Advanced “Pre-orders” Enabled Beginning March 15

An important new feature: The IndieCommerce platform currently allows stores to accept pre-orders up to 90 days before a book’s publication date. Beginning Thursday, March 15, 2018 stores will be able to set the pre-order threshold to books to be published three months, six months, nine months hence, or set no time limit at all, allowing pre-order purchases for any future publication date regardless of when. This is a great way for the indies to compete with Amazon and other etailers!! If you make this change be sure to promote it heavily to your customers. Pre-orders are a big part of the online business. If you have questions about this change, please contact [email protected]

Special Offer At Spring Regionals For ABA Members Interested in a New Website

IndieLite™ is the ABA’s entry level, low cost, e-commerce solution for bookstores. For the  upcoming Spring Regionals we’ve got a special offer for bookstores looking for an easy to manage yet affordable website. To that end, if your store signs up for an IndieLite website between March 15 and April 30, the first three months of your subscription will be free (a $150 value). If you decide that you don’t like the service, you can cancel it at any time. To participate you must be a member of the ABA. For more information, please drop us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 800-637-0037 (option 2).

How Are We Doing?

Are you currently an IndieCommerce or IndieLite user? Tell us how we are doing by taking this five question, two minute, anonymous survey. We would love to quote you about your experiences and share with other members.

Don’t Let Your Website Feel The Wrath of Google

As we’ve mentioned, the Google Chrome web browser is going to start penalizing websites that are not serving secure content. Other web browsers will probably follow. If your site is not secure by July 2018, your customers are going to get a nasty warning on their sceen. This is an extremely BAD experience for people who shop online. If the web addresses (URLs) for ALL of the pages on your website are not displaying “https,” we can help you convert your site to “https everywhere.” Understandably, we are experiencing a huge demand from stores to get this feature enabled on their website. There is now an online sign up form available. Sign up today !

Our Next Webinar Is This Coming Thursday, March 8

Does your store sell used or rare books?  For new books—want to track inventory of signed copies separately?  The new “Store Books” feature allows you to upload a spreadsheet of your unique book inventory and create products for sale on your IndieCommerce website.  For books that are already in the system, only an ISBN and condition (Fine, Very Good, Good, etc.) needs to be provided—all other metadata, such as the title, author, publisher, and cover image, will be added for you.  This feature builds on the existing Custom Product Bulk Importer feature

This webinar will be 60 minutes in length, with additional time for Q&A. You can sign-up here.

For past editions of IndieCommunication, visit this page.