We have completely revamped our patent-pending Web Store and now it is easier than ever to have an online Web Store for your merchandise. What makes this Web Store so unique? Once it is set up, you can add, delete or change items on your Web Store with the click of a mouse in your POS Express application! In addition, sales made on your website are linked in real time to your inventory on hand and are processed on the CPS POS just like any other station in your store. Sounds simple enough and it is; yet every other product out there requires at least two completely separate systems -- one for your in-house POS and one for your web store. Not to mention, you have to pay someone to maintain that Web Store and you have to enter all of the sales in at least two separate systems; and of course you have to update at least two separate inventory systems. Ok, you get the point...

Let's take a look at how this all comes together in one integrated and easy-to-use solution that will have you competing with the largest of e-commerce players at a fraction of the cost. Note that the CPS Web Store does not replace your current web site -- it integrates with your current website, including all of your branding graphics.

New & Improved Features for 2009:

• Simple and reliable upload of thumbnail and full-size pictures for your products.
• Support of linked items (for different color/size/style).
• Ability to create departments for your Web Store and to assign any product to one or more departments.
• Ability to set the sort order of the departments as well as the products within each department.
• Show or Hide the prices for the products and mark an item as "On-Sale."
• A simple checkbox to Show or Remove a product from your online Web Store.
• Full-featured Shopping Cart.
• Allow new customers to shop and check-out without having to register first.
• Real-Time integration to your inventory and POS.
• Automated emails for merchant notification, customer confirmation and product shipping.
• Automatically collect customer email addresses to feed your Email Marketing Tool.
• Safe and Secure for both the Merchant and the On-Line Consumer.
• All maintained inside POS Express - no knowledge of web programming required.
• I could go on (as I usually do) but my proofreaders get annoyed...

This lesson will focus on Departments. The Departments are similar to Menu Items on your Quick Sale menus. They will be listed down the left side of the screen and clicking on a Department button will drill down to sub-Departments and/or Products for sale. Here is a sample showing my top-level Departments:

Preface: Setting up your Web Store is easy. TFhat does not mean that it doesn't take a bit of time. However, most of it is done with point and click but generally is a lot of busy work. I am going to show you how to do this yourself. If you like, we are willing to do all of this for you at an hourly rate; but I encourage you to do it yourself so that once it's set up, you can quickly make changes at any time.

Let's start with Departments. Laying out your Online Web Store takes some thought. Just like you lay out your Pro-Shop, you need to organize your Online shop as well. It does not need to be the same as your retail shop and does not need to be the same way you organize your database inventory (which is by Supplier and Sale Category). We have introduced the "Department" for your Online Store. Departments can group a set of products that you sell or it can group sub-departments. I will set up Golf Balls for a main Department, followed by Titleist and Calloway sub-Departments and within each of those, a couple of products.

Quick Marketing Tip: Anyone can sell golf balls... Concentrate on your Logo'd materials first; where you are the sole supplier.

1. Click Tools > Options > Reference Tables
2. Click on Web Store Departments and click ADD
3. Enter a Department Name and Description (Description will show on the Web Site)

Now comes some busy work. You need a picture for your Web Store page. For menu items, you only need a thumbnail image; for products, you need a full-size and a thumbnail image. You can make your own pictures with a digital camera or find stock pictures on the web. I will demonstrate getting pictures from Google.

At this point in the setup, you can leave this screen as is and open up a web browser (I use Internet Explorer 7). Go-to http://www.google.com/ and Google Titleist Golf Balls.

1. http://www.google.com/
2. Enter Titleist Golf Balls and enter to search
3. Click on the Images link
4. Right click on the image you want and then left click on Save Picture As.

Set up a folder on your drive to keep all of these files together and name them so that it is easy to retrieve these pictures in the next step. Here I set up a folder under MyPics called Thumbs and I am saving that golf ball picture as GolfBalls.jpg. Like I said it's easy but it is busy work -- enlist the help of a small child.

    5. Click Save for the file and Save for the Department.

This will return you to the Department list. Click Add again to add the sub-Departments:

Again, add the Name and Description. In this case, "Titleist".

Same process to get the pictures: Go To http://www.google.com/ and Google Titleist.

1. http://www.google.com/
2. Enter Titleist and enter to search
3. Click on the Images link
4. Right click on the image you want and then left click on Save Picture As.

    5. Save the images to the same folder as before and then assign the image to the Department.

1. Click the "..." button for the Thumbnail Image.
2. Navigate to the folder you set up above and find the image you saved.
3. Click on that image (double click is a shortcut).
4. Click on Open.
5. Select the Parent Department from the drop-down list - in this case Golf Balls.
6. Click on Update or Save.

Repeat the above steps for "Calloway."

When you're finished, your list will include Golf Balls with no Parent, and Titleist and Calloway with Golf Balls as the Parent:

You can add as many Departments and sub-Departments as you like.

Now we need to add Products to the Departments and assign pictures for the Web Store. I will walk you through adding Pro V1s.

First, since we already know we need pictures, let's do the Google part first. Google Pro V1 and find the image you want to use. Left click and Save the image with a "TN" (for ThumbNail) on the end.

Now, for the Full-Size image, LEFT click on the same image. This will open a new web page with a larger image. Right click on that image and save it as well with the same name "Prov1" but leave off the "TN" at the end.

Follow the steps below to put the product on your Web Store.
1) Open your inventory and filter by the Golf Balls category.
2) Select your ProV1 product (set it up if you don't already have it or use a product you do have and follow along).
3) Click the Online tab.
4) To put a product on your Web Store, click the Show Online checkbox (take off the checkbox to remove a product from the Web Store - yep, it's that simple!).
5) Weight will be used for integrated UPS shipping and Full Description is what will show on your Web Store.
6) Navigate to and select the Thumbnail picture you saved.
7) Navigate to and select the Full size picture you saved.
8) Scroll down.

9) Use your mouse and select Titleist from the Departments.
10) Click the Right Arrow (>) button.
11) This will move Titleist to the Apply column.
12) Click SAVE

Tip: If you want a product to appear in multiple Departments on your Web Store, you can select those here.

Note: As soon as you click SAVE, that product magically appears on your Web Store!
(Get the F... out! I know! I couldn't believe it either until I saw it myself.)

Repeat this process for every Titleist ball you sell, and then do the same for every Calloway.

End result is that your Online shoppers will be able to drill all the way down to a specific product and order it!

In the next lesson, I will show you how to fine tune your web store by using such features as:

• Sorting your Departments and Items in the Departments
• Changing Prices and Descriptions
• Mark an Item "On-Sale" and show a Sale Price
• Don't show a price On-Line
• Processing and Shipping Orders

... all without having to know any web programming, all without having to leave the POS Express v3 application, and all appearing on your Web Store as soon as you click the SAVE button! But you don't have to wait... Call Mike Stanovich (mike@ClubProphetSystems.com) at (800) 793-1872 today and we can setup your Web Store now!

Until Next time,

Enjoy :)

Stop and say hello at the PGA Merchandise Show - Jan 29-31 in Orlando. Booth #3577