TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:Yahoo! yesterday released the first part of a multi-stage upgrade to its e-commerce Merchant Solutions platform designed to simplify and streamline the process for opening a new store.

The new interface, called the Open for Business Control Panel, efficiently guides new merchants through the steps needed to get their stores up and running by specifically highlighting the tasks that a business owner must complete.

Five Steps to Success
These key steps include: designing a site, adding products and setting up payment methods, tax rates and shipping rules. In addition to providing merchants with helpful instructions for each of the required tasks, the Open for Business Control Panel also provides updates on the status of their progress as they move through the set-up...

Quote:Yahoo is giving small business owners an early present for the holidays: two wizards, one for site design and one for adding products, to help Web shop owners get up and running faster.

The goal of the design wizard is let e-commerce shop owners choose layouts from a selection of templates or design their own by selecting the number of columns and their positions, as well as how product information is displayed. Finally, they can customize the basics-fonts, colors, links and buttons.

You can add products by entering information about each item in dialog boxes, uploading images and setting a price. A feature of the "add product" wizard lets you create options for items with different variations, such as sizes and colors for shirts. These are viewed through drop-down selection boxes...