Website vs. Web Storefront. What is the difference?

What is the difference between a website and a web storefront? Why use one or the other?
Websites are omnipotent! Since the internet’s inception they have sprung up everywhere in every format and for every purpose.
Websites serve as a “storyteller” about the person, the company, or the “gimmick”. Those who access the website can gather information and can also make appropriate contact with the organization.
Businesses use websites to advertise their products, talk about employees, gain investors’ interest etc, and can expand their exposure globally.
With few exceptions, websites do not necessarily allow a business to “sell” directly to their customers. There has to be something more….something different ...This is where a web storefront shines!
A web storefront is the customer’s portal to your products. This can be either in a B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer). Access to a web storefront can be from THE website but it is clearly very different. It is NOT the website.
This distinction should be clearly understood by IT, Marketing and Customer Service.
With a web storefront, sales and customer service can be expanded and available 24/7. Marketing should be actively involved to drive people to the site, improve product awareness and improve customer contact. Web Storefronts that are tightly integrated with the live business database (ERP) that offer real-time order and inventory status ….virtually eliminate the need for customer service calls
This is eBusiness. There are many strategies to drive customers to the webstore (But, that’s for another blog entry…stay tuned!) In any case, mutual benefits will be realized. The customers will appreciate your “ investing “ in them and YOUR company will free personnel from customer service inquiries as well as generating more sales online!

Credit Card Security... Just the facts!

With global eCommerce a fact of life in today's shrinking world, Credit Card Security should be a number one priority in the public’s mind from both personal and business perspectives.

Stored Credit Card information must be protected. Although people want to have their mind at ease when conducting transactions, government and regulatory agencies mandate protection. Credit card processing must be PCI compliant…..

Did you know……”the 2006, and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requires merchants (and others) to encrypt certain cardholder information. At last count, nearly three dozen states have laws that require merchants to announce when they have disclosed personal information that was not encrypted. Visa and Mastercard can levy fines of up to $500,000 for breaches in which the merchant failed to implement security measures. In my experience, these fines are larger and generally occur more often in situations where the merchant failed to use encryption.”

Also, PCI DSS "Requirement 3.4 states that merchants must render [the Primary Account Number], at minimum, unreadable anywhere it is stored (including data on portable digital media, backup media, in logs, and data received from or stored by wireless networks)."

Simply put, irresponsibly storing credit card data either in electronic form or on a notepad may result in significant penalties.

If you process orders internally, MOTO (mail order - telephone order), or via your website, responsible credit card processing provides you with the following benefits:

1. Legal Compliance
2. Improved Cash Flow
3. Happy Customers (They love to get their Credit Card points)

If you are an Infor ERP XA (formerly mapics) customer, you should consider the integrated solution, XA Card_Connect by Lexel Corporation and Curbstone Corporation’s Curbstone Card.
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Mark Shubel
VP
Lexel Corporation

Welcome to Lexel Corporation’s blog! Since this is our first post let me explain a bit about our company and what to expect on these pages.

Lexel has been in business for over 25 years implementing business systems for manufacturing and distribution companies. Although located on Long Island NY, USA, our customers are worldwide and range from small to Fortune 500 companies. Having been in management in manufacturing companies, Lexel’s consultants know business…not just ERP systems. Our consultants have deep knowledge of industry as well as systems and network infrastructure.
As you will see on www.lexel.com, over the years we have created many add-on products for Infor ERP XA (formerly mapics) and products that “connect” to other systems. The products range from Cost Accounting for Aerospace and Defense companies to our COM_Net2/CN3 world-class integrated eBusiness products. Our technology leverages the power of the IBM iSeries, Java as well as most other common platforms.

So, with our experience in manufacturing, accounting, network infrastructure, eBusiness and IBM iSeries, you will see that this blog will evolve to address a variety of topics. We are sure you will find them interesting and informative.

Our goal will be to post an article at least quarterly and for more frequent updates follow us on Twitter !

Thanks! Welcome to Lexel’s blog!