LaGarde designed its StoreFront Now software so that ISPs could sell and host e-commerce services that will appeal to small businesses, allowing them to compete with Yahoo! Stores and bCentral.

by Wayne Kawamoto [February 26, 2002]

LaGarde, a provider of e-commerce software and services for small- to medium-sized businesses, announced the release of StoreFront Now, the company's new e-commerce service that is targeted towards ISPs and small business service providers who serve the needs of early-stage and entry-level merchants.

LaGarde says that StoreFront Now offers Web service providers a private-labeled e-commerce solution that is easy to provide to merchants, and gives internet service providers and small business service providers the tools that are necessary to compete head to head with e-commerce service providers such as Yahoo! Stores and bCentral. The StoreFront Now service solution is designed to be fully Web-based and meet the point and click, wizard-driven needs of entry-level merchants.

The StoreFront Now Web Store Provisioning tools are designed to automate the provisioning of StoreFront Now Web stores with a simple, wizard-driven interface. They should enable the server administrator to quickly and easily create a new account, specify the site location, and create the Web store's database.

An option allows merchants to build their own sites. From a familiar browser interface, merchants should be able to manage store operations, process orders, administer sales and promotions, add and update product information, and more.

The StoreFront Now Web Store Provisioning tools are designed to create the specified directories, install the application files, connect the database, and establish the proper permissions. StoreFront Now includes a Management Console that should let Web administrators view and edit account information and Web store settings. In addition, reporting tools can present information about the Web stores that are running on the server, which includes total monthly commissions due to LaGarde, new stores that have been created, and stores that have been cancelled.

The company says that StoreFront Now offers service providers a competitive advantage over vendors offering service-only e-commerce solutions.

StoreFront Now is fully scalable to LaGarde's StoreFront e-commerce software platform, which is designed to allow growing businesses the opportunity to scale to the StoreFront software platform when their e-business operations demand a more powerful solution.

The StoreFront Now Web store platform is proprietary to each licensee and cannot be ported by the merchant to another provider, thereby strengthening customer retention rates. Furthermore, ISPs may be able to customize the StoreFront Now backend to build brand and support marketing strategies.

"Our StoreFront Now platform has been developed to allow the ISP to compete head to head with Yahoo! Stores, bCentral and other hosted e-commerce offerings," said Bob LaGarde, Founder and CEO of LaGarde. "StoreFront Now allows the ISP to deliver a fully private labeled, feature rich e-commerce service to early stage small business customers, adding significantly to the overall value of the ISP's relationship with their small business clientele."

Availability and pricing
StoreFront Now is available now. The cost of the service is based on a revenue share model that contains seven different store levels.

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