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Kangaroo Commerce Server

Kangaroo Commerce Server is designed to be the fastest, most scalable and lowest costing e-Commerce platform on the market.

KangarooTrax ERP

Enterprise software at a fraction of the price. Runs entirely in the browser -- no software to install or maintain. Contains modules for Realtime Inventory Control, Customer Management, Invoices, Sales Returns, Purchase Order, Quotes, Pull Tickets, Web Orders, Reporting and much more.

Microsoft Commerce Server

Over three dozen companies have chosen Kangaroo Software for their Microsoft Commerce Server needs. Our installs power billions of dollars in business each year.

Turn-key Wholesale Site

With special features like Pay with Purchase Order, Account Approval Process, and Requests for Quotes wholesalers use our Turn-key Wholesale Site knowing that it is built with their special needs in mind.

Turn-key Retail Site

With features like Anonymous Checkout, Retail and Web Pricing, Promo Codes and more the Turn-key Retail Site is perfect for the retailers with no development needed.

Turn-key Nursery Site

Pre-loaded with thousands of plants, plant images, and data this ready to use site delivers all the features a Plant Nursery or Plant Growing operation needs to sell their products online.

Standard Storefront Features

Don't waste time developing your next eCommerce store. Our standard storefront contains every feature a wholesaler or retailer needs to start selling online right now.

Administration Site

Manage your site in the browser -- no software to install. One application does it all: Customer Management, Order Management, Content Management, Email Marketing, Discounts and Promo Codes, Catalog Management and more.

PlantTrax ERP

PlantTrax is powerful software created specially for the Plant Nursery and Plant Grower industries. PlantTrax contains modules for Realtime Inventory Control, Customer Management, Invoices, Sales Returns, Purchase Order, Quotes, Pull Tickets, Web Orders, Reporting and much more. Pre-loaded with thousands of plants and plant data.

Web Spider

Protect your Intellectual Property or build the next great Search Engine on top of this high speed, intelligent web crawling platform.

StockBot

This high speed trading platform is flexible and fast. Trade detection and order placement in less than 1 millisecond. The StockBot uses Interactive Brokers C++ API for the absolute fastest detection times possible. Don't let faster traders eat your lunch.

AI Platform

As an internal research project our AI platform is a testiment to what Kangaroo Software is capable of and a promise of what we will deliver. If we can harness 27,000+ threads to simulate the complexities of automated problems solving then imagine what we can do for your software project.

Latest News

Kangaroo Commerce Server 3.0 has Arrived

We've just launched Kangaroo Commerce Server 3.0! This is a major upgrade because it includes many new features and systems to integrate your business operations.

Vendors
Track all your vendors directly from Kangaroo Commerce Server.
Add, remove and edit vendor products.
Source the same product from multiple vendors and keep separate costs.
Track a separate vendor code for each product.
Search by vendor on quotes and invoices.

Organizations
Allows you to track Corporation, Non-profits, or other organizations.
Organizations can be used just like normal users.
Track contact information for organizations.
Associate contacts with each organization.
Save Organization address information.
Create quotes and invoices for an organization.

Activity Logging
Activity logging has been enhanced to track more data than ever.
Now you can see exactly who is online right now.
Compliments Google Analytics by tracking visits to ALL sites, even password protected ones.
Tracks multiple sites.
The database has been separated from the main database to reduce size and load.

API Improvements
Better data validation
More extensible architecture
Addition of new UI APIs for AJAX available widgets

Content Management System
Edit pages that have been rewritten with SEO URLs
Content Editor now supports inserting images directly from a file library.
Allows images to be uploaded once and available anywhere

Administration Site Improvements
Ability to add new Roles directly from the Administrator site

User Interface Improvements
Support for default focus elements on pages and modals
Better handling of multiple modals on a single page
Ability to refresh page elements via AJAX
Grid improvements to reduce database strain and improve responsiveness

Original Post

What is new in Kangaroo Commerce Server 2.7?

Great news, Kangaroo Commerce Server 2.7 is available. This release adds a number of features that B2B users will love and extends the platform to provide rich new functionality not found in any other Commerce platform.

Vendors - Track each vendor. Each product can now be sourced from multiple vendors. Track your cost from each vendor and separate product codes.

Quotes - Create quotes that can be exported and sent to your customers.

Sales Representatives - Allow your sales representatives a special login. They can search products and create quotes.

Customer Notes - As your customers call in or make special requests, keep a running log.

Role Management - Administrators can easily add or remove roles from any user. Easily add new administrators or sales representatives. Restrict permissions for each type of user easily.

Manual Password Reset - Allows administrators to set a user's password to a desired value. This is in addition to the normal Password Reset and Password Recovery options.

Email Resend - Resend past emails with a click of a button. This feature is good for resending an email that a customer cannot locate.

Downloadable Products - Music, software, videos and other products that must be downloaded are easily accessible from a customer's My Downloads page. After collecting payment the download is securely made available to the customer for download.

Email Processing - Automatically download and process emails from an unlimited number of email addresses. Extract information from the emails and automatically send responses. This feature is great for automated customer service or to collect customer resumes.

Automated Processes - Send emails or perform other tasks on a schedule. Easily automate repeated tasks using JavaScript.

24x7 Health Monitoring Service - Monitors your site for memory usage, disk space, database size, site availability, and other metrics to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted service.

Original Post

What is new in Kangaroo Commerce Server 2.6?

Development continues at full speed on Kangaroo Commerce Server. Existing customers can enjoy all of these new features at no cost. Version 2.6 moves Kangaroo Commerce Server further from an eCommerce only platform into a more general purpose tool for running your online presence.

Inline Content Editing - Edit your site without ever leaving the page. Want to change an image or text? Simply login as an administrator and click on the item to edit it. Managing your content could not be easier.

Job Openings - Manage all your company's job openings and make them available on the site.

Job Applications - Collect resumes, cover letters, and contact information from your customers. Easily search through job applicants and send them emails.

Enhanced Analytics - KCS already supports the integration of Google Analytics. Now you can get information not available on Google Analytics. Open a user and see every visit. Open their visit to see each page they viewed. KCS can even track users without JavaScript enabled -- giving you insight into visitors not tracked by Google Analytics.

Geolocation Services - Automatically determine a user's location and provide content specific to the user's area. Each user's country, state, city, and zip are now available.

Brand Categories - KCs already included the ability to create Brands and complex category structures. Now you can map categories to specific brands. This allows your customers to more quickly find the product looking for.

Templating Language Improvements - KCS's templating language, kScript, continues to be the most advanced and fastest way to dynamically bind data to HTML. Over 10x faster than using ASP.NET controls or PHP, kScript is now even more powerful:
  • Pass JSON objects and arrays directly to kScript.
  • Convert SQL results to JSON and return it or pass it to other templates.
  • SQL stored procedure calling has been improved to make type inference automatic and to completely eliminate the possibility of SQL Injection Attacks.

Original Post

Kangaroo Commerce Server as a replacement for Microsoft Commerce Server

The news that Microsoft will soon be abandoning Microsoft Commerce Server will come as no surprise to those who follow Microsoft Commerce Server developments closely:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/not-so-crazy-microsoft-rumors-microsoft-to-unload-commerce-server/11210

Which makes now a great time to consider moving to Kangaroo Commerce Server.

Kangaroo Commerce Server can import all your Microsoft Commerce Server data.

The fact that Kangaroo Commerce Server can easily import all your Microsoft Commerce Server customers and catalog makes the transition to Kangaroo Commerce Server painless.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is at home in the cloud.

One of the reasons Microsoft has allegedly decided to disgourge the Microsoft Commerce Server platform is the belief that Microsoft Commerce Server does not fit well with their All Cloud strategy. Kangaroo Commerce Server is built for the cloud from the ground up.
  1. It is painlessly scaled to any number of servers.
  2. JSON, XML, and JavaScript APIs make cloud deployments incredibly easy.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is built for the next decade.

Microsoft Commerce Server was originally built in the early nineties and each subsequent iteration has added features (and complexity) to that legacy codebase. Kangaroo Commerce Server is built from the ground up with latest technologies and innovative patterns.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is faster than Microsoft Commerce Server

Average response times for Kangaroo Commerce Server are a fraction of those for MSCS. It also handles more users per web server and requires an overall lower licensing cost. Developing with Kangaroo Commerce Server is quick and easy, no lengthy rebuilds.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is Less Expensive than Microsoft Commerce Server

A Kangaroo Commerce Server license is a fraction of a standard or enterprise Microsoft Commerce Server license. In addition, JSON API's allow you to consume Kangaroo Commerce Server data from an unlimited number of web servers without paying for a Kangaroo Commerce Server license on those servers.

Original Post

How is Kangaroo Commerce Server Different?

One question I get all the time from potential clients and partners is: How does Kangaroo Commerce Server differ from the other options out there?

Existing eCommerce solutions can be grouped into two categories:
  1. Hosted shopping carts that allow you to pick a template and a few options and trust your site to the purveyor.
  2. Software packages that require custom development to turn into a usable site.

Choosing a hosted shopping cart usually means your site is up quickly, on the other hand you have few options for customization, integration, and overall control of how your site is hosted.

Software packages don’t have the inherent limitations of the hosted carts, but they do require development.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is special because it provides the strengths of both options without the inherit limitations.
  • The Turn-key sites are easily customized in a few minutes to provide the functionality for a great deal of scenarios.
  • The API’s allow for easy extension without a skilled development team.
  • The JavaScript API allows non-programmers to implement new features on any platform.
  • The .NET API allows skilled programmers to create new functionality in any .NET language including C#, VB.NET, or C++/CLI.
  • The XML API allows non-Windows programmers to integrate with virtually any platform and any language.
  • Kangaroo Commerce Server can be installed at the client’s location or hosted in a secure eCommerce data center.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is different than other eCommerce software packages:
  • It is faster and can handle more checkouts per web server.
  • Contains features that you will actually use, not just the building blocks
  • Complete JavaScript accessible API
  • Online Administration Site means no tools or software to install.
  • Includes ERP functionality for B2B users.

Original Post

Introducing Promo Codes and Discounts

Today I am introducing two powerful features of Kangaroo Commerce Server: Promo Codes and Discounts.

Promo Codes

Promo Codes are generally included in advertising campaigns and give the customer a discount when they apply the promo code to their basket during checkout. Companies use different promo codes for each sales channel and each advertisement allowing them to determine which sales channels and ads are most effective. 

For example, a company runs Ad 1 and Ad 2, both of which are print ads and both run in different magazines. The text of Ad 1 may say something like "Enter promo code PROMO1 for a 15% discount on your order". Ad 2 may say "Enter promo code PROMO2 for a 15% discount on your order". Both promo codes trigger the same discount, but now the company can determine which magazine is more effective in creating sales.

Some unique aspects of the Promo Code:
  • Promo codes can be "one time use" coupons, limited use coupons, or unlimited use.
  • Multiple promo codes can trigger the same discount. This is helpful to track success of the different campaigns without creating a new discount for every single advertisement.

Discounts

Kangaroo Commerce Server currently supports 7 types of discounts that can be triggered by a promo code. Note that there are also other discounts that are not triggered by a promo code, but are attached to a specific product, product price level, or customer.

Order Discounts

  • Amount of Order Discount - Example: Take $10.00 off the price of the order*. 
  • Percent of Order Discount - Example: Take 25% off the price of the order.

Product Discounts

  • Amount of Product Discount - Example: Order Product XYZ and take $5.00 off one*.
  • Percent of Product Discount - Example: Order Product XYZ and take %10 off all products.

 Affiliate Discounts

  • Amount of Affiliate Discount - Example: Order through Affiliate ABC and get $10.00 off your order.
  • Percent of Affiliate Discount - Example: Order through Affiliate ABC and get 10% off your order.

Free Shipping Discount

  • Example: Order and get free shipping.
* Note: Discounts will never exceed the order total or product price. If you setup a $10 discount and the order is only $8 then only $8 will be discounted from the price.

Additional Options

All discounts have a variety of options for controlling usage:
  • Maximum Uses - Set a maximum number of uses for a discount, or allow for Unlimited Use Discounts.
  • Start Date and End Date - Create expiration dates for discounts or setup discounts in advance of an advertising campaign.
  • Minimum Order Total - Ensure that discounts are only triggered after an order has reached a minimum threshold.
  • Active / Disabled - Activate or disable a discount at any time. 

Original Post

Kangaroo Commerce Server API's: Brief Overview

Developers rejoice! Kangaroo Commerce Server has a number of different APIs built to make life easier. We believe that open and unfettered access to Kangaroo Commerce Server as an e-Commerce platform is key to long term growth. I am going to introduce the different APIs and give a brief overview of each.

JavaScript API:

The easiest, quickest, and most platform independent way of interacting with Kangaroo Commerce Server is by using the JavaScript API. The JavaScript API enables the developer to perform a plethora of actions without leaving the page:
  • Make calls to place an item in a basket, add payment or shipping information, or perform a checkout
  • Retrieve pieces of HTML dynamically
  • Retrieve JSON representations of Products, Users, Baskets, Orders and more.
  • Validate customer entered data.
The JavaScript API provides calling conventions:
  1. Synchronous - Make a call to Kangaroo Commerce Server and wait for the result
  2. Asychronous - Make a call to Kangaroo Commerce Server and continue. If the method call returns data it is sent to a call back function.
Here is an example of a JavaScript call to add an item to the current user’s basket asynchronously and display an alert when the call is complete:

var ProductID = 100;
var VariantID = null
var Quantity = 1
Baskets.AddProductToCart(ProductID, VariantID, Quantity, 
                                function() {alert(“Done!”) });

A second example that synchronously retrieves a product and displays the name:

    var ProductID = 100;
    var oProduct = Products.Get(ProductID);
    alert("Successfully retrieved product: " 
            + oProduct.Name + " - " + oProduct.Code);

Pretty easy.

C# API:

Kangaroo Commerce Server also provides direct access to the C# API for developers who want to build .NET code extensions. Two primary assemblies define all the functionality for interacting with Kangaroo Commerce Server:

RooTrax.eCommerce - Used by the customer site to add, remove, update items in a basket, register users, make product comments, and other customer actions.

RooTrax.eCommerce.Admin - Used to administer the site. Create categories, products, and departments, list orders, approve and delete comments and ratings.

XML Web Service API:

Kangaroo Commerce Server also provides a web service API for remote access to the system. The XML Web Service API provides a Messaging pattern interface onto the Kangaroo Commerce Server. This makes it the perfect location to integrate 3rd party applications. Order Fulfillment, Accouting and CRM Applications, and other Kangaroo Software products use this API to keep track of new orders and customers and to add new customers and products to the web site.

Original Post

Case Study: Implementing an eCommerce site in 6 hours

We recently launched an eCommerce site for a "As Seen on TV" products. From start to finish the the whole process took less than 1 week with less than 6 hours of development time. This is not a template site, we are talking about a fully featured, custom built site implemented on the Kangaroo Commerce Server eCommerce Platform. 

Lets take a look at how this was accomplished:

  1. We started with the Kangaroo Commerce Server Turn-key Retail Site. This gave us all the features we needed, plus some that were not necessary. The site is a Visual Studio solution which was renamed, built, and ran the first time without any problems. Total time (0.25 hours)
  2. Then we wrote a quick C# application to read the products from a custom Excel document and send them to the Kangaroo Commerce Server C# Admin API. The customer gave us the data they had, which required a bit of cleaning, so we used the C# application to clean the data as it was inserted into Kangaroo Commerce Server. Total time (1 hour)
  3. Next we used the client supplied artwork to create a custom design for the landing pages and the shopping cart. Once the customer approved the PSD, our designer sliced the file and we added it to the site. Total time (3 hours)
  4. Content was delivered by the client in an unstructured Word doc format. Not a problem. Using our WYSIWYG online editor we simply copied the content into the editor and saved it. Total time (0.5 hours).
  5. Final touches required commenting out a few links to unnecessary pages and adjusting the styles. Total time (1 hour)
  6. Launch: With the site done and tested it was time to move it to our secure servers. Our deployment tool automates the process of deploying files, setting up the database, and adding host headers. Total time (0.25) hours. 
Check out the site and buy a Bacon Wave at www.MomosMarket.com!


Original Post

New in Kangaroo Commerce Server this Week: Payment Processors

The Payment Processor feature is a highly flexible approach to handling the services that process credit cards, Google Checkout, Paypal and other payment types. On a basic level, Payment Processors allow us to collect payment information and send that information to the correct gateway for processing.

Payment Processors allow for two scenarios often run into by high volume sites:
  1. Adding or removing a payment type without taking the site down
  2. Switching from a slow Credit Card gateway to a faster one without losing orders.
In both of these scenarios we want to change the way payments are processed without stopping the site. Stopping the site means that customers can’t place their orders and we don’t want that.

Adding or removing a payment type without taking the site down:

Adding or removing a payment type is simple. The Administration Site allows us to flip payment methods on and off. If you do not want to take Paypal during a certain period of time, just disable the payment method and it is no longer available on the site.

Switching from a slow credit card gateway to a faster one:

The Payment Processors area in the Administration Site allows us to enable or disable processors for the different Payment Methods. Many companies use two or three Payment Gateways to process credit cards in case one is overwhelmed or goes down. A single payment gateway is a single point of failure and high volume sites cannot have single points of failure.

The payment system collects a number of statistics about each transaction, including how long each gateway takes to process an order. If we see that a gateway is sluggish, or timing out, we can disable the gateway and switch to a backup without affecting the site. Orders automatically start flowing to the new gateway immediately until the primary processor is restored.

All eCommerce platforms allow for the integration of payment processors. But, Kangaroo Commerce Server incorporates the nuances and redundancies that successful companies actually use.

Original Post

New in Kangaroo Commerce Server: Bulk Order Processing

A new feature lands in the latest update to Kangaroo Commerce Server: Bulk Order Processing. This feature will save you time and enable a variety of new scenarios.

Kangaroo Commerce Server supports a variety of payment methods including:
  • Credit Cards
  • Google Checkout
  • Paypal
  • Purchase Orders
  • Wire Transfers
  • Checks


In addition to supporting these payment methods, Kangaroo Commerce Server enables the user to take and process payments in three different ways:
  1. Online Processing - The user enters their payment information (usually a Credit Card). The number is validated and sent to the Credit Card Gateway for processing during checkout. Funds are captured immediately.
  2. Backend Processing - In this scenario the user’s credit card is not charged until the order is shipped. Companies may make adjustments to the totals or add a custom shipping charge before processing the order. A customer service agent charges the card by clicking a button which sends the information to the Gateway.
  3. Offline Processing - Some stores do no use an online Gateway. They may already own a credit card terminal. Kangaroo Commerce Server collects the credit card information which is used offline to charge the card using the terminal.


The Bulk Order Processing feature allows for all these scenarios and for the quick management of orders. Some things you can do from the Bulk Order Processing page:
  • Charge an Order - Send the credit card information to a gateway (Backend Processing) or display the credit card information in a window for Offline processing.
  • Void an Order - Mark an order as voided if it is fraudulent or invalid for some other reason.
  • Return an Order - Automatically refund the original order total (Online Processing and Backend Processing) or display the original credit card to refund the charge with a terminal (Offline Processing)
  • Ship an Order - Adjust the Shipping Charges (Offline & Backend Processing), add a Shipping Tracking Number (all three scenarios), and mark and order as Shipped

Original Post

Introducing the Kangaroo Commerce Server Administration Site

A big part of any eCommerce site is the day to day management. The Administration Site in Kangaroo Commerce Server allows for the management of a number of features including
  • Catalog Management
  • Users and Orders Management
  • Marketing and Discounts
  • Emails
  • WYSIWYG Content Editing
Lets start with a basic overview of the Administration site. First, there is no software to install. The user simply navigates to the site in their browser and provides their login name and password. This allows the user to manage their site from any Internet connection, including smart phones and tablets.



Once inside the Administration Site the user sees the name of the site in the upper right hand corner. This is important since Kangaroo Commerce Server supports a multi-site scenario. If your company is using Kangaroo Commerce Server to manage multiple sites at one time the be careful to check the name of the site.

The Administration Site automatically displays new orders, new customers and visitors, customer requests and more upon login. Navigate to any portion of the administrative site using the drop down menus or the links.

The main areas in the Administration Site include:

  • Customer Management - view new customers, registered users, and process customer requests.
  • Catalog Management - configure products, categories, departments, brands, best sellers, product ratings and more.
  • Order & Quote Management - process new orders, review order history, and process requests for quotes.
  • Marketing Management - Setup discounts on products, affiliates, and promo codes.
  • Email & Content Management - Edit email templates, edit site content, view email history, and manage the various policies displayed on the site.
  • Settings Management - Configure tax, shipping, and payment method settings. Edit payment processors, shipping carriers and shipping processors.
Each screen includes a “Quick Help” located on the right hand site of the screen.

Original Post

Kangaroo Commerce Server: Its not a Shopping Cart, Its an eCommerce Platform

You can get a shopping cart for your business anywhere, cheap. Pick a template, configure a few values and done. For companies that plan to do less than $10,000 a year in business, I highly recommend it.

Kangaroo Commerce Server is not a Shopping Cart, it is an eCommerce platform. Sure Kangaroo Commerce Server has a Shopping Cart, but that is only a small slice of the pie. The Shopping Cart is fully featured, and designed to handle thousands of scenarios. It is powerful, robust, and flexible -- not to mention fast.

But KCS does not stop there. It includes Content Management. Email Marketing. Order Processing. Customer Relations Managment. Invoicing. Manufacturing. Accounting. Inventory Management. Warehouse Features. And more.

Kangaroo Commerce Server allows multiple sites to run off the same inventory with different catalog structures, languages, and prices. It allows you to integrate your Wholesale and Retail operations seemlessly with Purchasing and Vendors.

Your website runs a shopping cart. Kangaroo Commerce Server can run your web site.

Original Post

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