Ability SmartSite™ - Ecommerce Software Technical Information

Site Architecture

Stay on the leading edge of technology with Ability SmartSite™. Our ecommerce software is designed to maximize speed, flexibility, traffic, user experience, ease of use, power, and security.

Microsoft .NET N-tier solution
C#
Ajax
JavaScript
XML data storage
XSL layout control
SQL Server data management back end
SQL poll caching
Real time accurate data provide to web site
API used for calls to 3rd party software like third party billing
Ability SmartSite upgrades are released multiple times throughout the year to always stay competitive

Speed

Your customers get immediate responses to their requests – no waiting.

Client side JavaScript responds to customer click events immediately with no post-backs to the web server. Customer can see updated item availability, pricing and messaging on the item detail page immediately. Left navigation can expand and contract with the click of a button.
Ajax controls allow for immediate changes to shipping and other calculations without page reloads.
Web Services feeds data to the dynamic pages within Ability SmartSite without the page having to be reloaded.
XML data storage – major sections of data, including the left navigation structure, are stored in XML files for faster data loading.
SQL Poll Caching – Ability SmartSite retains data caching of every data request made by every client and ONLY retrieves data from Content Management (SQL) if the data has changed.

Flexibility

Your marketing department can easily manage menus, product information and promotional areas while IT/IS maintains control the look and feel of your site.

Content Management controlled navigational structure and product information.
Content Management controlled banner and text areas are provided in lots of multiple places throughout the site.
CSS – Control the look and feel of your site through cascading style sheets. This allows global control through all fonts, colors, borders, background colors, background images and more throughout the entire site.
HTML Form control – Control your own HTML for the top navigation, footer navigation and supplemental left navigation.
RESX – Controls the system messages, titles and instructions throughout the entire site to provide complete customization of all messages. We provide default messages and you may customize them to suit your client base.
XSLT – Additional layout control is provided for the left navigation and item detail page. This allows for full layout management of your products and navigational display.

Traffic

Increase customer acquisition by driving the right traffic to your site with our proven organic ranking strategies.

Multiple SEO strategies are available on every page of the site.
Customizable page title and meta description tag control throughout entire site.
Cross linking is automatically generated based on your menu structure for increased keyword density.
Constantly updating / rotating information throughout site provides fresh content for search engine spiders.

User Experience

Create a personalized experience for your shoppers and reduce cart abandonment.

.NET Forms authentication allows "remember me" and "forgot password" functionality. Easy login process - requires only email address and password.
Customer Profile retention through .NET functionality. As customers proceed through the web site they are assigned a single cookie that is associated to individual customer preferences throughout this site. This information is retrieved upon return to further customize their shopping experience. This includes remembering a customer's favorite shipping method, item sorting options, previous shipping addresses, source codes and many other customer specific decisions to yield a highly personalized shopping experience.

Ease of Use

Content Management puts your marketing department in control of site content without technical support.

Content Management System includes: product and menu image upload, item import feature, page title and meta description tag maintenance, marketing banners and more.
Intuitive Content management system allows up-sells, cross-sells, campaigns, and promotions.
Increase your site content without additional maintenance through user-generated content. This includes "customers also bought" cross-selling products based on items previous customers have purchased; most popular wish list products and much more.

Power

Scalable platform to meet your growing business and traffic needs that runs independent of your order management system.

Ability to run on multiple servers to handle high traffic volume.
Ability to run multiple web sites on one content management system.
Scalable for growth – continue to add to your navigational structure, increase products and even expand into multiple web sites.
Data imports and exports available for consolidated maintenance.
Order Management system independent – Queue up orders when the order management system is unavailable and process orders later.
Order retention – capture order requests regardless of errors. Don't let a customer's error result in an incomplete order!

Security

Protect data and increase conversions by providing your customers with the security they demand.

HTTP / HTTPS control defined throughout entire site.
HTML form control allows third party security integration. Display your security logos where they make the most impact.
User Passwords, Credit Cards and Gift Card Information are encrypted for storage.
No user information is stored on the web server.
Prevention of cross scripting attacks.

If you prefer to have someone manage your website for you, you can count on our parent company, Marketing Concepts, for outsourced online marketing and web management services.