And Over the Line for ProMart 3.0
We are pleased to announce that all of our websites have been successfully migrated to ProMart 3.0! It's been a long hard slog, but really worth it. We have really enjoyed the process but many times wished to see the end closer.
Since we started the massive job of building the entirly new front end e-commerce system and ditching Virtuemart, it's taken 4 of us 6-7 months to complete.
Myself personally, I have worked every single weekend from there to here. Excluding Christmas Weekend! My wife and family are certainly looking forward to having me back!
So Whats New?
Automatic System Deployment
All sites are now automatically updated with security releases and new features using our new custom designed deployment system. This means we can bring our customers brand new functionality regularly and even on request.
Automatic Data Deployment
We have redesigned our data deployment system to enable faster price updates. Every night all ProMart 3.0 sites retrieve the latest product data and prices from our brand new data directory.
CDN - Content Delivery Network
All images and templates are now served through CDN for faster distribution and faster loading of websites. Each domain now has its own cdn subdomain cdn.yoursite.com. This means the images still appear on your domain but your website does not need to be slowed by serving them to end users.
Yootheme Pro Template System - Built for Mobile
ProMart 3.0 now comes with YooTheme pro. You can check that out here. You can even play with the designer here. This template system is brand new and has new features being released all the time. It's an absolute pleasure to work with and I personally love it. But you don't have to get into the design if you don't want to. You can leave it to us to design you a fantastic website.
UiKit 3.0
Yootheme Pro is built using all the functionality of UiKit 3. Promart shares all the same design classes and utilises the framework to give you a great user experience.
Repacker.co.uk
All ProMart 3.0 distributors' clients can now utilise our new free service. They can rebrand the quotes from ProMart 3.0 and add their own logos and markups. Once their account is setup, they simply click the "Repacker Link" on the quote they receive, to transfer all of the details into a free to use quote system. They can then also create sales orders, invoices and paid invoices. It's pretty cool... check it out here.
Reseller Websites
All ProMart 3.0 distributors can now offer their clients their own branded websites with all of the products from our data directory published with a margin applied above the standard margin. Any enquiries from these sites will be placed in the users enquiry list on the distributors main website. They will also have access to their own control panel where they can add their own text and customise the colours and design with CSS. The cost for these sites is £100 Setup plus an ongoing £25 per month fee per site. These are proving a very popular addon as they work well with our new free repacker.co.uk service.
Free and Automated SSL Certificates
Our new servers are now equipped with automated SSL. This means all our sites run on https and there is no extra charge to our customers for this.
Expanded "My Products" Section
We have removed the product archive and replaced it with "My Products". Now you can store all your own products alongside the product database we provide. If you have a product with the same SKU and URL then your product will override the display of ours. This gives you the ability to set your own prices and information as well as suppliers etc.
Search Filters / Sorting
You can now filter products based on Keyword / Index / Tags / Colors / Price Range. This is a long awaited feature and adds a lot of functionality to the users navigating your site. You can now also sort products by Price / Production Time / Min Order Quantity
Custom Quote Images
We have added the ability to upload an image for a particular quote. You can select from previously used images and you can select from a range of our data directory images. This sounds like a small change but it has fundamentally altered the way ProMart works as pratically all the code had to change to accomodate this. The image uploader automatically resizes JPG or PNG files and places them on a 500px x 500px canvas for uniformity.
Add Custom Products for Quotes Fast
There is now a function on the quote page where you can quickly add a new product via a popup. Simply drop in an image and give it a name and an SKU and you can use it for quoting on bespoke items.
New Tagging System
All Products can new be tagged with any tag you desire rather than working with the 30 or so we previously provided. Each of these tag pages can then be optomised and add to the menu system very easily using our new front end editor.
New Vertical Menu System for Products
We have rebuilt the entire menu system to use a much more mobile friendly vertical catalogue system. All product indexes and categories are now stored away neatly until needed. The menu items can be filtered easily and offers a much better navigation experience.
What's the plan now?
New Cool Stuff!
We are really looking forward to adding lots more functionality to ProMart 3.0 particually automation of tasks and processes. Just today, we added in a brand new feature that allows users to automatically chase all outstanding PDF proofs at a set time each day. We will be working with our users to help develop existing features and further enhance the order system and CRM tools.
Data Processing. Believe or not we find this fun!
We thank all our users for bearing with us while we got ProMart 3.0 launched before we started this task. Correct data is important and we intend to now focus on updating existing products and adding new ones. We are hoping to take on some new suppliers so that we can directly feed products on a real time basis.
Reduced Prices For Supplier Websites
To encourage more suppliers on board we have dropped the price to just £65 per month. Visit our pricing and features page here. In the future we are looking to add more functionality between promart supplier websites and distributors. Such as direct transfer of quotes and orders between systems. The reduction in price will hopefully spur some more supplier interest.