It’s already Q3 of 2012. Where has the time gone? Here at 3dcart, it’s gone into constant product development. We’ve spent time forming new relationships, honing old ones and developing new built-in features to help you run a more efficient store.

To highlight recent feature launches, we’re celebrating the release of 3dcart version 4.7. In the new version, we’ve included features that help merchants build brand trust, diversify payment options, save time and money, increase business efficiency and enhance marketing.

You can take advantage of each of the features below immediately. Join us in a tour of the new developments we’ve included in 3dcart 4.7!

Google Trusted Stores helps you gain a better reputation with shoppers. 3dcart merchants can now sign up for Google Trusted Stores directly through their shopping cart software. The new service lends the Google name to build trust, inspiring more conversions and larger average orders.

3dcart merchants taking part in the program brandish the official Google Trusted Stores badge, complete with letter grades for shipping and customer service. Google also offers purchase protection, helping to resolve issues between customers and merchants.

Integrating GTS is simple. 3dcart merchants can find it under PLUGINS > SECURITY & PRIVACY > Google Trusted Stores.

MailChimp & Mandrill integrations encourage more insightful email marketing. New integrations with MailChimp and Mandrill help merchants gain more insights on email campaigns. MailChimp users now have direct access to Ecommerce Segmentation and Ecommerce360 tracking.

With MailChimp, 3dcart merchants now have the ability to dynamically segment email lists based on customer designations. That means its simple to send different types of campaigns to different types of customers.

Ecommerce360 tracking is another bonus feature included with the integration. It helps you monitor which of your email campaigns are actually driving sales. The analytics platform helps you understand the path from opening the email to the sale and where customers may get lost in between.

Mandrill is a similar service offered by MailChimp. The service enables apps to send transactional email.

Sign up with the services first. Then, login to your 3dcart Admin Panel to enable the integration.

Google Analytics extends to include dynamic web & ecommerce tracking. Now, online retailers can track ecommerce transactions using Google Analytics. For instance, Google Analytics in its regular iteration tracks your shopping cart pages as one page. If you have multiple steps in the purchase process, you don’t get the benefit of

visibility into how customers are interacting with your store during checkout. No need to manually insert the scripts in your HTML, just add your Google Analytics Account ID and you’re ready to go.

PayPal Payments Advanced is a new way to pay. PayPal Payments Advanced is now a part of 3dcart’s 100+ ways to pay. The options include influential services like Checkout by Amazon and Google Wallet.

Rather than sending customers away from your site, PayPal Payments Advanced gives you the distinct advantage of embedding credit card processing through PayPal right on the page. That means fewer redirects and more control for after-purchase marketing.

Check out PayPal Payments Advanced and other supported payment gateways here.

FedEx Certification adds SmartPost to your ecommerce weapon collection. 3dcart is now FedEx Certified, extending the popular shipping company’s suite of tools to include SmartPost real-time rates and labels.

We accomplished FedEx certification after a rigorous development and testing process. You still get access to the benefits of direct FedEx access—only now, you can use SmartPost, too. The SmartPost service uses the USPS to ship low-weight residential packages anywhere in the country at a lower cost to retailers.

For more information on SmartPost, visit the FedEx website.

Aviary Image enhances how you upload and edit photos. To ease image uploading and editing, merchants now have access to Aviary Image Editor, built directly into the backend.

For 3dcart merchants, Aviary enhances photo organization by centralizing image storage, organization and editing. Simply upload photos and use Aviary’s suite of tools to create brilliant product images that help shoppers visualize their purchases, increasing the chances they’ll buy.

Aviary offers great features like photo enhancement, image adjustments and other effects and customizations. Check out our Aviary announcement for more details on what to expect.

Facebook Connect & 3dupsell help ease the customer experience. Facebook Connect gives shoppers the ability to sign into stores using their Facebook accounts.

The add-on displays a button on the “My Account” and “Checkout” pages. If your customer clicks the button, they automatically sign in using their Facebook account. First-time customers and return customers who chose not to save their personal information fill out their payment information separately, ensuring no privacy issues.

3dupsell is a shopping cart feature that engages visitors with unique, time-sensitive offers automatically presented to the customer based on their behavior. It helps retailers by reducing bounce rates, increasing conversions, minimizing abandoned carts and increasing the buyer’s sense of urgency. With 3dupsell, retailers can recover up to 30 percent of lost sales.

We’re really excited about 3dupsell. It’s a great tool that we think will give savvy merchants a leg up on the competition.