Broadband hosting service provider Usonyx Pte. Ltd. has launched U-Shop, an integrated online shopfront-in-a-box targeted at small and medium enterprises.
According to Usonyx, U-Shop enables the creation of secure online stores using a web browser-based interface with full shopping cart functions. Built for web novices and e-commerce developers, the web application does not require any HTML coding or complex programming, said Usonyx.
U-Shop comes with a web hosting package which includes large disk space, email accounts, antivirus and anti-spam protection. It has also integrated various payment gateways including some ready to go solutions like PayPal; hence SMEs do not need to factor in costly third party payment gateways when setting up their e-commerce web sites, said Usonyx.
"SMEs typically engage a few IT vendors to set up, maintain and support their e-commerce web sites. This can be costly for most businesses or even out of reach for startups," said Alex Gontcharov, managing director of Usonyx.
On the other hand, there are free e-commerce applications on the Internet that SMEs can download. "However, most of these applications can be complex to install and might result in unprofessional or unstable e-commerce web sites in the long run," he said. "We have learned these lessons, and the result is U-Shop -- integrated, hosted, fully supported e-commerce solution available at an affordable fee for SMEs."
Usonyx"s U-Shop comes with a Content Management System (CMS) that allows the user to create and customize various features such as latest news, newsletters, memberships, advertising banners, product reviews and many more.
Usonyx will provide free 24x7 technical support, and U-Shop customers will also receive a four-hour U-Shop training session.
"Having an e-commerce web site enables businesses to open their store front to reach out to customers in more markets," said Gontcharov. "Many SMEs in Singapore usually perceive that having an e-commerce web site is an expensive investment. The Usonyx U-Shop will hopefully bridge this digital divide by enabling SMEs with little or no web expertise to have e-commerce web sites for less than S$3 (US$1.83) a day."