General
What is iStorez?
Storez is a site that lets you browse and shop across hundreds of online stores to discover new products, find current deals and check out what's hot. It is well known that online stores send out shopping newsletters to their customers with new product information and special promotions. Well, we collect and organize 1000s of these newsletters across a wide variety of stores and present them as interactive storefronts that you can now browse, search and click!
What is a Storefront?
Think of a storefront as an extension of a retail store's website. It is similar to the physical store window displays that you see as you walk through a mall. At iStorez, you can browse 1000s of storefronts from 100s of stores without ever leaving your warm chair and hot cup of coffee. And iStorez always presents the most relevant and newest storefronts based on what you are looking for.
Is this similar to a shopping comparison or search site?
No. You go to a shopping comparison site when you have narrowed down what you want to buy and are comparing prices and features. But, what if you want to first browse around to decide what really you want? iStorez is the online equivalent of window shopping in a mall or browsing your Sunday newspaper's shopping section. You often want to see what's there, what's hot and what's on sale.
Where is the store information coming from?
iStorez is collecting and organizing marketing and storefront information that stores and brands send to their registered customers through e-mail and RSS. In addition, stores also send us exclusive storefronts that include special deals and previews just for iStorez visitors! Yes!
Why is this better for me?
As a consumer, there is too much information on the internet and too much information coming at you. It is hard to find the shopping information that you need in a general purpose search site. A comparison shopping site is good for research but not useful if you want to browse across stores. If you subscribe to shopping newsletters from various stores or brands, your email Inbox soon gets cluttered up, impossible to manage and you can never find what you need. The iStorez site offers a one-stop solution, where you can browse across a wide variety of stores and check out the latest and relevant promotions and store items.
How do I discover these popular and hot stores?
iStorez allows consumers to tag the storefronts with descriptive words that other consumers may find useful, e.g. spring fashions, organic makeup, holiday sale, teen gifts, iPod accessory etc. You can also add your own tags to storefronts. Consumers can then search for storefronts based on tags. You can also look at the most popular tags and search for storefronts based on popularity.
Shopper Profiles
What are shopper profiles?
In iStorez, each (signed in) visitor can create their list of favorite stores, and can therefore browse and search across these stores only. It is like having your own private shopping mall. To illustrate this idea, iStorez comes with a number of built-in shopper profiles. Use the carousel on the iStorez home page to check out these profiles and find one that matches you, or not. Click on a profile and you will enter the iStorez shopping page and see the stores selected for that profile.
Do I need to sign up to use the profiles?
No, you do not need to sign up to use the built-in profiles. However, you cannot change the stores that are selected for a profile. You can also select 'Show me all stores' (top right corner) and view all the stores in iStorez. You can also click on the 'Just let me in' button to enter iStorez shopping and view all stores.
How do I create my own profile?
First, sign up for an istorez account. Once you have done that, you will see iStorez shopping with all stores. Now select the Manage My Mall menu item from the My Mall button and you will see a list of 400+ stores organized by categories. Click on the Category-Store Name selection box for each store that you want and you have just created your own personalized shopping experience within iStorez.
How do I view the Stores that I have selected in my profile?
Sign In into iStorez using your Email address and password. You will then be in the iStorez shopping view where you will see all iStorez stores. Then select the Browse My Mall menu item (from My Mall) to view your stores. You can switch between the All Stores and My Stores view. You can also select 'Show me my stores' (top right corner) and view the stores you have selected.
You can also switch to any of the built-in shopper profiles to view the corresponding stores. CAUTION: If you are viewing the stores in a built-in profile view, the My Mall menu will not show. You need to be in the All Stores view for the My Mall menu to show up. However, You can also select 'Show me my stores' (top right corner) to switch to your stores view.
How do I sign up for an account?
Click on the Sign in link which will take you to the Sign in page (istorez.com/m/signin). If you are a new user, click on the 'New User?' link, which will take you to the Sign up page (istorez.com/m/signup). All we need is your contact email address, a password and your screen name. Please check out our 'No Spam' privacy policy. first and last name (so we can address you properly and respectfully) and a that we use to send the sign up confirmation and contact you with any service related information (no spam, see our privacy policy). You need to select a user name that you will use to Sign in to the service and a password so we know it is you. You will then get an email with a confirmation link. Click on the link and your account is activated and you are then on your way to shopping.
iStorez - how to use the service?
What is the storefront view?
When you select a shopper profile or click on 'Just let me in' or Sign in, you will see a list of storefronts form the stores that correspond to the profile.
Each storefront has a tab that displays the name of the store. You can click on any of the displayed tabs to display the corresponding storefront. You can use the Right and Left arrows to navigate across stores/storefronts.
How can I selectively view only some storefronts?
You can use the Browse function to select stores by category, by subcategory, by specific store name. Click on the Browse button to display the BROWSE pop-up. By default, the Categories tab is selected. You can now select any category or subcategory to display storefronts that only match that selection.
Click on the Stores tab in BROWSE and the list of all stores will display. Using the pull down menus, you can see select stores within a category, subcategory, or alphabet range. Click on a store to select it and then only storefronts from that store will display in the storefront view.
The string just above the storefront tabs will display the category or subcategory or store that you have selected, e.g.
All > Apparel and accessories > Women's Apparel
Click on a link in the string to bring up the BROWSE pop-up to change your selection. At any time, clicking on the All link will refresh the storefronts.
How can I Search for an Item?
Enter the item that you are searching for in the Find text box and then click on the Find button. The system will search all the storefronts and find the storefronts that match your search. The storefronts will be ordered with the most relevant showing first. The string above the storefront tabs will display your search term, e.g.
All: Finding cashmere [x]
Click on the [x] to dismiss the search term and show all storefronts..
How can I search for storefronts tagged by other users?
Click on the Browse button to display the BROWSE pop-up. Now click on the Tags tab in the pop-up. The pop-up will display all the tags used by other users of the system. You can sort tags by popularity or alphabetically. Click on a tag and all storefronts that have been tagged with that tag will be displayed. Alternatively, you can click on the Tags menu item and the SELECT TAG pop-up will display. The pop-up shows all the tags that have been associated with the currently displayed storefront. Click on any tag and all storefronts with the same tag will be displayed.
What can I do with tags?
A lot. Tags become a very useful way for you to keep lists of storefronts of interest, find storefronts that other consumers find interesting, share lists with other consumers and so on. Tags can define a list because you can search for all items that match a tag. You can add a tag to any storefront. These tags are visible to other consumers also. Other consumers can use the same tag to add more storefronts to the list. This way a community of users can share storefronts of interest. The service makes it easy for you to find tags that others are using, the tags that are popular, tags associated with a specific message etc.
You need to be signed in to add a tag to a storefront. You can then click on the More menu and then select the Add Tags menu item. This displays the ADD TAGS pop-up. You can add a new tag or select from one of the existing tags that you have used and add the tag to the currently displayed storefront.
How can I refine my search?
When you enter a search term and click on Find, the search string shows -
All: Finding search term [x]
Now if you click on the search term link, the BROWSE pop-up displays. You can refine your search by selecting a category or subcategory (Tab - Categories), a specific store (Tab - Stores), or a tag (Tab - Tags).
The search term will display in the Advanced text box within the Browse pop-up. You can also change or add a search term in the Advanced text box, then click on the Find button next to it.
Can I save a storefront?
Yes, you can do it in one of 3 ways.
You can add a tag to a storefront and retrieve it later using the tag word.
You can forward a copy of the storefront to your email address. Click on the Email icon (extreme right on the yellow menu bar) and the FORWARD THIS STOREFRONT pop-up displays. By default, your contact email address is displayed in the email address field. Change the address if you prefer, then click on the Forward button. You will then receive a copy of the storefront in your email. You can also use Forward to send a storefront to anyone else.
You can print a storefront by clicking on the Print icon (extreme right on the yellow menu bar).
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