Fortune3 Review

Full review

Operating since 2001, Fortune3 is an experienced and popular ecommerce software solution offering store set-up and management for beginners and the more experienced online retailers. We looked at the many features the software offers in order to tell you what advantages you get when signing up with the Fortune3 package.

Sign up

The plans start at $24.95 per month for the basic plan, with 50 products, and goes up to $899.95 per month for the Unlimited plan which gives you unlimited products as well as other benefits. The most popular plan is the Gold plan for $69.95 a month and 1,000 products. Add in unlimited bandwidth for no extra charge on all plans and you’re faced with a good value package. There are no cancellation fees and once you have paid for a month you can stop your account if you wish. The plans come with unlimited email addresses and free domain name registration. Currently you can try the service free for three months, with up to 20 products and no obligation.

Design

With 100s of free templates to use you don’t have to be a computer or design whizz to get your store looking good. Designers and those that want a more individual page have access to the HTML and page source code. Use Photoshop and other graphics programs to edit your site design. All the buttons are customizable and you can edit the whole site with Dreamweaver, Frontpage or HTML code. With such a wide variety of customization options the chances that you end up with a site that looks like someone else’s is slim. If you’d prefer someone else to do the leg-work then premium templates and custom web design are available for a fee.

Products

One of the ways in which Fortune3 stands out is with its easy-to-use Product Tree management and organization structure – you can easily edit the layout and the content of your product display and drag-and-drop your own categories. There are many different ways to customize your product display so you get the most from your products, including the ability to edit and customize product descriptions and tabs, input text question boxes, and add image zoom display options.

With the cross selling feature different products are displayed alongside the customer’s choice, increasing the possibility of a sale and also enabling up-selling and cross-selling opportunities.

Store

Stock control – Take control of your inventory with Fortune3 software features. The integrated inventory management system removes products from your inventory once they are ordered, or you can remove multiple items with one click. You can set limits on your inventory and because you know how much you have in stock you are in little danger of over-selling.

Payments – Integrated with numerous popular payment processors including PayPal. You will be charged a transaction fee if you use your own payment processor. If you set up the Fortune3 payment processor the transaction fee is waived, but you do pay to integrate Fortune3’s payment services. You can set your surcharges to recover payment processing costs from your customers. The store also allows payments by credit cards, and you can manually process credit card payments if you choose.

Marketing

Fortune3 is strong on SEO, which is a good thing for an ecommerce store provider. The automatic SEO controls allow your site to be spotted by the search engines with tools like automatic creation of keywords and meta tags, and navigational breadcrumbs are added to categories and product pages for the purposes of SEO. Once you’ve built your site it is automatically submitted to the major search engines.

Fortune3 is perhaps not as strong on add-on marketing services as other software, with fewer features available. There is a Social Shopping Cart app for you to set you an integrated store on Facebook, and you can create an email marketing list and send newsletters and updates to customers. Customers can use promo codes to redeem coupons but there is a lack of an integrated blog and tools like a Daily Deal update.

Reporting

Fortune3 offers a decent amount of statistical and reporting tools – enough so you can see who is looking at your site and where your visitors have come from. You can see your performance in the search engines and also download sales data and stats from the Administration dashboard. There are a number of charts and graphs available that show what your top selling items are and where your best customers are from.

Features

The Fortune3 software package includes a free mobile ecommerce site which allows your customers to browse and buy on the move. The feature is easy to set up and manage and you can also customize the mobile version, which is useful.

Adding your products on your Facebook page is easy with the social shopping app and you can choose which of your products you want to feature in this way.

Security

Fortune3 software is PCI-compliant, with secure 256bit SSL. The sites are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In general, the company provides a reliable and secure service which is so important for ecommerce.

Ease of use

Fortune3 prides itself on being easy to use and the software is not difficult – the Tree-Structured Product Management organizational structure makes taking care of your products a breeze. However, because the interface is filled with features it can be a little difficult to navigate at times. Beginners may find it a little overwhelming when trying to access certain tools or features. There are a lot of menus to look at and this can be confusing. But the overall user experience is a positive one. One good feature is the ability to work offline when you want to – useful when you are on the road, or faced with an insecure internet connection.

Help & support

If you do run into problems with the complex array of options available in the Fortune3 package you can call tech support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The phone support is based in the US and there are also email tickets and online chat as additional support options. Add in comprehensive FAQs, manuals, and training videos and you shouldn’t be confused for very long.

Overall

A full-service package that delivers where you need it. Choose Fortune3 if you are looking for an all-round software solution that grows with your business.