The Internet Factory Inc. delivered Merchant Builder 3.0, a scaleable commerce hosting environment built from the ground up as a revenue-generating tool for Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
The product allows ISPs to offer low-cost, full-featured storefronts to new
and existing Web hosting customers, said the Pleasanton, CA-based company.
This version is a new product based on technology in the company’s Merchant
Builder 2.2 single-store and mall commerce solutions.
Merchant Builder reduces the total cost of hosting e-commerce sites by
increasing the number of stores hosted per Web server, lowering software and
systems integration costs, and reducing ISP support costs by enabling non-
technical merchants to handle day-to-day store management, the company said.
End-users can use wizards to create and test time-limited Web stores without
ISP assistance. These stores can be converted to paid stores at the end of the trial period.
Merchant Builder 3.0 supports NetObjects Fusion 3.0, Microsoft FrontPage,
Netscape Composer and other standard Web site editors, allowing stylized sites to be built by HTML designers without programming.
Merchant Builder includes all of the tools needed to manage a busy store.
Store building and maintenance wizards, sales and sales tax reports, order
tracking, credit card authorization, shipping and handling, and sales tax
calculations are all included.
Merchant Builder 3.0 is scheduled for general availability by the end of the
first quarter. Pricing will be based on terms negotiated with ISPs. Merchant
Builder 2.2 is still available for single store installations.
