Review: IBM HomePage Creator

IBM HomePage Creator
http://mypage-products.ihost.com/usa/en_US/

I'm always looking for a low-end e-commerce solution that's ideal for the small businessperson seeking to get started in e-commerce without a big up-front investment. IBM HomePage Creator (HPC), available since June 1998, is a one such solution, especially for do-it-yourself merchants with little cash and just a few products. IBM is one of the few companies that caters to merchants in a variety of countries, though we've reviewed the US version of the product.

Pricing

The pricing, especially for just a few products, is excellent, though I believe the system is ill-suited and clumsy for stores with more than 50 or so products. All stores incur a one-time registration fee, and your credit card will not be charged for 30 days while you try out the store to see how it works.

Java Applet Interface

HPC is a menu-driven web browser interface for creating both webpages and catalog items. After you sign up using your credit card, you'll wait for several minutes while a 1.4 MB signed Java Applet is downloaded and installed on your hard drive. Unless you're pretty trusting of IBM, this can be scary. The installation process requires you to give Java permissions such as "Reading, modification, or deletion of any of your files" and "Access required by terminal emulators and other programs." You'll also need a browser that provides full Java 1.1 class support, such as Netscape 4.06+ or Microsoft IE 4.01. (MSIE 5.0 was NOT supported at press time).

After the installation up pops a small control panel window that allows you to delete, edit, and add elements to your webpages. The program comes with many basic designs and color schemes for various types of stores and businesses, and the graphics of many of these are quite attractive. You may also upload your own graphics and product pictures using your web browser. (FTP into this site is not available.)

Using the control panel to edit webpages and catalog items will take some time, though this is true of any online program. The control panel allows you to add or delete text and picture areas, section dividers, order buttons, etc., though the initial sample will lead novices to construct pages that are much too long. The system comes with a help screen to guide you over the harder points. I found the interface slow to respond on both of the days I tested the system.

Publishing the Site

Once you've set up your informational webpages and catalog page with several products, you link the home page to the catalog page, and then publish the site so it can be viewed on the Web. If you like, you may set up the store with your own domain name, paying only the additional InterNIC fees. Otherwise you'll be assigned a URL something like http://mypage.ihost.com/usinet.userid000/ If you have an existing website, the catalog feature could be used as an ordering system by pasting the order button HTML code into your standard webpages.

Shipping, Tax, and Credit Cards

The basic HPC service comes with a secure server to allow your customer to transmit credit card information securely. If the merchant has a merchant credit card account with desktop software or card-swipe hardware, he can authorize the cards when shipment is made. However, HPC has no provision for calculating tax and shipping unless the merchant signs up for real-time credit card processing through IBM's vendor ATS.

Shipping is calculated from the merchant's ZIP code to the recipient's ZIP code, based on information supplied by major shippers such as UPS and FedEx, though shipping prices outside North America are not as readily accessible. Shoppers can select the type of services, such as UPS ground, Second Day Air, or Next Day Air. Shipping can be based on either weight or number of items (if all items are approximately the same weight). In addition to the shipper's charge, the merchant can add on a flat handling charge.

One of the stronger elements of HPC is its close tie-in with ATS, a gateway that connects in real-time to the merchant credit card account processor to verify whether the customer's card is stolen or overdrafted. ATS also does fraud screening to additionally protect the merchant. There is an additional charge, for this services, but it is well-priced. In addition, there is a simple process to help a merchant obtain a merchant credit card account.

But I believe it is a serious weakness in HPC to require a merchant to pay an additional fee to get shipping and tax calculation. These belong with the shopping cart function itself, since they are essential elements of online sales. The gateway to real-time credit card processing should be billed as an extra charge, since it is not essential and many merchants will want to handle credit card sales by another method anyway. For the additional fee, however, the shipping, tax calculation, and credit card processing system provided is better than average.

Order Processing

When a shopper places an order, an e-mail message confirming the order is sent automatically to both the shopper and the merchant. In order to obtain the full order with the credit card number, the merchant obtain access with a web browser to a SSL secure interface with his user ID and password. The order can be viewed and printed out on the merchant's printer for fulfillment. The small merchant with a few orders per day will find this method quite adequate. But if orders increase to 10 or 20 or 100 or more per day, there is no way to download orders for import into order fulfillment software. Instead, the merchant is stuck retyping each order, increasing processing inefficiency and the risk for data entry error. The system lacks scalability for larger stores.

Summary

While IBM HomePage Creator provide an inexpensive and functional ordering system for a very small business, it lacks the scalability that would make it usable for a larger number of orders or a greater number of products. Do-it-yourselfers may find it to their tastes, but developers will by-pass this offering and recommend to their clients something more flexible and easier to use with a clearer upgrade path, such as ShopSite Manager.