Internet provider EarthLink Monday announced a new
service that will give small and medium-sized businesses an affordable way
to establish storefronts on the Web.
EarthLink’s Entrepreneur e-commerce solutions will enable businesses to
build full-featured storefronts on the Web for as little as $20 a
month. The service, to launch in December, will allow businesses to
customize their storefronts with the ability to include product catalogs
and offer secure shopping.
“We’ve given the small proprietor a whole new way to reach customers and
sell products and services to a huge global market by making e-commerce
affordable and easy,” said Garry Betty, EarthLink’s president and chief
executive officer.
“These sites really make Internet commerce a point-and-click proposition —
without sacrificing functionality or appearance. It’s the best of all
worlds for a small and medium-sized business.”
E-commerce packages are priced from $20 to $80 a month. The higher priced
packages support larger product catalogs, include more storage space and
detailed site management reports and also give store owners the ability to
download information directly into Quickbooks, Intuit Corp.’s small
business accounting software.
Powering the storefronts will be technology from Breakthrough Software Inc. The company’s ShopZone Web Edition allows individuals and companies to easily set up online stores or malls. The software is designed for Internet providers, portals and online communities that want to offer e-commerce capabilities to their customers.
Users can easily create and manage their stores through any Web browser.
The software also supports discussion forms and a variety of other advanced
features.