SAMSA Completes E-Commerce Shopping Cart System for Musical CD Conversion Client

CD to Digital LLC, located in Bay City, Michigan, is a service-based company that converts or "rips" music CDs into the popular MP3 and FLAC audio file formats. MP3s can be played on nearly all digital playing devices and FLAC files may be edited or re-encoded. The converted files allow customer's to load them onto their computer, home digital music system, iPod, or other portable music player. Many people have hundreds of CDs sitting on shelves or in piles that would love to "rediscover" their music but don't have the time or inclination to do it themselves. CD to Digital is a fast, affordable, easy-to-use professional service available to fulfill these needs.

Kathleen Garrett, owner of CD to Digital, sought out SAMSA to help her get her website up and running. SAMSA assisted her with the shopping cart portion of the e-commerce website and also hosts it. She notes, "I chose SAMSA because it was important to me to work with a company that was based locally - I wanted to be able to meet in person at certain phases of the project." SAMSA programmer Josh Taylor states, "We integrated PayPal checkout with a simple PHP-based shopping system. It allows us to manage the shopping and purchasing process as we wish, and lets PayPal take care of the checkout process. This saves development time and cost for both the client and us. It's a simple, yet professional, shopping cart system to use."

Garrett describes her experience working with the SAMSA team to getting the shopping cart system activated; "They were very helpful. Going into this, I had a lot of general knowledge about how website shopping carts worked but no specific experience with setting one up. We talked about different options available, and the expense associated with each one. As the shopping cart was being developed, I was able to test it out and suggest changes where necessary. They gave me specific directions for how to update my site once it was up and running." Garrett adds, "I would recommend SAMSA to other businesses that need web services. I was very pleased with the services they provided. They were able to meet with me and start working on my site almost immediately. They kept me up-to-date with progress reports on a regular basis, responded promptly to my questions, and were flexible when I had last minute additions. There were no hidden costs - the amount they quoted was the amount that was charged."

CD to Digital uses professional custom-made software and hardware to convert music. It minimizes inconsistencies with high quality error detection, and they're able to include metadata for each individual track by utilizing the advantageous Get Digital Data's GD3 Database. Customers are able to place their orders online and in turn they are sent all materials needed to safely ship their CDs. Staff processes the order and sends a final shipment that contains their original CDs, and their new digital library on DVD as well as a laser-printed color index of their entire collection organized in a three-ring binder. Customers have the option to have their music saved to a purchased hard drive as well as having their music loaded onto their iPod. Free pick-up and delivery service is available in the Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland, MI areas. Most orders are fulfilled in 3-5 business days.

 

SAMSA Completes E-Commerce Website for Fundraising Client

Presidents and Co-Founders of ScripCents, LLC, Jane Leeuw and Mary Ellen Murphy, saw a need for a more effective way to fundraise. Since its inception in 2005, ScripCents, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has successfully offered non-profits a faster, easier, and more profitable way to meet their fundraising goals. From schools, churches, youth groups, sports teams, band boosters, and beyond, ScripCents is dedicated to maximizing a group's fundraising return, while minimizing the effort an organization has to put into it.

ScripCents came to SAMSA with a partially completed e-commerce website that needed to be completed. ScripCents states, "As for working with SAMSA, we were in great need of a web designer that could take our site to the next level. When we came to SAMSA we had a mess on our hands from a previous designer and SAMSA has come through for us in getting us up and running. We look forward to continuing our growth with SAMSA. As we develop our business, our website must grow with us." In completing the programming of the website, items that were of particular priority included:

- Ensuring registered users (Coordinators or Individuals) work in the proper shopping mode and ensuring that the order form displays the type of user that is logged in. The user mode controls such attributes as pricing, payment method, and product availability.
- Ensuring that category and navigation links are displayed the same for both Coordinator and Individual users
- Ensuring the product activation flag found in the administrative portion of the site accurately includes or excludes products at the site
- Replacing the link beside each product on the order form page with a thumbnail image for the product and including any required product disclaimer text
- Replacing the functionality of the category links with a subset of the order form that contains only the records in the selected category
- Investigating reported problems with proper charging for individually packed items
- Ensuring correct credit card icons are displayed during checkout in order to maintain credibility and authenticity of the site

By purchasing gift cards in volume from national, regional and local merchants, ScripCents receives a discount. The company then passes along the discounts to the non-profit organization. Whenever an organization buys these discounted gift cards (scrip) from ScripCents and resells them to its members at face value, it realizes the difference as profit. With over 150 merchants to choose from, everyone is able to participate in buying things they strictly want or need without spending a penny extra. ScripCents is the only scrip company currently accepting credit card as a form of payment for scrip. Currently, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is piloting this program throughout Michigan with the future goal being to implement this concept throughout the country. The list of vendors working with ScripCents continues to grow. From restaurants, department stores, and local specialty businesses, to grocery stores and various types of entertainment and gas stations, most merchants welcome the opportunity to increase sales. As mentioned by many participating merchants, "People often times spend more than they initially planned once they come into the store." Not only do merchants appreciate programs that keep customers regularly doing business with them, many gain satisfaction from supporting non-profit organizations. What began as a small venture in Kalamazoo, Michigan has now expanded to Indiana, Ohio, California, Texas, and Florida.

 

SAMSA Develops E-Commerce Shopping Cart System for Long Time Client

Amato Industries, Inc. has been operating for 76 years and is a third-generation family business that operates brick-and-mortar locations in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia. They're also available worldwide. The company currently operates three main divisions - Dry Cleaning and Laundry Supplies, Heating Oil, and Amchlor Swimming Pool Chemicals. It is expected that Amato Industries will see a lot of growth in the future in its divisions.

SAMSA recently developed a new online shopping cart system for Amato Industries to replace their single "billboard" website. The new site is search engine optimized (SEO), and the Amato staff is able to load all products themselves through a secure web-based administration area. The new e-commerce site allows Amato to showcase many of its in-stock items on a rotating basis to a greater range of customers. A unique and crucial feature that was built into the website is the identification of distinct tax zones for each location that Amato ships products from. SAMSA expects to add a new "Featured Products" module to the implemented system in the near future which will allow Amato staff to easily indicate which products will be displayed on the home page. Joe Amato, President and Owner of Amato Industries, Inc. explains that within days of going live on the web, Amato received orders for items offered and shipped the merchandise. He further explains that all of the staff, from sales to warehouse, is excited about the possibilities of the new e-commerce site. Mr. Amato states, "We really enjoy working with the SAMSA web development staff! They truly understand current e-commerce technology and were able to implement a solution that meets our needs. Amato Industries has relied on SAMSA since 1993 for all our computer needs. They are extremely conscientious, and it is clear they care about our business."

Amato sets itself apart from other web-based companies in that it has its own local delivery fleet. All of Amato's locations stock all products, thereby allowing faster shipping times and superior staff knowledge of offered products. Joe Amato proudly adds, "It is our people that set us apart from other Web Offerings. We are a Brick and mortar business with a knowledgeable staff of product specialists that stand at the ready to answer your questions and assist you with your order."

Joe Amato welcomes and invites new customers to the site; "Come and check out our live product offerings. Give us a try and you will not be disappointed!" Amato Industries welcomes your suggestions and comments via the "contact us" tab on the website, dropping an email, or giving a telephone call.