Alpha Software's Online Merchant Nominated for Coveted PC Computing MVP Award
Chosen as Finalist from Hundreds of products, representing its excellence in usability, power, performance, breakthrough technology, industrial engineering, and overall value.
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 1998-- Alpha Software, a subsidiary of SoftQuad International Inc. (OTC BB:SWEBF)(TSE:SKI - news), today announced that their exciting new product, Online Merchant -- everything you need to create an Internet store, was
chosen as a Finalist in the highly regarded PC Computing MVP Awards. The PC Computing MVP Awards recognize the year's most outstanding business computing products for their achievements in usability, innovation, performance, technology and value.
The MVP selection process requires months of work from a team of dedicated PC Computing editors and Labs technicians, and focuses on the real-world productivity needs of technology-focused professionals from businesses of all types and sizes. Each year PC Computing
features standout products who have achieved MVP status in over 40 major categories, representing every important sector of the business technology market. Online Merchant is one of three Finalists
in the Commerce Services category.
''We're delighted that Online Merchant has achieved such recognition as a breakthrough in Internet commerce solutions. Online Merchant is the first tool to address the needs of the small-medium merchant wanting to conduct business on the Web, and we feel it is well poised to bring home the coveted award by providing merchants with freedom and scalability,' said Richard Rabins, CEO, Alpha Software Corporation.
Using Online Merchant, developing and maintaining a Web storefront is as easy as selecting a catalog style, entering product descriptions and photos, and designating which credit cards to accept. Online Merchant's flexibility and freedom delivers significant benefits to the merchant including a unique, dynamic shopping cart capability; automatic order calculation; full site product search and indexing; and automated order confirmation by email. In addition, the product works with all Web authoring tools, allowing users to easily integrate their store into an existing site; merchants also have the freedom to present their store as a standalone web site.
Online Merchant stands out from the competition by offering merchants freedom and scalability. Unlike other products, Online Merchant store owners have the freedom to choose their hosting partner; they can showcase an unlimited number of products with no additional costs; and they build their store offline, allowing them to save valuable dialup time.
With scalability being such an important piece of any e-commerce initiative, Online Merchant offers multiple upgrade paths giving merchants the choice depending on their business objectives and
product offerings. For example, those merchants who sell to consumers may want to consider a mall hosting environment with BuyItOnline. While those business to business merchants may prefer the
comprehensive robust backend transaction processing they get with ICOMS, a leading Open Market Commerce Service Provider.
BuyItOnline is a complete shopping site for Internet commerce and includes all of the software and services necessary to provide a transaction-based shopping platform. The site addresses all of the
merchandizing community's fundamental issues surrounding e-commerce, providing packaged, end-to-end services for merchants including hosting, security, transaction functionality, shipping, marketing and promotions, and catalog-style, 24x7 call-center customer support.
With the Professional edition of Online Merchant the ease, power and control of building storefronts offline combined with the industry's most robust, secure and reliable industrial-strength commerce
service, allows merchants to be open for business in a matter of hours. These backend services are offered through Internet Commerce Services Corporation (ICOMS), a leading Open Market Commerce Service Provider and include real-time credit card payments plus transaction processing, complete order management, store administration and policy support, and advanced marketing features (including digital coupons, buyer registration, and subscription management).
The PC Computing MVP Finalists signal that the selected products are outstanding in their categories and have earned the highest distinction in the industry after thorough evaluation by PC Computing editors. In the final evaluation, Online Merchant will compete with iCat Commerce Online and Yahoo! Store for the PC Computing MVP Award. The Winners of these 10th annual MVP Awards will be announced on Sunday, November 15, 1998 at COMDEX in Las Vegas, NV. |
