Fusion Reactor announces SIAB online software

Grant Jackson, marketing director of Fusion Reactor, says the product will change the way people view online stores and online B2C (business-to-consumer) shopping. "Restaurant owners, clothing stores, movie houses and mall managers will all find SIAB to be efficient in the managing of day-to-day store activities," he says.

"Visitors to a mall's Website will be able to reserve tables at restaurants, order take-away food online, book tickets for movies and compare store prices, all in real time and online," he adds. "From a site management perspective, each shop's individual site can be maintained and updated on a regular basis using SIAB functionality.

"In addition to all the normal features like search functions, shopping cart, checkout, wish list, etc, we have included a specials feature that allows shop owners to email or SMS various user bases," says Jackson.

"User profiles can be generated, including shopping histories that show a breakdown of all purchases made since the user registered, as well as the status of each purchase. Mail shots can also be specifically aimed at individuals."

Vincent Maher, eBusiness strategist at Digital Commerce, has worked alongside Fusion Reactor in the development of SIAB and says this type of online community will change the way online shopping is viewed.

"SIAB is not just a webpage," he says. "It has been designed to feature multiple merchants who have been organised into a single online 'mall'. The software can handle large volumes of inventory and transactions and supports all major online credit-card processing facilities. It incorporates stock management and very flexible mall administration from order to delivery stages.

"The programme, therefore, enables users to effectively manage their products, offering detailed reporting on sales and volumes and allowing them to include detailed information on their business at the online 'mall'.

"The catalogue functionality found in the programme notifies users as to what products are available in which stores. The system's accounting programme tells shop owners what type of business is being turned over. Both store owners and site users are always aware of what is available and where."

Fusion Reactor will be responsible for the maintenance of the site, which means mall management really needn't lift a finger, says Jackson. "Although, if the mall users wanted to be involved in the upkeep of the site, this wouldn't be a problem as no technical skills are required to run the programme.

"Users will get all of the functionality in this detailed online mall solution, for the equivalent fee of one metre square of store space," says Jackson. "For that type of money, the investment leaves users with nothing to lose and, although we'll be launching the product internationally at first, we hope to see South African adoption relatively soon."