Changing The Way The Internet Does Business One Store At A Time

This is an announcement of a new free service allowing store owners who market a product to build their own online catalog/shopping cart. Additionally it provides the store-owner with the ability to market their goods via wireless devices.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Changing The Way The Internet Does Business One Store At A Time

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- September 28, 2002 -- Eight months ago, the founder of Portal Store Enterprises, Greg Lambert formed an organization with the objectives of 1) providing an additional market channel for small businesses and 2) to fulfill a life-long objective of becoming an entrepreneur.

With an arsenal of industry statistics, market research and articles on projected eCommerce growth; Mr. Lambert formulated a plan and started Portal Store Enterprises giving businesses additional armament in their defense against economic downturn.

The goal was, and is, an easy to use internet-based application that would enable a business owner to construct an online catalog and shopping cart system to market their products via the traditional Internet as well as wireless devices. Intended for the near novice user, this application allows the storeowner to follow a simple step-by-step process. The end result is a complete product catalog coupled with a traditional shopping cart system that provides an international market channel for the business owner. Additionally, the application provides an easy to use web-based administrative module with the capability to track product inventories, process orders, and maintain customer information.

We looked at the best and the worst of what other similar systems offer," says Tom Schaetzle, President and co-founder of Portal Store Enterprises. The most comprehensive of these systems is the application offered by Yahoo! Stores. Though it is an excellent system, its build your own store" capabilities appear to be geared towards the experienced programmer. This complexity itself has given rise to a score of third-party organizations offering classroom training on how to build your Yahoo! Store."

Simplicity rather than complexity is the main focus of the Portal Store system. Utilitarian in design, even people with little web experience and training should have little problem bringing a store online. This provides an excellent tool for small businesses that lack the financial resources to develop a customized Internet store. The solution expands local markets to an international market, with minimal investment and ongoing expense.

Bound by little more than their own imagination, the business owner can design a store with a customized look and feel. For those who dont have the time, inclination, or just want to try things out, there are a variety of free templates available with many more templates soon to be added.

Thats not all. With little additional effort, a business owners storefront can be delivered to a wireless platform enabling customers to shop from the convenience of their internet enabled mobile phone or other wireless device. While in the local mall shopping for a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie baseball card, a shopper can easily compare the mall price to the price for the same card in Paducah, KY. Youll be hard pressed to find another online catalog/shopping cart system that also offers wireless shopping.

If you want your store built for you, PortalStores can support your every need including graphics work, catalog setup and importing your existing database of products directly into the electronic storefront. These services and more are all available at additional cost as outlined on the Portal Store Enterprises website.

If you have all of your data and images ready, you should be able to build your own store in a matter of a few hours. Other than this investment of time, the price for building your own storefront, storing your image data, having your site hosted and securely conducting transactions through a SSL certificate is free.

Free for a limited time anyway. Portal Store Enterprises plans to initiate a monthly pricing structure once the application has drawn five thousand storeowners. At that time an easy to understand pricing structure of $39.95US per month will be implemented. With a firm marketing strategy and initial client base, Portal Store Enterprises projects the 5,000 storeowner mark to be achieved in June of 2003. Until then, armed with a few of your own marketing strategies, this could be one additional tool helping offset any possible further downturn in our economy.

The Portal Store solution can be viewed at http://www.portalstores.com. Contact information is provided on their website.

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Interview Contacts:
Tom Schaetzle, President
Telephone: 317-908-0205
tschaetzle@portalstores.com

Greg Lambert, Executive Vice President, eCommerce Solutions
Telephone: 317-443-4728
glambert@portalstores.com