This is a free internet service that helps Opencart shop owners:
- easily import, export and batch-update their data ;
- rapidly perform routine tasks like searching, adding and editing of data records;
- create and run sophisticated reports on data, to help run their businesses smoothly.
Zen Cart owners have been very happy with ShopAdmin, as also osCommerce users. And now, OpenCart users also can manage data seamlessly with Apsona ShopAdmin.  All of this is possible within your browser, with no need for custom development or coding.  The installation package is customizable to the specific needs of each cart.  Sign-up is free, and only takes a few minutes. Please sign up, try it out and see for yourself. As always we welcome feedback.

• exporting a range of customer records into Quickbooks-compatible IIF format
• exporting a specific order into a customizable Excel-compatible format.

These features are only available by request. If you would like them enabled for you, please contact us via email.

Until recently, ShopAdmin had included support for numbers only in the US and UK format. A number 23,302,983.02 in the US format is expressed very differently in Europe.  As many of our users are European, we are now happy to inform our European users that ShopAdmin now supports localized numbers and currencies when importing and editing.  The German format 23.302.983,02, the Swiss format 23′302′983.02 and the French format 23 302 983,02 is now supported by.  ShopAdmin uses the locale determined by the user’s browser to determine the number format.

As always, new features will take effect the next time a user logs in to Apsona ShopAdmin. Stay tuned for new features, updates and services. We welcome for feedback and feature requests.

Happy New Year!

So how do online retailers know what products to stock and in what quantities?  What do shoppers really want? Trends of returning customers – Is it offer free shipping, free returns or faster shipping options?  The answer for all these questions and more is a good analytics tool which will help shop owners with past trends.

Apsona ShopAdmin is a free offering with powerful built-in analytics. No custom coding. A simple drag and drop interface will give you reports instantly. Data records from different tables can be selected and the final report is available instantly. This type of data crunching provides the shop owner with facts and trends instantly, for easier decision-making. For example, a report for all the Orders in November 2009 by region can be obtained by selecting the Zone field from the Customer table, Date purchased and Order totals from the Order table and immediately a very important piece of data is at your fingertips. Visualize this data by Zone with the grouping visualization available with ShopAdmin for a better feel of the data.

When stocking products, another vital piece of information to shop owners is which attributes are the most popular. For example, while ordering T-shirts, which sizes and colors sell quickly and easily. Such data can be got from ShopAdmin by making a report from the Ordered products table. Just select option and option values from the Ordered product attribute table and count (Ordered product ID) field from the Ordered product table click save and you are done. Ordering and stocking products which move is key to a online retailer’s success.

Analyze data in minutes with Apsona ShopAdmin. Get your free account from apsona.com.

ShopAdmin is flexbile. You can choose to import categories independently and then import products to those categories or you can choose to import new products and create new categories to those products on the fly. You can also have a single product in multiple categories.

Categories in ShopAdmin can be found under the Products table tab. Click  and the categories page opens up with two panels.  On the left side panel you will will see the category name and its parent( if there is a parent). Click on a category name and the details to the category show up on the right side panel. You can also add a category manually on this page as well.

You can import products into multiple categories with the import wizard.  The import process is  the three steps – pasting data, matching or lining up fields and validating data before clicking the import button. Whether you are importing just categories or products and categories the import process is the same. Infact, the import process is the same across all tables in ShopAdmin.

Product categories are also multi-select. Some users preferred a visual tool to edit and link their products into multiple categories. ShopAdmin accommodates that. Click on a product and select the category field. All the category names drop down. Check the boxes before each category name and save. The saved product is now linked to multiple categories at once.

So whether it is importing a whole list of new categories or manually linking a product to multiple categories, you can do it with Apsona ShopAdmin and see the changes instantly in your Zen Cart or osCommerce shopping cart.

Sign up for a free account at http://aspsona.com.

• Simultaneously import categories and products from a single CSV data file (automatically creating the category hierarchy).
• Update as well as import product records from the same CSV data file.
• “Undo” an import:  Automatically create a filter that records the ids of the newly-imported records, so that you can quickly get to just those records, and undo import via Tools – Delete all.
• Optionally check, when importing products, that all the Model values are distinct and do not occur. This feature is optional because some users specifically want to allow multiple model values.
• Better handling of data validation errors in the database. This feature is optional because some users specifically want to allow multiple model values.

Current users need not do anything, these fixes will take effect automatically the next time they reload the Apsona ShopAdmin window. We hope you find the new enhancements useful and welcome all feedback.

Meanwhile, at Apsona we were just getting started. The need for an  import and update tool was very evident. We wanted to provide a tool with our usual trademark – simplicity with a low or no learning curve. Thus in April 2010, Apsona ShopAdmin for Zen Cart and osCommerce was born. The points belows summarises Apsona ShopAdmin.

• ShopAdmin add-on is distributed in a zip file containing everything you need to install into your shopping cart. To install this add-on, simply unzip the attached zip file’s contents into the admin folder for your Zen Cart or osCommerce application.

• It interacts directly with your shopping cart database.

• From within ShopAdmin you can directly import , export and update your products – categories and attributes, customers, and order information.
• You can view the ShopAdmin window and your cart admin window at the same time. Thus changes made in one window are reflected immediately in the other window.
• It is  a thin layer of PHP code that works within your shopping cart application.
• Does not require copying or downloading your data to any external database or storage service
• No coding or SQL knowledge needed. All you need is a browser.

The result  -  a simple, easy-to-use interface that manages your data with minimum fuss.

As our customer base grows everyday so does our enthusiasm and commitment to the product. We are trying to accomodate customer requests to the best we can. There sure is never a dull moment for the Apsona team

On a final note to this blog, here is what one of our happy customers said on a forum:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153990

” Got to say, only just come accross this addon, and its absolutely fantastic, the kind of module/addon that Zen Users im sure have been crying out for.

I just cant get over how easy it is to create your own filters, like for example listing customers from certain countries, creating custom reports, its just amazed me so far, and seems too good to be true. Its the kind of big change I would expect in a Version 2 Zen Cart too be honest.

Amazing work, well done :clap:”

With the new release of ShopAdmin (June 7, 2010), Zen Cart and osCommerce users can now manage category records with the same ShopAdmin interface they use for managing products, manufacturers, customers and orders. This includes finding, filtering, adding and editing categories, searching and filtering. It also includes import (i.e., upload) or update of entire batches of category records into the Zen Cart or osCommerce database. Category information is available via a new menu item under the Product tab.

Apsona addresses this very important feature with ease. The syntax while preparing the CSV for import is: parent category followed by a colon, a space and the sub category. Example, Accessories: Caps. This way there will be no confusion when importing or updating multiple products with the same name but belonging to different categories. Just like all other tables in ShopAdmin, categories and sub categories when imported or updated can also be instantly visible in the Zen Cart and osCommerce databases.

The Apsona team aims to minimise the learning curve and make the user experience seamless and friendly. The beauty of Apsona ShopAdmin is an existing user does not need to do anything when  new features are added. These features will take effect automatically the next time the user reloads Apsona ShopAdmin.

Do try out Apsona ShopAdmin. Data management has never been so easy. Sign up for a free account at apsona.com.

As one would expect, we have had our share of teething troubles. We discovered that some hosting services require extra code to handle large data sets, while others have older PHP configurations that needed workarounds in the ShopAdmin code. This has sometimes caused slight problems when Apsona ShopAdmin is first installed. But our tech team has been able to successfully resolve all issues so far. In some cases, we had to use a screen-sharing session over the internet, while others were a simple matter of fixing configurations. In most cases, however, our users have been up and running within minutes of signing up.

We have been regularly enhancing the software with new features. With each enhancement, we send email to our users informing them of the update. Our technology and architecture is such that, invariably, the users need to do nothing more than refreshing their ShopAdmin window for the update to take effect.

Overall, we are very pleased with how things have gone so far, and we have a continuing commitment to maintain and enhance ShopAdmin. We look forward to working with you for many years to come.

Zen Cart and osCommerce users can now run sophisticated reports with Apsona ShopAdmin. Reports which can enable them to focus on targeting their customers with sharp, focused marketing messages. Some reports they can run are:

• Where do customers live by zip/area codes, city, state and country
• When did they last buy
• Who are the power buyers (repeat customers who also refer other new customers)
• Identify the top fifty customers
• What have customers last bought
• Identify the top 5 best selling products
• Weekly, monthly and quarterly sales
• Classify customer interests based on the purchases they made
• What times of the year do they buy
• Orders by region

With ShopAdmin, you can create reports such as those above with no effort. Get creative and run reports with the simple drag-and-drop interface provided in ShopAdmin. Include any fields you want, from any of your data records. Visualize data in graphs, matrices and charts and even publish reports on the web. Set up and customize the dashboard with any of the created reports from all tables.

ShopAdmin reports do much more than just pretty graphics, however. Quite frequently, you would want to extract a specific piece of the data in your shopping cart for operational use. For example, you might want to list the names, email addresses and products bought by all those customers who visited your store during last year’s Christmas season, so that you can send them a custom promotional email. With ShopAdmin, you can create exactly this report, run it a few times to make sure it has what you need, and then export its results in CSV format for use with your favorite mailing program.

With a  free Apsona ShopAdmin account,  Zen Cart and osCommerce users now have the power to analyze their eCommerce data in some very interesting and exciting ways.

Sign up for a free ShopAdmin account and see for yourself.

A few fields from the table drop down. Check the field Last name and enter S in the search box. Click the lens icon or hit enter. Instantly you will see all your customers with the last name beginning with S.

Quickly find data records of your orders, customers,  products, product attributes or  manufacturers by multiple criteria. For example you can get data of all the order totals (Order table), of all orders which have been delivered (status – Order table) for customers whose last name (customer table) begins with S living in the state (customer table)of California. To get this data set click the arrow next to Search and select  More options. A filter editor opens up from where you can add terms for the search. Select Last name and State from the customer table as fields from the Customer table and Status and order total as fields from the Order table. Choose the relevant filter criteria for each term and click  Search. Results show up instantly. This data can be saved as a filter(with an appropriate name) and can be invoked any time in the future when required.

Try out Apsona Shop Admin’s Search & filtering. As one of our users said – Incredible and easy. Get your free account from apsona.com.