MARINA DEL REY, Calif. - August 25th, 2010 – Guidance (www.guidance.com), which helps online retailers achieve market domination by building captivating and engaging online experiences, announced today the release of Quark’s new online store, http://shop.quark.com, where customers can purchase and download Quark’s products. Founded in 1981, Quark is a popular desktop publishing software manufacturer, which offers several products that help facilitate publishing workflows for various industries and media channels.
Guidance worked closely with Quark’s in-house development team to provide technical integration and development services. Quark will operate the site and retain all proprietary code provided by Guidance, something that they were unable to do with their previous vendor. By working with Guidance, Quark has saved 75% on vendor costs, delivering in the exact amount of time, and only using one-fifth of the resources their previous vendor required.
After careful research into several platforms, Quark selected AspDotNetStorefront for its collection of powerful features – achieving nearly 95% of the functionality desired on their site. The remaining 5% was customized by Guidance, an AspDotNetStorefront Enterprise Partner, including integration with Cachefly for software download, Avalara for sales tax calculations, EU service for VAT validation/calculation, and PayPal Websites Payment Pro for credit card transaction processing, while Quark managed the integration with MaxMind for GeoIP lookup.
Additionally, the site required multi-store configuration, allowing Quark to serve different regions of the world in their respective language and currency, including stores in the UK & Ireland, Western Europe, Switzerland, Africa & Asia Pacific, Eastern Asia, and Japan.
Within the first six weeks of the stores running on AspDotNetStorefront, Quark’s average transactions per day had gone up by 20%. “Quark has been an exciting client to work with, as they knew exactly what was required to produce a high-impact site,” says Jason Meugniot, CEO and Owner of Guidance. “With that to start, we really focused on methods to save time and resources while helping them increase the amount of transactions online.”
For almost two decades, Guidance has designed and built hundreds of successful Web sites for companies in a variety of industries including entertainment, retail, and consumer products. Clients include Foot Locker, Z Gallerie, Drum Channel, and Pollstar. To learn more about Guidance’s work, visit www.guidance.com.
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About Guidance
Since 1993, Guidance (www.guidance.com) has helped companies seize opportunities and solve problems through the innovative and practical use of technology. Guidance designs, builds and maintains eCommerce websites for retailers that are pure-play online or multi-channel – creating captivating experiences so consumers will buy more, come back often and value greater engagement with the retailer. To date, Guidance's systems have facilitated over $3 billion in online sales. Members of the Guidance team are seasoned professionals, passionately committed to providing technical leadership and powering ingenuity. Key clients include Foot Locker, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, ONEHOPE Wine, Relax the Back, Quark, and many others. Partners include: Microsoft, Magento, Mediachase, ATG, and Telligent. Guidance is based in Marina del Rey, Calif.
About Quark
Quark is a leading provider of publishing software for professional designers, small and mid-sized businesses, and large organizations in more than 160 countries. Two decades ago, the flagship product, QuarkXPress®, changed the course of traditional publishing. For more than 25 years, Quark has built on its knowledge and experience in design and publishing to provide software solutions that support collaborative workflows and automated publishing across multiple channels. Today, Quark is revolutionizing publishing again by setting new standards in XML-based publishing across print, the Web, and digital media as well as by helping owners and employees of small and mid-sized businesses promote their products and services easily, professionally, and affordably. Denver-based Quark Inc. is privately held.
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Media Contact for Guidance
Alejandra Espinosa
Director, PR & Marketing
Phone: (310) 754-4000
press@guidance.com
