Features

When you sign up for FoodCommerce you get a fully hosted and technically supported online store capable of delivering the same online shopping experience as the major supermarkets. Your store is then managed and operated by you on a day-to-day basis through the Control Panel, which you access from any computer connected to the Internet.

FoodCommerce is rich with features and functionality aimed directly at food retailers that you won't find in any other off-the-shelf ecommerce package:

• Delivery - offer your customers one or more of these options:
  • Standard delivery - postcode definable delivery areas and timeslots for your customer to select. You would probably want to do this locally and use your own delivery vehicle.
  • Express/priority delivery - for the customer who wants it now and is prepared to pay. As soon as the order is placed you receive a text message so you can begin working on it immediately. Only available to customers who live in one of your delivery areas.
  • Collection point - ideal for the customers that don't live in one of your delivery areas, you pick and pack the order ready for your customer to collect. The obvious collection point is your own shop but you could also create one in a work place or a non-competitive shop in another town.
  • Courier delivery - our new courier delivery system deals with the problems of sending perishables by courier as well as offering a great customer service.
• Product pricing - more relevant to food retailers:
  • Each
  • Per kilogram with single weight option – ideal for selling items that the customer would buy individually but you want to sell by weight e.g. apples.
  • Per kilogram with multiple weight options – for selling items like cheese where different customers want different sizes. A drop-down box appears on the website for the customer to select the size they want.
    
    Note that because the money is taken after you have prepared the order the customer is charged for the weight you actually cut/supply. This considerable saving helps FoodCommerce pay for itself.
    
    
  • Per litre with single or multiple options similar to the kilogram options.
• Payment processing - payment is taken by debit/credit card through your merchant account after the order has been picked and the actual weights and any substitutions entered. All payments are automatically taken as part of the order fulfilment process and refunds can also be made directly through the website. Your customers' credit card details are securely held by Protx and will never be seen by your staff.
  
  To enable payments in your online store you will need an Internet merchant account from a UK acquiring bank and a Protx payment gateway. Once you have your Protx payment gateway it only takes a few minutes to integrate it into your FoodCommerce online store.
  
  Click here for more information on Protx and merchant accounts.
  
  
  
  
• Brand your store - create your own theme and brand your store with your own unique business identity. You can also create as many additional web pages as you need to complete your Internet presence.
• Promotions and offers - easily create offers against orders and products to help promote your business.
• Order processing - order processing is done through the Control Panel where you can:
  • view and/or print picklists.
  • replace unavailable items with substitutions.
  • recalculate the order amount.
  • print delivery notes.
  • enter delivery result and take payment.
  • give customer refunds.
• Product, producers, categories and attribute masters - FoodCommerce contains a library of masters to save you the trouble and expense of creating them yourself. Simply link to a master when you create an item and it will inherit the data. Once created you can break the link to some or all of the items and make any changes you wish. You can of course create any item from scratch if you wish.
• Image library - we have a library of food images which you are free to browse and add to items in your store.
• SMS text messages - give great customer service by sending an automated text message to your customers to remind them of their delivery, or to collect their order.
• The Control Panel - the place where you manage your online store.
  • Add new products from the library or create your own.
  • Disable/reactivate seasonal products.
  • Change prices.
  • Process customer orders.
  • Create delivery notes and pick-lists.
  • Create order discounts like free delivery over £50.
  • Discount products such as buy 2 get 1 free or 10% off.
  • Customise the appearance of your online store to your own unique business identity.
  • Manage your delivery areas and timeslots.
  • Manage producers, categories and attributes.
  • and much much more...