Cosmetics eCommerce is currently developing into a fresh and promising sales channel for companies in addition to the traditional sales channel. Businesses must work hard to sustain and achieve breakthrough growth through eCommerce platforms, though.

As a result, numerous cosmetics companies started developing online cosmetics business websites and found surprising success, such as Kylie Cosmetics, Hasaki, and Guardian,…

These websites’ success can be attributed to their early selection of an adequate and suitable eCommerce platform. Which platforms are appropriate for the cosmetics industry, then?

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) is a highly flexible SaaS eCommerce platform that allows companies to offer the best B2B and B2C shopping experiences. Moreover, Salesforce gives Commerce Cloud access to Einstein AI to further enhance this system’s intelligence.

Top cosmetic brands currently using Salesforce Commerce Cloud to deploy eCommerce include L’Occitane, Lancôme, Loreal, Nars, Neutrogena, NYX Cosmetics, and Shiseido,…

Pros:

• SFCC offers a flexible and scalable hosting infrastructure as a cloud-based SaaS platform, and this vendor will be in charge of configuration, updates, maintenance, security, etc., helping users save time and money in these areas.
• Since SFCC is practically a ready-made solution, businesses only need to express their ideas, and SFCC’s IT team will develop them in a matter of weeks.
• The amazingly functional system supports cosmetic eCommerce businesses by allowing customers to select product sizes, purchase items in sets, take advantage of shock deals and flash sales, and receive new customer discounts and loyalty points.
• Unlike other SaaS platforms, SFCC scales and manages traffic spikes for sales seasons and other unplanned events with ease.
• Synchronizing sales channels, reaching, and serving clients across many channels are made possible by omnichannel solutions for the cosmetics industry.

Cons:

• Developers and businesses are required extensive SFCC understanding.
• SFCC charges users on a revenue-based model. Depending on the selected plan package, customers will pay 1 or 2% GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) to preserve website ownership. This means that the higher the revenue, the more expenses must be paid to SFCC.
• Limited integration with 3rd party services.

=> SFCC is suitable for B2C and B2B cosmetic businesses.

Magento

Magento is a popular open-source commerce platform in the field of eCommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free), and Magento Commerce (paid).

Cosmetic eCommerce websites built successfully on the Magento platform with high brand awareness include Laneige, Sigma Beauty, and Hasaki,…

Pros:

• Many cosmetics themes from the global developer community and Magento website developers so businesses can use existing themes which easy to customize or use self-designed themes.
• Functional systems from basic to advanced, specialized for the cosmetic industry such as choosing product size, buying in sets, exclusive deals, product suggestions, viewed products, member incentives, etc.
• Due to its comprehensive customization options, Magento enables businesses to fully own, control, and customize the source code, facilitating the efficient operation of systems. Moreover, Magento may be customized to fit the eCommerce requirements of enterprises of various sizes.
• Highly scalable, beneficial for future system expansion, and featuring multiple sites, stores, languages, and currencies.
• Because Magento is a complete eCommerce system, it can guarantee smooth operation and minimize potential dangers from data systems and transaction processes, resulting in high security. As a result, the reputation of the website, system safety, and user rights are all improved.
• There is a huge skilled Magento developer community present worldwide, ready to help with technical issues as well as provide assistance in creating eCommerce solutions appropriate for each business model.

Cons: 

• There is no repository of themes from Magento to support businesses.
• Implementation typically takes three to six months, but it might take up to a year due to a sophisticated functioning system.
• Although the platform is free to use, the cost of implementing eCommerce with Magento is quite high, about $50,000-$100,000 depending on the complexity of the project.

=> Magento is appropriate for a range of cosmetics business types, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, as well as for various business sizes, including start-ups, SMEs, and major companies. However, large organizations use Magento because it is frequently relatively expensive to deploy.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows businesses to transform a regular WordPress website into a professional eCommerce website with full features and easy customization with just a few simple steps.

A few good examples of big brands that have built successful eCommerce websites with WooCommerce and generated huge sales such as: MOI Cosmetics, Bo Shop, Nuty Cosmetics, AB Beauty World, Beauty Garden,. ..

Pros:

• There are many free and premium themes from the WordPress and WooCommerce communities for the cosmetics sector which are easy to customize or businesses can use self-designed themes.
• Functional systems from basic to advanced for cosmetic eCommerce business such as similar product suggestions, viewed products, discount vouchers, and new customer incentives,…
• Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
• The cost of building an eCommerce website is not too high compared to other open-source platforms like Magento, with total annual costs ranging from $110 to $1,500+ for domains, hosting, themes, extensions, plugins, etc.
• eCommerce website implementation time with WooCommerce takes about 1 to 3 months to complete.

Cons:

• The functional system is still limited in terms of features specific to the cosmetics industry.
• The scalability is not as high compared to other open-source platforms such as Open Cart, and Magento because it depends on the WordPress system.

=> WooCommerce will be suitable for cosmetics businesses that are familiar with the WordPress platform and want to develop an eCommerce system.

Shopify

Shopify is a popular SaaS platform in the world that provides a variety of solutions for businesses of all sizes to successfully build eCommerce websites. After being in the market for about 20 years, Shopify has gradually grown to become one of the top eCommerce platforms in the world, trusted by many Vietnamese and foreign companies. 

Kylie Cosmetics, Innisfree, Sulwhasoo, Cho Tinh Cua Boo, Guardian, and Ofélia are some examples of companies in the cosmetics industry leveraging Shopify for eCommerce websites and enjoying great success.

Pros:

• Available and diverse themes for the cosmetics industry.
• Functional system from basic to advanced, supporting eCommerce business such as similar product suggestions, viewed products, discount vouchers, and new customer incentives.
• The initial cost is quite reasonable with a variety of options for businesses from $29/month to about $2,000/month.
• The time to build an eCommerce website is quite fast from 1-7 days, or more depending on the complexity of the system.
• Shopify has a large developer community to serve businesses.

Cons:

• The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
• The system of specific functions for the cosmetics sector is still limited.
• A wider range of 3rd party services but still only integrated with services available in Shopify’s app store.
• Deployment costs are both advantages and disadvantages of Shopify when the initial cost is quite reasonable, but in the long run, businesses have to pay the cost of using the platform, interface, application, etc., regularly every month. This makes it difficult to manage cash flow.
• Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Shopify to expand its website in the future.

=> Shopify is considered suitable for start-ups or SMEs with global operations.

Haravan

Haravan is a leading technology firm in Vietnam, that was founded in 2014, with the intention of eventually extending to many other Southeast Asian nations.

It specializes in offering businesses and merchants in Vietnam solutions for eCommerce, engagement marketing, and omnichannel retail.

Haravan has gained the trust of many companies in the cosmetics industry as a result of the efficiency of the website system that the business has created and the ground-breaking online retail sales.

The Face Shop, The World of Lipsticks, The World Skin Food, and Lam Thao Cosmetics are some well-known cosmetics companies in Vietnam that have launched eCommerce websites using the Haravan platform.

Pros:

• Available and diverse themes for the cosmetics industry.
• Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business.
• Reasonable eCommerce deployment cost, various packages from 200,000 VND/month to 3,000,000 VND/month, making it easy for customers to choose.
• ​​The time to build an eCommerce website is fast, only about 30 minutes for businesses to own a website with all the necessary features to get started. However, for the website to work effectively, businesses need to spend more time researching and developing the system.

Cons:

• The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
• The system of specific functions for the cosmetics sector is still limited.
• Only integrated with services/utilities located in Haravan’s ecosystem.
• Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Haravan to expand the website in the future.

=> Haravan is suitable for start-up cosmetics businesses or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with operations mainly in Vietnam.

An extremely critical first step in developing a cosmetic eCommerce website is selecting the appropriate platform. Businesses may develop websites more quickly and affordably while enhancing their competitive advantage and sustainable growth by choosing the right eCommerce platform.

The improper platform, on the other hand, will cost firms a lot of money and effort to adopt and switch platforms repeatedly. Therefore, in order to select the best platform, organizations must take into account the objectives and issues with the current model.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions. 

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

The Covid-19 pandemic not only encourages the tremendous growth of eCommerce but also helps shift consumers’ priorities from in-store to online buying. However, instead of just buying, consumers frequently prefer to seek out novel, inspiring experiences.

Therefore, every company should strive to implement the approach of shopping combined with entertainment (Shoppertainment) in order to improve marketing effectiveness and boost sales.

What is Shoppertainment?

Shoppertainment is a combination of two elements “shopper/shopping” and “entertainment”.

Shoppertainment is described as “the provision of recreational or leisure facilities within or next to a retail store or shopping center, as part of a marketing strategy, which is designed to attract customers and stimulate purchasing” in the Oxford Dictionary (1990).

Many companies, notably IKEA, the biggest furniture retailer in the world, have used shoppertainment with success in the past. IKEA launched a campaign in 2019 called “IKEA nightclub – Tonight is to sleep” for 100 lucky individuals.

During this campaign, customers can partake in activities like manicures, massages, snacks, and tea instead of cocktails before spending the night in rooms with IKEA furniture that is soon to be released.

The brand has had remarkable sales success thanks to the campaign’s resonance in North America.

The shoppertainment trend, however, is no longer just restricted to stores or other physical locations thanks to the growth of eCommerce and digital marketing but has instead gained popularity and taken over online shopping activities.

In comparison to the prior definition, shoppertainment has been enlarged and changed. Shoppertainment is a trend that combines online shopping with entertainment, allowing buyers to engage with merchants in addition to purchasing products as usual.

In Vietnam and in the Asia-Pacific region, certain forms of entertainment-infused shopping are very common. Examples include live streaming, shoppable videos, and gamification.

What role does shoppertainment play in eCommerce?

According to the Vietnam eCommerce White Paper 2022, the size of the retail eCommerce market in Vietnam will increase from $11.8 billion in 2020 to $13.7 billion in 2021 and is estimated to reach 16.4 billion USD in 2022.

Meanwhile, the percentage of consumers shopping online on eCommerce websites is 78% in 2021, up 4% over the same period last year.

Because of the urgency, lack of options, and social isolation, the effects of the epidemic have actually contributed to a change in consumption tendencies from in-person purchases to online purchases.

Since that time, it has seen the quick decline of the conventional commerce model and the rise of eCommerce. By 2026, Statista projects that eCommerce sales will total $8.1 trillion.

Additionally, it is not surprising that consumers like shoppertainment. Although this combination is not novel, it promises to set the consumption trend in the years to come as eCommerce takes center stage.

The demand for online shopping will be higher there, and expectations for the best shopping experience—including both online shopping and fascinating experiences will also be higher.

Retail businesses around the world have seen a significant rise in sales during the outbreak by combining online shopping with live streams, entertainment videos, and video games to create real-time digital interactions with customers.

For instance, Taobao Live, which Alibaba introduced in 2016, saw a 150% surge in sales in 2020 when the epidemic first appeared in China.

“Shoppertainment is now a basic expectation. You really have to leverage engaging tools so the shopper gets to learn about the product, its superiority, and has fun along the way,” notes Alex Vogler, senior director and head of marketing, eBusiness, Procter & Gamble (P&G) Asia, Middle East, and Africa. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the human psyche, causing issues including depression and anxiety. On the other hand, a portion of the populace said that the social connections they were unable to have prior to the epidemic significantly improved their psychological well-being.

People need to connect with the community and others like them more than just for amusement. Brands have therefore concentrated on improving the consumer experience by transforming personal experiences into shared ones that bring communities together.

As an example, consider the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt. Through the TikTok platform, users can easily and amusingly share their shopping experiences, resulting in videos going viral and receiving more than 4.5 billion views.

Shoppertainment will result in emotional and impulsive purchasing decisions since it emphasizes entertainment and connection. According to a recent TikTok research:

• In Southeast Asia, 82% of consumers purchase goods from companies they hardly ever use.
• 55% of consumers have made unplanned purchases.
• After watching videos on TikTok, 89% of consumers made unplanned purchases.
• Half of TikTok users confess to finding new brands or products while using the app.
• One in three customers desires to purchase and is satisfied with it.
• One in three customers wants to add fun and entertainment to shopping.

The studies mentioned above demonstrated the enormous influence that social networks and online shopping trends have on consumer decisions.

Because of this, Vietnamese retail companies have prioritized shoppertainment in their marketing plans.

Customers demand a more social and engaging online shopping experience, as well as the ability to connect and converse with one another while buying, which is the reason for any of this.

Best Shoppertainment practices

Live Selling

In recent years, both buyers and sellers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area have grown accustomed to live selling. Live selling is less common in the US and Europe than it is in APAC, but businesses there are nonetheless keeping an eye on this trend.

For instance, AliExpress initially introduced the live selling feature in France in May 2020, and since then, more than 3,000 live programs have been launched, with the involvement of more than 100 vendors.

The combination of sales, interaction, and entertainment makes this one of the top social selling strategies. Customers can interact with vendors directly, view actual product photos, and make decisions by pushing their shopping emotions.

Plus, the engaging social interactions that take place throughout live streaming help retailers make an impact on customers, resulting in a high return rate.

Due to the growth of the Shoppertainment trend and the effectiveness of live streaming in generating sales through social networks, eCommerce marketplaces have started to put more of an emphasis on investing in producing engaging entertainment material for users on their apps, particularly through live streaming.

The customer buying experience is improved by several well-known live stream channels, like TaobaoLive, LazLive, Shopee Live, TikiLive, etc.

These companies have the resources to develop this feature for themselves, but lower-budgeted companies can still try the live-selling concept by integrating Facebook or YouTube live stream with an eCommerce website.

Shoppable Video

Live-streaming videos will be effectively replaced by shoppable videos. One of the joys of using this type of video is that companies may produce videos in their own distinctive styles that quickly introduce customers to their products, explain how they operate, and demonstrate how to use them. These videos can be attached to an eCommerce website. Users can always click the product link in this kind of short video to find out extra details or to make a purchase. The short-form video has overtaken popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Youtube Shorts as the go-to method for branding, cultivating customer trust, and influencing purchasing decisions.

83% of people, according to Nielsen study, prefer watching videos of advertisements to GIFs or text. Short-form videos have gained popularity as a result of global digital transformation and consumer preference, and many brands now opt to use those as part of their video marketing strategies due to their useful advantages, which include the following:

• Simplify the customer journey
• Increase customer engagement
• Improve the conversion rates
• Get a boost in sales
• Create brand loyalty
• Build a better customer experience

Gamification

Gamification or Gamification  Marketing is the skillful incorporation of a video game’s mechanics into promotional operations in a unique and impressive method to meet marketing objectives.

Gamification’s primary advantage, similar to live selling, is engagement, which keeps people on the site, drives conversions, and boosts sales.

Users are actually more likely to return for more shopping if a business can convince them that engaging with it is an interesting experience rather than a transaction.

A study by Bazaar Voice demonstrates the impact of gamification on businesses’ marketing strategies as follows:

• 70% of shoppers want gaming elements incorporated into online shopping.
• But only 42% of shoppers enjoy gaming in-store.

For instance, take Bajaj Finserv’s Indian financial company’s Gamification Marketing campaign. The game was created by this firm to encourage people to use its travel loan services.

Users will complete tasks and respond to questions about their preferred travel destinations. Customers adored the campaign, and it immediately trended on Twitter with more than 75 million impressions.

Thus demonstrating Bajaj Finserv’s efforts to develop engaging experiences and provide them to customers in line with its marketing strategy. Brands attract more potential customers, enjoy the better engagement, and increase conversions as a result of the viral impact.

Shoppertainment has been around for a while, but it wasn’t until Covid-19’s effect that this trend truly took off. Businesses should take advantage of this trend to improve the online shopping experience for customers and increase sales in the era of eCommerce.

Due to the growing demands of customers for a better shopping experience and the ongoing changes in the market, achieving this goal is difficult and labor-intensive. As a result, companies must work with expert agencies to plan the proper eCommerce deployment from the start.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions.

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

When the Prime Minister approved the “National Digital Transformation Program to 2025, with a vision to 2030,” national digital transformation became formally a goal shared by the entire Vietnamese people in 2020.

Since then, localities, ministries, branches, and even the government have all gradually incorporated the term “Digital Transformation” and applications of digital technology into their everyday activities.

Thus, we all realize the significance and impact of the digital transformation trend. What essential elements, nevertheless, determine the National Digital Transformation Program’s success or failure?

Overview

What is Digital Transformation?

The process of using digital technology to completely alter each person’s lifestyle, each company’s business model, and each nation’s government operations in order to create new values and prospects for future development is referred to as transformation, also known as digital transformation.

Today, all businesses, big and small, have to decide whether to embrace innovation or risk lagging behind, becoming ineffective, and going out of business.
Furthermore, digital transformation involves- not just comprehending and utilizing technology but, more importantly, reinventing the complete business strategy as well as the vision and development priorities of the nation in relation to the global development trend.

According to data from Mordor Intelligence, the digital transformation age is shining in practically “every nook” of the global economy, confirming that this is not a “soon to fade” trend but rather a new and sustainable development orientation following the pandemic crisis.

• The estimated value of the global market for digital transformation is $998.99 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $2744.68 billion by 2026. The compound annual growth is 17.42%.
• Global spending on digital transformation is expected to reach $1.6 trillion by the end of 2022 and surpass $3.4 trillion by 2026.
• Over 90% of global businesses, both large and small, are adopting digital initiatives.
• 97% of business executives say the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred digital transformation efforts.
• 95% of startups have a digital business plan compared to 87% of traditional, established companies.
• According to statistics, currently, only 13% of jobs do not require digital skills, and 33% are jobs that require proficiency and advanced digital skills.

In Vietnam alone, the government has established a National Digital Transformation Program for 2025, with a vision to 2030, with particular targets to shorten the distance with other countries around the world, including:

• 80% of online public services at level 4 are performed on mobile devices.
• 90% of work records at ministerial and provincial levels are online while 80 percent of work records at the district level and 60 percent of work records at the commune level are processed online.
• All national databases including those for population, land, business registration, finance, and insurance are online and connected, with shared data on a government reporting information system.
• 50% of banking operations by customers are to be fully online.
• 50% of the population has a digital checking account.
• 70% of customer transactions are made through digital channels.
• 50% of decisions on lending, small and consumer loans of individual customers made digitally and are automated.
• The digital economy accounts for 20% of GDP.
• The rate of the digital economy in each industry, and each field accounts for at least 10%, and labor productivity increases by at least 7%.
• Vietnam is among the top 50 leading countries in information technology, the top 30 countries in innovation, and the top 50 countries on the competitiveness index.
• Fiber optic network infrastructure covers 80% of households and 100% of communes.
• Universalize 4G/5G mobile networks and use smartphones in remote areas.
• The percentage of the population with electronic payment accounts is over 50%

Why is Digital Transformation important?

The fact that the goals are stated in great detail in the national digital transformation program with a focus on 2030 demonstrates how seriously the Vietnamese government takes the significance of digital transformation for the prosperous growth of the nation.

Think about the global Industrial Revolution 4.0 wave that is currently in motion. With the aid of connection provided by the Internet of Things (IoT), real-time data access, and the introduction of cyber-physical systems, the Industrial Revolution 4.0, also known as Industry 4.0, primarily focuses on advancing modern digital technology to an entirely new level.

Every Government, organization, corporation, and individual throughout the world must transform its business model, and the manner of working from non-digital to digital operation, in order to keep up with this current technology and immerse itself in the Industry 4.0 wave. The name of this procedure is “digital transformation”.

Vietnam, despite having a minor economy compared to other countries, is a crucial part of the massive Industrial Revolution 4.0 that is currently underway. Vietnam must therefore undergo a digital transformation in order to compete.

The goal will be challenging to accomplish if just businesses execute digital transformation because the capital and costs are quite high; therefore, businesses require assistance from the government budget and outside finance.

On the other hand, even with a massive budget, it can be challenging for businesses to implement effective digital transformation if the government does not go digital, but continues to run in the old manner, handles administrative procedures slowly, lacks direction, and supports businesses clearly and methodically.

​​Furthermore, without the support of the people, the National Digital Transformation process to catch up with the global Industry 4.0 wave will be impossible. However, the public needs the government to inform, direct, and inspire digital transformation.

Also, businesses must create useful digital transformation strategies that both before and after implementation considerably raise people’s quality of life.

Vietnam must structure three main areas of digital transformation: the government, businesses, and people, or in other words, the digital government, digital economy, and digital society, if national digital transformation is the outcome it seeks to achieve in order to gradually join the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

These three crucial overlapping and interdependent relationships make up the National Digital Transformation.

The current state of Vietnam’s National Digital Transformation 

Throughout the earlier years, Vinasa reports that in 2019, 40.6% of organizations and businesses confirmed that they have resources available for digital transformation and that 23.6% of them are putting it into practice. However, 30.7% of them are uncertain of what to do despite doing some research, and 38% are unsure of where to begin.

​​Due to the Prime Minister’s approval of the “National Digital Transformation Program to 2025, with a vision to 2030” and the abrupt change brought on by the impact of the global pandemic, Digital Transformation is now regarded as the process’ starting year. This makes it a top priority to maintain Vietnam’s economy.

The government and Vietnamese enterprises have been able to promote awareness of the importance and urgency of digital transformation in order to help the country overcome the obstacle thanks to the economic crisis brought on by the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.

According to the UN, Vietnam’s digital government statistics are better than the average for the area. Vietnam specifically saw a rise of 2 places in 2020, moving up to rank 86th out of 193 UN member states globally and 6th out of 11 Southeast Asian nations.

The establishment of the National Digital Transformation Committee and the decision to appoint October 10 of each year as National Digital Transformation Day in accordance with the National Digital Transformation policy for a better life for the people are two additional significant events that will forever be remembered in Vietnam in the years 2021 and 2022.

As a result, leaders and people are more conscious of the significance, function, and advantages of digital transformation, and there are coordinated actions throughout the entire system, from the government to the general populace.

According to data from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the databases that Vietnam has built up to the second quarter of 2022 include:

• Citizen data: Approximately 78 million data including birth registration, marriage registration, death registration,…
• Social insurance data: Over 17 million records.
• Vaccination data: Over 133 million records.
• Data of officials and employees: Over 570,000 records.
• Citizen ID card with the chip: Nearly 72 million records.

Additionally, the percentage of qualified online public services offered to individuals and enterprises has surpassed 97.3%; the percentage of these services that produce dossiers has gotten to 67.8% and the percentage of administrative procedures handled online has gotten to 43.2%.

Moreover, the economic sector has seen some very good improvements as a result of digital transformation. The Ministry of Information and Communications predicts that by the first quarter of 2022, the value of Vietnam’s digital economy will be 53 billion USD and that there would be 500 more newly founded digital technology businesses than there were at the same point in 2021.

The number of monthly users on Vietnamese mobile digital platforms climbed by more than 100 million compared to the same period in 2021, and the percentage of the digital economy in GDP increased to 10.41% in the first half of the year from 9.6% in the end of 2021.

3 key factors make National Digital Transformation successful

Based on specific analysis and data on the situation of National Digital Transformation in Vietnam, it is clear that there are 3 main pillars that lay the foundation for the success of the National Digital Transformation process: Digital Government, Digital Economy, and Digital Society.

Digital Government

In order to increase operational efficiency and develop new operating models and alter the way services are offered using digital technology and data, a government must transition all of its operations to a digital environment. This allows enterprises to take part in the service delivery process. In other words, this is how the government is becoming digital.

Vietnamese citizens have been instructed in the past to finish the registration processes necessary to access the Citizen Identity Card with a chip, which is gradually replacing the previous ID card. This serves as one illustration of how well the digital government is progressing in Vietnam.

The process of processing dossiers and issuing ID Cards in the early stages is not really effective because the National Database on Civil is still under construction and staff training on how to use digital technology and digitize paper data on the data system is still limited. However, the procedure for issuing chip-based ID cards in addition to the cost is public and transparent.

As a result, when people arrive at the location where the chip-based ID card is made, processing will go more quickly if their information is already in the National Database; otherwise, they will need to provide more birth certificates and household registration information and will have to wait a long time for staff to check, enter data, and complete related procedures.

After that, the chip-based ID card will be sent to the registered address by post, but for the above reason, this process also takes quite a while.

The Public Service Portal of the Ministry of Public Security, however, is currently supported by the government and simply requires people to visit the location to capture pictures and fingerprints.

This demonstrates the government’s prompt responsiveness in streamlining business procedures while also saving time for both citizens and employees. This is evidence of the Government’s ongoing attempts to modernize itself digitally.

In addition, on the CCCD chip, more than 14 information fields of citizens are stored: (1) CCCD number; (2) Full name, other names; (3) Date of birth, month, and year; (4) Gender; (5) Nationality; (6) Ethnicity; (7) Religion; (8) Hometown; (9) Place of permanent residence registration; (10) Identification characteristics; (11) Date of issue; (12) Expiration date;

(13) Full name of parent, spouse; (14) issued 9-digit ID card number; (15) Portrait photos; (16) Features of fingerprint extraction and selection of two index fingers; backup for iris images, and other information.

Moreover, a chip-based ID card can replace important papers such as Identity Cards, Health Insurance (HI), Social Insurance (Social Insurance), Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, and Household Registration Books….

It is clear that switching from conventional ID cards to chip-based ID cards has several advantages for both the general public and the government. People’s personal information is highly secure, preventing the creation of fake documents.

Also, ID cards with chips make paperwork and transactions straightforward because many pieces of crucial information are combined onto a single card, saving time and preventing the scenario where someone forgets to bring the necessary paperwork and causing the processing of documents to be interrupted.

The government made a wise choice by implementing chip-based ID cards.

The government can save, control, and check information about a specific individual quickly and efficiently with the use of chip-based ID cards and the National Database, helping to effectively control the situation of local security and order as well as national security.

Also, this helps free up labor for government employees who deal with people, handle paperwork, and maintain correctness, speed, and synchronization.

Digital Economy

The second factor that makes the success of the National Digital Transformation process is the Digital Economy.

Digital Economy is an economy that maintains and develops constantly based on modern digital technology. The digital economy is also known as the Internet Economy, the New Economy, or the Web Economy. This particular economy is made up of electronic transactions over the internet. 

According to the definition from the Vietnam Private Economic Forum, the digital economy is all economic activities based on digital platforms. Digital economy development is the use of digital technology and data to create a new model of cooperation and business, in line with the development trend of modern technology.

Therefore, everyone would immediately think of eCommerce when discussing the digital economy or the most prominent business model of the trend of digital transformation, and the strong push that this industry provides for high-volume industries catches the trend of digital transformation.

Few people anticipate that the conventional market model, which has become ingrained in Vietnamese culture, would soon be replaced by the market model 4.0, which accepts cashless payments. In several of Hai Phong’s traditional markets, this novel method of buying and selling was introduced for the first time, to the delight of the locals.

The Viettel Money application of Viettel Military Telecom Group, a pioneer in the digital transformation of market 4.0 models in 63 provinces/cities, enables all small businesses and individuals to purchase and sell things at the market by scanning QR codes or transferring money via phone number.

Moreover, cashless payment makes it easier for customers to shop at the market without worrying about issues like carrying change or budgeting extra cash for purchases. Also, many shopkeepers in the market are afraid of this issue pretty much.

Previously, if customers paid in cash with a denomination that was too big, shopkeepers would have to run everywhere to change money, causing time-consuming for both parties and other customers waiting to be served, the issue is now solved with just one smartphone.

Following the success of Hai Phong’s 4.0 market model, many other localities have also implemented this model and received positive feedback signals from the people such as Da Nang, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son, etc.

The market 4.0 model has spread to every nook and cranny of the nation’s small trading places, including farmers’ markets, grocery stores, sidewalk shops, amusement parks, parking lots, and more.

The digital transformation trend has quickly extended to places where it was previously impossible, helping to advance the digital economy and achieve the objective of a comprehensive national digital transformation.

Digital Society

Finally, the term “digital society” refers to all human activities in a broad sense. Digital technology, which is based on the exponential growth of information and data, is the primary driver behind digital society.

It transforms all facets of social structure, from the government and business to the individual. In a limited sense, “digital society” refers to both digital citizenship and digital culture.

From this perspective, the three pillars of a digital nation are the digital society, the digital government, and the digital economy.

Teachers, parents, and students all adore the eLearning model, which is developing into a popular teaching and learning trend, especially in light of the recent pandemic and widespread implementation of social distancing policies.

Students can access lessons at any time, studying at home, using simply an electronic device with an Internet connection. As a result, teachings can be discussed and interacted with by professors and students without them having to actually meet.

This model also supports student doing teamwork well because it is not time- or space-constrained, saving on travel expenses in addition to using many other helpful resources.

However, for eLearning to really replace traditional teaching and learning methods, it takes a lot of effort from both the Government, the school system, and the student’s parents.

In fact, eLearning is only a small part of the digital society effort besides many other important aspects of society that need to be digitally transformed to make life more convenient for people.

National Digital Transformation has become one of Vietnam’s top goals and this is also a rare project that has received special attention from the highest levels of leadership and international support. Since then, Vietnam has had a full foundation to hope to realize the goal of becoming a digital country from now to 2030.

The development of a digital society, economy, and government, in particular, is a necessary and sufficient condition for a successful national digital transformation.

In fact, every citizen, from intellectuals to regular citizens, is gradually demonstrating a certain understanding in their own way about the digital transformation and awareness that the country is in a transition period to match the general development trend of the times.

This is in addition to the efforts of businesses and the support from the government. 

Especially for businesses, digital transformation is an imperative remedy to withstands to withstand the tsunami of eradication brought on by the pandemic’s rapid shift in new business patterns.

Following Covid-19, business digital transformation flowed slowly, gently, and steadily, assisting the economy’s continued rotation.

The first step of the digital transformation journey for businesses is to start implementing eCommerce.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions.

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

It’s important when it comes to choosing the right platform to build an effective eCommerce system. Businesses have many options to choose from either the open-source eCommerce platforms or any eCommerce platform as a service (SaaS, Paas), depending on the eCommerce business model and business plans.

To have a comprehensive eCommerce system, the open-source eCommerce platform is the business’s best friend, because of the great flexibility, scalability, customization according to the products, and catalogue characteristics.

In addition, the open-source platform also allows businesses to own the entire system source code and data. With all of these outstanding features, open-source platforms are slowly becoming the eCommerce development choices that many businesses are aiming for.   

However, businesses need to carefully consider choosing the right platform. There are a lot of open-source eCommerce platforms on the market (OpenCart, WooCommerce, Magento,…), and each platform has its pros and cons. 

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a WordPress plug-in introduced in 2011, completely free, and allows businesses to turn their WordPress sites into online stores, with built-in and additional features.

Pros

Ease of use

Many businesses that have been using WordPress for their online business, must be familiar with WooCommerce. Businesses can turn their website into an eCommerce system when implementing the WooCommerce Plugin into their WordPress website easily.

They can set up, integrate, and adjust functions on themes, and add-ons,… that have been built with high functionality from developers in a strong community around the world, making it easier to modify, and more flexible on the platform

In addition, WooCommerce is carefully built, convenient, also has huge and rich theme storage, and it is easy for businesses to design and build an e-commerce system right from the start, without knowing too much about technology. 

Rich in features and add-ons

WooCommerce allows and supports features such as product management, orders, inventory, search engine optimization (SEO), discounts, sales, statistics reports, easy integration of payment units, shipping, handling units, and shopping experience optimization on all devices, making it easy for businesses to build a comprehensive system for simple and effective e-commerce business development.

Regarding security, WooCommerce ensures that businesses have the best security through a regularly updated system, and also ensures all of the business transactions are secure and safe through the features from the third-party services.

Cons

Low performance

One of the biggest disadvantages for businesses using the WooCommerce platform is the low performance, the system is easily overloaded with plug-ins and themes, and the number of products does not surpass 2000 SKUs, and often affects the system if the number of products exceeds the limit. Therefore, when businesses want to expand their business, it is necessary to consider switching to another platform. 

Limited customization

WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress, the platform lets businesses customize their eCommerce system, but building a complete, and comprehensive eCommerce system with unique features is very limited. The modification can cause instability for the system as well as the possibility that those built-in features are not compatible with the platform.

To customize a suitable system based on the available features system, businesses will face many challenges, it takes a lot of time and resources.

WooCommerce is perfect for businesses that are using WordPress and are looking to develop an e-commerce system. However, WooCommerce is not perfect for developing a comprehensive e-commerce system and expanding the business model. Some brands are using WooCommerce around the world such as Pluralsight LLC, and Gordon College, and famous brands in Vietnam such as Vietnam Airlines, Pharmacity, etc.

OpenCart

OpenCart is an open-source CMS (Content Management System) using PHP language, similar to WordPress but specially designed for e-commerce.

Pros

Friendly interface and easy-to-use

OpenCart provides an intuitive, easy-to-use, friendly interface, which is specialized for  

the eCommerce industry. In addition, OpenCart also provides a completely free variety of interfaces and features, making it easy for businesses to develop e-commerce systems with basic website development knowledge and skills. Because OpenCart is built based on the MVC Model (Model- View- Controller), developing and writing a module for an e-commerce system on this platform is also quite easy. 

Full of basic e-commerce features and a variety of add-ons.

OpenCart supports businesses with every basic e-commerce feature. Since OpenCart is a CMS specially designed for e-commerce, the open-source commerce platform such as OpenCart fully supports basic e-commerce functions such as sales, sales management, data management, statistics, customer data lists, and invoices.

Businesses can easily create and manage many different stores on the same system without having too much technical knowledge. This also means that businesses can access and manage all data of multiple stores at the same time with just one single central OpenCart system.

Not only supporting businesses build and manage an eCommerce system, but OpenCart also supports marketing such as search engine optimization (SEO), keyword advertising (Adwords), marketing programs, and affiliate marketing programs to be able to reach customers more easily, increase sales on the eCommerce system.

On top of the basic e-commerce functions, OpenCart also has additional applications to support businesses such as daily business operations and product categories. The backup and restore function helps businesses always have a backup system in hand and ready to restore all of the data on the system in case of an emergency

Besides that the platform also has many features such as a shopping cart, support customers to buy many products at once; gift features issuing gift cards, and loyalty programs. In addition, businesses can integrate other utilities such as payment gateway VNPay, and PayCEC, to help businesses have a better, faster, and seamless shopping experience. 

Customization

With all of the basic features of an open-source program, businesses can easily modify, edit and customize on the OpenCart platform. In addition, the OpenCart e-commerce platform has a great ecosystem with many functions suitable for e-commerce business, firms can fully explore, as well as develop modules that are suitable for a satisfactory e-commerce system.

Cons

Although the OpenCart platform has many advantages that are the best fit for e-commerce businesses, there are also some limitations that businesses should be aware of when using the platform. 

Low performance, and unstable

Although the platform is highly rated and well designed for the eCommerce industry, the system is still not stable enough because the modules and functions are not fully optimized, many errors occur while operating, as well as the installation steps are still very perplexing.

Therefore, businesses still encounter many problems when building and operating, which might affect the business’s processing speed as well as the revenue.

Feature development costs can become expensive

OpenCart owns extensive storage with quite a lot of basic features to serve e-commerce businesses quickly and conveniently, but the platform still cannot meet the advanced and specialized features according to specific product characteristics, product categories, and business needs of each field.

Therefore, businesses will need to invest time and resources to develop advanced features. For example, the SEO feature is supported on the platform, but there are many difficulties when censoring content via Google, not as effective as on the WordPress platform.

The OpenCart platform is relatively new compared to other platforms on the market, has many limitations and needs to be optimized. Similar to the WooCommerce platform, this is a good platform to start an ecommerce business, but not perfect for developing a comprehensive ecommerce system that goes along with growing and scaling your business. Some of the international brands that are using OpenCart such as Sunglass Hut, Virgin Enterprise, Audio-Technica Ltd, and the brands in Vietnam that are using OpenCart are Mobifone, RitaVo, etc.

Magento

Magento is an open-source platform specially built for e-commerce. It is recognized as one of the leading e-commerce platforms today, offering various outstanding advantages such as high flexibility, a diverse ecosystem, and optimal security. Currently, Magento has two versions: Magento Open Source (free) and Magento Commerce (paid).

Pros

Diverse features for e-commerce from basic to advanced

Magento possesses many features available from basic to advanced to develop a complete e-commerce system including Category Management, Content Management, Customer Management, Marketing Management, Order Management, Store Management, System Management, Shopping Cart and Checkout, Reporting & Analytics. These features have been built with flexibility, and high availability to deliver outstanding results when integrated into the system, meeting all of your business e-commerce operations and  sustainable growth needs

Scalability

One of the biggest fears of all ecommerce businesses is having a slow, poorly functioning system, or being overwhelmed when there are too many SKUs. With Magento, businesses do not need to worry about these issues even with millions of SKUs or thousands of transactions per hour. Magento can meet all the operational requirements, and business sustainable e-commerce development needs, with the ability to handle up to 500,000 products, and thousands of transactions in an hour.

High flexibility and customizability

Owning all of the advantages of an open source ecommerce platform, Magento has outstanding flexibility and customization. Businesses can easily change and develop new and specialized features according to the characteristics of products, industries, and businesses to be able to catch up with the rapid change of the market.

On top of that, businesses easily integrate third-party systems such as payment, shipping, POS, ERP, CRM, PIM, and BI to help develop all resources, and seamless processes without affecting the level of production, and the performance of e-commerce systems.

A global community for technical support and consulting

The customer support from Magento is for the customers, who are using the enterprise version, Magento Commerce. For customers, who are using the free edition, of Magento Open Source, there will not be any customer support from the platform.

However, Magento has a strong global technical support and consulting community. Therefore, most of the problems in eCommerce that businesses are facing can be solved from the Magento ecosystem or extensions from a third party. Having a strong global technical support community is also a testament to the level of reliability, quick resolution, and constant updates that Magento open source platform brings to customers.

Cons

High development costs 

Magento open source e-commerce platform is highly appreciated with outstanding functions to develop a sustainable commerce platform, but businesses need to invest significant resources to deploy and develop the system.

Magento is an open source platform built specifically for e-commerce. This is known as one of the leading eCommerce platforms today on the market with many outstanding advantages such as high flexibility, diverse ecosystem and optimal security. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free), and Magento Commerce (paid).

Magento has several outstanding features to develop a complete e-commerce system, and become a one-stop-shop for businesses that need development:

• Flexible Content Management: easy to adjust, and build many content management features on the e-commerce system.
• Mobile-Friendly Configuration: The interface and design of the Magento e-commerce platform are very suitable for smartphone and tablet devices.
• Advanced Search Engine Optimization: With effective SEO optimization, Magento gives online stores many opportunities to boost sales.
• Regulating Security Rights: Magento supports businesses to customize many levels of security permissions, control internal access rights, ensure system safety and protect users’ rights.

High Scalability

The biggest fear of all e-commerce businesses is having a slow, poor-performing website, or being overloaded with too many SKUs. With Magento, businesses do not need to worry about these issues, whether they have millions of SKUs or thousands of transactions per hour. Magento can meet all business needs for sustainable e-commerce operation and development. Therefore, businesses can scale up their business with Magneto.

High flexibility and customizability

The fact that the Magento platform has a high degree of flexibility is because of an open source platform. Businesses can modify and customize the templates, as well as adjust the features that the business needs to operate. In addition, businesses can completely build features from scratch to have an e-commerce system that is most suitable for businesses.

On top of that, businesses can easily integrate third-party systems such as ERP, CRM, and payment methods without affecting the level of performance of the main e-commerce system. In addition, businesses can easily separate the front-end interface from the back-end commercial activities.

Magento is an ideal place for businesses to host their software, but also a place with a lot of features. If your business currently has an experienced developer, or finances to attain a developer, and is ready to have an impressive e-commerce system, then Magento is a good choice. You have complete freedom to adjust the features until you are satisfied with your e-commerce system.

Big developer’s community around the world

However, the customer care from the Magento e-commerce platform is completely absent, in addition to that, Magento has a global developer support community. Therefore, there will be a lot of support for businesses to solve problems, and related techniques, as well as advice on building the most suitable solutions for businesses anytime, anywhere, and of course with a fee.

Cons

High development cost

A fully functional ecommerce system for a business is estimated to be at least $20,000 annually or more. If your business is just getting into e-commerce and has absolutely no technology experience, choosing Magento is a risky choice. But if businesses have the capacity and resources to run the system with this platform, then business growth will be faster with additional features such as sales automation.

Fully functional enterprise versions are estimated to be at least $20,000 annually or more. If your business is just getting into e-commerce and has absolutely no technology experience, choosing Magento is a risky choice. But if businesses have the capacity and resources to run the system with this platform, then business growth will be faster with additional features such as sales automation.

Complexity of specialized functions

Many businesses currently still face difficulties when transforming to e-commerce because of the specific characteristics of different industries and fields. These specific functions require an appropriate technology solution to ensure that the ecommerce system can operate efficiently and sustainably after the transformation. To build a specific feature with high complexity for an e-commerce system, businesses will need to spend more resources and time than the usual plan that businesses have set out to get a solution that fits the specific requirements of your e-commerce business.

Vietnamese firms that are using Magento

Magento is the best-fit solution for small and medium B2C businesses that have the need as well as the time, manpower and skills to build an e-commerce system. Famous brands in Vietnam are using the Magento ecommerce platform: Sendo, Vietnamworks, SJC, etc.

So which ecommerce platform is best suited for your business?

Different e-commerce platforms offer different features and values. No matter what route your business follows when building your e-commerce system, always think carefully about the following factors:

• The platform you choose must ensure your website is constantly updated and managed
• Choose a good web hosting
• Intuitive and seamless payment processors and shopping cart
• Good for customer service and user experience
• Ensure security for your site and customers’ data

BigCommerce

With BigCommerce, businesses can choose the price that suits their business needs. In addition, the BigCommerce eCommerce platform is designed for everyone to use, from beginners to professional developers. However, if the business does not have a lot of capacity, as well as finance, then using BigCommerce to develop an e-commerce system is not suitable.

WooCommerce

With the WooCommerce ecommerce platform, businesses have full control over the ecommerce system. In addition, businesses can freely compare, and adjust any functions in the ecommerce system. However, expanding your business on the WooCommerce platform would be an inappropriate choice, as the platform can be overloaded with functions on the ecommerce system. However, businesses can start an ecommerce system with WooCommerce with less investment than competitors like BigCommerce.

Magento

Magento is a comprehensive ecommerce platform capable of supporting businesses to expand and grow their business in all aspects. However, all the disadvantages of Magento can be narrowed down to a single problem: the technical challenges, which require businesses to have an in-depth programming team. Meanwhile, businesses can solve this by having a team with experience building e-commerce systems.

Businesses can contact SECOMM to receive detailed advice for the journey to develop a comprehensive and sustainable e-commerce system for businesses and consult Magento solutions specifically for SMEs in Vietnam!

During the period of digital transformation and the strong impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on the international markets as well as in Vietnam, the requirement to kick start and expand the eCommerce channel of the wine industry has accelerated faster than ever.

According to Nielsen, contrary to the expectation of a downward trend during the COVID-19 epidemic, the amount of alcohol sold through online stores during the Covid-19 epidemic increased by 27.6%. Particularly in Vietnam, many reports show that wine import volume in the past 3 years has always increased by 10% above average per year and tends to increase rapidly in the coming time, one of the reasons for the increase in wine imports is the changing trend from familiar alcoholic drinks to wine (Thanh Nien News).

However, to seize opportunities and deploy an effective eCommerce system for the wine industry businesses have to choose the most appropriate platform meticulously. Besides the platform that must match with the business model and the business plan, flexibility, and high scalability are the top two most important factors. Out of many highly-rated eCommerce platforms, the open-source Magento platform is well-chosen by many Wine eCommerce giants. 

So how did Magento solve the eCommerce problems for the wine industry?

Special eCommerce requirements for the wine industry?

A modern user interface

The eCommerce system for the Wine business not only needs to have a neat interface, and match with UX/UI standards but must have a high aesthetics level, and bring out the most unique characteristics of the industry to convey the brand and the production values ​​to the specific customer segment of the industry – customers with “style”.

In addition to investing in high-quality images, arranging the layout scientifically and conveniently, such as the display of new arrivals, best-selling products, and most viewed products right on the homepage of the online store, the interface should reflect the distinctive characteristics of the industry and the unique highlight from the business to the customers.

A functional system with high complexity

One of the biggest challenges when implementing eCommerce in the wine industry is the system’s high complexity.

Most eCommerce businesses in the wine industry own a complex category system with a diverse number of products and a variety of product attributes. In addition, to ensure that the eCommerce system is running smoothly and stably with the number of visitors entering the system increasing gradually over time, and spikes during many promotional campaigns, the eCommerce system also needs to be well-designed and built carefully.

Furthermore, many wine business owners often have many sales channels and use many different management software such as POS, CRM, and ERP… this requires eCommerce platforms to be able to integrate, seamlessly and efficiently with third-party software without affecting individual system performance.

This integration also helps businesses overcome the limitations of manual operation, and increase automation for back-office, and sales management processes, ensuring high accuracy and operational efficiency for business operations, and development.

To ensure the development and operation of a complex eCommerce system that meets the above characteristics required the developers of the eCommerce system for the wine industry must be experienced and highly skilled. 

A seamless user experience

• A complete buyer’s journey experience

One of the most important factors for eCommerce is the customer experience. Especially for the wine industry, which relies on personal interactions to build relationships with customers. However, the digital transformation that has been taking place in the wine industry since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic means that the in-store shopping experiences are limited, in exchange for buying wine online through an eCommerce website.

Therefore, businesses need to ensure that they have a product information management system ready, products in stock, pricing displays, well-known brands, various payment options, and delivery services to give customers a complete shopping experience.

• Personalized user experience

Not only have a system that delivers a complete experience on the buyer’s journey, but businesses also need to prepare to personalize the customer experience. Beginning the personalization from the content, the product displacement, to navigating the buyer’s journey will be the key to helping businesses score points in the consumers’ eyes, effectively boosting sales and building Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) for the brand.

This requires businesses to know how to leverage unique data on consumers that has already been calculated and developed by using cutting-edge digital technology to build specific customer profiles, create buying habits that match the consumer’s interest, also provide customized content that matches each consumer’s needs, and bring a unique shopping experience to each customer when buying products on the system.

• Multi-channel customer experience

Nowadays, besides the traditional way of buying goods offline, or through brick-and-mortar stores, shopping through mobile applications as well as through websites has become a common way. Having a business presence on multiple channels – in other words, integrated Omni-channels makes it easy for users to make purchases.

To deliver a seamless multi-channel experience, it is essential to ensure that each channel is optimized for operation, nondisruptively connecting through technological infrastructure improvements. Simultaneously, businesses also need to ensure that they have enough customer information and take full advantage of these data ​​to build distinct competitiveness, ensuring a seamless experience on the system.

In addition, wine businesses must constantly develop technology to accompany generations of customers that have changed over time from the Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gen X (1965-1980), Millenials- Gen Y (1980-1996), and lastly Gen Z (1997-2002). The customer segments are getting more complex by the day, requiring businesses must have a solid understanding and stay up-to-date with technology to optimize the system to bring the best shopping experience that is most appropriate for each generation. 

Related article: Wine eCommerce shines brilliantly in the digital era

Magento – Solutions for wine eCommerce

Magento is known as one of the leading eCommerce platforms for the wine industry with many outstanding advantages such as an open-source platform with high flexibility, a diverse ecosystem, optimal security, and owning all built-in features from basic to advanced for the eCommerce system.

Owning all built-in features from basic to advanced for an eCommerce system

Basic features

The Magento platform owns an extensive ecosystem that contains many online features that support business in the wine industry such as managing customer information, handling wine allocation, and controlling inventory, as well as handling orders, etc.

• Catalog Management: Develop and control all data that possess all product features, categories, attributes, pricing system, inventory, and media (images and videos) to maintain operation and optimize business performance. Especially for the wine business that needs high-quality images representing different wine brands on the system, as well as different price systems on different websites.
• Content Management: Develop and enhance all content elements for CMS pages, media storage, theme customization, and web design, which helps businesses approach the consumer with nice personalized user and store interfaces. 
• Sales Management: Set up and operate sales, order, payment, and shipping processes. It is simultaneously diversifying information to deliver the best customer experiences.
• Marketing Management: SEO optimization, marketing promotions implementation (promotion, upselling, cross-selling,…) with supporting tools to help businesses have more presence on digital platforms and boost sales.
• Customer Management: Fully manage customer data to improve marketing performance, and buying experiences,  and enhance customer experience. Businesses can fully develop a personalized customer experience.
• Inventory Management: Easily fulfil the supply chain with inventory management tools, and distribute transportation to the proper warehouses that analyze subsequent efficient warehouses. This allows businesses to see exactly how many goods they have in stock.
• Report: Effectively exploit data through comprehensive and detailed reports to improve and enhance business performance, including Marketing Reports, Purchasing/Procurement Reports, Customer Reports, Product Reports, Review Reports, and Operating Performance. 
• Analytic: Support monitoring and measuring eCommerce performance through integration tools, such as Google Analytics, and Facebook Pixels và  Google Tag Manager (GTM). These analytics tools help to track and report web traffic, audiences, purchasing process, and buying behaviour, simultaneously help to measure ads performance and track website activities, and lastly help quickly update website metrics and related tags to maximize personalization and reach the right goals for the subsequent marketing campaigns. 

These basic features have been built to help businesses operate an online commerce system without spending too much time designing, and developing special features. So businesses can kick start their eCommerce journey without spending too much time and money right from the start.

Advance features

The Magento platform is known for its outstanding features and extensions that are developed to meet the rapidly evolving eCommerce market as well as the specialized requirements of each business. Thousands of advanced functions in themes, add-ons, products, Marketing, optimal payment solutions, and shipping,… built with flexibility and high usability have shown remarkable results when integrating into the system, meeting all operational needs, and long-term eCommerce development needs.

Scalability

The Magento open-source eCommerce platform can accompany businesses with all business models from B2B, B2C, D2C to B2B2C, or from newly operated businesses to businesses that expanding their operating systems. Magento can support businesses to operate and develop, expand into many websites, many countries, multi-currency, and all can be managed on the same system.

Also, Magento has a stable operating system with the ability to handle up to 500,000 SKUs, and thousands of transactions in an hour, so the platform can support businesses operating a stable website that has an increasing amount of traffic over time or a sudden spike during the promotional period.

Ability to integrate 

One of the outstanding features of the Magento open-source platform is the ability to easily integrate with third-party services such as payment, shipping & handling, analytics, and business management software to help operate the eCommerce system. seamlessly and efficiently. 

Integration with a variety of payment and delivery methods

Many eCommerce businesses in general, as well as the wine industry in particular, need secure, flexible, and diverse payment software from domestic cards to international cards to payment gateways (Paypal, Stripe, OnePay, ), e-wallet (Momo, ZaloPay…).

Ex: Trentham Estate, the business has integrated with the Stripe payment gateway to process recurring orders without the need for customers to interact each time with a new order. This has simplified the buying journey as well as the customer experience, helping customers quickly make purchase decisions. The application supports customers effectively on many interfaces and devices, from websites, mobile apps, credit cards, e-wallets, etc.

About shipping and handling, businesses can easily integrate last-mile delivery services and other shipping applications in the markets to help optimize the delivery processes. In addition, businesses can completely customize the delivery modes that are suitable for businesses and customers to get the best shopping experiences.

In addition, wine businesses can develop their delivery options that allow the system to automatically select the corresponding store according to the address provided by the customer, allow orders to be allocated to the nearest warehouse, resulting in higher delivery efficiency, helping customers receive products faster and more conveniently as with businesses The Warehouse has applied for their delivery in everyday business. 

Ex: iShopChangi Wine (Singapore) has designed and developed a pick-up feature at the arrival or departure terminal for passengers that are departing, arriving, or transiting at Changi Airpor with their flight information. In addition, customers can also choose “Home Delivery” as long as it’s within Singapore. The system allows all groups of passengers to customize and choose the most convenient pick-up times to get the best out of the shopping experience. 

• Integration with business management systems such as  ERP, CRM

In addition to the ability to integrate diverse payment and delivery methods, many wine businesses are turning to the Magento platform because of the easy integration between this platform and management software such as ERP, and CRM to get a seamless connection of all supply channels from offline to online.

Through the integration of the Magento platform, businesses can overcome the limitations of manual operation and increase the automation of back-office and sales management processes, ensuring high accuracy, and operational efficiency for long-term development.

• Integration with analytics and reporting software

Besides the built-in analytical tools available on the platform, wine businesses can fully integrate analytics and reporting software such as Business Intelligence (Power BI, Tableau, Looker,…) helping businesses easily analyze and utilise consolidated data, improving business strategy, optimizing the personalized shopping experience while using the system, and growing business, as well as getting the overall view of the business situation more accurately than using manual methods.

Successful wine business with the Magento open-source platform

iShopChangi Wine – Singapore

iShopChangi Wine website is an eCommerce website specializing in providing many famous wines worldwide with special offers for travellers entering or passing through Changi Airport, especially for the members of Changi Airport Group – CAG (Changi Rewards members) with many attractive promotions.

SECOMM accompanied by iShopChangi Wines begins the improvement starting with the interface, page layout, the product classification. Next, the business optimizes the entire operating system as well as the infrastructure on the existing website to ensure the website operates seamlessly, and stably.

Besides providing operational solutions, the business also focuses on keeping the system unique in terms of both aesthetics in design and the elements of brand development for both CAG and DFS. About functions, the business has developed a complex price calculation, and display system based on many tax principles for alcohol-containing products, as well as classifying customer groups to quickly process orders, as well as optimize the delivery feature at Singapore’s airport and bring the best buying experience.

iShopChangi Wines’ eCommerce system has effectively met the shopping needs of international tourists. The initial complex elements have been simplified into a standard UX/UI interface, and ensure a professional, outstanding overall look of a wine website.

Trentham Estate – Australia

Trentham Estate has been a long-standing Australian brand specializing in wine production and trading since 1988. Throughout the operation, the business has been honoured with hundreds of medals, titles, and significant awards in the wine industry. They were also appreciated for their flexible and creative winemaking method, producing various distinct flavour products.

Since the beginning, Trentham Estate Winery built and maintained a WordPress website to develop and manage all the branding activities. Until 2017, the company decided to switch to the open-source platform, Magento, to build a comprehensive website to be able to provide all wine products with a faster operation and management process.

Trentham Estate Winery and SECOMM built a complete website with the Magento platform to optimize the interface, bringing the unique features of the wine industry to businesses. Next is integrating the payment process with Stripe, and developing delivery on the eCommerce system according to the delivery frequency that suits the customer’s preferences. Finally, building the “Wine Club” program with many incentives for loyal customers, providing the best experiences, and increasing a source of revenue.

The Warehouse – Vietnam

The Warehouse stands out from the Vietnamese market as a wine and spirits distributor, which is also one of the An Nam Group’s retail brands (Annam Gourmet Market, The Warehouse, Yves Rocher, Flormar).  Since 2001, the brand has spent its efforts to partner with more than 80 well-known wineries worldwide. Those corporations have supported The Warehouse to bring the Vietnam Market high-quality products with peculiarities from parts of the world. 

Starting eCommerce with the Magento platform, The Warehouse is extremely focused on fine-tuning the interface, including the Vietnamese and English content, high-quality images, and harmonious website layout for all products on each page, helping businesses show the unique brand’s characteristics as well as the wine industry.

In addition, the enterprise also optimizes user experience and maximizes revenue by developing a product display system with complex categories and attributes, integrating the OnePay payment gateway, also integrating, and synchronizing data from business management software POS, and ERP (Microsoft Dynamics AX) with the Magento platform to limit manual operation, increase automation, and operate all resources and processes flawlessly. 

Currently, the business is expanding its business with the Magento platform to meet all the needs of customers across Vietnam.

Evaluating the suitability of the Magento open source commerce platform with the Wine eCommerce business.

eCommerce is an inevitable trend as well as a “weapon” for wine businesses to break the market limits. This is a good opportunity for wine businesses to quickly grasp, develop, and expand their business models. To start their eCommerce journey, wine businesses can choose to build their system with Magento, an open-source eCommerce platform.

Magento, an open-source eCommerce platform, is a suitable platform for the wine industry with all business models such as B2B, B2C, and B2B2C. With all of the advantages of having a lot of features from basic to advanced, diverse ecosystems, scalability, and the flexibility of the Magento eCommerce platform, wine businesses can completely design a website that meets all requirements and delivers the ultimate online shopping experience.

In addition, businesses can easily change and develop specialized features according to product characteristics to keep up with the rapid changes in the market and develop long-term goals. That is also one of the main reasons that many wine businesses have chosen the Magento platform to go hand in hand, such as The Warehouse, iShopChangi Wines, and The Trentham Estate Winery.

SECOMM has significant experience developing complicated Wine eCommerce websites in different countries, and we know the challenges that businesses face when selecting and implementing an eCommerce platform. 

Contact SECOMM for a free consultation on eCommerce website development!

Read more: 5 eCommerce platforms for the wine industry businesses

The electronic commerce market in the liquor industry is currently experiencing robust development and has become a dominant trend in many different countries. In 2021 alone, the number of alcohol consumers increased by 10–20%, and those following the trend saw a growth of 40–50%, indicating significant progress in eCommerce for the alcohol industry in recent times (according to Wine Intelligent).

Not only limited to user growth, the global eCommerce market for wine is expected to grow by 7.7% annually (according to Statista) and reach a value of 1.68 trillion by 2025 (according to Cision). This presents both an opportunity and a challenge for liquor businesses to grasp and develop a business model suitable for the changing market in the digital era.

To embark on an online liquor business, the selection of an eCommerce platform needs careful consideration and precise decision-making. Choosing the right platform aligned with the budget and objectives helps businesses save time in construction, utilise human resources efficiently, and save costs in building and developing the system. Simultaneously, it assists businesses in reaching a large customer base, boosting sales, and seizing sustainable development opportunities in the future.

Currently, there are primarily two types of eCommerce platforms on the market: open-source and service-based. Each type of platform has certain advantages and disadvantages, and businesses need to carefully weigh criteria that align with their business model to choose a suitable platform.

Criteria for Choosing an eCommerce Platform in the Liquor Industry

Suitable Interface for the eCommerce System in the Liquor Industry

Wine products belong to the premium segment in modern life. Therefore, customers always prioritize high-quality visuals, and eye-catching, user-friendly interfaces in the eCommerce system that are easy to use and navigate.

Businesses in the liquor industry need to focus on conveying the product’s value message not only through a well-designed and user-friendly interface but also one that has high aesthetic appeal, with distinctive features to communicate the brand and product values to the specific target customers of the industry. This approach ensures a comprehensive user experience when using the eCommerce system.

Diverse eCommerce Feature System, from Basic to Advanced to Specialized

eCommerce platforms should have a diverse range of features, from basic to advanced, and even specialized features tailored for the liquor industry. This facilitates the efficient and sustainable development of the eCommerce system for businesses. Basic features include management, storefronts, sales, information management, statistics, revenue control, customer lists, invoices, shopping carts, and checkout, as well as reporting and analysis.

Advanced features related to themes, products, marketing, optimized payment solutions, discounts, and shipping cater to the operational and developmental needs of sustainable eCommerce for businesses. Specialized features for the liquor industry may include product allocation, inventory control, membership management (Wine club memberships management), implementing customer loyalty programmes, and product-specific discounts based on business needs.

Read more: SaaS eCommerce platforms vs Open-Source eCommerce platforms

High Integration Capability

For a seamless online business system in the liquor industry, businesses often integrate eCommerce platforms with other software and technology platforms they currently use, such as payment systems, shipping, ERP, POS, CRM, marketing management, etc.

This requires the eCommerce platform to have flexible, seamless, and effective integration capabilities with this software without compromising the execution of each system. This integration not only helps businesses overcome manual operational limitations but also increases automation for both back-office management and sales processes, ensuring high accuracy and operational efficiency for the business’s development.

Payment and Delivery Software

In addition to supporting Cash On Delivery (COD), platforms need to integrate various payment software, including local and international card options, payment gateways (Paypal, Stripe, One Pay, etc.), and digital wallets (Momo, ZaloPay, etc.). The chosen eCommerce platform should have the ability to seamlessly integrate this payment software with high security, safety, and efficiency.

For delivery and logistics, businesses can integrate service providers and popular transportation tracking applications, optimizing and streamlining delivery processes. Businesses can customize and develop delivery modes suitable for customers, ensuring a comfortable and convenient buying and receiving experience for users. Integrating payment and delivery software helps shorten the purchasing journey, optimize the user experience, and prompt customers to make decisions quickly.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

Businesses can fully integrate third-party enterprise management software such as ERP, CRM, POS, etc., with the eCommerce system to support efficient and seamless multi-channel eCommerce operations. This synchronizes data on products, categories, orders, and user information across systems, simplifying and automating the back-office management and sales processes, ensuring high accuracy and operational efficiency for sustainable development.

Marketing Management Software

In addition to the marketing tools available on the eCommerce platform, businesses can integrate additional marketing tools such as email marketing software (MailChimp, Drip, etc.), marketing analysis software (Google Analytics, Google Adwords Keywords, etc.), and social media management software (Buffer, Hootsuite, etc.). Marketing management software helps businesses deploy marketing campaigns, attract customers, and increase conversion rates, maximizing both eCommerce and overall business revenue.

Maximum Scalability

Choosing an eCommerce platform in the liquor industry with high scalability is crucial for businesses to grow sustainably. The platform should seamlessly accompany the business through various business models, from entering eCommerce for the first time to expanding the business system. It should support diverse business models such as B2B, B2C, D2C, and B2B2C.

Furthermore, the platform should assist businesses in operating and expanding by supporting the management of multiple websites, catering to multiple countries, and handling various currencies, all within a unified system. Beyond that, platforms with high scalability not only support expansion but also ensure stable system operation even when the website experiences gradual increases in traffic over time or experiences sudden spikes in traffic during promotional campaigns.

Top 5 Specialized eCommerce Platforms in the Wine Industry

VineSpring

VineSpring is an eCommerce platform created by experts with in-depth knowledge of the wine industry’s operations. As a result, businesses will have an online eCommerce system with specialized features for the wine industry.

Evaluation based on criteria

Interface Criteria

• Industry-specific Interface Design:

VineSpring offers a rich interface library, collaborating with various unique website designers specifically for the online wine industry. This allows businesses to easily build their brand without needing extensive technological knowledge.

• Multimedia Experience:

Understanding the present needs of businesses, VineSpring has developed and optimized its platform to operate flexibly on various media, from desktops and tablets to personal mobile devices. This ensures businesses have a multimedia online presence and provides the best shopping experience.

• Prominent CMS System:

With a CMS system on the VineSpring platform, businesses can fine-tune content and essential product information, brand details, and success stories tailored to their business development needs. This enables businesses to have a highly interactive website and a friendlier user experience.

Integration Capability Criteria

• Shipping Software Integration:

The platform also supports businesses in terms of product shipping. VineSpring can integrate additional shipping software (ShipCompliant and ShipStation), assisting businesses in controlling information and making order tracking easy for customers on the website.

• Management Software Integration:

VineSpring directly integrates with Square POS software through an available technical team. The VineSpring POS system has a “tap, chip, and swipe” feature, enabling businesses to process orders quickly and conveniently. Additionally, VineSpring can integrate CRM software (Salesforce) to provide efficient solutions for management, sales, and customer care.

• Marketing Management Software Integration:

VineSpring supports businesses in marketing through the integration of email marketing software (Mailchimp) for list management and the creation of email marketing campaigns, increasing automation in operations.

eCommerce Feature System Criteria

• Basic and Advanced Features:

Vinspring has a system of basic and some advanced features sufficient for businesses to operate at a basic level. Especially, Vinespring has optimized inventory management features to save time, allowing businesses to access production history details, including information on bottling times, prices, and shipping units.

• Specialized Features:

Vinespring is an ideal solution for developing a business’s recurring revenue model in the eCommerce wine industry. The platform provides businesses with specialized features, such as wine allocation management and wine club member management.

In addition to the mentioned advantages, Vinespring also has a dedicated customer care team. As a Software as a Service (SaaS) eCommerce platform, VineSpring places a strong emphasis on customer service through 24/7 online chat with experts and telephone support anywhere, anytime. Therefore, businesses will receive the best and fastest support to resolve technical issues, as well as applications, features, and the most convenient and suitable solutions.

Cost

VineSpring is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, so businesses need to pay a fixed monthly fee ranging from $99 to $399, depending on the service package, and may be higher based on business needs:

• VineSpring Starter – $99/month: Provides businesses with a store system that includes hosting, payment software from VineSpring, and free direct support.
• VineSpring Standard – $199/month: Businesses have control over inventory, allocation management, custom store interface plugins, and integration with the ShipCompliant shipping feature.
• VineSpring Professional – $399/month: Businesses receive all essential features from the VineSpring Standard package, along with integration with Square POS software and the MailChimp marketing tool.
• VineSpring Enterprise: Ideal for large-scale wine businesses with high sales volume. The price for this package varies depending on the scale of the business.

User Target

The VineSpring platform (SaaS) is suitable for wine businesses with limited experience in building eCommerce systems. However, the usage fees for this platform are relatively high for small and medium-sized businesses.

WineDirect

WineDirect is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed for wine businesses with no experience in eCommerce platforms, helping manage every aspect of online sales and simplifying the business process.

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

The WineDirect platform provides an intuitive, user-friendly interface tailored for businesses. Additionally, WineDirect offers a diverse range of free interface templates and features, facilitating easy development of the eCommerce system with just basic website development knowledge and skills.

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

• Basic Features:

WineDirect provides fundamental features such as website analytics, sales tools, and options for business event registrations to boost customer engagement. This allows businesses to save time and unnecessary costs associated with other software.

• Advanced Features:

Businesses can possess essential information for creating customized offers and discounts tailored to each customer category, based on statistics gathered through integrated tools. Consequently, businesses can develop personalized shopping experiences and drive higher sales volumes, achieving outstanding results and meeting development needs.

• Special Features:

The platform has leveraged and optimized the WineDirect application, specially designed for mobile devices and is highly flexible for the wine industry. Through the application, businesses can manage products, eCommerce systems, advertising campaigns on the website, and customer information.

Integration Criteria

• Payment and Shipping Integration:

WineDirect provides integrated payment solutions on the platform, enabling businesses to have a seamless experience across two payment software, such as WineDirect Payments for businesses in the US and Canada, and eWay Payments for businesses in Australia.

With payment software, businesses are supported in processing orders through the website or in-store. Regarding shipping, the WineDirect platform can integrate with various shipping services (UPS, FedEx, Gliding Eagle, etc.), assisting businesses with detailed shipping information for each order and enhancing automation in the shipping process.

• Management Software Integration:

The WineDirect platform can integrate with ERP software, as well as the POS of the business (WineDirect POS, Napa Valley, Oztera, etc.), aiming to synchronize data between the POS system and the eCommerce system, including orders, inventory, wine club members, customer information, helping businesses increase automation in the operational process and manage information effectively.

• Marketing Tool Integration:

WineDirect has integrated available marketing tools on the platform to help businesses save time in system development. This includes providing businesses with access to real-time sales reports, allowing them to send emails based on customer groups depending on marketing campaigns.

Cost

The WineDirect platform is a SaaS (Software as a Service) eCommerce platform with three main pricing plans as follows:

• DTC Starter – $79 + 2% of monthly sales: Businesses integrate marketing tools, payment software, and Ship Compliant shipping, with free hosting included.
• DTC Pro starting from $199 + 1% of monthly sales: Businesses receive all the essential features from the DTC Starter package, as well as customer loyalty programs, reports, and automatic credit card updates.
• DTC Advanced: Businesses get all the features from the DTC Pro package, along with custom benefits to fit the scale and needs of the business. The usage cost for this service package varies based on the business’s requirements and scale.

User Target

Similar to VineSpring, the WineDirect platform (SaaS) is suitable for businesses of various models and sizes that lack extensive experience in building eCommerce systems and technology. However, one platform limitation is its high usage cost, which increases with the business’s monthly sales volume. 

Beyond the high usage cost, operational tools on the platform may be unstable, occasionally displaying errors on the system, such as payment statuses showing as ‘pending processing’ on the business side but appearing as ‘paid’ on the customer side. Despite this, WineDirect has a dedicated customer support team that efficiently addresses business issues, making it a preferred choice for many businesses.

Shopify

Shopify is a well-known giant in the field of building eCommerce systems as a Software as a Service (SaaS). The Shopify platform is favoured in the market for its user-friendly nature, quick system-building time, and low initial costs, making it suitable for a wide range of businesses.

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

In terms of interface, Shopify provides many beautiful themes that are well-compatible across various devices. Businesses in the wine industry can choose from several specialized templates designed and offered specifically for online wine businesses by the Shopify platform. Additionally, businesses have the freedom to customize the interface by accessing HTML and CSS code to enhance the brand’s uniqueness. Therefore, businesses can deliver a seamless experience across different devices without affecting the user’s shopping process.

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

Basic and Advanced Features:

In addition to basic features related to orders, products, categories, and product management, the Shopify eCommerce platform allows businesses in the wine industry to access profiles and purchase histories to gather customer information. This enables businesses to personalize the shopping experience, from personalized content and product displays to the entire eCommerce journey.

This key aspect helps businesses make a positive impression on consumers and fosters a stronger relationship between both parties. Furthermore, with the mobile application developed by Shopify, businesses can control every aspect of the online store anytime, anywhere, including effective sales management, order fulfilment, and inventory management.

Integration Criteria

• Integration of Payment and Shipping Software:

In addition to supporting direct payment features from the platform itself (Shopify Payment), Shopify also assists businesses in integrating other payment software such as Paypal, Stripe, SagePay, AliPay Global, etc. Regarding shipping software, Shopify collaborates directly with various major shipping service providers like USPS, UPS, and DHL to streamline the process and ensure more convenient shipping for businesses.

• Integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software:

Shopify’s Global ERP Program provides businesses with a system that connects multiple eCommerce platforms with critical business databases such as finance and inventory to optimize operations and business processes. This program includes partnerships with leading global ERP providers such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, Business Central, Oracle NetSuite, Infor, Acumatica, and Brightpearl.

• Automatic Integration of Marketing Tools:

Shopify supports businesses in marketing through integrated software within the system. Examples include email software (MailChimp), sales channels (Facebook, Instagram), advertising (Google Ads), etc. Through these integrated marketing tools, businesses have the opportunity to increase sales, automate email marketing, and develop marketing campaigns tailored to specific customer groups.

Cost

Shopify has developed various service plans suitable for businesses to choose from based on their capabilities and scale:

• Basic Shopify – $29/month: Suitable for new businesses with modest sales volume.
• Shopify – $79/month: Suitable for growing online businesses experiencing increased sales.
• Advanced Shopify – $299/month: Suitable for businesses with the need to expand scale and require advanced reporting and analytics tools.

In addition, Shopify has introduced other service plans to cater to diverse business needs:

• Shopify Lite – $9/month: Suitable for businesses wanting to add a buy button and payment services to an existing website or blog.
• Shopify Plus – $2000/month: Provides an advanced eCommerce solution for large enterprises handling a substantial volume of orders.

User Target

Originally an industry giant in the Software as a Service (SaaS) eCommerce sector with characteristics of rapid system development time, as well as a startup cost suitable for many businesses and easy usability, this platform is suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises with limited experience in information technology.

However, in addition to the monthly fees for using additional utilities, Shopify also has limitations in terms of advanced features, unique features, and customization. Businesses must accept that certain features may not be available on the current website and may need to switch platforms when aiming to build a specialized system that aligns with their specific needs and ensures sustainable development in the future.

Read more: 

• What is Shopify Plus? The pros and cons of Shopify Plus
• Shopify vs Shopify Plus 2023: Which is a better choice? 

WooCommerce 

WooCommerce is an open-source Content Management System (CMS) known as a plugin for WordPress, introduced in 2011. It is completely free and allows businesses to turn their WordPress website into an online store. Therefore, in addition to being suitable for customizing the interface, WooCommerce is also an ideal platform for businesses to have a website with a flexible blog section, high interactivity, and a more user-friendly experience.

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

• The rich and customizable form library:

WooCommerce possesses and provides businesses with a rich library of forms designed for the wine industry, carefully crafted and user-friendly. Therefore, businesses can conveniently design and build an eCommerce system right from the beginning without needing in-depth technical knowledge

• User-friendly interface with Product Table:

With the WooCommerce platform, businesses can integrate tools from management systems to features specific to the wine industry. For instance, the platform can integrate with Product Table, a tool that allows wine businesses to have an interface displaying product attributes and numerous high-quality product images, as well as filtering features.

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

WooCommerce allows and supports basic features such as inventory management, order processing, inventory optimization, SEO tools, discounts, price reductions, sales statistics reports, and easy integration with payment and shipping providers. In terms of advanced features, the WooCommerce platform supports businesses in the wine industry with opportunities for wholesale orders and discounts, boosting sales through the eCommerce system. However, the platform has some limitations in terms of specialized features for the wine industry, as making certain edits can potentially cause instability in the system.

Integration Criteria

• Payment and Shipping Software:

For payments, businesses can use plugins to integrate payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Square into the system, ensuring high security and safety.

Regarding shipping, businesses can integrate with various shipping providers that collaborate with WooCommerce, such as FedEx, UPS, and USPS, enabling efficient processing and optimization of the shipping process to provide the best shopping experience for consumers.

• Business Management Software:

The WooCommerce platform allows and supports businesses with integrable business management software, typical examples being Odoo, Square POS, and WP ERP. This enables businesses to save time, and costs, improve business efficiency, and automate management processes.

• Marketing Management Software:

Businesses can integrate marketing management software to support their operations, such as email marketing (MailChimp), advertising (Google Listings, Google Ads, Facebook), and analytics software (Google Analytics). This helps businesses increase traffic, promote repeat shopping, and optimize personalization for consumers.

Cost

The WooCommerce platform is an open-source platform, and thus, the platform itself is entirely free to use. However, businesses may incur development costs when utilizing the platform, such as domain registration fees ($15), hosting fees ($120/year), and system development costs (ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 depending on the complexity of the system).

User Target

WooCommerce is a suitable platform for wine businesses already familiar with WordPress and looking to expand their eCommerce systems, offering numerous basic features built with high availability from developers in the strong global community. However, WooCommerce is not perfect for businesses with a large number of products, as the system tends to be unstable with more than 2,000 SKUs. 

The platform also has limitations in terms of customization and fine-tuning specific features because intervening adjustments can easily lead to system instability, and there is a high likelihood that the built-in features are not compatible with this platform. Additionally, to customize the system based on the available feature set, businesses may encounter significant difficulties and time-consuming efforts.

Magento – The best all-around platform for the wine industry

Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform known as one of the leading eCommerce platforms today, with many outstanding advantages such as high flexibility, a diverse ecosystem, and optimal security. Currently, Magento has two versions: Magento Open Source (free) and Magento Commerce (paid).

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

With the Magento open-source eCommerce platform, businesses may not have access to an extensive theme library as other eCommerce platforms do. However, businesses can fully customize the interface for a specialized eCommerce system, providing a comfortable user experience. To achieve this, businesses need an experienced technical team and careful investment.

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

The Magento eCommerce platform offers a highly diverse and advanced feature system, from basic to advanced, making it easy for wine industry businesses to quickly build and develop their systems in the short term and sustainably in the long term.

• Basic features:

A variety of features ranging from Category Management, Content Management, Customer Management, Marketing Management, Order Management, Store Management, System Management, Cart and Checkout, to Reporting & Analytics.

• Advanced features:

Magento is known for its superiorly developed advanced features and extensions to meet the rapid development of the eCommerce market and the specialized requirements of each business. Thousands of advanced functions related to themes, products, marketing, optimal payment solutions, shipping, etc., have been built with flexibility and high availability, delivering outstanding results when integrated into the system, and meeting every operational and sustainable eCommerce development need of businesses.

• Specialized features:

Businesses can completely modify system functions, develop new specialized features to meet business needs, and quickly adapt to market changes. In addition, businesses can comfortably expand the scale of their business with the open-source Magento platform.

Integration Criteria

• Payment and Shipping Software:

Regarding payments, wine industry businesses using the Magento eCommerce platform can integrate the most common payment methods such as card payments (ATM, Visa, Master…), e-wallets (Momo, Zalo Pay…), and payment gateways (OnePay, VNPay, PayPal, etc.), helping diversify the shopping payment experience.

For shipping, businesses can easily integrate with various shipping providers and popular shipment tracking applications on the market to optimize shipping and delivery processes. Additionally, wine industry businesses can develop shipping and delivery features tailored to their needs and customers to provide a convenient and fast delivery experience.

• Business Management Software:

Magento is praised for its highly effective operation with most POS (Square…), CRM (Salesforce…), and ERP (SAP, Oracle, Odoo) systems. Through efficient integration of these software solutions, businesses can overcome manual operation limitations and increase automation for both back-office management and sales, ensuring high accuracy and operational efficiency for sustainable development.

• Marketing Management Software:

For marketing management software, businesses can integrate various management software solutions, including email marketing (Mailchimp…), and advertising (Facebook, Google…), to support planning marketing programs, strategy setting, as well as handling and controlling data, seamless eCommerce business processes, and optimizing online business.

Additionally, Magento provides Magento BI tools or allows businesses to integrate with other Business Intelligence (BI) tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Looker, etc., to optimize business efficiency, easily consolidate and leverage data from the Magento system and other software for quick, efficient analysis and reporting, and to improve business strategy and growth optimization for the enterprise.

Criteria for scalability

Inheriting the high scalability of the open-source platform, Magento can accompany businesses with every sustainable development business model, from newly established enterprises to expanded business systems, covering various business models such as B2B, B2C, D2C, and B2B2C.

Magento can support businesses to operate and expand into multiple websites, countries, and multiple currencies, and manage all within one system. Not only that, Magento also supports stable system operation even when the website experiences gradual or sudden increases in traffic over time or during peak periods in promotional campaigns, with the ability to handle up to 500,000 products and thousands of transactions per hour.

Cost

Magento is an ideal platform for any business venturing into the wine industry and implementing eCommerce. However, the cost issue is a significant obstacle, preventing most small and medium-sized wine businesses from choosing the Magento platform to build an eCommerce system.

According to estimates, a fully functional system developed on the Magento eCommerce platform typically incurs deployment and development costs ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 or more. In addition to the complex and advanced feature set, a crucial factor contributing to the higher deployment costs of Magento compared to other platforms is the requirement for an experienced and specialized team.

User Target

Magento is often the platform of choice for large businesses in the wine industry, whether B2B, B2C, or D2C, that already have an existing customer base and a long-term need for developing an eCommerce system. With this platform, businesses can continually develop components within the eCommerce system to ensure optimal operational efficiency and sustainable growth.

The high development costs, as well as the development timeline, which can range from 2-3 months to sometimes up to a year, are barriers that make it challenging for small and medium-sized businesses to comfortably choose Magento.

Choosing an eCommerce Platform for the Wine Industry

Choosing the right eCommerce platform is crucial in building an eCommerce system for businesses in the wine industry. This decision not only minimizes investment costs and shortens the time to build an eCommerce system but also helps businesses gain a competitive advantage in the industry and achieve sustainable growth.

On the other hand, an inappropriate platform choice can lead to significant time and cost investments for migration and platform conversion. Therefore, businesses need to consider their goals, and issues in the current model to choose the most suitable platform.

For small and medium-sized businesses, newcomers to the eCommerce market, or large businesses without the need to build a specialized eCommerce system, they can choose Software as a Service (SaaS) eCommerce platforms such as VineSpring, Winedirect, Shopify, or the open-source platform WooCommerce.

If businesses focus on industry-specific features such as developing a subscription revenue model and managing wine clubs, VineSpring and Wine Direct are suitable choices. WooCommerce is convenient for businesses that emphasize adjusting the interface. Shopify is suitable for businesses that want to quickly develop an eCommerce website with low initial costs.

For large businesses or those wanting to build a specialized eCommerce system tailored to the characteristics of their products, business model, or a platform that can accompany the sustainable development of the business, choosing comprehensive open-source platforms like Magento is necessary. With open-source platforms like Magento, businesses can develop special features, design interfaces freely, and not worry too much about the operating system.

SECOMM confidently accompanies wine businesses on the path of deploying and developing sustainable eCommerce, with successful implementation experience for many wine businesses in various countries such as Singapore, the United States, Australia, Japan, and Vietnam. 

Contact SECOMM for detailed advice on the development journey of the eCommerce system for your wine business!

In 2022, the mobile phone retail market is predicted to reach sales figures of up to 1.39 billion units, marking a 3.8% annual increase (according to Trendforce). The Covid pandemic has significantly altered consumer interactions and shopping habits, shifting the purchase of mobile phones from offline to online. Traditional retailers have now caught up with this trend by embracing eCommerce to enhance their competitive edge and sustain growth regardless of the pandemic.

To enter the eCommerce market and seize competitive opportunities, businesses need to identify a suitable eCommerce platform aligned with their business objectives. Apart from popular names like Shopify, BigCommerce, Haravan, and WooCommerce, Magento is recognized as a platform chosen by major players in the mobile phone retail industry in Vietnam, such as CellphoneS, Phong Vũ, and Bạch Long Mobile. So, why is Magento the preferred choice for these businesses?

Advantages of Building a Mobile Phone Retail Website with Magento

Advantages of Building a Mobile Phone Retail Website with Magento

eCommerce Feature System from Basic to Advanced

Basic Features

As a specialized eCommerce platform, Magento naturally offers a full range of basic features such as category management, content management, sales, customer management, marketing, inventory management, as well as reports and analysis. These features allow businesses to easily embark on their eCommerce journey in a short period. 

Magento also possesses an ecosystem with many features supporting the development of in-depth mobile phone business systems.

• Category Management: Manage, develop, and control all data and functions related to products, attributes (brand, price, type of phone, performance, memory, special features, design, screen, size, etc.), pricing system, inventory, images, and videos to maintain efficient business operations.
• Content Management: Develop and refine necessary content and detailed information about products, such as place of origin, brand, instructional videos, and product reviews.
• Marketing Management: Deploy and manage various marketing campaigns according to seasons (Tet, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Flash Sale), and special occasions (launch of new products by Samsung, Apple, Oppo, etc.). These marketing campaigns need to be continuously updated as the product lifecycle shortens, and mobile phone products are constantly innovated.
• Sales Management: Easily set up and operate proactive sales processes through various methods such as barcode sales, item code sales, and brand-based sales (iPhone, Samsung, etc.). Businesses can also integrate customer management to ensure timely warranty service for purchased products.
• Customer Management: Manage comprehensive information about customers to improve marketing efficiency, enhance the shopping experience, and elevate customer satisfaction. This information helps create suitable customer care policies, such as value-added order discounts and gift appreciation for loyal customers, turning ordinary customers into loyal ones.
• Inventory Management: Proactively control the number of phones in each warehouse (by product group, brand, item code, and country of origin), making it easy to supply accurate and fast goods.
• System Management: Administers administrative privileges, uses tools for regular management, and maintenance, and supports the system to operate stably and efficiently.
• Reporting & Analytics: Effectively analyze data after marketing campaigns or accumulate sales data day by day through comprehensive and detailed reporting features to improve and enhance business efficiency. Includes Marketing Reports, Sales Reports, Customer Reports, Product Reports, Review Reports, and Performance Reports.

Advanced Features

The Magento platform is known for its advanced features and extensive extensions developed to meet the rapid development of the eCommerce market and the specific requirements of each business. Thousands of advanced functions related to themes, add-ons, products, marketing, payment, shipping, etc., have been built with flexibility and high availability, delivering outstanding results when integrated into systems, meeting every operational need, and supporting the sustainable development of eCommerce for businesses.

Some advanced features for mobile phone retail that Magento supports include:

Flash Sale Feature: a discount mechanism for certain items or products within a specified time. The strategy of appealing to the customer’s psychology of “buy quickly, get a good price” is being effectively applied by many major mobile phone retailers. With Magento, businesses can easily create multiple Flash sales with countdown timers.

Buy Now Pay Later Feature: This is a popular payment method in the international online mobile phone retail industry but is relatively new in the Vietnamese market. After completing the order, customers will receive the product immediately, and the payment will be gradually made over a certain period with low or 0% interest. Breaking down the payment into instalments will reduce financial pressure on users when buying high-value products such as mobile phones, boosting the number of orders and revenue for businesses.

Advanced SEO Feature: In addition to supporting keywords, meta tags, descriptions, product titles, and searching for appropriate URLs, the Magento platform also updates ranking factors, provides URL structures, and offers meta deployment options to enhance SEO for eCommerce websites, increasing traffic and competitiveness in the market.

Flexibility in Interface Design

Mobile eCommerce is one of the industries that require an eCommerce website to have a sleek, standardized UI/UX interface with high aesthetics to convey brand and product values, attracting customers to shop within the system.  Although Magento does not possess an extensive theme repository like some other platforms, each theme on the platform is meticulously and uniquely designed. 

Businesses can choose to use these themes in the initial stages to save costs. To further refine the interface to better align with the brand’s positioning, businesses can customize based on the chosen theme or design a unique interface. However, this process will require more investment in terms of cost and time.

High Scalability

Magento supports stable system operation even when the website experiences a gradual increase in traffic over time or a sudden surge during business campaigns, with the capability to handle up to 500,000 products and thousands of transactions within an hour.

Furthermore, Magento also supports business expansion into multiple websites for various countries, all manageable on the same “dashboard.” This means that businesses can access and manage data for multiple websites/stores simultaneously using a centralized Magento system. With built-in language conversion support, businesses can build an eCommerce system with content and language tailored to diverse global customer demographics.

Moreover, the Magento system allows for easy conversion of currencies, supporting businesses in expanding their market presence across multiple countries and providing customers with a seamless transaction experience for optimal shopping.

Easy Integration Capability

Diverse Payment and Delivery Integration

In the eCommerce industry, especially in online mobile retail, having a variety of secure and flexible payment methods is crucial. Common payment methods include card payments (ATM, Visa, Mastercard), e-wallets (Momo, Zalo Pay), payment gateways (OnePay, VNPay, PayPal), cash on delivery (COD), etc. For delivery, Magento seamlessly integrates with various delivery services available both internationally and in Vietnam, such as FedEx, DHL, Giao Hàng Nhanh, Giao Hàng Tiết Kiệm, Viettel Post, along with popular shipment tracking applications. This ensures efficient handling and optimization of delivery processes. Furthermore, businesses can develop and customize new delivery features to align with customer preferences.

Integration with Enterprise Management Systems

Aside from stable system operation during online business, efficiently managing products and orders is a crucial consideration for businesses. Integrating the website with enterprise management systems (ERP, CRM, etc.) minimizes manual operations and automates operational processes, ensuring high accuracy and operational efficiency for business development. Magento is highly compatible with various management software, such as POS (Square), CRM (Salesforce), and ERP (SAP, Oracle, Odoo), making it a preferred choice for many businesses.

Integration with Marketing Software

One of the challenges in online mobile retail is intense competition, making it difficult to attract customers and climb the ranks on search engines. Magento can be seamlessly integrated with various marketing management software, ranging from email marketing tools (Mailchimp) to advertising platforms (Facebook, Google). Having a unified system for all sales channels on Magento enables businesses to easily control and leverage data, seamlessly transitioning business processes from offline to online. Consequently, businesses can develop and manage corresponding multichannel marketing strategies to personalize the customer experience and optimize eCommerce business.

Challenges in Implementing eCommerce on the Magento Platform

High Development Costs

Despite Magento being highly rated for its eCommerce features and performance, cost remains a significant barrier, preventing businesses from choosing the Magento platform for building e-commerce websites. It is estimated that a well-developed and efficient system on the open-source Magento e-commerce platform typically incurs deployment costs ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 USD.

Usage Cost Table for the First Year of Three Magento Versions:

• Magento Community: Free
• Magento Enterprise: $22,000 – $125,000
• Magento Enterprise Cloud: $40,000 – $190,000

Extended Development Time

Typically, a complete Magento project requires an implementation time frame of 3-6 months, sometimes extending up to a year. One reason for the prolonged development time is the complexity of the system’s functionality, demanding time to build suitable development solutions.

Need for an Experienced Specialized Team

A fully functional and effective Magento website needs to be developed by an experienced team well-versed in Magento to build a comprehensive system and provide suitable solutions for the various long-term business requirements.

In summary, Magento is a comprehensive open-source eCommerce platform, specialized and suitable for various business models in the mobile electronic industry, including B2B, B2C, B2B2C, and D2C. Online mobile retail businesses can fully customize and control the system, from interface to features, providing the best experience for consumers through rich eCommerce features, a diverse ecosystem, and high flexibility and scalability. 

However, budgetary constraints, time considerations, and the requirement for a highly skilled team also make it challenging for many businesses to utilize Magento for deploying eCommerce websites. 

Contact SECOMM for a free consultation on developing an eCommerce system for mobile retail!

In recent times, eCommerce has been increasingly popular in the Vietnamese market and is becoming a potential business model pursued by many enterprises across various industries. Particularly in the mobile phone retail sector, the online market share of mobile phone retail systems is growing rapidly. For instance, The Gioi Di Dong – the largest mobile phone retail system in Vietnam, saw its online market share increase from 11.6% to 17.5% in just one month (from July to August 2021)

Nowadays, many mobile phone retail businesses in Vietnam often choose to implement eCommerce websites as their main channel in online commerce. Thanks to the effective development of website systems, many mobile phone retail businesses have not only seized the opportunity to boost revenue but also achieved sustainable business growth. The common factor contributing to this success lies in the eCommerce platform.

Each type of eCommerce platform has its unique features that can support businesses in developing their online presence. Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms are designed by providers with the entire system pre-built, including hosting, interface, features, and infrastructure maintenance. Therefore, businesses can easily build and operate a website system without much concern for technical issues and without investing too much time and money from the outset.

However, businesses using SaaS platforms will not own the source code and data, and the system’s scalability and integration capabilities are limited. Usage costs may increase over time. On the other hand, open-source platforms give businesses full ownership and control over the source code and data, allowing freedom in designing interfaces and offering high scalability and flexibility. Nevertheless, using open-source platforms often requires a specialized development team and more investment in terms of cost and time.

So, which eCommerce platform will be suitable for mobile phone retail businesses?

The criteria for choosing a platform

User interface and administrative interface

The user interface of an eCommerce system is considered the face and highest scoring aspect in online business. Therefore, besides meeting UI/UX standards and expressing the brand’s characteristics, products, businesses also need to focus on the presentation of product images on the website, ensuring synchronization and clarity. 

This ensures a complete and satisfying experience for customers.  The admin interface must be user-friendly, allowing easy navigation, control, and management of all data within the system.

A diverse range of eCommerce system features 

With online retail of mobile phones, the eCommerce system’s feature set needs to be diverse, ranging from basic to advanced and specialized, aiming to provide an optimal experience for buyers and facilitate the efficient and sustainable development of the eCommerce system.

Some essential functions in the eCommerce website system for mobile phone retail businesses include:

• Basic Functions: Meeting the most basic operational needs of the eCommerce system, such as order management, categories, content, marketing management, customer management, inventory, system management, reporting, checkout, payment, shipping, etc.
• Advanced Functions: Enhancing the consumer experience and expediting the shopping process with features like order tracking, abandoned cart recovery, product suggestions, quick product search, layered product categories, etc.
• Specialized Functions: Addressing specific challenges in implementing eCommerce for mobile phone retail, catering to the unique needs of customer segments and businesses. Examples include Flash sale programs, instalment plans, buy now pay later options, etc.

High integration capability

To have a seamless online business system, businesses often need to integrate eCommerce platforms with other software and technology platforms they are currently using, such as:

• Payment Integration: Integrating various payment methods from domestic to international cards, payment gateways (Paypal, Stripe, OnePay), e-wallets (Momo, ZaloPay), etc.
• Shipping Integration: Integrating international shipping providers (DHL Express, FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.) and local ones in Vietnam (Giao Hang Nhanh, Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, Ninja Van, etc.). Additionally, order-tracking applications help streamline and operate shipping processes.
• Management Software: Easily integrating CRM, ERP, and POS software for seamless connectivity across all supply channels from offline to online.
• Marketing Management: Integrating additional marketing tools such as email marketing software (MailChimp, Drip…), marketing analytics software (Google Analytics, Google Adwords Keywords…), and social media management software (Buffer, Hootsuite…). Integrating these marketing management tools can help businesses implement marketing campaigns, attract customers, and increase conversion rates to maximize both eCommerce and overall business revenue.

The chosen eCommerce platform must have flexible, seamless, and effective integration capabilities with this software without affecting the execution level of each system. This integration helps businesses overcome the limitations of manual operation and increases automation for both back-office management and sales, ensuring high accuracy and operational efficiency for business development.

High scalability capability

eCommerce platforms need to have high scalability to adapt and grow alongside businesses of all models. Choosing the right platform can accompany businesses from startup and SME stages to becoming large enterprises, and from B2B, B2C, and D2C models to B2B2C, helping save long-term budget while still building a sustainable, efficient system suitable for the business.

High scalability meets all future development needs of the business, such as expanding multiple websites, across countries, currencies, channels, etc. Moreover, platforms with high scalability ensure stable system operation regardless of increasing traffic and transactions over time.

Review 5 eCommerce platforms for mobile phone retail websites 

Shopify

Shopify is a well-known giant in the field of building eCommerce systems as a Software as a Service (SaaS). This platform is favoured for its user-friendly nature, quick build time, and low initial costs, making it suitable for many SMEs.

User Interface Criteria

Shopify provides attractive, responsive themes suitable for various industries, including mobile phone retail. While adhering to UI/UX standards, it lacks customization options for businesses to showcase their unique branding.

Admin Interface Criteria

The admin interface is user-friendly on desktops, allowing easy management of the website’s aspects. However, mobile functionality is limited, restricting businesses to perform specific functions on the mobile version.

Functionality System Criteria

Shopify’s functionality system is comprehensive, meeting both the basic and advanced needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. However, accessing advanced features requires additional monthly payments, leading to increasing usage costs. Shopify, however, lacks certain features crucial for mobile phone retail, aside from instalment payment options.

Integration Capability Criteria

Shopify restricts access to the source code, making integration with third-party software challenging. Businesses can only integrate with partner software available on the platform or those directly developed by Shopify.

Scalability Criteria

Scalability on the Shopify platform is limited because businesses cannot modify or upgrade the website source code. Therefore, it’s often used by mobile phone retail businesses in their early stages.

Usage Cost Criteria

Shopify offers various service packages to cater to different business needs, ranging from $29/month for Basic Shopify to $2000/month for Shopify Plus. However, businesses may face limitations in advanced features, necessitating a platform switch for a specialized and sustainable system.

→ Overall Rating based on 5 criteria: 2/5

Shopify is suitable for SMEs that want a cost-effective and quick eCommerce system. However, it falls short in advanced features, specific functionalities, and customization options. Businesses must accept the limitations and be prepared to switch platforms for a tailored and sustainable solution in the future.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source CMS plugin for WordPress introduced in 2011, completely free, enabling businesses to turn their WordPress websites into online stores.

User Interface Criteria

WooCommerce offers a diverse library of templates for mobile phone retail and electronic goods, designed meticulously and user-friendly. This allows businesses to conveniently design and build an eCommerce system from the start without requiring in-depth technical knowledge.

Because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, administrators continue to manage the website through the WordPress interface, making it easy for businesses already using WordPress to adapt, use, and navigate the system.

Functionality System Criteria

WooCommerce has many features, both basic and advanced, to support businesses in operating an eCommerce website. However, the platform has some limitations regarding specific features for mobile phone retail. Although it’s open-source, developing unique features on WooCommerce can be challenging and may lead to system instability.

Integration Capability Criteria

Third-party software integrates well with WooCommerce, helping businesses save time, and costs, improve operational efficiency, and automate management processes.

• Payment: Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Square…
• Shipping: USPS, UPS, and FedEx…
• Management Software: Odoo, Square POS, and WP ERP.
• Marketing Management: Google Listings, Google Ads, Facebook Pixel…

Scalability Criteria

WooCommerce’s most significant drawback is its limited scalability. The platform tends to become unstable and easily overloaded when there are more than 2,000 SKUs or too many themes and plugins on the system.

Usage Cost Criteria

WooCommerce is an open-source platform, so it’s entirely free to use. However, businesses need to pay for additional services such as domain registration ($15), hosting fees ($120/year), and system development costs (ranging from $3,000 to $10,000, depending on system complexity).

→ Overall Rating based on 5 criteria: 3/5

WooCommerce is a good platform for businesses currently using WordPress and looking to develop an eCommerce system. However, the platform has limitations in customization and adjusting unique features. Intervening in the system is likely to cause instability, and there is a high probability that the built-in features are not compatible with the platform. Additionally, to customize the system based on the existing feature set, businesses will need to invest a significant budget and time.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a SaaS platform based in the USA with over 600,000 online stores used by consumers worldwide.

User Interface Criteria

BigCommerce possesses a diverse theme repository with over 160 templates, catering to various industries, including mobile phone retail and electronics. All these templates are designed following UI/UX standards, allowing for easy adjustments to fit the brand.

For the administrator interface, businesses can manage their stores on a real-time and easily trackable screen.

Functionality System Criteria

BigCommerce’s functionality is relatively comprehensive, meeting basic and advanced needs, as well as specific features for mobile phone retail businesses. However, since BigCommerce is a SaaS platform, businesses cannot modify the source code or develop additional features not already available on the platform. Businesses can only use the features provided by BigCommerce or those offered by the platform’s partners.

Some notable advanced and specific features available on BigCommerce suitable for mobile phone retail businesses include multi-currency support, advanced SEO, rating and review features, advanced reporting, and instalment payment capabilities.

Integration Capability Criteria

BigCommerce has a relatively high integration capability, allowing integration with many popular third-party software to support business operations.

Some software that can be integrated with BigCommerce includes various payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, ApplePay, Checkout), shipping solutions (ShipStation, Amazon Shipping, Easyship, Route), ERP systems (NetSuite ERP, Acumatica Cloud ERP), CRM (HubSpot, Revamp), and marketing tools (email marketing, social media integration).

Scalability Criteria

The system’s scalability depends on the BigCommerce service package that the business is using. The platform can support business expansion into new markets, multiple currencies, and languages. Additionally, BigCommerce can support stable system operations for businesses handling thousands of SKUs.

Usage Cost Criteria

BigCommerce currently supports three bundled solutions and one on-demand solution:

• Standard Plan: $29.95/month, suitable for businesses with sales over $50,000
• Plus Plan: $79.95/month, suitable for businesses with sales over $180,000
• Pro Plan: $299.95/month, suitable for businesses with sales over $400,000
• Enterprise Plan: for large enterprises, and the cost will be based on the online sales volume of the brand.

→ Overall Rating based on 5 criteria: 3/5

BigCommerce is almost a comprehensive SaaS platform for businesses entering the mobile phone retail eCommerce journey. The platform can be suitable for various business models, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, depending on the chosen subscription package. However, the limitation of using this platform is that businesses are restricted in their ability to customize functions on the system, limited in annual revenue with each subscription tier, and unable to own the source code. 

Haravan

Haravan, founded in 2014, stands as one of the renowned platforms in the Vietnamese market, boasting over 50,000 businesses and consumer brands. It operates as a service platform modelled on Shopify.

User Interface Criteria

Similar to other SaaS platforms, Haravan boasts a diverse theme repository with over 400 templates, all designed following UX/UI standards. Beyond that, businesses can customize the interface to align with their distinctive brand identity. The admin interface, supporting the Vietnamese language, ensures a user-friendly experience for businesses.

Functionality System Criteria

Haravan offers a comprehensive set of both basic and advanced features, enabling businesses to swiftly establish an eCommerce website. The platform includes specific functionalities tailored for mobile phone retail, such as installment payment options. However, akin to Shopify and BigCommerce, businesses cannot develop additional features beyond what Haravan offers in its repository.

Integration Capability Criteria

Integration with third-party utilities outside Haravan’s ecosystem can be challenging, representing a significant limitation of service-type platforms. However, it does support integration with widely used services in Vietnam, including various payment methods (Momo, VNPay, ZaloPay, etc.), shipping services (Giao Hàng Nhanh, Viettel Post, DHL), and management tools (CRMViet, Teamcrop).

Scalability Criteria

Haravan’s scalability is limited; it supports multilingual and multi-currency features but lacks the capability to expand to multiple websites or efficiently manage extensive data on the platform.

Usage Cost Criteria

To use Haravan, businesses need to pay a reasonable monthly fee ranging from 200,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND, depending on business needs:

• Standard: 200,000 VND/month for individual sellers
• Pro: 600,000 VND/month for businesses wanting to implement Omnichannel
• Grow: 1,500,000 VND/month with the advantage of automating customer care and re-engagement programs
• Scale: 3,000,000 VND/month to build a loyal customer base.

→ Overall Rating based on 5 criteria: 3/5

Haravan is a suitable platform for businesses in Vietnam with limited technology experience and budget constraints. However, as businesses grow, Haravan may not provide sufficient functionality to sustain operations. Eventually, transitioning to more specialized platforms like Magento, WooCommerce, or OpenCart becomes necessary, albeit with challenges such as costs, time, and human resources.

Magento

Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform with deep expertise in online commerce. It currently offers two versions: Open Source (free) and Commerce (paid). Recognized as one of the most comprehensive eCommerce platforms, Magento boasts diverse features, high flexibility, scalability, a diverse ecosystem, and optimal security.

User Interface Criteria

Unlike other platforms, Magento doesn’t have an extensive theme repository. However, each theme is meticulously designed, unique, adheres to UX/UI standards, and emphasizes high aesthetics to convey brand and product values, attracting customers to the system.

Businesses can save costs and time by using available themes, while also having the option to customize for brand identity. Additionally, businesses can fully design their interface, enhancing brand recognition, though this requires careful investment in design time and costs.

For the admin interface, Magento 1 was criticized for being challenging to use. However, Magento 2 introduced a more intuitive dashboard, making navigation easier, user-friendly, and adaptable.

Functionality System Criteria

Magento’s eCommerce platform has a diverse and deep feature system, catering from basic to advanced and specific functions. This allows mobile phone retail businesses to easily and rapidly build and develop their system in the short and long term. Basic functions include Category Management, Content Management, Customer Management, Marketing Management, Order Management, Store Management, System Management, Cart and Checkout, and Reporting & Analysis.

Specialized features include support for multiple languages, currencies, stores, Progressive Web Applications (PWA), Multi-Source Inventory (MSI), ElasticSearch, etc., enhancing the customer experience and accelerating the shopping process.

Integration Capability Criteria

Magento excels in easy integration with third-party software for payments (credit cards, e-wallets, payment gateways, cash on delivery), shipping (Fedex, DHL, local carriers), management software (POS, CRM, ERP), and marketing tools (email marketing, advertising).

Scalability Criteria

Magento ensures stable system operation even with increasing traffic over time or sudden spikes in business campaigns. It can handle up to 500,000 products and thousands of transactions within an hour. Magento supports the expansion of multiple websites for various countries, all manageable on one screen, allowing businesses to access and manage data for multiple websites/stores simultaneously.

Usage Cost Criteria

One significant limitation for mobile phone retailers opting for Magento is the high initial development cost. A fully functional Magento system development is estimated to range from $10,000 to $100,000. Beyond complex and advanced features, the need for an experienced professional team contributes to the higher implementation costs compared to other platforms.

→ Overall Rating based on 5 criteria:  4/5

Magento is a comprehensive platform suitable for mobile phone retail businesses, whether B2B, B2C, or D2C, especially those with an existing customer base and a desire to develop a long-term eCommerce system. With Magento, businesses can continuously develop components of the eCommerce system, ensuring optimal performance and sustainable growth.

Choosing the right platform for eCommerce is crucial for mobile phone retailers. An accurate choice helps businesses shorten development time, save costs, and maximize resources to achieve the highest revenue levels. SECOMM understands the challenges facing mobile phone retail businesses and provides expert advice. 

Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation!

The retail market for mobile phones in Vietnam is booming like never before! With 61 million users, Vietnam is currently among the top 10 markets with the highest mobile phone usage in Asia. Furthermore, this market is predicted to grow in 2022 by 47.5% (according to Trendforce).

Taking advantage of this opportunity, many retail businesses in Vietnam have achieved tremendous success and continuously expanded their scale, such as The Gioi Di Dong, FPT Shop, Viettel Store, etc.

To contribute to this success, one cannot ignore e-commerce. Online sales channels such as websites, mobile apps, and e-commerce platforms play an increasingly important role for retail businesses in the mobile phone industry, especially post-pandemic.

According to Debasish Jana, an expert from the market research company Counterpoint Research, online sales of mobile phones have increased compared to the same period last year, accounting for 14% of the total market share. Not stopping there, the growth rate of online mobile phone retail is projected to increase even further shortly, reaching 29% by 2025 (according to Google, Temasek, Bain & Company).

E-commerce helps retail businesses develop their business models and contributes to revenue growth for enterprises.

The Gioi Di Dong

The Gioi Di Dong is a brand under the company The Gioi Di Dong Joint Stock Company, established in 2004. According to Euromonitor International, The Gioi Di Dong is the largest online retail company in Vietnam, holding a 10% market share. It is also the leading retail chain for mobile devices in Vietnam, with approximately 1,000 stores present in all 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

Currently, this retail business is heavily investing in online sales systems such as websites and apps.

• Website: https://www.thegioididong.com/  
• Website Traffic: 30.20M/mn

CellphoneS

CellphoneS is a retail system for well-known technology products in Vietnam. Currently, the business has a presence in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Binh Duong, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen, and Vung Tau.

• Website: https://cellphones.com.vn/
• Website Traffic: 9.08M/mn

FPT Shop

FPT Shop is under the ownership of FPT Corporation Vietnam, established in 2012. It is an officially authorized dealer of Apple in Vietnam at the highest level, specializing in providing genuine electronic products. Currently, the retail chain system spans across the country with stores in all 63 provinces and cities.

• Website: https://www.fptshop.com.vn
• Website Traffic: 5.933M/mn

Hoang Ha Mobile

Hoang Ha Mobile is a retail system specializing in providing genuine technology products and well-known mobile phones in Vietnam, established in 2014. Currently, the business has over 90 branches spanning from the North to the South.

• Website: https://www.hoanghamobile.com
• Website Traffic: 4.818M/mn

Di Dong Viet

The Mobile Technology Company Limited operates the Didongviet.vn retail chain, established in 2009 as a reputable system specializing in genuine technology products, notably mobile phones, tablets, laptops, accessories, and components.

• Website: https://www.didongviet.vn
• Website Traffic: 1.787M/mn

Viettel Store

Viettel Store was launched in 2009 with thousands of continuously updated products to meet the online shopping needs of customers nationwide. With over 200 stores, Viettel Store’s retail system provides a wide range of high-tech devices and products, including mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and medical equipment.

• Website: https://www.viettelstore.vn
• Website Traffic: 1.673M/mn

Sony Store

Sony is one of the most globally renowned brands in consumer electronics, thanks to its revolutionary innovations and product quality. After 21 years in Vietnam, Sony has established a retail system consisting of 11 Sony Shops and Sony Centers, over 160 official dealers, and 70 authorized service stations spread across the country.

• Website: https://www. store.sony.com.vn/
• Website Traffic: 1.649M/mn

Phong Vu

Phong Vũ is known as a long-established and reputable retail unit in Vietnam since 2007, with over 30 stores nationwide. Specializing in the business of information technology products, gaming and entertainment devices, office equipment, and high-tech devices from various major brands.

• Website: https://www.phongvu.vn
• Website Traffic: 1.479M/mn

Mobile City

Mobile City is one of the popular retailers of smartphones, tablets, and technology accessories in Vietnam, with over 10 years of experience.

• Website: https://mobilecity.vn/
• Website Traffic: 1.216M/mn

Clickbuy

Clickbuy is a retail system offering well-known technology products in Vietnam, established in 2012. Currently, Clickbuy has expanded to include 5 stores and 2 modern service centers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

• Website: https://clickbuy.com.vn/
• Website Traffic: 1.190M/mn

Developing E-commerce Solutions for the Mobile Phone Retail Industry

Online business in the mobile phone industry presents numerous growth opportunities. However, to succeed, businesses need a partner with extensive experience in the e-commerce landscape.

With a successful track record in implementing complex e-commerce systems, SECOMM understands the challenges that businesses face.

Contact us now for a free consultation on comprehensive e-commerce system development solutions!

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted shopping trends from traditional stores to online channels. Due to the pandemic, the demand for electronic products such as phones, laptops, and tablets has increased. This has helped mobile phone retail businesses achieve high revenue growth and profitability. 

The “leap” into e-commerce has opened up many opportunities for businesses to develop – opportunities to provide a fast and seamless shopping experience for customers, expand sales channels, increase revenue, and establish brand identity.

In this context, owning an e-commerce website is almost a prerequisite for starting a successful online business. An e-commerce website can support businesses in several ways:

• Maximize Revenue: Businesses can add sales channels to expand their business model, increase profits, and avoid limitations on time and space compared to traditional in-store sales.
• Cost Savings: It saves costs related to renting physical space and human resources, and especially reduces dependence on e-commerce platforms.
• Data Collection: Businesses can rely on customer journeys on the system to collect data, then analyze and leverage it to personalize the user experience.
• Enhance Competitive Ability: Utilizing and exploiting the strengths of an e-commerce website with a visually appealing and unique interface will make it easier for businesses to position their brand and attract customers.
• Brand Promotion: It increases trust, professionalism, and accessibility to potential customers.
• These factors highlight the importance of having an e-commerce website for businesses looking to thrive in the evolving market landscape influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related article: Top 10 retail websites for mobile phones in Vietnam

Though the benefits are plentiful, how can one design a comprehensive e-commerce website for a business professionally and effectively? 

Below is the journey to build a comprehensive e-commerce website for a mobile phone retail business with two main stages: (1) building the basic e-commerce website and (2) transitioning to building an in-depth e-commerce website.

Phase 1: Building the Basic Mobile Phone E-commerce Website

Define Objectives

The first step in constructing an e-commerce website is for the business to determine elements such as objectives, budget, and time for project development.

• Regarding Objectives: Businesses need to review and cross-reference all goals in the E-commerce Business Plan with the overall Business Plan to ensure the correct and effective implementation of E-commerce, assisting in organizing and prioritizing specific objectives in each development stage.
• Long-term objectives play a guiding role, providing a general framework for e-commerce and overall business development. These may include sustainable brand awareness, the brand’s market value, total revenue, etc.
• Short-term objectives help shape strategies with specific tasks and detailed outcomes corresponding to certain timeframes. These may include brand building, increased e-commerce revenue, enhanced competitive capabilities, product quality/diversity, service quality, etc.
• Regarding Timeframes: To ensure the correct execution of objectives, specific time milestones need to be planned with appropriate prioritization in each stage of the e-commerce journey. Once an overall development timeline is established, it becomes easier to determine the payback period and allocate the budget more effectively.
• Regarding Budget: Businesses can prioritize the implementation of essential components of the e-commerce system when the budget is limited, and later expand in subsequent stages. However, if there are sufficient financial resources, businesses can deploy a comprehensive business plan across departments and stages to enhance performance and achieve sustainable development.

After completing the “ideation” for the e-commerce website, businesses can kickstart the project by purchasing suitable hosting and domain names aligned with the products or services the business intends to offer.

Choosing an E-commerce Platform

Once the specific business strategy has been identified, the business needs to carefully consider choosing a platform for building the e-commerce website. Currently, the two most popular types of e-commerce platforms are Software as a Service (SaaS) and open-source platforms.

For SaaS Platforms

With SaaS platforms, businesses can choose from various pre-designed templates and features to build a website through simple drag-and-drop operations, requiring minimal investment in terms of time and development costs. However, with SaaS platforms, businesses do not own the source code and data; they can only utilize the available features of the platform. The flexibility and scalability of the system are limited, and usage costs may increase over time. Some popular SaaS platforms in Vietnam include Haravan, Shopify, Sapo, etc.

For Open-Source Platforms

With open-source platforms, businesses have complete freedom to design the interface according to their requirements. These platforms offer high flexibility and can be customized extensively. Open-source platforms provide a full range of features and additional utilities, supporting sustainable development. Businesses own all the source code and data. However, businesses will need a skilled in-house team or experienced development partners to accompany them, investing time and money in development. Some popular open-source platforms include Magento, WooCommerce, OpenCart, etc.

Interface Design

Businesses can initiate the interface design for the website on the selected platform by using existing templates or themes available on the system. Alternatively, they can customize and design a unique interface that aligns with the brand image and specific preferences of the mobile phone retail industry.

Developing Basic E-commerce System Features

At this stage, the business collaborates with an in-house IT team or a deployment unit to establish fundamental eCommerce features, ensuring smooth sales processes on the system. On both SaaS and open-source platforms mentioned earlier, businesses can choose suitable functions and integrate them into the website. Some common basic features include:

• Category Management: Control over product data, functions, attributes, prices, inventory, images, and videos (brand, price, phone type, performance, memory, special features, design, screen, size, etc.).
• Content Management: Develop and optimize content for CMS pages (origin, brand, product reviews, usage guides in video form, and success stories relevant to business development needs). Store images, customize themes, and design the website.
• Sales Management: Control and operate sales processes, orders, barcode-based payments, and brand-based sales (iPhone, Samsung, etc.). Integration with customer management to ensure warranty times align with customer purchases. Set up payment methods (COD, card payments, e-wallets, payment gateways), and shipping methods.
• Marketing Management: Deploy and manage various marketing programs and campaigns based on seasons and events (Tet, Black Friday, Christmas, Flash Sales, etc.), especially during product launches by major companies like Samsung, Apple, and Oppo.
• Customer Management: Manage and collect customer information for personalized user experiences, post-purchase customer care, or collaborate with marketing campaigns to attract returning or potential customers.
• Inventory Management: Proactively control the number of available phones in stock (grouped by type, brand, product code, and country of origin).
• Reporting & Analysis: Exploit data and measure performance using tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixels, and Google Tag Manager.
• System Management: Maintain a secure and stable eCommerce system. Grant administrator permissions to manage and review the best security practices. Additionally, the platform may offer tools for regular management and maintenance to support stable system operations.

Fulfilling Legal Procedures with the Ministry of Industry and Trade

A mandatory criterion for the official operation of a business’s eCommerce website is the completion of legal documents following regulations. According to Decree 52/2013/ND-CP by the Government, individuals or organizations owning eCommerce websites for selling goods are required to notify or register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the eCommerce Management Portal.

Businesses can either complete the registration process themselves or enlist the services of law firms that provide related services.

Phase 2: Developing a Comprehensive eCommerce System

Typically, a basic website may only support a business in its initial stages and face challenges as the business model evolves. Businesses gradually realize the need to develop a more specialized eCommerce system to enhance service quality and improve the overall experience for both customers and the business itself. The development of a sophisticated system requires businesses to be more prepared in terms of time and costs compared to the initial phase.

Redefining Objectives

Similar to developing a basic eCommerce system, the first step in developing a sophisticated e-commerce website is for the business to redefine its objectives, costs, and timelines for the project. It is crucial to explore specific features and advancements within the industry. This allows the business to plan a detailed and accurate development strategy that aligns with its business model.

Choosing a Platform for Transformation

To develop a deep eCommerce system, businesses should opt for open-source platforms such as Magento, WooCommerce, OpenCart, etc. Open-source platforms can best meet the expanding system needs and sustain development alongside the business. However, besides the drawbacks of high development costs and an extended construction period, businesses also need an experienced IT team to effectively utilize these platforms.

Criteria for Platform Selection at This Stage:

• User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Development

Allows the development of a standardised user interface that reflects the brand’s characteristics and showcases product images clearly and cohesively.

Enhances brand identity and differentiation.

The admin interface should be user-friendly, facilitating easy navigation, control, and management of the entire system’s data.

• Basic and Advanced Features

The system should support basic functions and be flexible enough to accommodate the development or integration of advanced and specific features.

This flexibility ensures stable business operations in the long term and the ability to adapt to evolving business models.

Seamless integration with other software without compromising the performance of individual systems.

• Scalability

High scalability to adapt and grow alongside the business, catering to various business models.

Cost-effective long-term budgeting while constructing a sustainable and efficient system suitable for the business.

The ability to expand, whether it’s adding multiple websites, operating in multiple countries, dealing with various currencies, or managing multiple channels.

• Extensibility

Ensures the system can efficiently meet the evolving needs of the business.

Can extend to multiple websites, support internationalisation, handle diverse currencies, and manage various sales channels.

Ensures stable system operation regardless of increasing web traffic and transaction volumes over time.

Choosing Development Resources for eCommerce Website Development

To build a sophisticated eCommerce website, businesses can either establish an in-house team or collaborate with external development partners. In both cases, a skilled and experienced workforce with a professional work ethic is essential.

In-House Team:

• Provides control and flexibility in managing daily tasks, timelines, and data.
• Allows the business to have direct oversight of its data and a clear understanding of product values.
• Challenges include limited manpower depending on the company’s size, restricted ideation due to internal expertise, and potential development limitations.

External Development Partners:

• Collaboration with eCommerce system development experts facilitates a smooth platform transition.
• Businesses don’t need to worry about the intricacies of the transition process as external developers offer optimal support.
• However, there might be a trade-off between having 100% control over the development process and the limitation of collaboration.

Recommended Service Providers: Several service providers specialize in deploying advanced eCommerce systems. Some notable examples include SECOMM, SmartOSC, Co-Well Asia, Isobar, and Magenest.

Choosing between an in-house team and external partners depends on the business’s specific needs, resources, and preferences. Each option has its advantages and challenges, and businesses must carefully evaluate their circumstances before making a decision.

Improving the Interface

While transitioning to a new eCommerce platform, businesses have the flexibility to retain their current website interface or redesign it for an enhanced user experience and improved brand positioning. Redesigning involves adjusting existing themes to save time and budget. However, some businesses opt for a custom redesign to meticulously tailor the interface to their specific needs, which may require a higher investment in terms of time and budget.

Platform Migration

Platform migration is a crucial step in building a deep eCommerce website. Automation is typically used to minimize errors during the transition. Businesses need a comprehensive plan encompassing features, data, and scenarios to ensure a smooth and effective transition. The process begins with data extraction from the old system and recording it into the new system.

Post-migration, thorough testing is essential to verify that all components and data have been accurately and adequately transferred according to the plan.

Developing Advanced and Specialized Features

When constructing a deep eCommerce website, businesses must introduce advanced and specialized features to support business model expansion, enhance competitiveness, adapt to market changes, increase revenue, and improve the shopping experience. Some advanced features for eCommerce and mobile retail may include Buy Now Pay Later, Flash Sales, and advanced product search functionalities.

Continuous learning and staying informed about necessary features are crucial for system development. This can be achieved through online applications, an in-house development team, or external development experts. After outlining the development plan, collaboration with design experts to create a system model is essential. The subsequent step involves programming features based on the approved plan. Before deployment, thorough testing, based on the requirements specification document, is conducted to update test scenarios and log errors using error management tools.

Operation, Maintenance, and Development of eCommerce Websites

After developing an eCommerce website, regular maintenance, care, and updates are necessary to ensure continuous online business operation, seamless system operation from online to offline, and optimal user satisfaction. Ongoing research is vital to optimize and develop the website to create a satisfying and comfortable shopping experience.

In summary, a comprehensive eCommerce website is crucial for the current and future success of mobile phone retail businesses. Building such a website involves a meticulous process, and each step is critical. Businesses can contact SECOMM for free consultations on comprehensive eCommerce website solutions tailored to mobile phone retail businesses.

Consumer demand for beauty and health care is rising as the quality of life gradually improves. The fact that so many individuals are involved in commerce has also contributed to the cosmetics industry’s reputation as one of the most important sectors in the modern economy.

Additionally, the rapid growth of eCommerce following the pandemic is gradually emerging as a successful business strategy and a crucial step in the digital transformation of every industry, including the cosmetics industry.

The market size for cosmetics sold online is estimated by CommonThread to be $483 billion in 2020 and expand to $511 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.75%. The market size is anticipated to surpass 716 billion USD by 2025 and reach 784.6 billion USD by 2027.

How do cosmetics firms benefit from eCommerce?

Keep up rapidly with the market shift

In the past pandemic years, the global economy has witnessed a sudden decline in sales in many industries, including the cosmetics industry.

People are compelled to reduce their social interactions while social distancing mechanisms are in effect.

At this time, people’s psychology will be more concerned with keeping an eye on and caring for themselves. Due to the unpredictable changes of the pandemic, there has been a sharp rise in the need for skincare, hair care, and body care products to enhance spiritual life.

Due to restrictions on leaving the house, online shopping at the time had become not only a need but also an urgent method of purchasing in place of in-person purchases. That serves as a springboard for eCommerce to take off and spur significant growth in other industries like fashion, grocery, wine, and even cosmetics.

These two elements highlight the enormous potential of this “cake,” assisting several cosmetic companies in realizing and swiftly implementing eCommerce for both sustainable development and market revolution.

Scale up the business

Using eCommerce as a solution will allow the cosmetics industry to shift from offline to online (O2O) business models rather than allowing their businesses to “get lost” in the crisis of the global pandemic.

Additionally, if businesses still do not have a competent eCommerce website to introduce and sell products to customers who love to shop online ​​in the age of digital transformation, they will quickly lose many potential customers to rivals.

This is especially true for a highly competitive industry like cosmetics, but several firms, including Hasaki, LixiBox, Watsons, Guardian, etc., have embraced the trend early and are now the market leaders in cosmetic eCommerce.

Furthermore, early eCommerce development will also provide benefits that will make marketing efforts more successful, broadening the economic opportunities for businesses.

Enhance customer’s shopping experience

​​Businesses must consider customers’ purchasing experiences when launching eCommerce websites, and not just for the cosmetic industry.

Thanks to the use of contemporary technologies, which are quite popular in the cosmetics industry, the purchasing procedure will be swift, and effective, and bring customers satisfaction when they choose to buy cosmetics online.

For example, a 360-degree intuitive vision, virtual reality (VR), or augmented reality (AR) technology (AR).

eCommerce enables businesses to quickly and effortlessly tailor the experience for customers by gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing the consumption behavior of each target group. Typically, this is done with the capabilities listed below: Products have seen, similar product recommendations, etc.
eCommerce provides clients with a seamless experience in addition to an intuitive one across a variety of channels, including social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Zalo, etc.), eCommerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, etc.), eCommerce websites, mobile apps, etc.

Best cosmetics eCommerce sites that really stand out

Kylie Cosmetics

One of the most successful cosmetic brands that has a significant global media impact is Kylie Cosmetics. When it comes to Kylie Cosmetics, it’s tough not to give Kylie Jenner credit.

She’s the youngest female millionaire in the US and has been hailed as a business genius by prominent publications like Forbes due to her success in the saturated cosmetics industry.

​​When Kylie Cosmetics was founded in 2015, it generated an astonishing $ 420 million in revenue in its first 18 months. It is predicted that by 2022, net sales will have reached $ 1 billion.

The sensible business strategy, in addition to the founder’s reputation, focuses on utilizing the “gold mine” of eCommerce and launching social media marketing campaigns, which are the factors that contribute to that respectable revenue block.

As a result, the company used Shopify, a platform that specializes in creating websites for the top online retailers in North America, to develop its eCommerce website.

With pink and white as its primary colors, the website’s design is incredibly clean and uncomplicated. The layout of the website centers on showcasing the company’s products.

Also, this is a part of Kylie Cosmetics’ business strategy, which includes releasing collections of cosmetic products like lipsticks, eyeshadow, and eyebrow pencils with limited design and manufacturing to appeal to customers’ FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

It is not surprising that Kylie’s new collections or cosmetics Cosmetics are continually “sold out” every time it is published because this is thought to be a very intelligent strategy of Kylie Cosmetics, completely different from other well-known cosmetic firms.

The business also utilizes social media platforms that are hugely popular in the US, like Instagram, Youtube, and Snapchat, to create content to market brands and products and engage with a huge audience across three platforms before driving traffic to the eCommerce website and generating conversions.

The company’s inventiveness and innovation are also on display in offline events that draw customers to free product samples. Here, the company wins over even customers who have reservations about the product’s quality, which greatly increases sales.

Since Kylie Cosmetics established its first traditional cosmetic retail store in 2018, customers may now purchase cosmetics from this cult brand at Ulta Beauty locations around the US.

Indeed, Kylie Cosmetics started off quite shrewdly and went on to tremendous success by keeping up with market changes by building an online business model at first, that is, selling through an eCommerce website and relying primarily on social media for promotion.

Guardian

Since entering the Vietnamese market in 2011, Guardian has grown to be a very well-known and recognizable brand among consumers of cosmetics. This brand is a part of the Dairy Farm Group, a company that manufactures and distributes health and beauty products in Asia.

Since its start, Guardian has made ongoing improvements to encourage millions of followers to lead healthy lifestyles and offer a trustworthy, high-quality purchasing experience at the finest rates and services.

With a system of more than 100 outlets “encompassing everywhere,” this retail chain is delighted to be a place to shop for cosmetics “for everyone” who can “purchase everything” and simply select appropriate items.

A clever business strategy and significant investment in successful marketing efforts are the only explanations needed to understand Guardian’s success.

When first entering the Vietnamese market, Guardian specifically pushed to quickly expand its business chain, focusing on cities with high purchasing power, with 80% of stores located in Ho Chi Minh City, the rest in Hanoi and some other major cities such as Da Nang, Can Tho, Bien Hoa, and Vung Tau.

Because at the time, online channels were not really well-known and powerful enough for this business to keep an eye on.

As a result, the company successfully raises the level of brand recognition with extensive coverage from the Guardian orange white wave, taking into account the characteristics of the cosmetics and beauty care industry, which require customers to have a direct point of contact, learn from, and test.
By 2019, the company began its journey toward digital transformation by combining offline and online (O2O) business models in parallel, and simultaneously, deploying Omnichannel.

It is even more critical for Guardian to immediately implement potential sales channels like marketplaces, applications, fast delivery services like GrabMart, and eCommerce website operate side by side with a chain of 105 retail outlets in strategic locations due to the pandemic’s dual effects, which include changing market trends and altering consumer buying habits.

The orange and white colors and quick page loads make the Guardian website’s design stunning. Additionally, Guardian offers enticing incentives in the shipping policy, such as free fast delivery within 4 hours with orders from 349,000 VND, to encourage online shoppers.

The company’s unique product catalog, which is prominently shown on Guardian’s eCommerce website and features items like shampoos, shower gels, and hand sanitizers, is another standout.

The foundation for helping Guardian dominate the cosmetic retail market and leave a lasting impact on customers is a deliberate investment in developing a multi-channel ecosystem.

Hasaki

​​Modernity and growth come with invisible pressures that have an impact on everyone’s life as people struggle to keep up with the “standards” of the times.

However, that does not result in a drop in the demand for beauty and self-care, on the contrary, it is always rising, with a diversity of sufficient options to match customer expectations.

Vietnamese women are among the most beautiful in Asia, but, due to the responsibilities of work pressure and family, they occasionally neglect to care for and love themselves.

Because of this, Hasaki Beauty & Clinic was established with the desire to become a reliable beauty and spiritual care destination for Vietnamese women.

The Hasaki store system, which was introduced in 2016 and now has 76 locations across 29 Vietnamese provinces and cities, has steadily established itself as one of the top retail chains for real cosmetics. Hasaki is dedicated to offering real cosmetics at discounted pricing, living up to its motto of “True Quality – True Value”.

Along with system expansion, Hasaki also works on creating an eCommerce website with features appropriate for the cosmetics industry and always enhancing and upgrading the system to provide customers with the greatest online shopping experience.

The Magento platform was used to build the website, and the interface is attractive with green serving as the primary color tone for the entire eCommerce website and app system. Customers can check current promotions and conveniently look up order details when accessing the Hasaki website.

Additionally, the “handbook” section at Hasaki has a wealth of knowledge on cosmetics and skin care tips that each customer may learn and arm themselves with before making a purchase decision. Since then, the process of beauty restoration is safe and effective.

Similar to Guardian, Hasaki encourages people to order online with NowFree 2h and take advantage of free shipping rules.

As a result, Hasaki will provide free delivery to customers within two hours of receiving orders of 90,000 VND in 29 provinces and cities where the company has locations, including on Saturday and Sunday. Customers will benefit from free national shipping on orders that are at least 249,000 VND.

Therefore, Hasaki has sparked a “green craze” among many beauty fans and is now gradually competing with the country’s top cosmetics brands thanks to its quick recognition of market trends and broad perspective with an efficient marketing mix strategy.

It is clear that the growth of the furniture market has been hastened by the speed at which eCommerce is developing.

Today, numerous local and international cosmetics companies participate in and offer the greatest shopping experiences to customers through the effective implementation of an eCommerce website, including Kylie Cosmetics (USA), Guardian, and Hasaki (Vietnam).

From there, companies may quickly connect with a wider pool of Internet users and generate conversions through efficient marketing strategies.

However, business leaders need to carefully and comprehensively take into account the growing customer expectations and rapidly shifting market trends, not to mention specifically describe a systematic and precise business strategy for taking the most advantageous actions in the short and long term.

Completing that difficult task will take a lot of time and resources. As a result, many cosmetics companies opt for a more straightforward approach to the issue, enlisting the assistance of a highly qualified and dependable unit.

SECOMM has many years of expertise in effectively executing eCommerce for numerous customers in various countries. We specialize in offering free consultation services with qualified eCommerce implementation solutions.

Contact us right away for free counsel and assistance.

The vast and competitive eCommerce sector is witnessing the constant entry of all-sized businesses, making it challenging for many “nascent” companies to prosper in a billion-dollar market that is seen as the domain of technology giants.

Therefore, creating a professional eCommerce website is a crucial objective for new enterprises looking to take the first steps firmly, quickly dominate the market, and follow the success of the big guys.

As a result, Magento is one of the best options to consider when establishing an eCommerce website to ensure that the process is carried out successfully. It can be difficult to find a partner with strong IT skills and Magento platform development experience.

The list below details the top 5 leading Magento development companies in Vietnam that businesses can refer to make the best choice.

Kyanon Digital

One of the leading consulting companies providing solutions to develop eCommerce websites with the Magento platform and Omnichannel (Omnichannel) is Kyanon Digital. through many years of operation steadily established itself as a trustworthy technology partner of many major retail groups in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to its team of qualified experts.

Magenest JSC

Magenest is a longtime technology solutions partner based in Vietnam and a leading partner of Adobe Magento, Odoo ERP, Salesforce, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform.

The company specializes in providing comprehensive hosting services and eCommerce implementation and providing package solutions in line with market trends to promote the business activities of partner businesses.

Magenest strives to support brands in achieving their goals of developing eCommerce websites with Magento. Magenest has a solid technical and consulting experience from over 30 certified consultants and developers.

BSS Commerce

BSS Commerce is an Adobe Solution Partner that provides proper Magento-related eCommerce solutions to businesses throughout the world.

The business has serviced more than 22,000 customers worldwide since its foundation in 2012, accomplished more than 500 projects, and earned the greatest level of customer satisfaction.

SECOMM

​​SECOMM is another well-known eCommerce website developer in Vietnam that is well-regarded by customers for the excellence of its work and service.

This business specializes in eCommerce consulting and offers a wide range of services, including site development, maintenance, and upgrades on platforms including Magento.

Since its establishment in 2014, SECOMM has worked with major local and foreign clients like LayByLand, Trentham Estate, An Nam Group, and others to implement eCommerce websites on the Magento platform effectively.

By simplifying all eCommerce activities, SECOMM is confident to be a reliable companion in the comprehensive digital transformation journey of businesses in Vietnam and globally.

AgileTech

AgileTech is a top software outsourcing company in Vietnam that has a team of experienced Magento developers who specialise in creating and maintaining high-performance E-Commerce websites.

The company is constantly up-to-date on the latest Magento features and developments, and they use this knowledge to create websites that are scalable, secure, and user-friendly during their 8-year establishment. AgileTech is committed to providing clients with the best possible Magento development experience.

It is evident that eCommerce implementation offers businesses many advantages for entering and dominating the industry. The top 5 support firms for creating and developing eCommerce websites on the Magento platform that companies can rely on are listed above.

Exporting and trading internationally has become challenging due to the Covid-19 epidemic. In order to increase sales and find online customers, numerous companies in several industries, including the cosmetics industry, have used eCommerce.

Additionally, to support eCommerce activities and achieve the objective of growth and scalability, cosmetic retailers shift from traditional business practices to keep up with the general development trend of the global economy.

In Vietnam alone, a handful of cosmetic firms in Vietnam have demonstrated extraordinary flexibility and agility in reacting to market adjustments “despite” the complicated changes brought on by the global pandemic.

The following brands have gained the trust of and made a lasting impression on cosmetic customers by creating professional and insightful eCommerce websites.

Hasaki

Hasaki, a company founded in April 2016 to provide full health and beauty care for Vietnamese people, has developed secure and quick online shopping experiences with a choice of high-quality cosmetic items from many of the world’s leading brands in today’s market.

Hasaki’s eCommerce website was invested in and methodically developed from the start with the open-source platform – Magento – in order to deliver clients satisfaction in terms of comfort and efficiency when purchasing online.

More than 7 million visitors per month of traffic at a very high level demonstrate the wisdom of Hasaki’s eCommerce investment. This company’s expansion of its distribution network increased market penetration, and identification and diversification of the target customer were all made possible by sensible strategy.

• Website: https://hasaki.vn/
• eCommerce platform: Magento
• Traffic: 7.244m/month
• Ranking: 514 (Vietnam); 26,288 (Global)

The Gioi Skin Food

The Gioi Skin Food is another well-known eCommerce site with over 2 million monthly visitors that focuses on selling cosmetics. This business worked with Haravan to create an effective eCommerce website with an easy-to-use interface.

The Gioi Skin Food has up now employed eCommerce in addition to the conventional retail shop method, which has been incredibly successful. This would enable the business to catch up with the online-to-offline (O2O) trend and raise brand awareness and revenue.

• Website: https://thegioiskinfood.com/
• eCommerce platform: Haravan
• Traffic: 2.285M/month
• Ranking: 1,670 (Vietnam); 84,473 (Global)

Watsons Vietnam

The Watsons Group, Asia’s top retail organization for health and beauty products, owns the Watsons Vietnam brand. The company desires to provide Vietnamese customers with the finest shopping experience possible while also bringing them high-quality products that are appropriate for their needs.

Notably, Watsons adopted the O2O business model right away after entering the Vietnamese market. With the goal of dominating the market, Watsons Vietnam invests in developing an eCommerce website with SAP Commerce Cloud in addition to the store system dispersed throughout the neighbourhoods of Ho Chi Minh City.

Additionally, the user-friendly and aesthetically designed interface contributes to the website’s amazing monthly visitation of more than 1 million.

• Website: https://www.watsons.vn/
• eCommerce platform: SAP Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 1.267M/month
• Ranking: 2,715 (Vietnam); 129,769 (Global)

The Gioi Son Moi

The Gioi Son Moi is one of the places where people go to get lipstick that is well-known and reputable because of the guaranteed product quality and the courteousness of the staff. Every day, new products are added to the site, ensuring that there is always enough supply of well-known companies’ lipstick lines in the right hues at competitive rates.

The Gioi Son Moi also swiftly launched an eCommerce website to join the common playground of the cosmetic retail sector, in addition to two physical locations in HCMC that are constantly being renovated, extending the amount of shopping space. As a result, the website is built on the Haravan platform and has a straightforward interface that is nonetheless opulent and complex.

Also, the extremely high monthly traffic volume (more than 1 million) also demonstrates the company’s successful business strategy in the context of the market’s innovation trend.

• Website: https://thegioisonmoi.com/
• eCommerce platform: Haravan
• Traffic: 1.103M/month
• Ranking: 3,582 (Vietnam); 156,691 (Global)

Bo Shop

Beauty lovers in HCMC can’t help but be aware of Bo Shop, a company that provides a broad range of high-quality cosmetics, from skincare to makeup, at rates that are specifically stated to fulfil customers’ demands for all types of beauty care.

The company quickly creates an eCommerce website using WooCommerce to keep up with contemporary business trends in order to become the top cosmetic retail brand in Vietnam.

• Website: https://www.boshop.vn/
• eCommerce platform: WooCommerce
• Traffic: 1.020M/month
• Ranking: 5,030 (Vietnam); 234,462 (Global)

Guardian

For many years, Vietnamese consumers of cosmetics have been familiar with the name Guardian. This is a brand from the Dairy Farm Group that manufactures and distributes well-known health and beauty care goods all over Asia. In Vietnam, where Guardian first opened in 2011, the company now has more than 100 outlets.

In 2019, the business started its transformational path and parallel fusion of offline and internet business models. In order to create an omnichannel sales network (Omnichannel), Guardian focuses on building eCommerce websites with Shopify in addition to deploying potential sales channels like eCommerce platforms, apps, and fast delivery channels via GrabMart.

This gives customers more affordable, quick, and convenient home shopping options. After only a short period of time in operation, the Guardian website has attracted close to 1 million visitors each month.

Guardian has risen to the top of the industry and evolved into the biggest and most prominent retail chain for health and beauty products in existence today thanks to a significant investment in developing a multi-channel ecosystem.

• Website: https://www.guardian.com.vn/
• eCommerce platform: Shopify
• Traffic: 908,599/month
• Ranking: 4,037 (Vietnam); 188,419 (Global)

Lam Thao Cosmetics

Since Lam Thao Cosmetics’ formal opening in 2017, young people have come to love it as one of their favourite cosmetic shops. Lam Thao Cosmetics is continually upgrading its product line with the most affordable rates in an effort to give customers more options with the trendiest goods and improve their experience.

Along with offering high-quality goods, Lam Thao also runs an eCommerce site on the Haravan platform to enhance clients’ offline and online purchasing experiences. The success of eCommerce implementation has also helped Lam Thao Cosmetics reach a significant number of online prospects, boosting both sales and brand recognition.

• Website: https://lamthaocosmetics.vn/
• eCommerce platform: Haravan
• Traffic: 437,475/month
• Ranking: 8,423 (Vietnam); 392,219 (Global)

Nuty Cosmetics

For those who love cosmetics, Nuty Cosmetics is regarded as a cosmetics heaven. After operating and growing for more than ten years amid market ups and downs, the business is still a renowned source for real beauty products from well-known manufacturers in the US, Germany, France, Japan, and Korea.

The WooCommerce platform was used to create Nuty Cosmetics’ website, which has an easy-to-use interface and exceptional features that may satisfy clients when they shop online. Additionally, Nuty Cosmetics’ website offers thorough information about each product, along with clearly stated costs.

Because of this, despite the fact that there are only roughly 200,000 visitors per month on the site currently, Nuty Cosmetics has the potential to become a major player in the cosmetics industry with the correct efforts and attitude.

• Website: https://nuty.vn/
• eCommerce platform: WooCommerce
• Traffic: 229,347/month
• Ranking: 7,505 (Vietnam); 352,535 (Global)

AB Beauty World

In the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak that was raging in 2020, AB Beauty World (ABBW) was founded with the goal of being the top family-friendly cosmetics retailer in Vietnam. The brand has not given up despite the fact that this birth appears to have occurred at the wrong time.

In fact, AB Beauty World has grown and expanded with approximately 20 branches spread throughout the city’s districts in just two years since opening the first store in HCMC, concentrating on growing eCommerce, thanks to the timely redirection.

The WooCommerce-powered cosmetics website for AB Beauty World features an interface and capabilities tailored to the sector. The website has already seen more than 150,000 visitors in the short time since it launched, which is nonetheless viewed favourably for a newcomer to the fight for digital transformation.

• Website: https://abbeautyworld.com/
• eCommerce platform: WooCommerce
• Traffic: 157,602/month
• Ranking: 3,538 (Vietnam); 169,419 (Global)

Beauty Garden

Beauty Garden is one of the top retail and distribution brands for real cosmetics today. Since its establishment in 2014, the company has effectively extended its retail network to be present in numerous provinces and major and minor towns throughout the nation, including Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Dong Nai, and Can Tho.

In addition, Beauty Garden concentrates on developing eCommerce websites in the context of economic integration. As a result, the company’s website is expertly and systematically constructed using WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce development platform worldwide, and is ideal for the cosmetics business.

The eCommerce implementation of Beauty Garden is seen as a sensible move since the development potential of this area is extremely great and at that time, the company had many advantages to build a business model, even though the number of users is still modest with more than 100,000/month.

• Website: https://beautygarden.vn/ 
• eCommerce platform: WooCommerce
• Traffic: 127,439/month
• Ranking: 6,029 (Vietnam); 284,460 (Global)

All things considered, the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has impacted and altered consumer shopping behaviours for a variety of goods. Shopping for cosmetics, in particular, has seen a significant change from physical to online formats.

The information above is a summary and evaluation of SECOMM for 10 eCommerce sites with a good reputation and the capacity to meet customers’ demands when making a decision to purchase cosmetics.

These companies demonstrate their efforts to create the technological infrastructure needed to enhance the online shopping experience as well as their well-founded optimism regarding the market’s growth potential and dominance in Vietnam.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing e-commerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional e-commerce implementation solutions.

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is seen as an “obstacle” to the business activities of most businesses, eCommerce is emerging as an efficient way to enable Vietnamese furniture businesses to participate in the typical “playground” of global digital transformation.

At the same time, it is a pressing solution for furniture products to be consumed easily and accessible to many potential customers.

Therefore, the first wise step furniture brands have been hurrying to do in order to fast access the market is developing an eCommerce website. However, this difficult path calls for a significant investment of time and energy.

With years of expertise supporting several companies, SECOMM has developed a thorough process for developing a successful eCommerce website exclusively for the furniture sector.

Overview

A brief overview of the eCommerce market

The Covid-19 pandemic’s convoluted dynamics made travel challenging, which led to a necessity and urgency that resulted in the explosion of global eCommerce. At that point, internet buying and selling, which is more practical, takes the place of on-the-spot buying and selling.

Global eCommerce sales will rise from 15% in 2019 to 21% in 2021 and then continue to rise to 22% in 2022, according to Morgan Stanley. eCommerce will likely continue to have a large surplus. The market is established, and its growth rate might rise from its current level of 3.3 trillion USD to 5.6 trillion USD in 2026 as a result of significant company penetration in all industries worldwide.

In Vietnam alone, many service sectors had negative growth as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, although the eCommerce market continued to grow steadily. In particular, the sector for wholesale and retail fell by 0.21%, transportation and warehousing fell by 5.02%, and that for lodging and food services fell by 20.81% in comparison to 2020.

In contrast to that doom, eCommerce has consistently grown at a pace of 16%, with retail sales reaching $13.7 billion USD in 2021. Additionally, the proportion of eCommerce retail sales in all retail consumer goods and services nationally reached 7%, up 27% from the same period in 2020. (Vietnam eCommerce White Paper in 2022).

Because of this, even if the epidemic is now under control and customers are beginning to purchase again in stores, expectations about the potential and rapid growth of the post-Covid eCommerce business are well-founded. The furniture business will not be the only one promoted to extraordinary growth from that point on.

Significance of eCommerce in the Furniture industry

According to Forbes, furniture and building materials have experienced the biggest growth in eCommerce sales during the past two years of the epidemic, with a cumulative growth rate of more than 200% over the year prior to the pandemic, 2019. The category of furniture and home appliances likewise experienced a remarkable cumulative gain of more than 66% compared to the same time in 2019.

Recent findings made by Maddyness include the following intriguing details:

• The value of the worldwide furniture eCommerce market exceeds $200 billion.
• Online sales account for more than 90% of the growth of the furniture industry.
• According to estimates, 8 out of every 10 consumers who purchase furniture have made an internet purchase at least once.
• One in three consumers prefers to buy furniture online.
• 16% of sales of furniture and home goods are made online.
• Customers anticipate purchasing sofas online in 53% of cases and mattresses in 80% of cases.

Stage 1: Basic furniture eCommerce website development

Targeting

The very first thing that furniture businesses need to do is to determine their short-term and long-term goals and priorities before starting to develop an eCommerce website.

To accomplish the anticipated revenue increase in the short term, firms should place a priority on promoting marketing activities, tracking and analyzing customer behaviour, and assessing the efficacy of marketing initiatives. Furthermore, user experience is a crucial consideration that furniture companies must have in mind while advertising eCommerce.

Long-term objectives for firms could include raising brand awareness and coverage as well as evaluating the viability of individual items on online marketplaces. Effective marketing campaigns are also one of the long-term objectives that firms should take into consideration if they want to increase their online consumer base.

Businesses can take a lot of advice from specialized eCommerce implementation consulting units with a lot of experience in consulting a long-term roadmap to get the right list and priority of goals for both this period and beyond since they currently have little data to analyze and evaluate for the entire process.

Platform selection

There are currently two categories of platforms available on the market that enable the development of expert eCommerce websites and are highly well-liked, namely SaaS platforms and Open-source platforms. When used to create eCommerce for the furniture sector, these two types of platforms will each have the following advantages and disadvantages:

SaaS Platform

A service-based software application distribution mechanism for eCommerce commercial purposes is the simplest definition of a SaaS platform. To put it another way, the service provider develops and maintains software to aid in the creation of an eCommerce website, and the firm pays a set fee to use this service.

With SaaS platforms, the provider will own and manage the source code and data because the complete enterprise website system is hosted on the provider’s server. This means that the service provider will be in charge of handling and resolving technical issues that arise during the implementation of eCommerce by businesses.

Popular SaaS platforms are especially favored by businesses today, such as Haravan, Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.

Some of the advantages of the SaaS platform include:

• Fast eCommerce site deployment: Typically, it only takes a few minutes or days for businesses to possess an eCommerce site with all the features they need for the furniture sector at a fair initial building cost.
• Ease of use: The SaaS platform is built with user-friendliness in mind, making it possible for companies without IT advantages or technical expertise to swiftly develop and manage an eCommerce website.
• Good security: SaaS providers are in charge of the security aspect since they give and maintain the platform for building eCommerce websites. As a result, eCommerce companies in general, and furniture eCommerce companies in particular, won’t need to worry too much about PCI compliance, SSL, or the possibility of websites being hacked.
• Excellent customer service: Due to the supplier’s 24/7 assistance, businesses may easily contact them by email, hotline, or live chat if their eCommerce website experiences any issues during implementation.

The leading furniture enterprises in Vietnam using the SaaS platforms to build eCommerce websites include

• Noi That Hoa Phat: The Vietnamese furniture giant has implemented eCommerce with the BigCommerce platform to maintain its position in the market.
• Noi That Moho: A rooky of the furniture village uses the Haravan platform to build a website as the first step on the journey to conquer eCommerce.
• Noi That Cozy: The European furniture import and distribution tycoon has chosen Shopify as a companion to design a website to expand sales channels in the online environment.

However, there are still several drawbacks to the SaaS platform that should be taken into account:

• Expenses rise over time: Instead of paying once and owning the platform for a long time, businesses will have to pay for interfaces, applications, extensions, marketing, and SEO, among other fees, steadily and continuously. This is in addition to having to pay for the cost of using the platform month by month and year by year. Too many expenses are incurred each month, which makes it challenging to monitor cash flow.
• Can not own the source code and data: As mentioned earlier, the business will not own and control the source code and data of the website that this right belongs to the supplier. Therefore, when you want to switch platforms, businesses will not be able to keep and bring all the source code and data to the new platform because of the Lock-in feature of SaaS.
• Limited functionality and customization: Businesses employing SaaS platforms will have fewer options for functionalities and customization in accordance with the particular requirements of each eCommerce website. To enhance clients’ online shopping experiences, the website system must be modified to reflect the company model’s growth as well as industry and product features. SaaS’s constraint, however, makes it challenging to adapt to corporate demands.

Open-Source Platform

Open Source Platform is software with generally available source code that enables customers to obtain, upgrade, and modify additional features required for eCommerce company needs. Instead of being produced by a single corporation, open-source platforms are frequently created by a community of developers.

In addition, because it offers extensive customization options, this platform will be perfect for creating sophisticated eCommerce website systems tailored to a variety of industries, including the furniture industry.

This means that in order to efficiently administer the website and handle technological issues, firms either need to work with expert eCommerce website builders or develop a team of highly qualified internal workers.

In Vietnam, the most popular Open Source platforms to mention are Magento, OpenCart, WooCommerce (WordPress Plugin), etc.

The outstanding advantages of the Open-Source platform:

• Ownership of source code and data: Unlike a SaaS platform, the enterprise is the sole owner of the system’s source code and data. Businesses can thus bring all the data and reuse the existing source code when switching to a new platform. 
• Flexible customization: Companies using the Open Source platform can quickly alter or expand the functional system and create new features to keep up with the rapidly shifting market. From there, companies may quickly link with systems and services provided by other parties to help run eCommerce websites more effectively. Moreover, the Open Source platform’s flexible customization capabilities enable businesses to choose between three popular options for customizing the interface design of their eCommerce website: using an existing theme, customization based on an existing interface and designing its own interface tailored to the particular requirements of the industry.
• Numerous features and add-ons: The Open Source platform includes a wide range of advanced capabilities, like advanced search, product suggestions, abandon cart, etc., in addition to the fundamental functions that facilitate eCommerce implementation. Since the Open Source platform is so well-liked, there is a sizable global developer and expert community from which add-ons are explored and shared. These add-ons are more varied and better than the SaaS platform’s utilities.

The following well-known Vietnamese furniture companies are developing their online stores using the Open Source platform:

• Sieu Thi Noi That va Trang Tri Baya: A reputable furniture retailer that serves many Vietnamese families, has created a professional eCommerce website using the Magento platform for the purpose of immediately dominating the market.
• Noi That Nha Xinh: Manufacturer and supplier of Asian-style furniture products, using the WooCommerce platform for easy and effective eCommerce website deployment.

The disadvantages worth noting when implementing eCommerce with the Open Source platform:

• Long implementation period: In comparison to SaaS systems, an open-source platform typically takes 3 months to 1 year to create an eCommerce website, depending on the complexity of the functional system.
• High building expenses: Even though companies are free to utilize the platform, it costs quite a bit of money to own a complete eCommerce website with all of its features, usually between $10,000 and $50,000 per project.
• Not easy to use: Building an eCommerce system is more difficult than building on SaaS platforms since the system of open source eCommerce features is so diverse and is made to be fine-tuned for each business model. When IT is not a strong suit for a company, this presents a significant challenge, necessitating the assistance of a highly skilled unit.

Web interface design

Businesses should focus on making sure that the website interface conforms to UI/UX standards, clearly displays the brand’s distinctive characteristics and those of the furniture industry, and is synchronous in terms of product presentation and layout when designing the interface of an eCommerce website.

So, businesses can select one of the three methods listed below to create the website interface:

• Using the available interface: In comparison to the other two payment options, this is the most affordable way for businesses to pay for the interface. With pricing ranging from $300 to $500, both SaaS and Open Source platforms offer a selection of common UI/UX interfaces.
• Customizing based on the available interface: Like the previous method, businesses will use the current interface but will modify it to suit their brand’s requirements. As a result, companies cut expenses while also expressing their brand’s distinctive qualities in part.
• Using a self-designed interface: Companies can start thinking about designing their own website interface right immediately to develop a brand image that is unique and more creative than rivals. Even while this is more expensive for businesses than adopting an already-existing interface, the “tailor-made” design interface will match the industry-specific requirements and expectations of the company during the eCommerce deployment phase.

​​​​Firms should typically only use methods 1 or 2 at this point because the functional system is still in its early phases and easily found in the available interface.

Functional system development

In phase 1, businesses can prioritize the development of a system of basic functions needed for a complete furniture eCommerce website, specifically as follows:

• Catalog management: Manage and control categories, product functions, as well as prices and images/videos for each product to optimize the operation and achieve high efficiency when doing furniture eCommerce business.
• Sales management: Manage all order information, including order status and order fulfillment process, thereby helping businesses understand and analyze customers’ shopping behavior and set up and control payment and delivery processes efficiently.
• Marketing management: Integrating basic SEO optimization support features such as URLs, meta tags, internal links, etc., and deploying effective marketing campaigns to drive sales.
• Content management: Build and optimize content for CMS pages from text, images, pagination, blocks, banners, widgets, and templates to all kinds of branded content, blogs, etc.
• Customer management: Manage and control all customer information and customer groups to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, thereby providing a better shopping experience for customers.
• System management: Manage and decentralize administrators to control and operate, secure and maintain the eCommerce website system.
• Store management: Using tools to support inventory management at branches, stores, and different warehouses to ensure the continuous supply of goods for the whole system.
• Cart and checkout management: Manage and control customers’ shopping carts and payment information.
• Analysis and reporting: Support to analyze and measure the performance of the eCommerce website system, thereby offering the next effective business strategies in the future.

Legal procedures finalizing

The final step of building a basic eCommerce website is completing the necessary legal procedures for the website to be allowed to operate legally. Businesses can follow the simple registration steps as instructed at the eCommerce Management Portal.

This is a mandatory requirement of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for every individual or organization that owns an eCommerce website to sell goods and to perform the registration/notification obligation on time.

Stage 2: In-depth furniture eCommerce website development

Re-targeting

Along the journey of business development that comes with ever-changing consumer needs, business goals and strategies need to be adjusted and reconfigured to fit the current business landscape In addition, at this stage, businesses also have problems, data, and insights about their online users, so setting goals will be easy.

In the short term, companies can use efficient marketing techniques to locate and connect with a wider pool of new potential clients online and boost online sales.

In the long run, market sector expansion and building a loyal customer base might be objectives for furniture eCommerce firms. In the second step of the trip to create a successful eCommerce website, businesses will simply develop and implement marketing strategies in accordance with the product features and individual directions of each business by identifying the target market segment.

Businesses must prioritize thinking about the time and cost of investing in a furniture eCommerce website system in addition to short- and long-term objectives because at this stage, the cost and investment budget will frequently be substantial and much higher than the above basic building phase.

eCommerce platform switching

If a company decides to use the SaaS platform to create an internal eCommerce website in the first stage, it will not be able to satisfy the expectations for development and expansion in the second stage due to its restricted customization and capability. Businesses should now convert to an open-source platform with well-known names worth considering, such as Magento, WooCommerce, Ziel Commerce, etc., in order to create an advanced furniture eCommerce website.

Following are some criteria for furniture companies to take into account when selecting an Open Source platform:

• Support to design standard UI / UX website interface with beautiful and high-quality images and videos, showing the unique characteristics of the brand and the furniture eCommerce industry.
• Provide a functional system from basic to advanced in the furniture industry
• High levels of scalability and customization enable the creation of specialized features as well as the integration of several add-ons, third-party services, and administrative support that extends from a single website to numerous websites, multiple language support, multiple currencies, etc.
• High levels of security assist businesses in reducing the dangers from illegal access to the data system and, when necessary, aid in data recovery for the eCommerce website system.

Businesses should focus on the costs associated with switching from a SaaS platform to an Open Source platform, the time required for staff to adapt to the new platform, the risk of data loss, and any errors that may occur during the changeover.

Resources selection

Resource selection for the deployment of an advanced system must be made with considerable thought, in contrast to the basic system development phase. Businesses have the option of creating an internal team or hiring a professional website developer to assist them.

The business will hire and train skilled and specialized IT people on the selected platform for internal team building which requires a lot of time and money, but it will improve resource management and control and actively adapt the development of the eCommerce website system in line with the original objective.

Businesses frequently consult several eCommerce website developers before choosing the finest one for their collaboration. The needs of the businesses for an eCommerce website will thus be satisfied as anticipated, the collaboration process will go smoothly, and the businesses will gain more expertise and experience in website development from that partner, which will provide them with directions consistent with the development trend of the furniture eCommerce industry.

These are the criteria that businesses should consider when choosing: In-depth knowledge and experience in eCommerce and the furniture industry; professional working team; clear and detailed working process; ability to quickly handle problems that arise during website construction.

Web interface re-design

Businesses are not required to update the website interface while switching platforms. However, the redesign of the website interface to fit the Open Source platform is now turning out to be a beneficial piece of advice given the new company development plan introduced concurrently with the implementation of eCommerce websites at a more advanced level.

Similar to the preceding period, companies have three alternatives for designing the user interfaces of their eCommerce websites: they can use the existing interface, customize it based on the existing interface, or create their own interface. To ensure the distinctiveness of the brand and the particularity of the furniture eCommerce industry, businesses should typically use methods 2 or 3 to develop the interface at this stage.

Upgrade the system with advanced and industry-specific functions

Businesses should concentrate on establishing a system of advanced and specific features of the furniture eCommerce industry to suit the new development phase, in addition to the basic functions that have been established for the eCommerce website system in the early stages.

Businesses may better grasp the challenges of implementing intense furniture eCommerce and provide solutions to address those challenges and fulfil the market’s rising expectations thanks to advanced and distinctive functions.

As a result, companies use AR technology to improve the consumer experience. While augmented reality (AR) technology is built on virtual reality (VR) technology, it focuses on fusing the actual environment and digital data to give users the ability to view digital data in the physical world. The furniture eCommerce sector makes extensive use of this technology.

Customers now only need to download the company’s AR program, turn on the camera, and evaluate the product’s fit with the area of the house rather than physically going to the store to see the things and try them on to see whether they fit.

Customers’ buying experiences are improved and made more unique by augmented reality (AR) applications, which convert traditional marketing into interactive marketing. IKEA Place App, the furniture buying an app from “big man” IKEA, is a wonderful example because it offers clients a novel and engaging shopping experience.

Customers can use their smartphones to place and try out the more than 2,000 tables, chairs, sofas, shelves, and other household appliances in a real room, change the viewing angle, and zoom in and out. Also, the software will scale items to their true size with 98% accuracy.

The eCommerce website system maintenance

A sophisticated eCommerce website system demands a great deal of experience and effort to operate and maintain. This is the procedure of continuously maintaining, updating, and upgrading the entire system to aid firms in foreseeing and resolving problems (for example, sudden increase in traffic from the promotions that stimulate shopping).

That supports sustained and persistent online sales growth, which is important for eCommerce businesses in general and furniture eCommerce in particular as they compete for a market share of this “pie,” which is “delicious” but can be challenging to consume.

eCommerce acceleration

Furniture eCommerce enterprises readily accomplish growth above and beyond expectations by putting into practice efficient business and marketing strategies.

Therefore, the entire process—from planning through implementation—must be structured with effective, practical solutions that have been demonstrated to work. Implementing Omnichannel, eCommerce Marketing, and SEO optimization are some suggested methods for eCommerce enterprises to accelerate growth.

eCommerce business optimization

The journey of developing an eCommerce website ends with measuring, analyzing, and optimizing eCommerce business activities.

Businesses can use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, etc., to track, update and measure website performance metrics as well as the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

From there, the eCommerce business strategy for the next stage of development will be carefully and methodically planned thanks to clear and detailed reports & analysis.

Some special notes for furniture eCommerce website development

The journey of developing an eCommerce website for the furniture sector is divided into two phases with clear step-by-step instructions. Businesses will, however, be able to go in one of two strategies, each with its own advantages and drawbacks, depending on the platform they decide to use for the first phase.

Strategy no.1: Initially use an eCommerce SaaS platform before switching to an Open Source platform later on.

Pros

The quick deployment time of a SaaS platform is one of its benefits. In order to swiftly enter the market and create a simple website system, enterprises can pick SaaS at an early stage. Businesses will evaluate the furniture items’ suitability for the eCommerce market’s demands as well as their influence on upcoming consumer trends there.
The switch to an open-source platform will make it more reasonable to extend and develop a specialized website system in order to raise brand awareness and increase online sales over a period of time long enough for businesses to become accustomed to and adapt to the ever-changing market.

Businesses will save a lot of money by implementing eCommerce utilizing the SaaS platform early on as opposed to developing a website using the Open Source platform. Businesses can use that capital to invest in other activities, such as marketing strategy, which is one of the crucial components for the success of any company, not only furniture companies, because the initial cost of a SaaS platform is typically not too expensive.

The ability to conduct business while gaining knowledge and expertise in technology and how to efficiently implement eCommerce is another advantage of this approach to developing an eCommerce website. In general, running a business is challenging, and operating an eCommerce firm is even more challenging in today’s continuously shifting market and technologically complicated and varied trends.

As a result, acquiring knowledge and real-world experience is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for businesses to achieve extraordinary success. Because a SaaS platform is simple to use and doesn’t require a lot of technical knowledge, choosing one to deploy in the early stages can help businesses become comfortable with eCommerce terminology, concepts, and how to build a website at a basic level.

Due to the complex requirements of an extensive eCommerce website system, businesses will need support from a strong IT team during the second stage of switching to the Open Source platform. The collaborators and partners will then complement each other’s knowledge and experience at that point.

Cons

As was stated in the introduction to the platform, the fundamental functional system of SaaS platforms will not be sufficient to meet the needs of the eCommerce business at the growth and scalability stage.

Therefore, whether you like it or not at this moment, you must switch to the Open Source platform in order for the eCommerce system’s expansion and scalability goals to continue to be successfully implemented.

When adopting this approach for the process of developing and perfecting the website system, eCommerce firms in general, and furniture enterprises, in particular, should pay close attention to this first drawback.

Businesses will significantly reduce the initial cost of the working process by using this strategy. The initial benefit, though, later turns into a detriment in the long run. In addition to the ongoing platform usage fees that companies must pay for the SaaS platform, additional service costs are also significant enough to complicate and make cash flow management challenging to manage.

Because of the characteristic of the SaaS platform, customers are not permitted to keep the source code and data when switching platforms, thus enterprises must once again pay the initial development costs after the stage of moving to the Open Source platform. Additionally, the cost of development using an Open Source platform is rather costly, ranging between $30,000 and $50,000 on average.

Additionally, firms will “headache” from the sunk costs associated with switching platforms. The cost of staff training is seen as an additional expense rather than a true investment if you are accustomed to the new system, especially at a time when the economy is anticipated to rebound following COVID-19.

Furthermore, it is easy to make mistakes during the platform shift that result in the loss of crucial firm data, such as data that is closely tied to financial matters. With all the hazards mentioned, managing cash flow and maintaining balance is still a challenging issue that obviously affects furniture companies’ eCommerce business strategies.

Strategy no. 1 will be appropriate for startups or SMEs learning about eCommerce and entering the market safely based on the pros and disadvantages highlighted.

Strategy no.2: Implement an open-source eCommerce platform from the first phase on and use it throughout the second phase.

Pros

With the second strategy, companies develop eCommerce websites on the Open Source platform from the very beginning. Due to the smooth website development process, businesses merely need to gradually improve their functional systems in line with their growth and scale rather than switching platforms.

Long-term cost savings for enterprises are made possible by this seamlessness. In which, addition to saving money by avoiding the cost of starting over when switching platforms as a first strategy, firms also minimize the danger of data loss and spend less time and money training staff to use the brand-new platform.

The second approach, on the other hand, aids firms in laying a strong foundation right away with a professionally designed and smooth eCommerce website system and a team of essential technical personnel who are knowledgeable and well-trained from the start.

Cons

Similar to the first strategy, despite its notable benefits, the second one still has some drawbacks that companies should take into account before implementing furniture eCommerce. The market penetration will be slowed down if Open Source is chosen for the first phase of the deployment process.

All of the website’s features will be designed from the ground up because it will be built on an open-source platform. It takes the team a lot of effort, time, and brainpower to accomplish the entire process, which often takes between three months and a year.

Therefore, the lengthy implementation period is a drawback that slows down market entry, increasing the risk of falling behind in the competitive eCommerce race. Correspondingly, firms will have to pay a considerably larger upfront development fee than they would for a SaaS platform.

When companies must invest a significant sum of money in a platform upfront yet are unsure of its viability and effectiveness for adopting eCommerce, there is a risk involved.

From a business perspective, this drawback is viewed as an opportunity cost, meaning that while this strategy offers firms enormous long-term rewards, it also comes with trade-offs that present difficulties in the short term.

To meet growth and scalability objectives as well as avoid potential risks from switching platforms mentioned in advance, or to make the process of eCommerce implementation simple and efficient.

Therefore, it is incredibly appropriate to invest time and money in starting from scratch with Open Source.

The second approach can be appropriate for firms with a variety of business models, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, when the advantages and downsides are carefully thought.

​​With the high growth rate of Vietnam’s economy, eCommerce makes a significant contribution to promoting the flow of goods and services, supporting small and medium enterprises, especially those in the furniture sector, to seek effective business opportunities in the context of deep integration and the spread of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Moreover, a qualified eCommerce website serves as a “bridge” for furniture companies to achieve that integration objective. However, building a comprehensive, modern, and professional eCommerce website is never simple and necessitates a significant financial investment.

The journey to develop an eCommerce website is described above in great detail by SECOMM with a few extra tips that furniture businesses can refer to shorten your own planning.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries in recent years, SECOMM understands the difficulties and challenges in the process of implementing an interior eCommerce website.

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.

eCommerce is currently developing into a fresh and promising sales channel for furniture companies in addition to the traditional sales channel. Businesses must work hard to sustain and achieve breakthrough growth through eCommerce platforms, though.

As a result, numerous furniture companies started developing online furniture business websites and found surprising success, such Sieu Thi Noi That va Trang Tri Baya, Nha Xinh, Cozy, or Noi Phat Hoa Phat.

These websites’ success can be attributed to their early selection of an adequate and suitable eCommerce platform. Which platforms are appropriate for the furniture industry, then?

Main aspects of the eCommerce furniture industry

UI/UX standard furniture eCommerce website interface

​​The first criterion businesses set when developing an eCommerce website is a standard UI / UX interface, friendly to users who enjoy shopping for furniture online and other home goods to increase customer interaction.

Similar to eCommerce websites in other sectors like fashion, electronics, etc., websites in the furniture sector must feature stunning and high-quality photographs and videos.

This makes it simpler for companies to communicate product information to customers, especially with banner advertisements that have an easy-to-use interface and a pleasing style that will pique shoppers’ interests.

Businesses also need to consider other concerns including call-to-action button placement, cross-device compatibility, and layout designs that display a range of product designs from the navigation bar to page-by-page details.

Comprehensive functional system

Furniture firms need a functional system from basic to advanced to fully meet consumers’ buying expectations and maximize the user experience. This system should include:

• Catalog Management: Manage properties, pricing systems, inventory, photos, and videos to keep them running
• Content Management: Content development for CMS pages, image hosting, theme customization, and website design
• Customer Management: Control information, behavior, and consumption habits to build strategies for each specific customer group
• Sales Management: Set up and operate sales, order, payment, and shipping processes
• Marketing Management: Implement and optimize programs to attract potential customers with built-in support tools
• System Management: Seamless supply chain response with shipping navigation and automation management tools
• Store Management: Navigate and maintain your eCommerce business from online to offline
• Cart & Checkout: Manage shopping carts and process the next payment steps for customers
• Analytics and Reports: Monitor and measure eCommerce performance to give detailed reports to improve business efficiency

Businesses also need to develop some additional specialized features to address the furniture industry’s “own challenge,” such as:

• Omnichannel to track customer footprints across all channels from eCommerce platforms, and social networks, to eCommerce websites and mobile apps to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
• VR/AR or 360-degree view brings a visual experience and realistic visualization of the product, thereby enhancing the online furniture shopping experience.
• Customers who request customized products can specify the colors, materials, and sizes they want and pay a deposit. The supplier will then continue to produce the furniture items in accordance with the requirements and deliver them to the customer once they are finished. The consumer will then pay the supplier the balance at that time.

Integration with a variety of third-party services

Furniture businesses frequently integrate a range of payment options, shipping services, management software, and business analysis tools to optimize eCommerce business systems in order to provide customers with a comprehensive shopping experience.

Some popular payment methods businesses can integrate on the website to diversify payment methods to help customers have many choices such as card payment; eWallet; payment gateways.

Businesses might take into consideration software like ERP (SAP, Salesforce, Oracle), among others, when integrating back-office administration and operation software.

Finally, incorporating BI tools like Tableau, Looker, etc. will aid in the long-term analysis of business plans.

Scalability of the website

Businesses that are just starting to use eCommerce won’t concentrate on the website’s scalability in the future because platforms that provide this feature are sometimes hard to find. But tactically, spending money on a platform that facilitates this function will provide organizations an advantage over rivals in the market.

These aid furniture companies in making necessary adjustments, creating new features, and expanding their online systems to support several stores, languages, and currencies in the future.

Top 5 eCommerce platforms for furniture website development

Haravan

Haravan was founded in 2014 and is a very popular and popular eCommerce deployment platform in the Vietnam market with a variety of solutions for businesses and individual sellers.

Pros:

• Available and diverse themes for the furniture industry
• Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business
• Reasonable eCommerce deployment cost, various packages from 200,000 VND/month to 3,000,000 VND/month, making it easy for customers to choose.
• ​​Time to build an eCommerce website is fast, only about 30 minutes for businesses to own a website with all the necessary features to get started. However, for the website to work effectively, businesses need to spend more time researching and developing the system.

Cons:

• The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
• The system of specific functions for the furniture sector is still limited.
• Only integrated with services/utilities located in Haravan’s ecosystem.
• Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Haravan to expand the website in the future.

=> Rating: 2/4

Haravan is suitable for start-up furniture businesses or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with operations mainly in Vietnam.

Shopify

Shopify is a popular SaaS platform in the world that provides a variety of solutions for businesses of all sizes to successfully build eCommerce websites.

Pros:

• Available and diverse themes for the furniture industry.
• Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business.
• The initial cost is quite reasonable with a variety of options for businesses from $29/month to about $2,000/month.
• The time to build an eCommerce website is quite fast from 1-7 days, or more depending on the complexity of the system.
• Shopify has a large developer community to serve businesses.

Cons:

• The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
• The system of specific functions for the furniture sector is still limited.
• A wider range of 3rd party services than Haravan but still only integrated with services available in Shopify’s app store.
• Deployment costs are both advantages and disadvantages of Shopify when the initial cost is quite reasonable, but in the long run, businesses have to pay the cost of using the platform, interface, application, etc., regularly every month. This makes it difficult to manage cash flow
• Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Shopify to expand its website in the future.

=> Rating: 2/4

Shopify is considered suitable for start-ups or SMEs with global operations.

ZielCommerce 

ZielCommerce is an eCommerce platform with ready-made solutions specialized for the furniture industry.

Pros:

• Many themes are specific to the furniture industry, allowing businesses to customize according to their needs, helping to reflect the characteristics of the industry and position the brand image.
• Detailed internal eCommerce website construction challenges can be solved with the help of a comprehensive system of functions that combines the fundamental, sophisticated, and niche aspects of both customer and business needs, such as the best order processing system.

Cons:

• The ability to integrate with 3rd party services is still limited. This platform only supports add-ons available in its ecosystem, so businesses will not be able to link with the ERP, POS, CRM, BI, etc. Therefore, when using Ziel Commerce, businesses need to transfer all existing data to the platform’s servers.
• Although highly appreciated for the ability to expand the website system, this is still the disadvantage of Ziel Commerce in the long run. Accordingly, this platform will not support businesses to expand or develop new features because businesses cannot own the source code, so when affected, it will destabilize the entire website system.
• Ziel Commerce is not yet popular in the Vietnam market, so there is no Vietnamese version yet.
• Deployment time will depend on the complexity of the system, the average time is from 3-6 months.
• High implementation cost of about $50,000 per project.

=> Rating: 3/4

ZielCommerce will be the optimal choice for B2B, and B2C furniture businesses to deploy eCommerce websites or build mobile apps. However, this platform is not really popular in the Vietnamese market but is especially favored by foreign furniture retailers such as Frampo, Zeyka, etc.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows businesses to transform a regular WordPress website into a professional eCommerce website with full features and easy customization with just a few simple steps.

Pros:

• There are many free and premium themes from the WordPress and WooCommerce communities for the furniture sector which are easy to customize or businesses can use self-designed themes. 
• Functional system from basic to advanced for eCommerce business.
• Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
• Because it is an open-source code platform, businesses can plan to expand their website in the future.
• The cost of building an eCommerce website is not too high compared to other open-source platforms like Magento, with total annual costs ranging from $110 to $1,500+ for domains, hosting, themes, extensions, plugins, etc.
• eCommerce website implementation time with WooCommerce takes about 1 to 3 months to complete.

Cons:

• The functional system is still limited in terms of features specific to the furniture industry.
• The scalability is not as high compared to other open-source platforms such as Open Cart, Magento because it depends on the WordPress system.

=> Rating: 3/4

WooCommerce will be suitable for furniture businesses who are familiar with the WordPress platform and want to develop an eCommerce system.

Magento

Magento is a popular open-source commerce platform in the field of eCommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free), and Magento Commerce (paid).

Pros:

• Many furniture themes from the global developer community and Magento website developers so businesses can use existing themes which easy to customize or use self-designed themes.
• Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
• High scalability: multi-language, currency, easy future feature development.

Cons:

• There is no repository of themes from Magento to support businesses.
• Implementation typically takes three to six months, but it might take up to a year due to a sophisticated functioning system.
• Although the platform is free to use, the cost of implementing eCommerce with Magento is quite high, about $50,000-$100,000 depending on the complexity of the project.

=> Rating: 4/4

Magento is appropriate for a range of furniture business types, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, as well as for various business sizes, including start-ups, SMEs, and major companies. However, large organizations use Magento because it is frequently relatively expensive to deploy.

Choosing the right platform is an extremely important first step when building an interior eCommerce website. Choosing the right eCommerce platform will help businesses save budget and time to build a website while increasing competitive advantage and sustainable growth. On the contrary, when choosing the wrong platform, it will cost businesses a lot of time and budget to deploy and switch platforms many times. Therefore, businesses need to consider the goals and problems in the current model to be able to choose the most suitable platform.

With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions. 

Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.