Tonight we are upgrading our database server to keep pace with demand. We do not expect much downtime; however, we will have to take the sites offline for about 30 minutes to complete the upgrade. As always upgrades are scheduled for non-peak times. If you have any questions please e-mail kyle@rpmware.com

UPDATE: The upgrade is complete. We only had about 30 seconds of downtime. Hats off to the team for making it so smooth.

We’ll do product demonstrations, walk thru features, show off whatever we’re working on and answer any questions. We’ll also discuss online marketing and the best ways to get your business noticed online.

Important Information Location: https://connect.acrobat.com/rpmtour Time: Every Thursday 1:00 PM until 2:00 PM EST (Come any time, you don’t have to come on time or stay the whole time.)

Once you connect to the url above you will be asked to call in to a phone number to get the audio of the webcast. Come prepared with lots of questions.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the first live support session. We got a lot of questions answered and hopefully will be seeing some beautiful designs pop up soon from you guys.

For those that missed it, we:

• Reviewed how to create your own brands, product groups and items.
• Talked about customizing the site design both with custom headers/footers and custom css style sheets.
• Did a quick tutorial on using the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar.
• Discussed our upcoming release, data audit and feature requests.

If you missed it plan on being there next week.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We are changing the time to 1PM EST effective next Thursday (7/19) so the West Coast guys don’t have to get up so early.

We’ll do product demonstrations, walk thru features, show off whatever we’re working on and answer any questions. We’ll also discuss online marketing and the best ways to get your business noticed online.

Important Information Location: https://connect.acrobat.com/rpmtour Time: Every Thursday 11:00 AM until Noon EST (Come any time, you don’t have to come on time or stay the whole time.)

Once you connect to the url above you will be asked to call in to a 800 number to get the audio of the webcast. Come prepared with lots of questions.

Beginning July 7, 2007 join us each week for an informal live support webcast. We’ll do product demonstrations, walk thru features, show off whatever we’re working on and answer any questions. We’ll also discuss online marketing and the best ways to get your business noticed online.

Important Information Location: https://connect.acrobat.com/rpmtour Time: Every Thursday 11:00 AM until Noon EST (Come any time, you don’t have to come on time or stay the whole time.)

Once you connect to the url above you will be asked to call in to a 800 number to get the audio of the webcast. Come prepared with lots of questions.

EDIT: All future live support webcasts will be held at 1PM EST to accommodate those on the West Coast.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July. We’re all back to work today.

Guys .. We’re working hard on the next version of RPMWare. It will be the biggest release to date.

With that said, we must limit our IM support hours until July 1 so we can get all the new features and enhancements complete and tested for launch. Matt and I will be available between 11AM - 1PM EST for IM support. We’ll answer e-mail support requests around the clock and are available on the phone anytime. This only applies to IM, all other support avenues (phone, email) are open as normal.

Email kyle or matt.

In what is our biggest release since launch and the longest I’ve stayed up consecutively in quite a long time RPMWare Inc. is pleased to release v1.3 of it ecommerce software developed specifically for performance shops. The upgrade took exactly 1 minute and 27 secs at 7:24AM EST. No data was lost.

OK, Enough corporate talk, let’s get down to what’s new and improved.

Customer Area

Select Vehicle Page - When your customers select their vehicle they are no longer redirected to a huge list of parts. Instead they are sent to an intermediate page to narrow their search by brand or category. Try it out and let us know what you think.

Administration Area

Administration Area Revamp - The basics are the same, but we’re continuing to improve our interface and the look of the site. We think you’ll be able to find everything a little easier now. We’ve also made some performance enhancements and added a ton of new features…

COUPON CODES!! - By popular demand (see we really do listen). You can setup pricing for entire brands, groups or just items only accessible by the coupon code you specify. The race season is upon us so make most of your marketing campaigns. (Coupons are also a great way to skirt MAP policies … but you didn’t hear it from us).

PRICING LEVELS!! - Have a group of loyal retail customers? Wholesale customers? Define a pricing scheme just for them. Once they login to the site they will instantly see THEIR price for the products you sell. It’s a great way to build loyalty (e.g. XX Racing Gold Member) or build your wholesale program.

New Ways to Set Pricing - Before you had to specify a brand or group discount. Now you can setup percentage discounts (10% off), fixed discounts ($10 off) and fixed pricing ($10) all the way down to the item level. Also when setting percentage discounts only the available prices (MSRP, Jobber, MAP) will show as options.

Active Status All the Way Down - You could always turn off brands or groups. Now you can turn off items as well. In our next release you’ll be able to shut off vehicles (the ones in your search by year, make, model dropdowns) too.

Order History and Order Tracking - You can now add Order History and Order Tracking to your orders. That should have been there from day 1 huh? Well now it is.

New Exception (Error) Handling - If something goes wrong on your site we’ll know about it before you do. We’ve configured e-mail alerts for every possible error to ensure your site is always operating at its full potential.

Settings - Gone are the slow loading tabs. In are quick easy links with fast loading modules. We’ll be working over the settings area extensively in our next release.

How Are We Doing? - You’ll notice each time you logout there is a quick text-box to let us know how we’re doing. We’re in business to help you run your business so be sure to let us know what’s on your mind.

…And a TON of little things - I could never mention absolutely everything we worked on but I hit what I think is most important. I’m sure you’ll find some more hidden features I forgot to call-out.

Data & Product Lines

Over the next couple days your product catalog is going to explode. We’ve doubled our database by adding the following lines: Blitz, Blox, Cusco, Edelbrock, Energy Suspension, Flex-A-Lite, GT Spec, Invidia, Koni, MSD, Nukabe, Rotora and Russell. We’ve also updated the following lines: DEI, Eibach, and Fujita5. While these lines may show in your administration area and customer-facing website they will not be 100% complete until Monday.

You’ll notice when you are setting your pricing that there are fewer brands to set pricing for. Starting now (with the exception of the lines listed above) we will only show completed product lines on your pricing and active screens. When we release new lines they will be set to non-active by default. You will be notified by e-mail and on this blog when new lines are released. At that time you can login to your Admin area, set pricing and activate the line. THERE IS NO CHARGE AND NEVER WILL BE A CHARGE TO ACTIVATE PRODUCT LINES. We just want you to decide when product lines start popping up on your website.

That’s It

We’d love to know what you think after you’ve had a chance to check out your newly upgraded website. Drop us an e-mail or a comment in the blog.

For technical questions: Kyle, Product Lines: Matt, and if you’re ready to sign up Adam.

The RPMWare family gets on collective year older today. Our head Data Wrangler and Hand-Eye Coordinator, Ernest Lo hits the 1/4 Century Mark today.

Happy Birtheday Ernest - and thanks for all the effort you have given to the cause.