This week ShopTab interviewed Dan Forno of SureSource and wanted to share background information about where he works and his personal review of ShopTab.  If you need assistance with getting your products into the hands of the consumer this is a must read blog post.  SureSource has been in business for over 20 years and originally started as a fulfillment provider for manufacturers selling products directly to the consumer, and a call center to field “Where to Buy” inquiries from consumers.

With the advent of Internet, the transition from print to web made perfect sense and their business model followed suit.  Today SureSource runs turnkey ecommerce operations for 60 significant partnerships providing everything from merchandising the product selection and warehousing of the inventory, to fulfillment and post purchase customer service… all of this on top of the design, development and hosting of the stores themselves. (more…)

Has your business embraced a social media “mindset?” I’m troubled that many marketers quickly incorporate the social media “toolset,” without first understanding the underlying philosophy which drives their use.

In order to experience maximum benefit, it is imperative that companies inculcate the proper mindset as well. It’s the same rationale behind why theory courses are taught in college before practical ones. To do otherwise is to put the proverbial cart before the horse.

Here are seven social media mindset markers:

1. The double-helix of social media DNA is “authenticity” and “transparency”

Some marketing professionals may snicker at those terms, considering them to be trite. I beg to differ. Authenticity and transparency are the chief cornerstones upon which social media is built, the ethical standards that represent the best and highest the medium has to offer. It is a mindset characterized by openness and willingness to share, which brings me to my next point. (more…)

With so many online shopping cart options, finding what is best for your business can be overwhelming.  Each week ShopTab (www.shoptab.net) features one online shopping cart, interviewing the featured cart’s developer to provide an opportunity to learn about why their cart may be right for your business.

This week ShopTab had a chance to talk with Shomik Chattopadhyay, Manager of Business Development at 24SevenCart, an online shopping cart that is a Microsoft Certified Partner and aimed at unlocking your stores potential with ease, security, and customization.

24SevenCart is an online shopping cart solution developed on Microsoft .NET platform with MS-SQL Server as the backend. 24SevenCart offers a collection of all standard features required to run a successful online retail store along with robust interfaces for product and shipping management, sales processing, payment processing, promotion and marketing tools, reporting, multi-layered security and so on. Moreover, all modules in 24SevenCart shopping cart system are 100% customizable. (more…)

With so many online shopping cart options, finding what is best for your business can be overwhelming.  Each week ShopTab features one online shopping cart, interviewing the featured cart’s developer to provide an opportunity to learn about why their cart may be right for your business.

This week Robin Kohli, founder and lead developer of E-Junkie, was kind enough to grant us an interview. E-Junkie is an online shopping cart made with customer convenience in mind with its easy to set up, easy to use, and easy to maintain software.

E-Junkie launched in the end of 2003. Its operations are small and personal with all support and development handled by a strong team of 5 employees (including Robin) out of Tucson, AZ. After working as a freelancer for a few years, Robin began working on E-junkie, to meet his own requirements and later to fulfill the desire of building an easy to use e-commerce engine.

Today E-Junkie has evolved to offer an easy to use, centrally managed service, digital storage and delivery for files and codes, copy-paste Buy Now and Shopping Cart buttons,  shipping and packaging calculators, and sales tax & VAT calculators to many satisfied clients all around the globe.

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With so many online shopping cart options, finding what is best for your business can be overwhelming.  Each week ShopTab features one online shopping cart, interviewing the featured cart’s developer to provide an opportunity to learn about why their cart may be right for your business.

This week ShopTab had the privilege to speak with Brett Florio, co-founder and president of FoxyCart. Florio has been involved in web technologies and internet marketing for the past decade. He is responsible for FoxyCart’s marketing, business development, and researching new functionality that the programmers think is impossible. He lives in Seal Beach, CA, and enjoys discussing politics and religion over happy hour tacos if you happen to be nearby.

FoxyCart had an “accidental” launch mid-2007.  Without any intention to go live or any prior marketing they started to receive signups thanks to some #1 rankings on Google.  Despite having “just a few more” pieces of functionality to implement, they were pushed out of the nest.  In the two years since the launch, they have developed the functionality on their roadmap even more than they initially anticipated thanks in large part to their amazing community.

FoxyCart puts a large focus on customers and their satisfaction, effectively utilizing their inputs and ideas to continuously improve and develop FoxyCart’s service. FoxyCart is designed to eliminate frustration for web retailers, store owners, and entrepreneurs. It is extremely easy to use, fully customizable with CSS and HTML, and built to cleanly integrate with your existing CMS systems via XML & JSON. (more…)