Marketing genius

A very simple addition to an online store that makes things a lot easier. An email from Frank and Pete Brownell at Brownells (they do gunsmithing supplies):

Dear Folks
We have just added a super new "filing & saving" system to the web site. It's called the "Saved Cart", and its whole purpose is to make running your shop a whole lot easier for you.

What this neat program does is allows you save orders electronically in the absolutely best and most perfect filing system for you because you set it up to fit the way you look at your world. You quite literally can now save your shopping cart to any folder you want to and can put any name on that cart you want to. This makes the possibilities limitless!

For instance, if you're working on a 1911 for a customer named Bill Jones, you can establish a folder named "1911 Projects". Within this folder create a saved cart for "Bill Jones". As Bill's project continues to grow you just add them to "Bill Jones" saved cart until you are ready to place the order. It makes project management and tracking very easy.

Or, if Bill Jones is a customer who has a lot of guns you make an entire folder for Bill Jones. Then you'd label this particular project, ".45 1911" and so on as additional items are purchased for Bill Jones's. If his next project is mounting a scope, you can put the items you bought for that project into the Bill Jones folder, but label this cart "Scope mount on Rem. 700, .243 cal". Thus keeping all of Bill Jones projects together. Another really great feature of this system is that you can write yourself notes on the project you're working on and save them for future reference. A fantastic way to keep track of your various jobs and projects.

Because of the complete flexibility of the new system, you can literally set it up any way you like. By the kind of project (rebarrel .45); by the name of the customer (Bill Jones); by the day date, or month date (October 2009); by the items you've ordered (Leupold Rings/Bases); etc., etc., etc. It doesn't matter if you're left brained or right brained, since you're doing the labeling and you've put the carts into the folders, they are going to be where you think they should be. You just don't have to conform to any body else's ideas on filing!

Sure, most online stores allow you to put items into your cart for future checkout and then to review previously purchased items but this simple application takes the shopping cart into the next millennium. Imagine that someone drops off an item for an estimate. You create the folder and then add the items as you see that they are needed. When the person approves your estimate, you click and the items are all purchased. If this item comes back a couple years later, you can call up what parts were ordered. What a wonderful idea -- a mash-up between project management and an online shopping cart... Some screenshots here.