Here's What's Coming in Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5

As we wrap up our internal testing on Interspire Shopping Cart 5.5 we’ll be
making the beta available from the client area some time this week. Most
of the features in the upcoming release were added based directly on
your feedback, so we’re
hoping you’re looking as forward to the release as we are.

This is one of the biggest product releases we’ve ever worked on, and includes:

• Google Website Optimizer Integration – Easily test
  different versions of on-page elements such as the “Add to Cart”
  button, home page promotional banner, product images, descriptions and
  more to see which results in more orders.
  
  
• Image Thumbnails, Zoom and Custom Sizes – We know
  from your feedback that images are the most important part of your
  online store, so we’ve added the ability to display thumbnails on the
  product page. There’s also image zoom on rollover and custom
  (configurable) image sizes for different sections of your online store.
   
• YouTube Search and Embed – Search for videos on
  YouTube right from your “Add a Product” page and have them display in a
  beautiful video player on your product pages. Easily find (or upload)
  video reviews for products you sell, add them to your product page and
  watch your order rate increase.
   
• QuickBooks and StoneEdge Two Way Sync – Easily
  sync your orders, products, customers and more to/from Intuit
  QuickBooks or StoneEdge Order Manager with just a few clicks.
   
• Change the Store’s Header Graphic – You can make
  changes to the existing header graphic in your store’s design or even
  download a plain version of the header graphic to modify as required.
   
• Auto-Generated HTML and XML Sitemaps – The HTML
  sitemap will allow the search engines to crawl and index all pages in
  your online store, while the XML sitemap can be submitted using Google
  Webmaster Tools to get more details on crawling/indexing problems which
  you can then correct to improve how your online store ranks in the
  search engines.
   
• Search Products, Categories, Brands, News and Web Pages
  – Your customers will be able to search more than just products in your
  store. They can search categories and brands by name and even content
  in news items and web pages you’ve created. Search results are
  separated into easily-accessible tabs and are fully configurable.
   
• Accept and Process Payments When Taking a Phone Order
  – You’ll be able to take payment then-and-there when adding a phone
  order through your store’s control panel. No more processing payments
  manually after you take the order.
   
• More Varied Store Designs – We’ve crafted over 15
  additional store designs for a wide range of industries, bringing the
  total of over 60 store designs available to all store
  owners absolutely free.
  
  
• Embed Videos Into Product Descriptions – Just
  paste in a link from YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe or Megavideo and we’ll
  automatically create the HTML code and add the video to your product’s
  description.
   
• Photo Gallery – All uploaded images are accessible
  from the new photo gallery, so if you want to use the same photos for
  multiple products you only have to upload them once. You can even use
  photos that have already been uploaded to other websites.
   
• An AddThis Button on Product Pages – Take
  advantage of product recommendations with the AddThis button. In one
  click shoppers can easily share a link to a product in your store with
  their friends via email, Twitter, FaceBook and dozens of other social
  media services.
   
• Abandoned Order Report – See a list of all
  incomplete orders along with shopper details so you can follow up and
  see why they didn’t complete their order. You can choose how many days
  these orders remain in your store’s control panel before they’re
  removed.
   
• Sales Tax Report - Easily create a sales tax
  report filtered by date range which you can export into Microsoft Excel
  for further processing or to send directly to your accountant.
   
• Various Improvements – Along with new features
  we’ve also improved existing functionality. A complete list of
  improvements will be included with the change log upon release.

As we get closer to the release we’re continually posting useful
information and sneak peek screenshots of new features on Twitter, so
make sure you follow us and don’t miss out!