Leading Data Mining Vendor Expands E-Commerce Offering to Improve Sales Productivity
SPSS Inc. opened the doors of an expanded online store at http://www.spss.com/store/software. The e-commerce site offers customers the speed and convenience of Internet shopping along with the assurance of secured transactions. This expansion offers secure transactions to SPSS North America customers, and frees sales staff to focus on larger, enterprise-wide sales.
The online store makes it easy for customers to purchase any of over 50 SPSS software products, including the popular SPSS for Windows, allCLEAR, AnswerTree, SigmaPlot and QI Analyst. Users can enter the store to browse, read descriptions of SPSS software or place an order online using a major credit card.
"E-commerce allows our customers to select products for themselves and leaves our sales force open to focus on enterprise-wide sales," said Jack Noonan, president and CEO of SPSS Inc. "People are becoming accustomed to purchasing products any time of the day or night, and our customers are no exception. They want online access to product information as well as the ability to purchase software at their convenience. Our software store gives customers who already know what they want an easy, secure way to order products whenever it's convenient for them," said Jack Noonan, SPSS Inc. president and CEO.
"SPSS has operated a successful online bookstore for years," Noonan continued. "We began selling a few software products a year ago as a pilot and it proved successful, so we expanded it to include most of our software products."
Helpful e-commerce features assist users in navigating the site and purchasing products. Customers can click a "Buy Online" button from every page of the SPSS Web site. A shopping cart makes it easy for customers to select items and continue shopping. It also lets customers know what items they have selected and allows them to add or delete items at any time during their visit. At checkout, customers in the United States and Canada can purchase software at commercial list prices using MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover. Transactions are processed in real time and products and manuals are automatically shipped the next business day.
The SPSS online store uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, the e-commerce standard, so customers can order with confidence. SSL technology ensures that sensitive information such as credit card numbers cannot be accessed by unauthorized users or intercepted by a third party. Once a customer places an order and enters their information, they receive an electronic certificate verifying that SPSS is using the highest level of encryption available. Data transferred between the server and the browser is unreadable, making sure sensitive data such as credit card numbers are safe from theft.
The Internet, and specifically e-commerce, is becoming an increasingly significant part of SPSS' growth. Revenues from leads generated by the SPSS Web site nearly doubled in 1998, and in the first quarter of 1999, Web leads increased nearly 70 percent over the same period last year. With the expansion of the software store, Web-generated revenues are expected to climb even higher this year.
In addition to software products, the SPSS Web site offers a wealth a product information including quick tours of selected software, interactive demonstrations, White Papers, downloadable software demos, script exchanges, movies and much more.
Company information
SPSS Inc. is a leader in business intelligence, especially data mining, as well as three vertical markets: survey/market research, quality improvement and scientific research. SPSS products and services transform organizations by helping users leverage information to improve processes that increase revenues and reduce costs. Currently, more than 250,000 organizations use SPSS software to create and distribute information for better decision making.
Founded in 1968, SPSS has been a leader in data analysis for more than three decades. SPSS has won the following awards: named No. 28 in DM Review's Data Warehouse Top 100; placed No. 21 on the 1998 Soft-letter 100, a ranking of the top 100 personal computer software companies in the United States; and No. 87 in the 1998 Software 500, a ranking of the world's largest software vendors by Software Magazine. Headquartered in Chicago, SPSS has offices and distributors around the world. For more information, visit http://www.spss.com.