I’ve recently produced a “feature tour” presentation designed to be a self-paced overview of all Elastic Path 5 features and benefits without technical jargon and acronyms and low on marketing double-speak. Really a scrapbook tour of what it looks like to shop an EP5 built store and how the back-end is managed and finally, how the catalog and merchandising is set-up.

The one acronym which does appear (OK, maybe there are two) is AJAX - meaning Asyncronous Javascript And XHTML - this is a technique rather than a technology or a product. I played with the AJAX-ified pieces of EP5 while screen-shooting *everything* for the presentation and the neat thing is, you don’t really notice the AJAX’ed bits, just that the site is clipping along as fast as you can click.

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Discussions on AJAX-ed One Page checkout »

AJAXWorld News Desk Nov. 28th article catches readers up on recent Elastic Path news and achievements including noted consultant Gord Janzen (heard on Get Elastic podcast #8) joining Elastic Path fulltime as Chief Operating Officer as well as chronicling some recent accomplishments this past year at EP.

Check out the whole article “AJAX Pioneer Elastic Path Expands Executive Team; Announces 60% Fiscal Revenue Growth” - here’s a snippet to get you started:

Elastic Path Software, a pioneer of flexible ecommerce software, has announced a record close to the fiscal year, marked by strong revenue growth, new customer acquisition and technology innovation. Additionally, the company has expanded its executive team and appointed IT industry luminary Gordon Janzen as chief operating officer to oversee company operations to meet growing customer demand.

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AJAX Magazine on EP’s Board and Achievements »

BToB Online published an article today (Nov. 13, 2006) by Richard Karpinski called, “What exactly is Web 2.0?” The articles’ aim is to educate business on the bevy of “rich” web apps and maturing technology paradigms available to enhance user experience and create efficiencies for business.

Starting with an overview, Karpinski sets the landscape by saying,

For starters, Web 2.0 is clearly about a more interactive Web that looks and feels more like an application than a static Web page or Web site. At the heart of this is the concept of AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML-a combination of long-standing Web technologies that, when joined, yields something different than a series of point-and-click Web pages. The classic example is Google Maps, where users can manipulate graphical maps in real time, zooming in and out and pinging the app for landmarks, directions and more.

The article talks to a number industry of sources including Jason Billingsley here at Elastic Path who says:

“The technology is not new, it’s just been recently re-named,” said Jason Billingsley, VP-marketing at e-commerce vendor Elastic Path. “Once people acquire the skills to do it, they can roll out applications that are much richer experiences for users.”

In discussing the Elastic Path One Page checkout tool, Karpinski writes,

In November, Elastic Path introduced a new component of its e-commerce application that uses AJAX to let users go through an entire shopping cart check-out experience on a single interactive screen. The application does real-time ZIP code look-ups, allows users to edit their shopping carts, validates form errors and tallies final prices, shipping costs and taxes-all without a trip back to the server.

To which Jason adds,

“It really eliminates the wait-and-see process at check-out,” Billingsley said. “It has the potential to reduce shopping cart abandonment rather significantly.”

The article continues with discussion about user experience, community building and user involvement, remix culture, vulnerabilities and risks. He wraps up with an example of “web 2.0″ tools in a business to business context citing an example of a major car manufacturer introducing a blog component to interact with dealers.

AJAX World Magazine picked up the press release Elastic Path Software Announces AJAX-Powered One Page Checkout for Online Stores about Elastic Path’s new AJAX-i-fied One Page checkout tool.

While the technology which drives the software is cool and innovative, the increased functional utility to the customer is what really makes One Page an exciting announcement for Elastic Path. Even the analysts agree.

“When retailers provide simple and streamlined web sites, with hassle-free checkout, online shoppers are much more likely to buy,” said Alex Fletcher, lead industry analyst at The Entiva Group.

“While consumers are not necessarily aware of the driving technology behind an ecommerce site, they appreciate capabilities such as dynamically updated totals and an easier shopping experience that are made possible by an AJAX-powered checkout. Elastic Path’s One Page technology will reduce shopping cart abandonment for its customers as online shoppers are more apt to buy if the process is quick, easy, and forthcoming.

Well that’s nice, but exactly what is it that One Page actually does to reduce abandonment and increase conversions?

Elastic Path One Page provides customers with a constant snapshot of order details. The contents of the shopping cart can be adjusted at any time without losing existing data, enabling customers to see the effect of an applied promotion code without ever leaving the checkout process.

Additionally, by maintaining a small size footprint, Elastic Path One Page loads in under half the time of competing flash-based offerings, enabling retailers to provide an optimal shopping experience without demanding the presence of finicky browser plug-ins.

Exciting stuff - small, responsive and intuitive. Fortunately, eager and progressive retailers only have to wait until November 2006 to get their hands on it.