Intergrating online orders into databases?

[krilled]

I handle the online orders at our business which oversees a fairly small-scale magazine. Anyway, we are in the process of revamping our website design in an effort to drive traffic to our online store. As the magazine grows, we are expecting a large increase in subscriptions, which are available at our online store.

Right now, I receive an email from Americart with the shipping/billing addresses, and I simply manually input the data into an excel spreadsheat that we use to print out our mailing labels. This works ok for now, but we are gaining some momentum and the subscribers are starting to come in fairly high volume. We are in the process of converting our subscriber database from excel into Filemaker.

My question is, is there any way to remove the step of data entry, and import the information directly into a database program? I find that I spend way too much time inputting online orders myself to the point where it's taking up a significant chunk of my day.

I would also love to hear any suggestions about how I could possibly make our order processing for efficient.

Thanks guys!

krilled

[ytswy]

Hi Krilled, welcome to WebmasterWorld! I'm no expert, but I'll take a shot.

To import your data, you need it in some regular format. I would investigate what options your provider can give you - instead of just emailing you the data for each order, surely they could give you a daily report. Programs like Excel and Filemaker can import data in formats like xml, or simple comma separated values (eg:
first name,last name,email,..(rtn)
first name,..etc.
)

If this isn't possible, then you will have to process the emails yourself to extract the data into a format you can import - this is certainly possible, but it will require some basic programming and string handling skills.

[krilled]

Thanks for the tips YTS

I found an order manager that ties in directly with americart, which is viewable at stoneedge technologies

However, a single liscense costs $999, and it requires Microsoft Access, and we generally use Filemaker for our database needs. Also, it may be a bit heavier than we need, considering we are managing subscriptions (although they are sent out internally) which are sent through the USPS.

It would be nice to be able to just be able to feed the email into a program that will fill out a database form accordingly, although I don't think anyone here has the programming skill to design such a thing. Also, I'm on a mac, so it'd be nice if I didn't have to buy a copy of virtualPC.

Thanks!

krilled

[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 3:06 am (utc) on Sep. 22, 2004]
[edit reason] No URLs please [/edit]

[hfwd]

We faced the same problem - as sales grow, it gets harder and harder to manually input the data.

We outgrew excel spreadsheet, and after some research, decided to keep our data in a real database format (MySQL). Data entry is automated via PHP, data output (shipping labels, daily/monthly sales report) are now automated.

We've looked into commercial systems, but decided against them since they require a lot of customization anyhow.

[sun818]

hi krilled - same exact place as you are. I asked a programmer to write a robot to log into the AmeriCart screen, download the last fifty orders and save the data as a CSV file on to my hard drive. Then I take that CSV file and run an import into my sales manager software. Now, all I do is run a batch file called americart.bat and its all done.

If you have a task you do frequently on a daily basis, automating can remove a lot of headaches and save you time. At some point, your business can not grow if you don't have the technical infrastructure in place. I'm a victim of my own success right now playing the role of shipping clerk too frequently. ;)

[hiker_jjw]

I'm not sure if this would help, but a old client of mine had a Database Management System in MS Access, and an online Database in MySQL. We setup an ODBC (open database connectivity) connection to the MySQL server so he could transfer orders across. From there, the orders were processed as is. No need to copy text.

[jsinger]

"I found an order manager that ties in directly with americart, which is viewable at stoneedge technologies"

I've heard that the not-cheap Stoneedge Order Processor is excellent. We're going to switch to the Shopsite cart which integrates easily with Stoneedge. Like you, we're looking to upgrade our backoffice.