[16/04/10 edit: The production release of Actinic V10 is now here]
Actinic have just announced the public BETA program of their Actinic Ecommerce software for Business.
Building on their 10+ years of providing market leading ecommerce solutions to Internet retailers, Actinic have released the much anticipated version 10 of their award winning software into Beta. This Beta program allows existing and new users to Actinic to view the latest release from Actinic in advance of it’s official launch of the final production release.
The Beta program was established to allow Actinic users the chance to check and test upcoming features and functionality on their own existing Actinic stores, primarily to identify any possible bugs and problems that would be encountered in the “wild” and have them resolved and removed from the final production version, thereby benefiting all concerned.
Actinic V10 Beta – Key Features
- Real Time Stock
Actinic version 10 introduces Real Time stock control online. Merchants can choose to enable online stock control, enable stock monitoring as it was in previous versions, or disable stock control completely. If online stock control is enabled, a customer adds a product to cart online , then completes the checkout, the item(s) will be decremented from stock. Any orders taken offline through Actinic and indeed EPOS are reflected online. - Simplified Checkout Flow
Actinic version 10 introduces a new simplified checkout flow. Customers now no longer have to select their country on a separate page to their invoice / delivery address details. Also if a customer specifies a separate delivery and invoice address, they can enter their details on one page, rather than two, provided they have JavaScript enabled. Version 10 also limits the amount of scrolling which is required in the checkout, bringing it into line with some of the major online retailers. The PSP bounce page has also been replaced with a more logical ‘Confirm Order’ page. There is also a new ‘Confirm Email’ function to help prevent customers entering an incorrect address. - Recently Viewed Products
The Recently viewed products feature shows your customer what products they have been viewing in a thumbnail format whilst they have been browsing your site. The customer can then click on these thumbnails and be taken directly to the product they have just clicked. - Product Reviews / Feefo
Feefo, or Feedback Forum, enables your customers to solicit feedback, both on your products, and your business as a whole. Feefo is independent from your site, and surveys have shown that customers tend to have a greater trust in feedback from 3rd parties, rather than feedback that has just been copied and pasted into your own site. A list of the further benefits of Feefo are provided at http://www.feefo.com/feefo/page.jsp?page=a7 - Google Checkout
Google checkout is different to the majority of Payment Service Providers (PSPs) that ship with Actinic. It is actually a ‘checkout replacement’, if a customer chooses to pay via Google Checkout, the Actinic Checkout is bypassed. It is not too dissimilar to PayPal Express Checkout. - Automatic Card Number Removal
If you use the payment method ‘Credit Card Details Captured for Later Processing’, you can have Actinic automatically obfuscate part of the card number and delete the CVV2 (the last 3 digits on the back of the card) after the order has been processed. - Quick Order Find Tab
If the site contains a large number of orders, it may take some time for Actinic to load in all of the orders. Also it can be hard to find a particular order from a list of 1,000s. In version 10, we have introduced a ‘Quick Find’ tab within the ‘Orders’ tab. - Start Up Site Selection Dialogue
If you are using Actinic Business Plus or above with multiple sites, you can decide which site opens on startup. - Send Emails Immediately on One Click Order Processing
In previous versions, the ‘One Click Complete’ function for completing orders did not automatically send mails, it queued them, and the merchant had to click the ‘Send Mails’ button in the toolbar to complete the process. Version 10 can be configured to work as in previous versions, or to automatically send mails upon completion - Handling Components Independently
With version 10, it is possible to ship components separately of their main product. For example, you may have a computer that is made up of a base unit, and a monitor. You may have the base unit in stock, but not the monitor. With version 10, you can choose to ship the base unit now, and the monitor later - New Themes
Three new themes have been included with Actinic version 10. These are: • Bobcat • Minimal • Silver
(There are a few Actinic Enterprise version specific features as well, not listed here)
You can obtain a copy of the beta software from our website here:
Download Actinic V10 Beta
Feedback:
Actinic themselves are actively encouraging people to become interactive with this Beta program and are asking for your feedback on their GetSatisfaction website.