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Why call it an eCommerce Engine?

There are more shopping carts out there than one can count. Why another? First, this is not JASC (Just Another Shopping Cart), even though it does have that functionality built in, if needed. What it is, specifically, is an eCommerce engine. It therefore adheres to the architecture of what we are defining as an "engine"; which is:

  1. Provides a "feed-like" technology to provide products, both individually or as groups, into a static web page.
  2. Provides "shopping" components (view cart, mini cart, etc) into the static web page.
  3. Provides an API for remote control of typical ecommerce tasks (add, remove products, cart totals, shipping totals, etc..)
  4. Provides a full administrative back end.

How are these features useful?

Product Feeds

What we have found with many of our clients is that few small businesses really want "a full featured shopping cart". They want their products presented in a way that allows them to provide their customers a more custom looking experience. This is easily done on a standard static web page. This, however, presents a problem: there becomes a disconnect between the nice "shopping experience", the "shopping cart" and the "payment gateway" components. Our product feed technology allows for the best of both worlds: the ability to wrap their products with custom developed pages and all of the "shopping cart" tools that integrate right into the static page. When the customer is ready to actually purchase, they are directed to the "checkout" module to complete the transactions. This checkout module is completely styled to match the core website. The customer does not experience any "disconnect" from the main website.

Why not just use PayPal's Website Payment Standard "Buy Now" buttons?

That is a reasonable solution if your needs are simple and straight forward. But there are several limitations and issues that may be a problem for a given web business owner and their ecommerce needs:

  1. They want to use their bank's Merchant Account (not available in Standard), you must use Pro or Payflow
  2. Coupons and enhanced shipping features (USPS, UPS, etc)
  3. Management of product pictures and enlargement pictures.
  4. Attached documentation or other information.
  5. In general, limited product and account management tools.

The Sonic eCommerce Engine solves these problems by:

  1. Integrating Website Pro, Payflow Link, Pro or Authorize.net SIM and AIM (others are also possible)
  2. Installing a product on the page is a matter of "cut and paste" from the Product admin page to the static webpage. Needed code is auto-generated. Special features are easily set on the product admin page.
  3. Product pictures, enlargements and attached documentation automatically provided from engine.
  4. Advance coupon features
  5. Expanded Shipping features.
  6. Full product, account and invoice management tools.

eCommerce Engine API

The API is for the programmer who needs a real custom solution but does not want to get into the proprietary systems of most commercial shopping carts. The developer wants complete freedom to design and program the shopping experience, but does not want to program the back end administration "stuff". The eCommerce engine provides the back end heavy lifting so that you can focus on the client's "customer experience" needs. A brief list of the services provided:

The API allows the programmer to control any part of the engine and provide posting and retrieval of any information in the system.