Lycos Launches Storefront Builder

Summer’s dog days are still in full swing, but Lycos Inc. Wednesday launched a service designed to get merchants online well in time for the holiday season.

Lycos Merchant Center is a storefront building utility designed for those wanting to get in on the e-commerce game. Its tools include store-building software, real-time credit card processing services and integrated order management and payment processing applications. With no programming experience at all, storebuilders can be ready to sell in less than 10 minutes, Lycos said.

“Merchants who want to make their first foray into e-commerce or want to extend their e-commerce penetration significantly can now take advantage of the huge audience reach of the Lycos Network with a minimum of effort,” said Jeff Bennett, Lycos vice president of e-commerce.

This year’s holiday season is poised to break all previous e-commerce records, said a study by Ziff-Davis’ InternetTrak. According to the survey, 24 million people over the age of 18 are likely to buy gifts over the Internet this holiday season, compared to the 7.8 million who shopped last year. The holiday season runs from October to December.

“The biggest shopping season of the year is rapidly approaching, and the Lycos Merchant Center can simplify what could otherwise be a time-consuming, complicated process,” Bennett said.

“For most merchants there’s not enough time left to build a store from scratch in time for the holiday shopping season. With the Lycos Merchant Center, merchants can build a store in a matter of minutes.”