The TownSmith Basket is a highly functional software tool. Unlike many basket software tools, the following features of TownSmith Basket can be turned on or off during the integration for a particular client:

• Hierarchical Product Configuration (Assemblies)—Any item in the basket can have other items attached to it. For example, let¹s say you sell bicycles. A user on your site could select a bicycle frame. That bicycle frame could then have a certain type of wheel added to it. A set of wheels might have certain tires added to it, etc.
  
  
• Group Pricing—The software can be customized such that a user gets discounts for buying groups of products. A set of rims might cost the buyer $150, while the tires cost another $50. You can offer the buyer a package deal where the rims and the tires together only cost $175 instead of the $200 it would cost them to purchase the items separately.
  
  
• Multi-Vendor, Single Checkout—Web malls have become very popular, but most are simply a collection of online stores that require different check out processes, much like a real world mall. By recognizing multiple vendors on a mall, however, TownSmith Basket can allow a user to shop from a variety of stores and do a single checkout process. The software then sorts the revenues correctly between the stores from which purchases are made.
  
  
• Markups—TownSmith Basket enables you to set markups for products at various levels. For example, manufacturers on a system can enter wholesale prices. The system can then automatically mark up the prices by a selected percentage on your distributor site. You could then offer to display the same products on your retailers¹ sites with a retailer markup.
  
  
• Discounts—In much the same way that markups are calculated, so can discounts be calculated. You can act as your own site administrator to mark certain products, entire departments, or an entire store at a certain discount.
  
  
• Basket Accounts—Using TownSmith Basket, you can sort checkout information according to vendor or vendor department, called "basket accounts". In this way, you can pull reports from the system that detail the activity in any given basket account.
  
  
• Basket Status Management—As the site administrator, you can set the status of a basket to represent held orders, split orders, shipped orders, backorders, etc. You can then pull a report to reflect all held orders, all shipped orders, all backorders, and so on. The status categories are entirely up to you.
  
  
• Separate Buyer and Shipping Addresses—Each basket can separately track buyer and shipping address, so you can have a user buy a gift for a friend using their billing address but have the gift sent to the friend¹s address.
  
  
• Multiple Shipping Addresses—A basket can have multiple shipping addresses, allowing the user to buy products for friends, family, and coworkers and have them delivered separately to each while only have to checkout once.
  
  
• Automatic Form Population—TownSmith Basket can utilize a user login to automatically fill in most checkout form fields. Any information being carried among the user¹s contact information can be automatically populated into any necessary basket forms. In this way the user does not have to repeatedly enter their name, address, and phone number, for example.
  
  
• Historical Basket Item Information Capturing—TownSmith Basket can capture historical information about products. If a site administrator deletes or changes a product after an active user has already selected it, the product does not disappear from user¹s baskets. At checkout, they can be given a list of options or replacement items.
  
  
• Session Re-establishment (Persistence)—Using cookies technology, TownSmith Basket can re-establish a session if a user leaves your site and returns. The session can be picked up in progress without the user having to go back and start over. This may also be done without cookies through a user login.
  
  

For more information about TownSmith, e-mail us at info@townsmith.com.