The software has been designed to cater for the requirements of businesses who want to give their dealers or customers access to an On-line Ordering System, whilst also allowing them to use the same system to set up their own "shops" to sell products on to their own customers.

The central distributor catalogues are maintained on a hosted Web Server and are updated using a "forms" driven Client interface, installed on remote PC's, which can be used to update data changes to products. Unlimited drill-downs can be set-up for each product, by Department, Group, Brand Name or Product Type, which can incorporate additional information transparently presented to the visitor from other web sites.

Customers or Dealers can log-on to the system, which can be set up to determine what products are available for them to purchase, special discounts, negotiated buying prices, preferred lines and also credit limits, all of which are controlled by an individual User Name and Password. The facility is also available for departments/individuals to place Requisitions, which cannot become "Orders" until "Confirmed" by an authorised party.

Random visitors (those without a log-on password) to the site automatically view pricing at the default level, usually RRP. Orders exceeding a pre-determined value can be placed using Credit Card payment facilities if this option has been configured.

Existing customer profile information can be exported to the Catalogue Web Server from back-office systems, and orders can be imported automatically into legacy back-office Sales Order Processing Systems via formatted e-mail. The system can also be set up to give your customers information on the status of their account, stock history and other relevant data that makes doing business with you over the Internet a real pleasure. TradeSmart has been chosen as the preferred e-Commerce application by major UK buying groups and organisations including BT CellnetDirect, a division of British Telecom.