04:00

OrderDynamics Corporation, Canada’s leading On-Demand eCommerce Platform Provider, has enhanced its SaaS technology giving online retailers more control over search, enabling better merchandising within search results.

The OrderDynamics SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) eCommerce platform now has an integrated Search Merchandising engine designed to help retailers grow qualified traffic and increase conversions. “Site Search has rapidly become the preferred method for many shoppers to find what they are looking for…” explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics Corporation. “…and the use Search Merchandising and Guided Navigation techniques has become the gold standard for leading eCommerce websites" says Benadiba.

The Search Merchandising engine gives retailers granular control of how site search results are calculated and merchandised to shoppers. This includes the ability to merchandise within search results, reuse previous search terms, append targeted results to natural listing, and overriding zero result searches with dynamic recommendations. The Search Merchandising engine also enables retailers to automatically expose their products to many of the Internet’s most popular shopping marketplaces. OrderDynamics supports automated integration with over 10 external shopping sites such as Google Base, Shopping.com, ShopZilla, Yahoo!, NexTag, Become.com, BizRate, PriceGrabber.com, and Amazon.

To ensure retailers can measure the performance of their efforts, OrderDynamics provides a comprehensive set of eCommerce metric reports along with innovative tools such as multiple vanity URLs and Search Engine Directive controls that simplify multi variant testing.

“Along with our recent eCommerce Personalization release, we feel the introduction of Search Merchandising to the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform is a substantial addition to the core offering” adds Michael Turcsanyi, Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales & Marketing. OrderDynamics performs 4-6 major feature releases per year to its eCommerce SaaS platform, which are automatically made available to their current Clients at no additional costs.

OrderDynamics Announces eCommerce Personalization Technology Integrated into SaaS Platform

2010-03-25T15:13:00.005-04:00

Online Retailers Stay Competitive, Lift Traffic, and Score Conversions Using Personalization Technology from OrderDynamics.

Toronto (ON) -- OrderDynamics Corporation, Canada’s leading eCommerce Platform Provider, has enhanced its sales and marketing technology, giving online retailers more control over how, and when to display promotions, product information and other content on their web site.

The OrderDynamics SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) eCommerce platform now has an integrated Content Personalization engine called "Personalized Content Areas" designed to help retailers grow qualified traffic and increase conversions. “We are squarely focused on helping our Clients grow their revenue by helping them leverage the latest eCommerce tactics like content personalization.” Explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics Corporation. “This technology enhancement gives our Clients point and click access to quickly manage what would otherwise be a very manual process”. Continues Benadiba.

Core to this technology is the ability for retailers to detect demographical information about their visitor, and display a variety of content based on merchant defined “personas”, which are configured in the OrderDynamics eBusiness Manager dashboard. Personalization controls include time-of-day, IP geolocation, referral websites, customer groups, buying patterns, search patterns, and more. Online retailers can choose to display a wide range of content types such as Images, Products, Flash, Video or other HTML content. To ensure retailers can measure the performance of their efforts, OrderDynamics provides a comprehensive set of eCommerce metric reports along with innovative tools such as multiple vanity URLs and Search Engine Directive controls that simplify multi variant testing.

“As a part of our overall innovative feature release strategy, we feel the introduction of Personalization to the OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform is a substantial addition to the core offering.” Explains Michael Turcsanyi, Co-Founder and Vice President of Sales & Marketing of OrderDynamics Corporation. OrderDynamics performs 4-6 major feature releases per year to its eCommerce SaaS platform, which are automatically made available to their current Clients at no additional cost.

For more information contact: Michael Turcsanyi

Futureshop Pricing Error Underscores Need for Strong ERP and eCommerce Integration

2010-03-16T20:05:00.005-04:00

In a recent Toronto Star article, Futureshop.ca was left to explain how customers were left without receiving products even after payment. The article, available here: Futureshop pricing error, explains how 2 products were being offered for the price of a single item - which was apparently wrong. The pricing error was fixed, but not until customers had already checked out with the previously stated price. Those customers were not provided what they purchased. Futureshop attributed the error to a recent eCommerce platform change. Both futureshop.ca and bestbuy.ca recently changed platforms and are reporting some minor bugs.

Obviously pricing errors happen regularly, but it highlights a couple important issues. 1) Online retailers need the ability to resolve pricing and product information errors quickly and reliably and 2) Once a shopper makes it through checkout, it is important to honor the purchase where possible. The issue reported in the article would be similar to buying the product in the store (after seeing an advertised offer and checking out), loading up the car, then being flagged down in the parking lot by someone asking to return the product and pay more.

For retailers like futureshop, maintaining accurate pricing, inventory, and locations on the website requires sophisticated integration. This will typically involve near real-time two way synchronization of the back office IT systems with the eCommerce Platform and Order Management System (OMS). These integrations will rely on triggers, like a price change for example, and can be set to update the website immediately through pre-defined business rules and approval work flows. This level of integration can help retailers avoid (and resolve) these types of website issues.

In all likelihood the Futureshop pricing error was just part of getting settled into their new platform. However, there are some good Customer Service lessons in here for future hiccups.

OrderDynamics Sponsors CJPAC 2010

2010-03-16T19:54:00.005-04:00

OrderDynamics was proud to once again be a sponsor of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee’s (CJPAC) fourth annual ACTION party, bringing together hundreds of young professionals with politicians from across the political spectrum and all levels of government to celebrate political engagement and support Israel. CJPAC is a unique national, grassroots, independent organization whose mandate is to engage the community in the political process. The group already boasts several thousand members, who are building relationships with elected officials from all political parties across the country. For more information about CJPAC visit their website at http://www.cjpac.ca/.

eCommerce Camp Toronto #3 - Great Job!

2010-02-11T13:27:00.008-05:00

Last night was the third eCommerce Camp Toronto event, held at the Elephant and Castle on King Street. The event offered a moderated panel of retailers and shopping experts and a few hours of networking with a variety of people from Toronto, and Canada's eCommerce industry.

The panel was made up of:

•James Connell, Sr. Director, Ecommerce, Digital Marketing and New Media, Roots Canada
•Raffael Sarracini, Ecommerce Development Manager, Adidas Canada
•Stephen Neufeld, Ecommerce Marketing Manager, Lenovo Canada
•Kate Musgrove, Online Consumer and Content Editor at RedFlagDeals.com

What we learned?
The first was that eCommerce Camp has a solid following, offering a strong mix of retailers, platform providers, marketing companies, consultants, and other firms that make up the eCommerce space in Canada. We assume they'll soon outgrow a venue like Elephant and Castle.

Some key take aways from yesterdays event.

Strong Holiday Numbers 2009: The entire panel agreed that they planned for the worst but experienced a far better holiday season than anticipated. In the case of Roots, their promotional tactics pushed them right out of inventory on many items. They also agreed that their US website counter parts did not have as great of a November / December. Oddly, we did not hear this from our Clients with US websites and reported great growth in the same time period.
Hyper Promotions: Kate reported that many retailers were in "hyper promotions mode" as part of their plan mitigate loss sales over Thanksgiving through Christmas. Economic recovery plans in overdrive have rubbed shoppers the wrong way - email overload being the most annoying.
Social Media Use: The panel all had similar feedback on the ways they were using Social Media with their eStores. In general they haven't seen a boost in sales from social links and typically are using Facebook and Twitter for brand awareness and customer service. The group felt that the implementation and integration strategy of "Social" into the shopping experience is something they're still struggling with.
Mobile Commerce: The general consensus was that mobile sites today are informational only, allowing shoppers to easily browse ratings and reviews, products, and price but not actually buy online. There wasn't a ton of enthusiasm around mobile commerce with this group - possibly because of a lower number of Canadian consumers using mobile right now.
Live Chat - On or Off?: Generally speaking, everyone was in agreement that Live Chat is not bringing the sales results needed to justify keeping it online. Similar to Social Media, the right implementation of Live Chat is most likely the issue (trigger points for chat, vertical considerations for customer service, demographics and languages). Roots has simply turned it off until they work through a strategy.

What we'd like to see?
We really enjoyed the event last night. Here are a few things we'd like to see considered for future:

Mid-Market Retailer on the panel. It would be nice to hear from a mid-sized online retailer in Canada (for example: Henry's http://www.henrys.com/) in addition to some of the bigger brands we heard from last night. We feel this would add an interesting dynamic.
Canadian Shipping Landscape: It would be great to hear from Canada Post and some of the challenges with shipping within Canada and to the USA.
Conversion Tactics: Taking your conversion rates up / abandonment rates down can make a big impact on the bottom line. What are leading Canadian retailers doing in this area? What challenges do they face?

We've already started talking with Chris about speaking and an upcoming event. Great job eCommerce Camp Toronto!

The Moran Group Presents OrderDynamics, eCommerce SaaS Provider at Boston Trade Show

2010-02-11T09:21:00.002-05:00

The Moran Group is the parent company to TMG Exhibits. At every tradeshow at the Boston Convention Center we showcase the best of the Exhibits and give them a spot to pitch their products well after the show has ended. We hope you find their products or services as helpful and unique as we did.

The team put together a brief video interview of OrderDynamics at Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in June, 2009.

AlevaHealth.com Moves 7 Sites to OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS Platform

2010-02-02T11:53:00.003-05:00

Toronto, ON - OrderDynamics, On-Demand eCommerce Solution provider, announces recent customer acquisition, AlevaHealth.com, operator of seven eCommerce websites and a Michigan retail location.

AlevaHealth.com is a division of American Medical Services which was founded in 1957 by Joseph L. Gaskins. Over the last 10 years, AlevaHealth.com has seen significant growth by selling its healthcare products on seven different websites all powered with different technology from X-Cart, StoneEdge, Yahoo!, and Amazon. Each site caters to a specific sub-segment but supports Aleva's mission of "a fresh idea on health". Accordingly, each site is uniquely branded and provides a different user experience, product set, and promotions. With over 17,000 SKUs and servicing up to 350 customers daily, Aleva has established a dominate market position for leading brands such as " Jobst, Sigvaris, Mediven, Juzo, Activa, Therafirm and Futuro". As Aleva continues growth through a multi-site strategy, the need for a unified eCommerce platform has become crucial.

"We have seen significant growth across our websites, requiring a holistic eCommerce platform strategy that gives us a solid operating foundation and leading frontend enablement features to fuel growth." Derek Gaskins, President of American Medical Services. "The OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS solution provides us a single backend to manage each website independently and allows us to create completely custom experiences for each brand" continues Gaskins. AlevaHealth.com currently runs each website on different frontend platforms causing significant overhead for back office tasks. OrderDynamics will first migrate the website: www.healthylegs.com to their platform from Amazon including all product, order, and customer data, external feeds, and design. OrderDynamics will ease migration resources for Aleva by performing data migrations, site implementation, and project management. HealthyLegs.com will also benefit from a superior Order Management System (OMS), which is built-in to the OrderDynamics platform and easily integrates multi-channel activities such as phone orders, shopping sites, ERP, Amazon, and eBay.

HealthyLegs.com will re-launch on the OrderDynamics platform in Q1 2010. "Aleva's business plan sees increased websites and microsites to further entrench them into markets that need their services." " says Michael Turcsanyi, VP of Sales at OrderDynamics. "OrderDynamics will help Derek and the team realize their vision for years to come by delivering the latest frontend technology and keeping back office tasks efficient".

About AlevaHealth.com:
AlevaHealth.com, a division of American Medical Services, is a leading retailer of healthcare products. Operating its Pontiac Michigan location since 1957, AlevaHealth.com has since expanded online through its 7 eCommerce websites carrying leading brands such as Jobst, Sigvaris, Mediven, Juzo, Activa, Therafirm and Futuro. AlevaHealth.com lists over 17,000 SKUs on their sites and stocks nearly $2.5 million in inventory, enabling 99% of orders to be shipped same or next business day.

eCommerce SaaS Platforms, 10 Provider Truths

2010-01-26T23:05:00.015-05:00

A recent Internet Retailer Survey showed over 33% of online retailers are focusing their 2010 technology spending on their eCommerce platform. With over 47% deciding against in-house or internally hosted options, retailers need a way to evaluate hosted vs. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) eCommerce solutions.

This article provides a checklist for retailers who are evaluating SaaS based eCommerce solutions as part of their re-platforming project. These are the characteristics of a true software-as-a-service (SaaS) eCommerce provider.

The platform decision is arguably the most important, complex, and costly part of a retailers 3-5 year investment cycle. It is a decision that is often put off or easily put on hold due to other priorities or the risks involved. And it is a decision that very few online retailers are qualified to make on their own since it has such broad implications across technology, marketing, operations, and sales.

What is SaaS?
A logical place to start. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a delivery model alternative for software companies to license their software "on-demand", typically delivered over the Internet using standard web protocols. In most cases, the SaaS provider has software running their own servers in a data center they manage, along with all aspects of the application. This is opposed to licensing software "off-the-shelf".

eCommerce SaaS Providers are companies that deliver their eCommerce software platform on their proprietary infrastructure. True SaaS eCommerce providers can offer a much higher level of service overall to retailers over in-house or third party hosted models.

The "Service" in SaaS
Beyond the software delivery side of SaaS, and more important for retailers to understand, is the provider's ability to actually provide an ongoing service. The SaaS provider is not coming in, building out a website, charging licensing fees and leaving. A SaaS provider makes their money over a 3-5 year period and is accountable for keeping the website online and fast every second of every minute. A tall order for just plain old software companies and is the fundamental difference with SaaS providers over custom eCommerce solutions or third party hosted systems.

1. Redundant Server Infrastructure
True eCommerce SaaS providers have redundant server farms with no single points of failure. The SaaS platform will offer load balancing, clustering, and automatic fail over for all server tiers. In all likelihood the SaaS platform will house more than one website and Client (called a multi-tenant architecture) - this is not a problem providing they can guarantee performance, security, and availability in a Service Level Agreement.

Beware: We often hear of eCommerce Systems Integrators proposing one or two servers as "ongoing hosting" instead of proposing robust, high-availability architectures.

2. New Features and Upgrades Included
We are not talking about "18% per year maintenance". True eCommerce SaaS providers will deliver several releases per year of new platform features requested by their Clients. These features will be rolled into the software code base and seamlessly released to all Clients avoiding costly "customization fees".

Beware: Software License Maintenance is often used as a placeholder during the sales process for new features, support, service, or other.

3. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Included
True eCommerce SaaS providers have a "service culture". They are used to earning their money over a 3-5 year period of time vs. one-time upfront fees. As a result, they will guarantee Uptime, Performance, Transaction Integrity, and the Support Process in an SLA with the retailer. These SLAs should provide clear monthly reports on the status and a penalty structure for not meeting the targets.

Beware: Companies may try to use the 3rd party hosting company's SLA in place of an agreement with the solution provider.

4. PCI Security
Payment Card Industry compliance is something that all online retailers must understand and be able to demonstrate. True eCommerce SaaS providers will maintain PCI-DSS compliance and provide controls within their platforms to make compliance easier for the merchant.

Beware: Providers should guarantee they will maintain PCI compliance in their Master Services Agreement.

5. eCommerce Account Management
Outside of 24x7 support, true eCommerce SaaS providers will offer a dedicated account management resource to their Clients. This person is named on their account and is available as a single point of contact and is accountable for customer satisfaction at no extra cost.

Beware: It is important the person assigned to your account is not motivated by selling more services.

6. Platform Configuration
True eCommerce SaaS platforms offer rich features that can be turned on or off (configurable) as part of the implementation and by the merchant on-demand. This includes the ability for complex merchandising, search, promotions, shipping, checkout, payment, and other tools to be available to the Client as needed at no extra charge.

Beware: Many eCommerce providers will build a custom platform and website that offers limited configurable parameters after it's delivered.

7. Rapid Deployment
Since a true eCommerce SaaS provider already has existing infrastructure and software running live, this drastically reduces project times and allows the retailer (and the provider) to focus on the most strategic parts of a project (User Experience and Integration).

Beware: To reduce project risk, retailers must provide more time for testing (technology, procedures, etc.) for in-house or third party hosted solutions than with SaaS solutions.

8. NOC Monitoring and Performance
True eCommerce SaaS platforms have a software and hardware architecture that is scalable, allowing for quick provisioning of additional capacity to handle peak demands. To stay on top of capacity, SaaS providers are continuously monitoring eCommerce websites using global availability and performance monitoring tools (Gomez, Keynote, Uptrends) and have a Network Operations Center (NOC) that can proactively stay ahead of load issues.

Beware: Many IT departments are just not staffed to handle 24x7x365 monitoring or have the resources to properly architect a scalable solution.

9. Rental License vs. One-Time Lump Sum
Since SaaS providers license their eCommerce platforms "on-demand" vs. lump sum licensing, most provide a monthly based fee to "rent" the license. SaaS licensing models vary, some which are based on transactions, commissions, users, products, bandwidth or flat monthly fees. In almost every case, the ongoing monthly fees with a SaaS provider will be higher but the one-time fees will be significantly lower (than a licensed / hosted or custom build hosted). Typically the monthly fee is a blend of License and Delivery of the service.

Beware: The monthly fee for SaaS providers is not "hosting", it is a mix of licensing and service delivery (as defined in the plan and SLA). Go back to checklist #1, the managed hosting fees alone for a redundant setup will make the SaaS fees very reasonable.

10. Disaster Recovery - Business Continuity
As a provider of business critical services to online retailers, true eCommerce SaaS providers will maintain a full disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plan (BCP). This will protect the merchant by reducing possible downtime and data loss caused by a disaster in the data center.

Beware: Backups can be part of a DR strategy, but are not the plan alone. It is critical that the platform provider has a replicated environment to recover service if needed.

For more information contact: Michael Turcsanyi

OrderDynamics at IRCE 2010 - Booth 379

2010-01-11T16:57:00.003-05:00

The Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2010 is in Chicago at the McCormick Place Campus in June. The conference promises to deliver practical and action-oriented tactics to help retailers "reboot" after recovering from the worst recession since WWII. The 4 day event (last day workshop) will offer topics and workshops that focus on "Reinvesting, Refreshing, and Recommitting" anticipating double-digit growth rates from 2010. OrderDynamics is excited to exhibit at the show again this year. We look forward to participating in the sessions and seeing our Clients and partners. More to come as we prepare for the show! We'll be located at booth 379. See the list of speakers

Multi-Channel Retailer, Walkingonacloud.com, Selects OrderDynamics as eCommerce Platform for Growth

2009-12-19T22:23:00.000-05:00

Online Shoe Retailer Selects OrderDynamics to Streamline Operations and Convert More Traffic

OrderDynamics, Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce Solution provider, announces recent customer acquisition, Walkingonacloud.com, a Canadian Shoe retailer specializing in comfortable footwear through over 30 retail locations.

Walkingonacloud.com has been operating US and Canadian B2C eStores for over seven years. Specializing in "comfortable footwear brands", Walkingonacloud.com carries over 7,000 SKUs and leading footwear from top brands such as Geox, UGG, Ecco, and Rockport. Over the years, Walkingonacloud.com has achieved very strong search engine placement for highly competitive keywords for the shoe brands they carry. This has resulted in high of volumes traffic from organic searches and strong order growth, which has put a strain on their eCommerce platform, negatively affecting their conversion rate.

"Our top priorities for the website include diversifying our traffic sources and implementing tactics to raise our conversion rate to be more inline with industry averages" comments Mark Zuckier, Co-Founder and President of Walkingonacloud.com. "The OrderDynamics on-demand eCommerce solution gives us superior technology and additional resources to help us manage our website proactively." Walkingonacloud.com currently runs on a custom-built system which has become costly to maintain and does not have the features of a mid-market platform. OrderDynamics will migrate the Walkingonacloud.com website to their platform including all product, order, and customer data, external feeds, and design. Most importantly, all existing organic search rankings will be preserved through a comprehensive website scraping a redirect process. "Once we reviewed the detailed website migration process, we were immediately comfortable with moving forward" continues Zuckier. Walkingonacloud.com will also benefit from a superior Order Management System (OMS), which is part of the OrderDynamics platform and easily integrates multi-channel activities such as phone orders, shopping sites, ERP, and Amazon and eBay.

Walkingonacould.com will re-launch on the OrderDynamics platform in Q1 2010. "We are excited about the Walkingonacloud.com project." says Michael Turcsanyi, VP of Sales at OrderDynamics. "Walkingonacloud.com has all the ingredients to achieve significant revenue growth in the next 3 years and OrderDynamics looks forward to helping make this a reality".

About Walkingonacloud.com
Walkingonacloud.com is a leading online footwear retailer of brands such as Rockport, Ecco, Mephisto, Geox, UGG and carries over 7,000 SKUs. Walking On A Cloud operates over 30 retail stores in major shopping centers in Canada.

Happy Holidays from OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Team

2009-12-14T23:09:00.004-05:00

The team at OrderDynamics would like to thank our Clients, Partners, and Vendors for making 2009 a fantastic year. The eCommerce industry continues to grow at double-digit rates amidst our darkest economic times, providing confidence to retailers looking to invest in their online sales channel. However, retailers must proceed cautiously and make investment decisions wisely. For many, the importance of selecting a more robust eCommerce platform will outweigh costly "add-on services" in an attempt to build sales. We look forward to talking with you about your plans.

This past year, OrderDynamics has made significant investments in our On-Demand eCommerce Platform technology, making it the perfect choice for high-growth retailers that are being held back by their platform.

From all of us, we wish you a Happy Holidays and prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,
OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123

P.S. Be sure to visit our booth at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition, Chicago in June.

Implementing eCommerce Personalization is Easier and More Affordable with the Right eCommerce Platform

2009-11-27T11:34:00.012-05:00

A recent Internet Retailer Study published in November revealed the implementation of advanced eCommerce techniques could reach as high as 74% of a retailer's eCommerce technology budget for 2010. Out of the 193 retailers surveyed, 48% are looking to change eCommerce platforms, with over 20% looking at Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) eCommerce solutions.

High on the priority list for spending (37%) is Personalization tactics, including ratings and reviews and other personalization techniques. Other techniques in the study included forms of Content Management, eMail Marketing, and Multi-Channel integration.

With the right eCommerce platform, retailers can implement advanced eCommerce tactics easily and affordably. Here are some examples of how retailers can implement Personalization Techniques on their eStore.

Avoid Overcomplicated Tactics

OrderDynamics is designed for online retailers and wholesalers (B2B & B2C) who have out grown their current eCommerce solution. These businesses enage us because they've "hit the wall" causing growth challenges - either through a lack of adequate frontend features or inability to streamline backend processes involved with high volume websites.

When engaged by OrderDynamics, these businesses are educated on what features will immediately bring the biggest benefit - allowing them to mature into the more sophisticated features over time.

The issue of personalization can quickly become large, complex, and expensive so tackling basic concepts, as described here, is a great way to provide a personalized website experience without breaking the bank.

“Know your client”; Build Around the Little Things they Value

All of the tactics we look at here should be part of any mid-market eCommerce platform and, if implemented correctly, should lead to increased sales through qualified traffic and converting more visitors.

1. Identify Returning Customers

Recognizing a returning shopper will make repeat buying easier and will naturally lead to additional sales. Since these customers are already qualified, you want to make their subsequent purchases hassle free.

Tips include:

• Cart and Wish List Persistence
• Display user name (“Welcome Back: John Smith” – Not you?)
• Provide easy re-order options (hold and present order history)
• Allow for auto-shipping of consumables
• Merchandise based on past purchases
• Merchandise based on recently viewed, search history, and cart contents

2. Invite Customers Back

Online retailers needs to take advantage of the deep business information coming from their website. The leading platforms that include Order Management Systems (OMS) automatically captures key data on each order and everything about that customer. By creating and scheduling targeting eMails (OrderDynamics built-in email marketing engine is called eCast Manager), retailers can create highly relevant messages back to their Clients. These messages should be a mix of customer service and new promotions that motivate them to come back to the website.

Tips include:
• Highly targeted audiences (filter recipients from data in the OMS database)
• Notifications of new lines or product replacements (or categories / brands)
• Offer incentives to return (coupons and other promotions)
• Notice of items in a persistent wish list
• Notice of items in a persistent cart
• Rate and review previous purchases (specify product)
• Notice of related items or accessories related to a purchase
• Recent sign-up but no purchases

3. Navigation Preferences

Nothing is more annoying than a website not saving preferences that you’ve taken the time to set. Since shoppers will likely navigate your eStore uniquely, the ability to store these preferences is important as is the ability for a shopper to clear saved settings.

Tips include:
• Listings per page
• Grid listing formats
• Categories, Brands, Products of interest
• Recently viewed and searched
• Addresses (Billing, Shipping, Multiple)
• Profile Picture

4. Social Network Feeds

When designing a social networking strategy (or “Social Commerce”), it is important to think about what information you can deliver to your target customer that will incent them to 1) pass that information on (concept of "going viral") and/or 2) make them visit your website. Simply creating a Blog, Facebook or Twitter page is not going to result in revenue.

Tips include:
• Build community through blogging or forums
• Create articles of interest or educational value
• Post promotions to Twitter with links back to Products, Category, Brand pages
• Allow shoppers to post purchases to their Facebook wall (notify their friends of purchases)
• Participate in MySpace, Twitter, Facebook of suppliers / manufactures

5. Personalizing Content

Over and above product content, it is important to have a strategy to manage “content areas” across the site. These content areas typically include flash, video, HTML, or images, and have links to promotions, products, categories, search pages, or brand pages. Making these content areas as relevant as possible to your shoppers increases the overall "personal feel" of a site and leads to finding and buying faster.

Tips include:
• Automatic rotation of content areas based on rules
• Thresholds and tracking of impressions and click through rates (CTR)
• Customize content to be as specific as possible
• Content: Products, HTML, Images, Flash, Video
• Rules to rotate content based on:
o Referral URL, Keyword URI, Domain
o Time of day
o Persona definition (example: Consumer, Prosumer, Expert)
o Geo-targeted IP Address
o Logged in user

The Role of Your eCommerce Platform

As retailers build strategies to better connect with their customers using personalization tactics, an evaluation of their eCommerce platform will probably be in order. It is important for retailers to find a platform vendor that can both enable their immediate vision while being proactive in helping them measure outcomes and adjust accordingly.

While we’ve only covered some basic tactics here, advanced personalization techniques can go beyond core eCommerce platform to involve leading third party services for buying recommendation services, site search control, ratings and review content, and more. The eCommerce platform provider must support all of these systems and have a strategy to help retailers successfully execute on their personalization strategy over time.

To Request a Free Assessment, Contact Us!

Congratulations on going live: Health Care Logistics, eMedDecor.com

2009-11-06T10:56:00.015-05:00

www.emeddecor.com Selects OrderDynamics for Growth on On-Demand eCommerce Platform

OrderDynamics, Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce Solution provider, announces recent customer acquisition, Health Care Logistics, a worldwide provider of medical equipment since 1978.

A recent re-launch of their consumer division, www.eMedDecor.com, Health Care Logistics looked to OrderDynamics for their superior eCommerce technology and services oriented around growing sales.

“OrderDynamics gives us a single, end-to-end technology solution to power our B2C websites. Their SaaS service model emphasizes growth and provides structured processes to manage traffic and conversions” explains Bethany Reid, Brand Manager for eMedDecor. “We simply outgrew our previous eCommerce platform, which didn’t have the features or management capabilities to support our growth” continues Bethany. “OrderDynamics helped us understand a reasonable growth target and works proactively with our marketing team to achieve our goals”.

The new eMedDecor.com website launched on OrderDynamics in 90 days with a broad selection of gifts and accessories and an easy-to-use design. New site features include:

• Shop by Profession – Doctors, Dentists, Nurses, Pharmacy, Veterinarians, & More helps the consumer find products unique to them.
• Gift Services – Wish Lists, Gift Certificates, Gift Messages, Wrapping Services, and Product Personalization make the site great for gift givers.
• Navigation features – – Intuitive product search, user ratings and reviews, guided navigation filters, and express checkout create a fast and fun shopping experience.

“We congratulate the great team at Health Care Logistics and look forward to a long term partnership” says Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics.

About eMedDecor & More:
The eMedDecor.com website is a consumer website providing over 2,000 medical related products in categories such as Dental, Doctors, Nursing, Pharmacy, Veterinary and more. eMedDecor.com offers an exciting range of products for Appreciation and Recognition, Books, Cards, and Paper, Clothing, Collectibles, Décor, Office Accessories, Personalized Products, and Tools of the Trade. eMedDecor.com also provides easy shopping options such as Gift Certificates, Gift Wrapping, Gift Messaging, and Personalization.

Scheduling Site Promotions: Easier, Relavent, and Convert Better

2009-09-20T11:29:00.012-04:00

As eCommerce platforms ramp up features to meet the needs of the savvy online buyer, retailers often struggle with effectively maintaining them. To be effective, retailers not only need the latest "frontend" merchandising capabilities, but "backend" systems that allow them to manage, what could be hundreds of promotions at any given time. Retails must have technology that gives their product teams the ability to manage the site proactively and reactively given the buying trends they experience.

To be effective, retailers need the ability to:

1. Launch promotions quickly

2. Time promotions to buying events

3. Measure promotion success

The OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform combines the latest frontend merchandising technology with a powerful scheduling engine and management metrics that gives retailers "point-and-click" control over website promotions.

Launch Promotions Fast

It is important the the eCommerce platform technology provides real-time ability to create, stage, test, and launch new promotions. Whether it is, for example, a new sale, bundles, eCast (email) campaigns, shipping discounts, or in-cart promotions, the platform should provide easy-to-use web interfaces designed for a product manager or marketing resource to make website changes easily. The platform should also provide XHTML access and a secure Content Management System (CMS) for advanced levels of access.

For mid-market to enterprise reatilers, the ability to stage these changes and test orders against a test gateway prior to going live (without impacting their timeline) is equally as important. Staging changes also allows marketings teams to pre-provision promotions, but leaving them inactive until needed.

Time Promotions "Scheduling"

To effectively time website changes to buying events, like Thanksgiving for example, retailers need more control than simply being able to launch promotions quickly. They require a sophisticated scheduling "engine" to create and manage hundreds of running promotions at a time, and on a per-website basis.

The scheduling system must allow for multiple website promotions to be running concurrently with status reports. Some of the important scheduling capabilities are: eCast (email) marketing, personalized content areas, site seach controls, product / brand / category content areas, coupons, overrides, free shipping amounts, etc. These scheduling and promotion tools must provide granular control at a per-product / brand / category and per eStore website basis. The system must provide control to activate and deactivate promotions on a particular date/time, date range, recurring date/time, and the ability to chain promotions.

With this level of control, retailers can start marketing to their Clients well before the event, making them more proactive and always on top of the next promotion.

Measure Success

Like any other successful sales and marketing program, eCommerce websites require detailed metrics that allow promotions to be managed effectively. It is important that the marketing team can measure the success of each promotion in-real time, and against other promotions across the website.

This isn't specifically about web analytics (Google, Omniture for example), although they play a role, it is about the metrics provided by the eCommerce platform. It is important the platform itself can produce metrics about the performance of a particular promotion. For example, the ability to track click-throughs and impressions on personalized content areas, tracking delivery and open rates of eCasts (emails) promotions, sales from referring websites, ads, keywords, and ability to trend sales across different promotions; all core requirements of mid-market to enterprise online retailers. And all of these must be viewable against sales / orders across a defined time period.

With the right metrics, retailers will have the business information needed to make decisions about the promotions running on the website.

Look at your eCommerce Platform

For retailers to stand a chance against the ever more savvy online buyer, they must take a close look at their eCommerce platform provider to determine their plans for making site promotions more effective. There many of "add on" services out there, but we feel the platform provider plays a key role in this area and should have, at a minimum, the tools and technologies available in this article for launching and managing promotions.

To learn more, please contact us today!

An Integrated Order Management System (OMS) Key to Avoiding Lost Revenue When Payment Brands Go Down (Paypal, Authorize.NET recently)

2009-08-05T09:32:00.009-04:00

With 2 major payment providers having issues in the past 4 weeks to the day (Authorize.NET July 3rd 2009 and PayPal August 3rd 2009), many online retailers and merchants that rely on these systems were effectively out of business, unable to take orders, and losing revenue.

Although failures like this are considered unacceptable to businesses and executives, there are ways retailers can avoid being impacted by these types of failures. The solution rests in the capabilities of the eCommerce platform and its Order Management System (OMS).

Order Management Systems (OMS) provide software to facilitate the capturing and processing of eCommerce orders. When this system is part of your overall eCommerce platform (same eCommerce vendor platform driving the frontend presentation and backend OMS) you get a very robust and flexible foundation to power almost all online retailing needs. For example, eMail Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Fulfillment and Inventory Control, and Advanced Merchandising Rules. This type of "end-to-end" solution helps retailers drive more value from their eCommerce investment by reducing complexities, manual tasks, and less systems / vendors to manage. Obviously, we believe an on-demand or SaaS eCommerce platform is the way of the future for most retailers vs. purchasing and customizing software.

In addition, most platform providers (with an integrated backend OMS) will automatically capture order information prior to posting to the payment provider. This allows for steps to occur before fulfillment like address validation and correction, fraud detection, pre-authorization, etc. This also takes care of two critical problems if payment providers fail. 1. The user is oblivious and can place their order on your website 2. Retailers can quickly and easily resume order processing once the gateway has returned to normal.

As is the case with PayPal and Google Checkout, the shopper has to leave the merchant's website in order to complete their purchase - something not required for other alternative payment brands or traditional gateways like Authorize.NET. However, the eCommerce platform should fully capture the order first and provide logic that informs the user of a payment gateway problem then invite them to use an alternative method or be notified once the gateway has returned.

OrderDynamics takes this a step further and automatically creates a Customer Service Case (ticket) for all abandoned PayPal or Google Checkout orders so retailers can proactively follow-up with these shoppers and convert the sale. This process can be tailored to include an email back to the shopper after X hours inviting them to come back and complete their purchase with a coupon or other incentives.

So when you're evaluating a new eCommerce platform provider it is important to look deeper than the frontend design or "flashy websites" and get into the details of how the platform technology itself will enable a robust, scalable, and cost effective environment for years to come.

See related post: Authorize.NET Outage Does Gateway Downtime Equal eCommerce Disaster?
Learn more about: OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Platform

Authorize.NET Outage | Does Gateway Downtime Equal eCommerce Disaster? Not for OrderDynamics

2009-07-03T13:07:00.010-04:00

If you're one of the many online retailers that rely on Authorize.NET as their payment gateway - today may have been a very painful day. I say maybe because if you're one of the websites that cannot take new orders because of this outage - you may want to look into a new eCommerce platform. Some, more sophisticated eCommerce platforms, allow for orders to continue even if the payment gateway is totally down. OrderDynamics retailers have been able to accept orders on their websites even if Authorize.NET is their only payment gateway.

What appears to be the result of a datacenter fire in their Seattle facility (located at Fisher Plaza), Authorize.NET has been down for over 5 hours already on July 3rd 2009. Many are hoping the sales volumes will be lower due to the statutory holiday for tomorrow's July 4th celebration of Independence Day happening today, Friday.

With regular updates coming from their recent twitter account, Authorize.NET is taking responsibility and also claiming their backup datacenter also failed. *At time of writing, Authorize.NET's website was also down - most likely hosted in the same facility. Details are spare as the company is focusing on bringing up their systems.

"An event like today underscores the need for online retailers need to think about their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans and ensure their eCommerce platform provider can meet these requirements." Says Steven Berkovitz, On-Demand Platform Architect.

An important feature of the OrderDynamics on-demand eCommerce solution is its ability to still capture orders during a gateway failure, making them available for later processing. This allows shoppers to keep buying as normal. "Orders are still captured, shoppers get an order number and confirmation email, then when the gateway is alive, the system will process them automatically." explains Steven. "The last thing you want is to loose the order - this is the equivalent of closing your physical location instead of taking a credit card manually or cash."

"Another feature of our platform is the ability for OrderDynamics to dynamically route orders to different gateways or completely fail-over payment gateways if needed." Continues Steven. "Our platform is integrated with every major payment gateway and over 20 alternative payment brands; allowing for ultimate flexibility and reliability."

OrderDynamics also has redundant datacenters as part of its On-Demand eCommerce SaaS Platform and enhanced service plans that provide up to 99.9% service availability through a fully replicated Disaster Recovery plan to its secondary facility over 75kms away.

Be sure to follow the twitter feed for updates and if you'd like to learn more about how Payment Gateways are used, see this Informed Merchant Article.

The OrderDynamics team was happy to see you at IRCE 2009!

2009-06-18T20:42:00.007-04:00

Dear Customer,

We at OrderDynamics really want to thank you for visiting us this year at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition 2009. We sincerely enjoyed the opportunity to talk with you and learn more about your business. We’re excited with all that we saw from the exhibitors, and thrilled to see how far the eCommerce industry has come over the past eight years.

We look forward to connecting with you in the coming weeks, in the mean time we invite you to visit our website and learn more about our On-Demand eCommerce Platform.

Sincerely,

The OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123
solutions@orderdynamics.com

On-Demad eCommerce Provider OrderDynamics - Off to Boston: Internet Retailer IRCE 2009

2009-06-13T14:17:00.003-04:00

We're off to Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition from June 15th to 18th at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Many retailers will be in attendance to learn about a wide variety of technologies and solutions to help them in their eCommerce journey. Despite the economy, IRCE attendance remains strong with over 4,500 people expected. With 91 sessions, 178 speakers, and over 360 exhibiting companies, IRCE is the one-stop-shop for those involved in eCommerce projects this year.

Come see OrderDynamics at booth 1024! - See Booth Floor Plan - we look forward to seeing you there!

Basic SEO Concepts For Online Retailers

2009-06-03T19:40:00.006-04:00

It amazes us how many people we talk to have an "SEO consultant" - generally costing them anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500+ per month in "management fees" - and their eStore websites are not doing some of the basic things needed to rank high in the search engines. This article is meant to provide some basic concepts for online retailers to think about before signing up for SEO services.

First of all, Google is going to drive the bulk of your traffic so focus on getting your eStore optimized for Google first.

Search engines generally work from 2 principles and are tied together - Paid Listings, and Organic Listings. Paid Listings or "Sponsored Ads" require you to bid and pay per click whereas organic results are free. Organic positions take time to build and your goal should be to list on page one of Google for your chosen keywords.

Online retailers must start by determining the search terms (keywords and phrases) they think their target shopper uses to find their products or ones they want to use to compete with others. Google has tools to help them determine closely related search terms and the actual volumes of searching happening for them. Google AdWords Tool for example.

Google will only list up to 2 pages in organic listing per search term (keyword/phrase) in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). Therefore there is no point in optimizing an entire site for the same search terms.

It is important to lay out the pages on your site according to search terms and ensure these HTML pages are optimized for search (title tags, meta description, keywords, anchor text, image alt attribute, etc. ).

The next step is making sure these pages do in fact have content that is relevant to the search terms you believe are important. Simply optimizing the HTML tags is not enough. For retailers, this can be product landing pages or top-level entry pages with dynamic product listings.

You can test the quality of the pages using tools from Google, you should be targeting a 7+ (out of 10). For Paid Search Listings, a high quality score will also help your Pay Per Click costs (keep them down) and ensure your ad is shown.

Once your pages are optimized and have relevant content, the next step is a strong link building strategy. Inbound links build relevance in the eyes of the search engine and also help with your Page Rank, which is part of how Google rates the relevance of a site.

Link building can be done in many ways including press releases, manually listing yourself in high-quality directories, working with industry partners to exchange links, articles/blogs, and social networking. It is important to link from relevant site and hopefully pages with a high page rank. Avoid linking scams or "black hat" techniques that could cause Google to punish your listings in the SERPs.

All of these strategies are centered around 1 website domain name, so if you have more than 1 domain name you have an opportunity to widen the net. Although we recommend focusing on other keywords and phrases on the second site vs. competing with yourself.

Another critical part of an effective SEO strategy is to ensure the HTML code meets the latest XHTML standards, is error free, and the website performs well. Google will not rank websites high that have errors or are slow. Also important is your full URL path (page names, folders, etc.) as a method of capturing keywords and strengthen the results.

For online retailers, it is crucial that the eCommerce platform you select has the tools and expertise to help guide their clients to a successful SEO plan.

The OrderDynamics on-demand eCommerce platform not only provides easy to use SEO tools, our Account Managers and Developers have SEO expertise and help advise our Clients on how to make the most out of their SEO dollars.

On-Demand eCommerce Software Solutions By OrderDynamics Slash Project Lengths In Half

2009-05-14T23:32:00.002-04:00

Leading on-demand eCommerce software provider delivers rapid eStore deployments thanks to SaaS platform and eCommerce web site design separation.

Toronto, ON May 15, 2009 -- OrderDynamics Corporation has observed that many online merchants are struggling with short eCommerce software replatforming timelines as peak shopping periods approach rapidly. Contributing to the tight timelines are delayed budget decisions and managers expecting more from their marketing team with a lot less.
OrderDynamics has designed its new eStore implementation process to reduce time to launch a new Client and is averaging a 15 week schedule from signature to soft launch.

"There are two factors at work here that allow us to roll out so quickly; eCommerce Web Site Design Flexibility and our SaaS Platform"

Explains Michael Benadiba, CEO OrderDynamics Corporation. OrderDynamics entirely separates the eCommerce web site design process from its on-demand platform, allowing this process to start in parallel and be delivered by a third party creative agency or internally.

OrderDynamics makes the eCommerce web site design come to life through a library of web 2.0 and 3.0 front-end web controls such as floating shopping carts, personalization controls, search merchandising, product reviews, and other pre-built controls which focus on enabling an fast, fun, and easy shopping experience. "The design and ease of use of an eStore must match the brand experience you're trying to create and the shopping expectations of your customers" continues Benadiba.

"By removing this hard linkage to the eCommerce platform, our Clients can accelerate design decisions and quickly implement future changes".

The other important time saver is the OrderDynamics eCommerce SaaS platform. eCommerce software as a service (or SaaS), means the software application is already developed and available almost immediately after signing a contract. It also means the SaaS provider takes care of maintaining the software and hosting it as part of a Service Level Agreement (SLA). "Our platform is fully redundant and is engineered for Availability, Performance, and Transaction Integrity - all things we guarantee in our SLA " adds Steve Berkovitz, On-Demand Platform Architect.

OrderDynamics Solves eCommerce Problems | Find out if You're Ready

2009-05-05T09:10:00.007-04:00

We've recently launched our You're Ready Campaign aimed to reach prospective Clients that may be hitting the wall with their current eCommerce solution. Although there are many issues retailers face, we've selected 5 recurring problems that seem to come up regularly in discussions and that we've helped solve for our Clients.

As always, a special thanks goes out to all OrderDynamics Clients who give us valuable feedback and input on what's important to their business so we can shape our solutions.

Infinitely Simple eCommerce
OrderDynamics is a leading provider of on-demand eCommerce solutions designed to help online merchants grow revenues and simplify operations. We allow you to deliver superior shopping experiences through our innovative multi-eStore platform and integrated backend management systems that enable Dynamic Merchandising, Customer Service, Order Management, and Automation. You're Ready is our way of providing you solutions to the common problems that we help our Client's solve every day.

There are hundreds of reasons retailers are choosing OrderDynamics -> Find out if You're Ready

Rich Consumer Experiences | OrderDynamics Tops Practical eCommerce Top 10 List for April 2009

2009-04-21T11:59:00.003-04:00

Practical eCommerce recently asked industry insiders to share a great, innovative idea that could help an eCommerce firm. Here’s what ten of them had to say.

OrderDynamics topped the list with...

Rich Consumer Experiences Dominate

"Focus on immersive branding and marketing techniques that create unexpectedly fast, fun, and easy shopping experiences. Are your budgets caught up on technology or are you investing in creating that visceral connection to the consumer? What amazes us the most is that very few e-stores provide that connection."

Michael Benadiba
CEO
OrderDynamics Corporation

OrderDynamics Launches Support for Amazon Payments: Amazon Simple Pay™

2009-03-27T13:33:00.002-04:00

Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce platform provides its online retailers support for Amazon's payment solution Amazon Simple Pay™.

Toronto, ON March 26, 2008 -- OrderDynamics Corporation launches support for Amazon Simple Pay™, a set of payment-only products that allows shoppers to use payment information from their Amazon.com accounts as a payment method. By offering Amazon Simple Pay™ to their shoppers, online merchants provide a convenient, trusted, and easy ordering mechanism to tens of millions of Amazon Customers.

"New payment solutions are constantly under evaluation by our product development team, because of the significant positive impact it can have on our Client's sales" explains Michael Benadiba, CEO OrderDynamics Corporation. "We also make the frontend implementation of these payment solutions easy through self service access from our backend management dashboard" continues Benadiba. Amazon Simple Pay™ provides brand recognition, purchase protection, and convenience to online shoppers - all things that can increase the chance of converting a sale.

The OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce platform has access to over 20 branded payment methods on their front-end eStores through its partnership with CardinalCommerce such as: Verified by Visa & MasterCard® SecureCode™, Amazon Payments™, Bill Me Later®, Ebates™, eBillme™, eLayaway™, Google™ Checkout, Green Dot® MoneyPak®, MyEcheck, PayPal™, RevolutionCard™, Mazooma™, ClickandBuy®, and more.Learn about how we've helped online merchants grow, Read our Case Studies

OrderDynamics is going to Internet Retailer IRCE 2009

2009-03-06T08:10:00.007-05:00

For the first year, OrderDynamics will be attending the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition from June 15th to 18th at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Come see us at booth 1024 - See Booth Floor Plan

The IRCE 2009 Conference Content
IRCE 2009 is a four-day conference featuring 179 speakers in 94 sessions devoted to the strategies and tools that e-retailers can use to thrive in a recession that pulls the rest of retailing down. Hence the theme: Rising Above—Not Just Surviving—the Economic Storm. The agenda, which has fewer general sessions than last year and many more specific breakout sessions and tracks that are targeted to specific e-retailer needs, includes the following:

IRCE 2009 Agenda Summary
Day One (June 15) features two concurrent day-long workshops:

Search Engine Marketing: Strategies for a more competitive market.
Survival Guide for Small E-Retailers.

Day Two (June 16) marks the start of the general conference and features:

General Session (8:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.):

State of the Industry: How E-Retailing Can Shine in A Gloomy Economy
Technology Track: Finding Cost-Effective Web Technologies
Retail Chain Track: Making the Web the Driver of the Chain
Web Design & Merchandising Track: Making a Hot Site at a Cool Cost
Small Retailer Track A: How Low-Budget Operators Can Have Big-Time Success

Day Three (June 17) contains a full day of breakout sessions in four tracks

General Sessions (8:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.)

Marketing Track: What Marketing Works Best in a Recession.
Operations Track: How to Cut Costs While Increasing Conversions
Measuring Success: How Understanding Web Metrics Creates Online Success
Small Retailer Track B: Efficient Ways to Attract New Web Shoppers

Day Four (June 18) features two concurrent day-long workshops:

Capitalizing on the M-Commerce Boom
Diving Deep Into E-Mail Marketing

The Internet Retailer 2009 Conference & Exhibition is not only the world's largest e-retailing conference, it is one of America's fastest growing conferences. While overall attendance at conferences and trade shows grew at 5% last year, IRCE has grown at a compound annual rate of 86% in its first three years of operation—from 1,178 total attendees in 2005 to 4,087 total attendees last year. Based on last year's turnout and favorable conference evaluations, we project total attendance at IRCE 2009 will reach 5,000.

eCommerce SaaS Platform Enhancement: Fulfillment with ShipWorks

2009-02-25T23:47:00.007-05:00

Part of our last major release in January was a service module to allow our Customers to plug-in to the latest version of ShipWorks. The OrderDynamics integration components will also be rolled into the ShipWorks installer for quick integration to our "One-Click Bill & Print" fulfillment automation system for future Customers.

With this enhancement, we've integrated the OrderDynamics eCommerce back end manager at our dataceter, to the ShipWorks software running on the shipping computer our Customer's site. It handles data linking for Customer Service, Shipping, and Tracking for those using ShipWorks 2.9 to automate shipping activities.

What is ShipWorks?
ShipWorks is for people who sell online. It connects to your online store or seller account. It downloads your orders and makes it easy to create shipping labels, manage customers and emails, and update the online status of each order.

Other options?
OrderDynamics supports a wide range of fulfillment and shipping integration options. To be honest, integration to service providers like ShipWorks is very straight forward thanks to the built-in platform APIs inherent in the OrderDynamics system.

Example Service Providers Supported:

United States Postal Service (USPS)
Canada Post
UPS
FedEx
DHL
Pitney Bowes
Endicia
Professional Distribution
Purolator

So far we've had a great experience working with the ShipWorks development and their leadership team.

Recurring Online Retail Sales Possible with "AUTO SHIP" fulfillment automation by OrderDynamics On-Demand eCommerce Solution

2009-02-19T08:22:00.002-05:00

February 19, 2009

OrderDynamics, Canada's leading On-Demand eCommerce Solution provider enables its merchants to offer a recurring purchase and ship option called "auto ship".

Toronto - OrderDynamics Corporation, Securing repeat business is important in any business especially in times of economic uncertainty. For online retailers it's becoming an essential way not only to survive, but to grow revenues on top of a reliable base. Online retailers are in a unique position to acquire recurring sales through sticky services and providing relevant information after the initial purchase thanks to having detailed customer information in their database.

As part of their new feature release strategy, OrderDynamics performs regular Dynamic Merchandising eCommerce Surveys to capture specific interest areas from its Client base. "We hear consistently from both new and current Clients that recurring purchases is a key part of their sales strategy. This helped us prioritize our AUTO SHIP feature" explains Steven Berkovitz, VP Development. OrderDynamics calls its recurring purchase and shipping feature AUTO SHIP, which is a well known term in the eCommerce community.

AUTO SHIP gives the online merchandiser point and click ease to enable their customers to automatically receive certain products on a regular basis. Merchandisers can offer special discounted pricing for customers that subscribe to AUTO SHIP as well as offer multiple shipment frequencies. Call Center agents are also able to easily up-sell shoppers and subscribe them to AUTO SHIP on their behalf. The OrderDynamics SaaS-based eCommerce solution handles the recurring charges and shipping, and provides key management metrics to the merchant to manage their AUTO SHIP program.

AUTO SHIP seamlessly integrates into existing OrderDynamics fulfillment technology. "Our One-Step Bill & Print concept totally streamlines the fulfillment process for our merchants" explains Michael Benadiba, CEO of OrderDynamics. "With a click of a button, orders are downloaded, matched to shipping manifests, then printed for warehouse staff and uploaded to the shipping company for shoppers to track their orders online. And this can be done anytime throughout the day". This process has been refined over the years specifically to reduce fulfillment errors and handle higher volumes of orders. "AUTO SHIP orders seamlessly integrate into our existing One-Step Bill & Print which makes rolling out this new feature transparent to our customer's fulfillment departments." continues Benadiba.
These enhancements are part of an overall new feature release strategy that OrderDynamics includes as part of their eCommerce solution.

About OrderDynamics Corporation
OrderDynamics Corporation is a privately owned company that provides turn-key eCommerce solutions to businesses looking to grow their online sales. The success of OrderDynamics is highly attributed to its response to real client requirements and Dynamic Merchandising concepts which provide superior control and help drive revenue. The OrderDynamics solution is designed for online merchants and services different business such as retail, manufacturing, business-to-business, complex online retail, and more. OrderDynamics officially launched its solution in 2006 after 2 years of research and development.

Learn how we help online merchants grow eCommerce Case Studies

For more information, please contact:
Michael Benadiba
Chief Executive Officer
OrderDynamics Corporation
1+ (866) 559-8123
news@orderdynamics.com