As per Statista’s data, Social Commerce worldwide generated 992 billion USD in revenue in 2022, with projections indicating a potential surge to 2.9 trillion USD by 2026. This positions Social Commerce as a highly valued and potential trend in the future of eCommerce.

1. What is Social Commerce?

Social Commerce is a term that combines two key concepts: “Social” and “Commerce”.

It represents a business model that seamlessly integrates social media and eCommerce, aiming to create a shopping experience that is more interactive and connected for customers.

Social Commerce enables users to view and purchase products directly through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

This approach allows customers to delve into product details, read reviews, engage with comments from other users, and even make direct purchases through business posts, advertisements, or social platform storefronts.

The Social Commerce model often comes with interactive features, product-sharing capabilities, and personalized product recommendations.

Social Commerce takes advantage of the widespread popularity and extensive user base on social media platforms to naturally amplify the reach and influence of products and brands.

2. How does Social Commerce work?

Social Commerce vs eCommerce

Social Commerce and eCommerce are two distinct online business models, yet they share the common goal of online commerce. Here are the differences between these two models:

Types of Social Commerce

There are various popular types of social commerce, and the choice depends entirely on the scope and objectives of each business. Here are some common types of social commerce:

• Influencer Marketing: This marketing form leverages the influence of users with large social media followings. Businesses collaborate with celebrities or influential individuals to promote their products and brands.
• Affiliate Marketing: In this strategy, businesses empower influential individuals to promote or review their products/services in social media posts by embedding links, and incentivizing sales. In return, these affiliate partners earn a percentage of the revenue generated from those links.
• Social Media Advertising: This type of social commerce centers around using social media platforms as advertising spaces. Businesses can run ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, etc., to reach their target audience.
• User-Generated Content (UGC): By encouraging customers to share their experiences using products or services on social media platforms, businesses aim to build trust among both current and potential buyers. 
• Live Streaming: Hosting live streaming sessions on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, or Twitch allows viewers to interact directly with the business. This involves introducing products/services, fielding questions, and receiving user feedback during the broadcast, ultimately boosting online interaction and sales.

3. Benefits of Social Commerce

Enhance brand identity

Social Commerce facilitates businesses in reaching millions of users across various social media platforms, particularly globally popular ones like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

This approach not only boosts brand awareness but also promotes businesses’ products and services to the extensive user base on these platforms, creating organic traction through user sharing and interaction.

The renowned sportswear brand Nike has successfully implemented Social Commerce by leveraging engaging posts, videos, and advertisements on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The brand consistently runs advertising campaigns encouraging users to share their product experiences. Through user-generated posts and the strategic use of specific hashtags, Nike has sparked natural virality, resulting in an increased level of brand recognition.

Optimize the shopping experience

A key feature of social commerce is its focus on creating a seamless online shopping experience for users, simplifying the transition from product browsing to actual purchases. Customers can buy directly from posts, advertisements, or online stores on social media platforms.

This not only streamlines the shopping process but also enables businesses to optimize customer experiences, save time, and boost the eCommerce sales volume for the brands.

The cosmetics brand L’Oréal has created various TikTok channels for each target market in its beauty chain, such as lorealparis (global), lorealparisusa (U.S. market), lorealparis_vn (Vietnamese market), lorealparisid_shop (Indonesian market), lorealparisth_store (Thai market), and so on.

This approach not only allows the brand to reach the right target audience but also takes advantage of TikTok Shop, enabling customers to purchase products directly through L’Oréal’s TikTok channel.

Monitor & measure performance

Presently, social media platforms offer comprehensive analytics and data measurement tools for businesses. For instance, Instagram Insights provides demographic information such as gender, age groups, and geographic locations.

Facebook Audience Insights goes a step further in collecting detailed data about a business’s target audience, while TikTok Pixel allows tracking vital metrics like clicks, views, and conversion rates, and assessing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Leveraging these data sources assists businesses in creating more efficient social commerce campaigns compared to traditional retail operations. A noteworthy example of the successful implementation of Social Commerce with optimized tracking and measurement is Fashion Nova.

This prominent American fashion brand specializes in offering women’s clothing and accessories. Fashion Nova’s Instagram posts often incorporate sharing and user tracking features, enhancing the dissemination of information about products and the brand.

Furthermore, Fashion Nova utilizes Instagram’s measurement features and analytical tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the brand’s marketing and advertising campaigns.

Boost engagement & customer service

Embracing social commerce enables businesses to seamlessly engage in direct interactions with customers and gather their feedback regarding the brand or product through posts, direct conversations, comment responses, and messages.

This facilitates quick customer support, addresses inquiries promptly, fosters satisfaction and fortifies customer relationships. Moreover, based on this valuable customer feedback, businesses can refine their products/services to align with customer expectations.

Tarte Cosmetics, a renowned cosmetics brand specializing in makeup and skincare products, has effectively utilized social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to implement social commerce. The brand consistently engages with customers across social media channels.

The administrative team promptly responds to user comments and messages, addressing inquiries and offering technical support. This approach builds trust and satisfaction among customers, actively strengthening positive customer relationships.

The Bottom Line

Here are insights, advantages, and examples of businesses effectively embracing Social Commerce. Depending on each business’s strategy, administrators can blend social media and eCommerce to engage customers and establish a brand in the current digital era.

Related Reading: eCommerce: Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing

Contact SECOMM or directly call the hotline at 02871089908 today for complimentary guidance on implementing eCommerce Marketing overall and Social Commerce specifically.

The eCommerce trend has quickly extended to various sectors of the economy. The explosion of online pharmacies, both domestically and internationally, demonstrates the significant impact this trend is having on the pharmaceutical industry. 

Typically, the first step in the online presence strategy of these pharmacies is the professional establishment of an eCommerce website. 

Here are 10 pharmaceutical brands in Vietnam and on the global stage that have effectively launched eCommerce websites and swiftly captured a significant share of this market.

1. CVS Health (USA)

CVS Health is a major player in the U.S. healthcare sector and stands as the largest retail pharmacy chain in the country, boasting over 9,900 physical stores. CVS also offers an array of healthcare services, encompassing general health check-ups, diagnostics, and dental care.

The CVS pharmacy eCommerce website is built upon the Oracle Commerce platform, equipped with numerous features to ensure an optimal user experience and scalability for the future. Notably, it includes a prescription management feature that empowers customers to oversee their prescriptions through their CVS accounts, request prescription refills, and receive medication deliveries at their doorstep. Furthermore, the online drugstore allows customers to schedule appointments with two options: in-person clinic visits or remote telehealth consultations via video calls.

• Website: https://www.cvs.com/
• Platform: Oracle Commerce
• Traffic: 72.2M/month
• Ranking: 112 (USA) & 494 (Worldwide)

2. Droga Raia (Brazil)

Established in 1890, Droga Raia has continually grown and, over the years, has become one of the foremost pharmacy chains in Brazil. Despite its long-standing legacy, Droga Raia hasn’t lagged in the eCommerce trend.

With an average monthly website traffic of 19.8 million, Droga Raia opted for Magento to facilitate its pharmacy eCommerce website. This choice was well-founded, given the platform’s superior flexibility for customization and scalability, ensuring the capability to manage high traffic volumes and cater to future system expansion needs.

• Website:  https://www.drogaraia.com.br/
• Platform: Magento
• Traffic: 19.8M/month 
• Ranking: 138 (Brazil) & 3,304 (Worldwide)

3. Apollo Pharmacy (India)

Apollo Pharmacy, a well-known retail pharmacy chain in India, operates as a subsidiary of Apollo Hospital. Over the years, Apollo has expanded its chain of stores to thousands, serving cities and towns across India. 

Apollo built its online pharmacy on the Magento platform, equipped to manage a vast product portfolio. In addition to offering both prescription and non-prescription medications, as well as healthcare products, Apollo provides various related services. These services encompass online consultations, health check-up appointment scheduling, vaccination bookings, and insurance sales. Currently, the website garners 12.7 million monthly visits.

• Website: https://www.apollopharmacy.in/
• Platform: Magento 
• Traffic: 12.7M/month
• Ranking: 434 (India) & 5,736 (Worldwide)

4. Netmeds (India)

Another well-known online drugstore in India is Netmeds. In addition to prescription and non-prescription drugs, this brand offers a diverse range of healthcare products, including items for maternity and baby care, medical equipment, and dietary supplements for fitness enthusiasts, vegetarians, and those with diabetes. Netmeds also relies on Magento to develop its pharmacy eCommerce website, featuring various capabilities to enhance the user experience. These include product categorization with accompanying images, non-prescription product search recommendations, real-time product availability checks at specific stores, prescription upload options, and home delivery requests. At present, Netmeds’ website averages around 10.4 million monthly visits.

• Website: https://www.netmeds.com/
• Platform: Magento
• Traffic: 10.4M/month
• Ranking: 462 (India) & 5,864 (Worldwide)

5. Nahdi Online (Arab Saudi)

Nahdi Online is the leading pharmacy eCommerce website in Saudi Arabia and ranks among the region’s largest retail pharmacy chains. This marks the fourth pharmacy on the list utilizing the Magento platform to craft a user-friendly website enriched with advanced features, facilitating product-specific searches, in-depth product descriptions, and price comparisons for customers. Moreover, through Nahdi’s online pharmacy, users can access various online consultation and healthcare services or book appointments at the clinic.

• Website: https://www.nahdionline.com/en/
• Platform: Magento
• Traffic: 9.8M/month
• Ranking: 30 (Arab Saudi) & 5,818 (Worldwide)

6. An Khang Pharmacy (Vietnam)

An Khang Pharmacy, one of the most trusted pharmacy chains in Vietnam, was established in 2012 and has since expanded to over 500 pharmacies nationwide. Additionally, the brand has introduced a pharmacy eCommerce website and a mobile app to cater to consumers’ online pharmaceutical needs, complete with a variety of enticing offers. 

An Khang provides a wide array of products, including medications, dietary supplements, medical equipment, personal care items, and cosmetics. Moreover, the An Khang website features a dedicated section for disease lookup, allowing customers not only to make purchases but also to access information on various common diseases, including their causes, symptoms, treatment methods, and prevention.

• Website: https://www.nhathuocankhang.com/
• Platform: PHP Language
• Traffic: 5.8M/month
• Ranking: 213 (Vietnam) & 12,917 (Worldwide)

7. FPT Long Chau (Vietnam)

FPT Long Chau, established in 2015, has a presence in over 1,000 stores across all 63 provinces in Vietnam and is a pioneer in the modern online pharmacy model. Both its pharmacy eCommerce website and app have gained strong favor from consumers for their rich and seamless shopping experience.

Notably, Long Chau leads the way in offering a Buy Now, Pay Later service with 0% interest, helping to ease the financial burden on patients. Furthermore, customers can access guidance from Long Chau’s experienced pharmacists through a hotline or chat service. Currently, the Long Chau website attracts approximately 5.2 million monthly visitors.

• Website: https://nhathuoclongchau.com.vn/
• Platform: PHP Language
• Traffic: 5.2M/month
• Ranking: 279 (Vietnam) & 15,056 (Worldwide)

8. Pharmacity (Vietnam)

In the pharmaceutical market of Vietnam, Pharmacity is the third name mentioned in the fierce “three-horse race” taking place in both the online and offline channels. This company was founded in 2011 and currently has over 1,000 stores nationwide. Similar to An Khang and Long Chau, Pharmacity has also launched an eCommerce website and app with various promotional programs to provide customers and patients with a convenient and quick shopping experience, along with online consultation services from a team of highly professional pharmacists. Currently, the Pharmacity website attracts an average of 2.7 million monthly visitors. 

• Website: https://www.pharmacity.vn/
• Platform: WooCommerce
• Traffic: 2.7M/month
• Ranking: 511 (Vietnam) & 26,035 (Worldwide)

9. Central Pharmacy (Vietnam)

This is one of the most reputable and high-quality online pharmacy systems in Vietnam. The pharmacy offers a wide range of genuine pharmaceutical products, dietary supplements, health, and beauty care items from major global brands. Central Pharmacy’s drugstore provides various features to enhance the shopping experience for customers, such as search suggestions, search filters, and integration of messaging applications (FB Messenger and Zalo) on the website for customer support, prescription uploads, and home delivery requests. To date, the website has attracted more than 587,000 monthly visitors.

• Website: https://trungtamthuoc.com/
• Platform: Ngôn ngữ PHP
• Traffic: 587.1K/month
• Ranking: 2,484 (Vietnam) & 118,022 (Worldwide)

10. Nha Thuoc Than Thien (Vietnam)

Nha Thuoc Than Thien is a retail chain that meets GPP standards in Vietnam. Specializing in prescription and over-the-counter medications, as well as various healthcare products, this establishment has embraced a hybrid model, combining both offline and online pharmacy services. The primary sales channel is its user-friendly eCommerce website, developed using WooCommerce. The website is intuitively designed, incorporating essential features to facilitate customer product searches, seamless transactions, and order tracking. With around 410 thousand monthly visits, the website continues to serve a significant audience.

• Website: https://nhathuocthanthien.com.vn/
• Platform: WooCommerce 
• Traffic: 410K/month
• Ranking: 3,391 (Vietnam) & 155,687 (Worldwide)

Here are the top 10 eCommerce websites, including leading online pharmacies, in both the Vietnamese and international markets. These brands demonstrate their adaptability to consumer trends and their efforts in developing technological infrastructure to compete in the multibillion-dollar market.

With a wealth of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce solutions for numerous clients across various countries in recent years, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with professional eCommerce deployment solutions tailored to the specific needs of each industry.

Feel free to contact or call SECOMM’s hotline directly at (02871089908) for a free consultation.

Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing are two widely used marketing approaches that businesses often mix. Although they are common, many businesses still need to distinguish between these two types of marketing. Which is the most suitable strategy for businesses to implement Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing in the eCommerce world?

1. What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing is a marketing approach that focuses on engaging customers by offering valuable content and delivering a meaningful customer experience. 

Key strategies employed in Inbound Marketing include:

• Blogging: Creating informative content to provide valuable insights to potential customers.
• Social Media Marketing: Using popular social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc., for customer engagement through the sharing of valuable content.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing websites and content to achieve higher rankings in search engine results, such as Google, Cốc Cốc, Safari, Firefox, and others, facilitating the discovery of the business by potential customers on the Internet. 
• Email Marketing: Building email sequences tailored to customer needs and personalized to enhance customer care.
• YouTube Marketing: Developing marketing strategies on the YouTube platform to provide useful knowledge alongside marketing messages to specific potential customers.
• Audio Marketing (Podcast): Creating and broadcasting podcast programs related to the business or its products, allowing the brand to share information, stories, and other valuable content with potential customers through audio.
• Lead Generation: Offering valuable content like ebooks, guidelines, webinars, etc., to gather contact information and build a database of potential customers.

2. What is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound Marketing is a conventional marketing approach where businesses proactively reach out to customers by sending marketing messages to a broad targeted audience.

Here are some primary methods employed in Outbound Marketing:

• Cold calling: Making phone calls to various phone numbers collected from diverse sources, without any prior relationship, such as potential customer lists, or business databases, to introduce products/services.
• Cold email outreach: Sending direct mail or parcels to customer lists, much like cold calling, to announce products, services, or upcoming promotional programs.
• Events and exhibitions: Participating in and organizing events and exhibitions to have direct contact with potential customers and promote the business’s products/services.
• Traditional advertising: Using traditional advertising channels such as television, radio, print media, magazines, and outdoor advertising (billboards) to convey marketing messages to a large number of customers.
• PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising: Utilizing paid online advertising forms like Google Ads, social media advertising (Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, TikTok Ads, etc.), or various display advertising techniques to reach a diverse consumer audience.
• Telemarketing: Making direct phone calls to potential customers to advertise products or services and generate sales.

3. Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing: Basic Comparison

Approach 

Inbound Marketing centers around the customer, prioritizing the attraction of potential customers through valuable content and experiences. In the realm of eCommerce, Inbound Marketing primarily revolves around establishing relationships and engaging with customers through the business’s website or eCommerce app.

Conversely, Outbound Marketing takes a product-centric approach, aiming to send marketing messages to a wider audience. Outbound Marketing involves reaching potential customers through diverse channels like advertising, direct mail, or telemarketing.

Targeting

Inbound Marketing focuses on attracting and connecting with specific, targeted audiences through the creation of relevant and valuable content. Its goal is to draw in potential customers actively seeking information or solutions related to the business’s products or services. 

On the other hand, Outbound Marketing establishes a broader network and targets a wider audience, typically relying on demographics or general interests. The goal of Outbound Marketing is to reach a large number of people with the hope of grabbing the attention of potential customers. 

Communication Style

Inbound Marketing promotes two-way communication, where businesses actively participate in conversations with potential customers, giving priority to listening, understanding customer needs, and offering valuable information or solutions.

Outbound Marketing typically involves one-way communication, with businesses delivering marketing messages to the audience without immediate interaction. The primary objective is to raise awareness and generate interest in the business’s products or services.

Timing

Inbound Marketing tends to have a long-term orientation as it revolves around building trust and credibility over time, nurturing potential customers until they are ready to make a purchase. However, it may require some time to see results. 

On the other hand, Outbound Marketing is typically linked to immediate outcomes or short-term goals. Its primary focus is on generating potential customers or immediate sales by actively promoting products and services through channels such as paid advertising or telemarketing.

Costs

Inbound Marketing can offer long-term cost savings as this strategy relies on creating valuable content, optimizing online presence, and leveraging channels that the business controls, such as optimizing the eCommerce website/app, SEO, and managing social media pages. While it may require an initial investment of resources and time, the returns on this investment can be significant over time. 

Conversely, Outbound Marketing often entails upfront expenses, such as advertising costs. The expenses can vary depending on the selected channels and the scale of the target audience.

4. Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing: eCommerce Tactics

Inbound Marketing Tactics 

In the world of eCommerce, Inbound Marketing employs the principles and strategies of Inbound Marketing to attract and engage potential customers. Here are several common Inbound Marketing methods applied in eCommerce:

• Crafting valuable content: Generating useful content relevant to the business’s products or services, such as blogs, user guides, instructional videos, infographics, and other content formats.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing the website and content to improve search engine rankings.
• Building an online community: Using social media, blogs, forums, or other platforms to interact with potential customers and foster an online community centered around the brand and its products.
• Email Marketing: Building an email list from potential customers and executing email marketing campaigns to deliver information, updates, promotions, and customer-specific content.
• Creating landing pages: Creating landing pages to establish a potential customer database and engage with them through marketing campaigns.
• Leveraging social media: Using social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and more to share content, interact with potential customers, and enhance brand recognition.

Outbound Marketing Tactics

In the eCommerce world, Outbound Marketing employs the methods and strategies of Outbound Marketing to build brand recognition among a broad customer base with the objective of boosting online sales. Here are some common Outbound Marketing techniques typically utilized in eCommerce:

• PPC Advertising: Using paid online advertising channels such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or other online advertising formats to deliver marketing messages to potential customers.
• Email Marketing: Sending direct advertising emails to potential customers or existing customers to announce products, promotional programs, or relevant news.
• Direct Messaging (SMS Marketing): Sending direct messages to potential customers’ mobile phones to inform them about products, offers, or promotional programs.
• Traditional Advertising: Using traditional advertising forms like television, radio, print media, magazines, and billboards to drive a large customer base to the eCommerce website/app for purchasing.
• Telemarketing: Making direct phone calls to potential customers to introduce products or services, provide advice, or make sales. 

In essence, Outbound Marketing in eCommerce can rapidly establish brand recognition and reach a large online audience, but it also necessitates consideration of effectiveness and the response of potential customers, with the ultimate goal of increasing online sales.

Here is a summary of the basic information about Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing in eCommerce. Depending on their individual needs, businesses will allocate time and budget for Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing accordingly. 

Contact or call the SECOMM hotline at 02871089908 today for a free consultation on the implementation of eCommerce Marketing. 

The first step in the strategy for building and developing an eCommerce website, a crucial consideration for business owners in various sectors, is selecting an eCommerce platform that aligns with their business requirements.

The Baby eCommerce industry is no exception to this rule. So, what is the ideal choice? The following article outlines and clarifies the pros and cons of the top five eCommerce platforms for the development of Baby eCommerce websites.

1. Magento

Magento (now owned by Adobe), is an open-source eCommerce platform that grants businesses full authority to develop and manage their online store

For large enterprises in the Baby eCommerce industry with complex requirements for building and developing eCommerce websites, Magento’s high degree of customization and scalability, along with its wealth of outstanding features and extensions, can effectively cater to their needs. However, to fully leverage Magento’s capabilities, businesses should invest in both a specific budget and a requisite level of technical expertise.

Currently, Magento offers two primary versions:

• Magento Open Source: a free version
• Adobe Commerce: a paid version with two options, on-premise and on-cloud.

Key Features:

• Multi-brand solution: Supports multiple languages, currencies, and stores for various business models (B2B, B2C, B2B2C, D2C).
• MSI – Multi-source inventory: Enables the shipment of a single order with multiple products from different warehouses while ensuring delivery times.
• Headless eCommerce: Utilizes the separation between Frontend and Backend for easy customization and website development.
• B2B feature: Provides support for B2B customers, including category sharing, creating business accounts, quick ordering, and customer group creation.
• PWA – Progressive Web App: A mobile application built on web technology, easily discoverable and downloadable from a web browser.

Pros:

• Feature-rich system from basic to advanced, tailored to specific industry needs.
• High customization and scalability compared to SaaS platforms.
• No limits on sales volume.
• Wide range of extensions.
• High security.

Cons: 

• High implementation costs.
• Lengthy implementation time, ranging from 6 months to 1 year.
• Requires a certain level of technical expertise and understanding of Magento.

Pricing:

Brands built their Baby eCommerce websites on Magento including Kids Plaza VN, Bibo Mart, Children Salon, Mothercare VN, Aden+Anais, Hornby, v.v 

2. Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC)

Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that helps businesses build their eCommerce websites. This platform enables businesses to integrate all their sales channels, delivering a seamless shopping experience for customers.

SFCC offers two key solutions:

• Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud: A solution for building websites and enhancing the overall shopping experience for retail customers.
• Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud: A solution for building websites and providing a shopping experience for customers engaging in large-volume transactions.

Key Features:

• AI Einstein: Offers personalized search and product recommendations with Einstein Product/Search Recommendations. Provides personalized experiences across all channels with Einstein Recommendations API. Gathers customer insights to boost revenue with Einstein Commerce Insights.
• Headless Commerce: Build headless e-commerce websites and enhance user experiences using SFCC’s Open Commerce API or any developer’s preferred APIs.
• Marketing & Merchandising: Supports design, scheduling, and automated marketing campaigns, optimize SEO to increase traffic, and manages multi-store, multi-language, and multi-currency capabilities from a centralized dashboard.
• Omnichannel: Enables multi-channel sales and provides a consistent customer experience.
• Localization: Allows businesses to create multiple separate websites with different languages, currencies, and strategies for specific target markets.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Strong support from AI tools during implementation.
• Diverse tools and features.
• Automation of order processing and promotional campaigns.
• Exceptional analytics and reporting capabilities to capture customer insights.
• High security.
• 24/7 customer support service.

Cons:

• The license fee is not publicly disclosed, making it challenging to estimate exact expenses.
• Limited seamless integration with third parties.
• Limited customization and scalability. For high customization needs, businesses may incur additional costs.
• Being a SaaS platform, it carries inherent risks from the provider, and data access limitations cannot be entirely avoided.

Pricing

For Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud, businesses are offered three solution packages: Starter, Growth, and Plus, and they need to contact Salesforce for specific consultations and pricing.

For Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud, businesses should get in touch with Salesforce for specific price levels and implementation details.

The cost of developing an eCommerce website using the SFCC platform can range from $2,000 to $500,000, depending on each business’s requirements.

Some Baby brands that have developed eCommerce websites on the Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform include Carter’s, Hanna Andersson, OshKosh B’gosh, Chicco, Crayola, Toys “R” Us, Melissa & Doug, and more.

3. Shopify

Shopify is a SaaS platform known for its diverse features and themes that cater to businesses of various industries and scales, facilitating the rapid and effective development of eCommerce websites.

Shopify offers three standard solution packages (Basic, Shopify, Advanced), tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. Meanwhile, the Shopify Plus solution is aimed at medium to large businesses with elevated development and customization requirements.

Key Features:

• Shopify POS: This feature is available in all solution packages and allows seamless integration of point-of-sale from online to offline, supporting order and inventory management across retail locations, online stores, and other active sales channels.
• eCommerce automation: Automates marketing processes and order execution. Available in the Shopify and Advanced packages, while Shopify Plus businesses have Shopify Flow and LaunchPad.
• Shopify Hydrogen: Allows Shopify Plus and standard Shopify businesses to build custom storefronts using the React-based Hydrogen framework, which can then be directly integrated with the Oxygen in-house hosting. This is Shopify’s new solution for businesses building and developing Headless websites.
• Abandoned cart recovery: Automatically sends email with discount codes to customers in cases of cart abandonment during the checkout process, leaving the website with products in the cart but unpaid, or viewing products without adding them to the cart.
• International commerce: Supports multiple languages, multiple stores, and multiple currencies. However, tax calculation at checkout is only available for the Advanced and Shopify Plus packages.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Reasonable initial costs.
• Diverse integrated apps and themes.
• 24/7 customer support service.
• Support both online and offline sales.
• High security.
• Ideal platform for opening dropshipping stores. Some Baby dropship stores using Shopify include Posh Peanut, Baby Boxco, Happiest Baby, and more.

Cons:

• Costs increase over time.
• Limited customization and scalability when compared to open-source platforms.
• Limited blogging features and content management capabilities.
• Restrictions on free themes.
• Risks associated with the provider and data access limitations.

Pricing

Shopify serves as the choice not only for Baby dropshipping stores but also for numerous well-known Baby brands that have used this platform to build their online store, including HATCH Collection, Motherhood Maternity, 4moms, Maclaren, Manhattan Toy, Tegu, and many others.

4. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is another platform worth considering for Baby eCommerce businesses due to its ease of use and its ability to cater to the eCommerce website-building requirements of businesses across various scales and industries.

Furthermore, BigCommerce is recognized as a SaaS platform that includes a wide array of features within its solution packages (Standard, Plus, Pro, Enterprise) aimed at fostering eCommerce growth.

Key Features:

• Built-in blog: Enhances SEO rankings and provides an engaging content experience through a blog.
• Professional reporting tool: Offers professional analytics and reporting tools that help businesses evaluate operational performance for informed adjustments.
• Real-time shipping quotes: Provides real-time, accurate shipping cost estimates from various carriers.
• Google customer reviews: Allows businesses to collect and display customer reviews on Google from those who have purchased their products.
• BigCommerce mobile app: Monitor performance, track and update orders, and manage customer journeys with the BigCommerce mobile app. The app is available for direct download from the App Store or Google Play.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Richly integrated features.
• Diverse solution packages with reasonable usage costs.
• Offers 65 popular worldwide payment solutions with integrated transactions fee-free.
• A variety of themes and extensions tailored for the Baby industry.
• High security.

Cons:

• Sales volume limits.
• Increasing implementation costs over time.
• Limited customization capabilities.
• Provider risks and data access limitations.

Pricing

Brands built their eCommerce websites with BigCommerce: Le Petit Kids, Scentos, Nature’s One, Kids Furniture Warehouse, See Kai Run, Feltman Brothers, v.v

5. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is a SaaS eCommerce platform that equips businesses with the essential tools and features to build and customize eCommerce websites. It presents a range of free and premium themes suitable for marketing Maternity and baby products.

Shift4Shop provides three paid plans (Basic, Plus, Pro) and one free plan, subject to a minimum monthly revenue of $500, designed for U.S. sellers under the End-to-End category.

Key Features:

• Built-in tools: Integrated tools for blogging, SEO optimization, social media integration, etc., aid businesses in enhancing the effectiveness of their marketing strategies.
• RMA system: This feature simplifies the product return and refund process.
• Shopping cart: Allows customers to quickly view and customize their shopping carts. Customers can also choose one-page or three-page checkout options.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Various integrated features
• Reasonable initial cost
• No transaction fees
• 24/7 technical support service

Cons:

• Limited customization and expansion capabilities
• Increasing deployment costs over time, even for the End-to-End package
• Volume limits for paid plans
• Limited and basic selection of free themes
• Vendor risks and data access concerns

Pricing

Brands built their Baby website with Shift4Shop: eLeMeNO-Pee, Sugar Babies, Nicki’s Diapers, Enfant Style, Ideal Baby & Kids, v.v

The above are the top 5 platforms that have been preferred by the majority of Baby businesses for establishing their eCommerce websites. 

After years of eCommerce implementation across various countries, SECOMM has accumulated invaluable insights to expedite the process of website development and growth for Baby businesses.

Get in touch or directly call SECOMM‘s hotline at (02871089908) for immediate guidance on platform selection and eCommerce implementation today

The surge in demand for online shopping via eCommerce marketplaces over recent years has been remarkable. So, it comes as no surprise that numerous businesses are looking for ways to build their own marketplaces to diversify their product offerings and engage with a wide range of customer segments.

Operating an eCommerce marketplace differs significantly from managing an eCommerce website. The key is to ensure that the experience is user-friendly and efficient for all involved parties, including administrators, sellers, and buyers, during both the operational and transactional phases. 

Depending on the strategy, scale, budget, market, and target audience, businesses will make suitable adjustments. However, the following online marketplace features continue to be crucial when implementing the majority of eCommerce marketplaces today.

1. Operator Features

The operator, also known as an administrator or owner of the online marketplace, holds a pivotal role in managing and running the platform. They possess the authority to access and govern all data and carry the responsibility for the platform’s overall performance and growth.

As a result, essential features for operators include:

Seller Management

The operator’s role involves helping sellers register on the platform, gather their information, and grant access to tools that aid their business operations. Additionally, other aspects of ‘Managing Sellers’ that businesses should consider include:

• Communication and Support Channels: This entails providing customer service and addressing seller accounts and technical issues through channels like email or a hotline.
• Content Management:  Ensuring that products, content, images, and videos uploaded by sellers comply with the eCommerce platform’s established standards and regulations.
• Monitoring Seller: Tracking and evaluating data related to seller activities, such as sales volumes, customer feedback, response times, and adherence to platform policies.
• Transaction Management: This covers policies regarding commissions, transaction fees, and payments. Businesses must ensure they furnish comprehensive documentation, accurately and promptly process payments, and offer support in resolving related concerns.

Marketing Management

To expand the pool of registered sellers and draw more customers to shop on the online marketplace, operators continually rely on marketing efforts. Some methods include optimizing SEO, leveraging influencer marketing, running targeted advertisements, devising in-platform promotional initiatives, and more.

However,  it’s crucial for businesses to possess a set of features and tools to proficiently craft and manage marketing campaigns across multiple channels. This aids in the effective promotion of their marketplaces, the attraction of additional sellers and customers, and the establishment of a distinctive presence within the competitive eCommerce landscape.

Supply Chain Management

Given the substantial order volume, operators need features that offer them full control of order fulfillment. This includes inventory management, overseeing multiple warehouses, configuring automated workflows for handling and transporting orders between warehouses, and delivering them to end-users.

Plus, to optimize the delivery process, businesses can partner with third-party shipping providers to provide customers with various choices, such as standard, express, or expedited shipping methods.

Analysis & Reporting 

Through comprehensive data analysis and detailed reporting, businesses can gain insights into their overall operations and make informed adjustments. Key data points include:

• eCommerce Performance: This encompasses metrics related to sales, revenue, user engagement, and satisfaction levels to assess the current state of the platform and make strategic decisions.
• User Behavior: This includes data on new account registrations, conversion rates, browsing habits, and search trends on the platform. It helps identify lingering issues for improvement and provides a better user experience.
• Marketing Reports: Operators need in-depth marketing reports to assess the ROI of marketing campaigns, analyze customer acquisition channels, and evaluate the impact of various promotional programs and incentives.

2. Seller Features

Sellers, also known as suppliers or merchants, are individuals or businesses that offer products or services on the online marketplace. Their responsibility is to manage their operations and optimize sales performance.

Therefore, eCommerce marketplace features for sellers to conduct efficient business operations include:

Easy Onboarding

Sellers have many choices in the midst of multiple online marketplaces. So, offering a swift and uncomplicated registration and store setup process is an effective way to attract a wide pool of new sellers to open their stores.

Businesses can offer detailed step-by-step guidance to sellers, from creating an account and verifying their seller identity to decorating their store and listing products. Furthermore, businesses can provide instructional videos, FAQs, and blogs to guide them on optimizing their store, promoting products on the platform, as well as understanding the fees associated with the eCommerce marketplace’s sales policies.

Product Management

Beyond listing products, helping sellers manage their product catalog effectively on the marketplace is equally important.

This includes tasks like adding and removing products, maintaining high-quality product descriptions, images, and videos, handling product variations and attributes, updating inventory, setting product prices, applying discounts, prompting product reviews, and moderating and verifying reviews based on the platform’s standard.

Marketing Management

Sellers need tools and features for setting up marketing campaigns to promote their stores and products, driving increased sales. These commonly used marketing tools on online marketplaces include in-site and off-site advertising, promotional messaging, flash sales, bundled deals, shipping discounts or free shipping promotions, creating discount vouchers, live-streaming sales events, and participating in platform-wide promotional activities.

Order Management

Providing sellers with effective order management capabilities also impacts the customer experience on the eCommerce marketplaces. This means offering sellers features to manage their order lists, track the status of orders, fulfill orders, handle returns, and efficiently address any issues that may arise.

Analysis & Reporting

Sellers rely on data analysis and reports to track and manage their business performance on the online marketplace effectively. These reports provide valuable insights for making data-driven decisions and optimizing their operations.

• Sales Performance: Sellers have access to data including total sales, revenue, order volume, and average order value to evaluate the success of their products or services and make informed decisions.
• Inventory Reports: Data related to inventory levels, inventory turnover, best-selling products, and less popular products help optimize inventory by adding popular items or reducing/limiting the sale of low-demand products.
• User Behavior: This includes data on purchasing behavior, feedback, customer reviews, and ratings for products and services, allowing sellers to enhance the customer experience and service.
• Expense Reports: This covers financial aspects such as transaction fees, commissions, invoices, payment receipts, and taxes. Clear financial reporting helps sellers manage cash flow efficiently while adhering to the marketplace’s policies.

3. Buyer Features

Buyers, also known as customers, refer to individuals or businesses that purchase goods or services from sellers on the eCommerce marketplace. Customers play a crucial role in driving the success of the marketplace. Therefore, feature development is focused on enriching the shopping experience.

Advanced Search

When accessing an eCommerce marketplace, the first thing most users do is use the search bar to find the information and products they desire. However, the product catalog on marketplaces is extensive and can be overwhelming for buyers. 

Therefore, beyond maintaining well-structured and organized product categories, businesses should offer advanced search capabilities to simplify and enhance the customer’s product discovery experience process. Common advanced search options include filtering, image-based, or voice-based search (optimized for mobile devices).

Personalization

Features like product recommendations, push notifications, personalized content, and customer service tailored to individual shopping behavior and preferences are crucial for enhancing the eCommerce experience. Studies have revealed that 74% of customers feel frustrated when encountering non-personalized shopping experiences on websites. 

By integrating advanced search capabilities with personalization, companies can offer a more enriching user experience, leading to greater satisfaction, higher levels of engagement, and increased customer retention. This transforms their marketplace into an ideal shopping destination for buyers.

Simple Checkout

Out of the various reasons for cart abandonment, issues related to long and complicated checkout procedures make up 17%, according to Baymard. it is essential for businesses to streamline the payment experience for customers, removing unnecessary steps, offering a transparent payment process, or implementing a one-page checkout. 

Moreover, businesses can diversify their payment methods to suit their target markets, including options such as Cash on Delivery (COD), credit card payments, eWallets, and buy now, pay later options.

Order Tracking

To boost the trust of buyers and sellers in the eCommerce platform, it is crucial for businesses to offer real-time order tracking and status-checking capabilities. 

Buyers can track their orders through the marketplace’s mobile app or website by using their unique order IDs. This way, both the seller and the buyer can communicate promptly if any issues arise with the order.

Review & Rating

With a diverse range of product choices offered by different sellers, customers may find it challenging to make purchasing decisions when they lack trust in either the product or the seller. Hence, the review and rating feature is essential for building trust and expediting decisions.

The review feature allows buyers who have made purchases to leave comments, reviews, and ratings for a product, customer support, and product packaging, regardless of the seller. 

Whether these reviews and ratings are positive or negative, they have a significant impact on a buyer’s decision-making process. Therefore, this serves as a motivation for sellers to enhance the quality of their products and services and for the eCommerce marketplace owner to provide an improved user experience.

Above are the 14 essential features for operators, sellers, and buyers that businesses should keep in mind when building an online marketplace. With many years of eCommerce implementation experience for numerous clients in various countries worldwide, SECOMM has gathered valuable insights to boost the development and operation of your business’s marketplace swiftly and effectively.

Contact or call SECOMM’s hotline (02871089908) today for a free consultation.

As reported by Digital Commerce 360, global consumers have collectively expended more than $3.25 trillion on famous eCommerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay, and Alibaba. This indicates the increasing significance of online marketplaces in customer shopping experiences. 

Therefore, many businesses have promptly devised strategies to enter the race for market share in eCommerce landscape. To achieve this goal, businesses must first develop their own marketplaces. The initial but crucial step in this process is selecting the ideal platform.

The following article focuses on introducing this platform as a recommendation for large businesses among countless optimal choices out there. 

1. What is Marketplacer?

Marketplacer is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform hosted on AWS, providing businesses with essential tools and features for building professional and highly adaptable eCommerce marketplaces capable of rapid scalability and swift page loading.

This platform streamlines the management and administration of eCommerce marketplaces. It simplifies tasks like order fulfillment, product category adjustments, third-party extension integration, cross-marketplace operational synchronization, and the implementation of strategies for revenue optimization.

To date, this platform has successfully established and expanded over 100 eCommerce marketplaces, forging connections with more than 13,000 sellers spanning the globe.

2. How Marketplacer works?

The Operator portal

This platform offers businesses a Marketplace-wide API based on GraphQL API, allowing them to:

• Build a headless frontend or seamless integration with existing eCommerce systems.
• Access and manage all data on the online marketplace via the Operator Portal, which includes:
  • Manage Sellers
  • Manage Seller payouts and billings
  • Product category management
  • Order management
  • Delivery management
  • Content management
  • Custom reporting

Furthermore, Marketplacer provides businesses with access to Webhooks, enabling them to receive notifications from the Marketplacer platform for any changes or updates during their operations.

The Seller portal

This platform provides sellers on the marketplace with Seller API based on V2 (REST) API to

• Automate their sales processes on the marketplace
• Access and manage various aspects of their seller data through the Seller Portal, including:
  • Product management
  • Sales & Marketing management 
  • Order management
  • Inventory management
  • Analysis & reporting

Similar to how businesses operate their business on the marketplace, sellers also have access to webhooks for receiving notifications regarding changes throughout their selling journey.

3. Marketplacer implementation models

This platform offers two implementation models, allowing businesses to tailor the development of their online marketplace to align with their specific goals.

Headless

The Headless model empowers businesses to utilize their tailor-made frontend, commonly known as the “head,” which represents the user interface. This frontend is integrated with Marketplacer’s fundamental backend through APIs to execute the marketplace. 

Therefore, opting for the Headless model is ideal for businesses seeking extensive control over the user experience while leveraging Marketplacer’s core technology to foster eCommerce growth.

Connected

In the Connected model, businesses can efficiently integrate a pre-built eCommerce system into Marketplacer’s backend, avoiding the need for an extensive time and financial resources to build from scratch. This integration allows businesses to maintain the full functionality of the pre-existing system while benefiting from this platform’s advanced infrastructure for seamless marketplace deployment.

It’s worth noting that Marketplacer currently offers pre-built connectors exclusively for three prominent platforms: Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and commercetools. As a result, the Connected model is best suited for businesses utilizing one of these three platforms to facilitate their eCommerce.

4. Pros of Marketplacer

Ease of use

This platform offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive tools, making it simple for businesses to build and manage their online marketplace. 

Flexibility & Scalability

This platform is tailored to suit online marketplaces of diverse sizes. The platform boasts excellent scalability and remarkable flexibility, empowering businesses to manage an ever-increasing volume of sellers, customers, and listing products. This facilitates seamless expansion of operations as needed.

Integrations

Businesses can easily discover well-known applications and extensions within Marketplacer’s growing collection of available integrations. Some noteworthy integrations include popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as payment gateways such as PayPal, Zooz, Yotpo, and advertising management tools like Fuze, Firstpage, and Citrus Ad.

Marketplacer Connected Integration

Marketplacer’s success is attributed to its ‘Connected’ technology, enabling businesses to deploy their marketplaces with two versatile options: crafting a tailored frontend or integrating seamlessly with existing systems.

Also, businesses can effortlessly blend third-party products into their current inventory, broadening their product range and portfolio with minimal investment and mitigating product lifecycle management tasks. This model is known as the Hybrid Marketplace and has been successfully adopted by enterprises like Amazon, Walmart, and others.

5. Cons of Marketplacer

Costs

The license fee isn’t publicly available and businesses are required to reach out to the Marketplacer team for a personalized consultation and cost estimates. Furthermore, the platform doesn’t offer a trial version, which may pose challenges for businesses when planning their implementation budget.

Require technical skills

While this platform offers a user-friendly interface, it may pose challenges for users who are not familiar with building and operating an eCommerce marketplace. Therefore, the implementation process will require businesses to have technical expertise, or they can seek specialized assistance to efficiently build and optimize the platform.

Limited customization

Despite its flexibility and high degree of customization, Marketplacer’s ability to meet the highly complex deployment needs of large-scale eCommerce systems may pose challenges.

Support 

This platform provides 24/7 support services and offers learning resources, but there is room for improvement in the quality and responsiveness of their support. Plus, as an Australian-based company primarily serving the Australian market, some of their terminology might be less clear to international customers.

To successfully build and operate a thriving eCommerce marketplace, the first thing businesses need to do is choose a platform. This platform is one of the standout platforms that businesses should consider.

Feel free to contact or call SECOMM’s hotline at (028) 7108 9908 for free consultations.

The global business landscape has faced significant challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In response to this, many businesses across various sectors, particularly in the Baby industry, have prioritized the implementation of eCommerce strategies to connect with online customers and drive sales. Furthermore, to align with the broader economic trends, these retailers have transitioned from traditional business models to robust eCommerce operations to ensure growth and market expansion.

The following list showcases 15 successful Baby brands in Vietnam and around the world that have effectively adopted eCommerce websites, thus facilitating the swift participation of numerous other businesses.

1. Ava Kids 

Ava Kids is the Baby eCommerce website of The Gioi Di Dong Corporation, offering a range of enticing online shopping benefits to customers. These include a 1-month return policy, complimentary shipping, special discounts for new customers, a rewards program, and informative guides for maternal and child health care.
Having been in operation for over a year, Ava Kids’ eCommerce website now enjoys over 2.1 million monthly visitors and has expanded its offline store network from 5 to 66 outlets.

• Website: https://www.avakids.com/
• Platform: PHP language
• Traffic: 2.1M/month
• Ranking: 560 (Vietnam) & 30,546 (Worldwide)

2. Con Cưng 

Established in 2011, Con Cung has grown to become Vietnam’s leading retail chain specializing in products for expectant mothers and babies, boasting over 700 stores across the country.

In recent years, Con Cung has made significant strides in developing its eCommerce website, catering to the online shopping demands of its customers. This expansion has enabled them to provide a rich shopping experience with a wide range of enticing offers, flexible payment methods, and 1-hour delivery services.

• Website: https://concung.com/
• Platform: PHP language
• Traffic: 1.3M/month
• Ranking: 891 (Vietnam) & 48,776 (Worldwide)

3. Kids Plaza

Founded in 2009, Kids Plaza is a major player in the eCommerce competition for the Baby industry. Kids Plaza has built an eCommerce website on the Magento platform to efficiently manage a vast and diverse product catalog. The brand consistently runs enticing promotional campaigns, offering gift-with-purchase deals, flash sales, buy-5-get-1-free offers, and a loyalty points system for redeemable rewards. These efforts have significantly driven up website traffic during promotional events, making Magento’s customization and scalability features indispensable for handling sudden surges in visitor numbers. On average, the website garners approximately 1 million visits per month.

• Website: https://www.kidsplaza.vn/
• Platform: Magento
• Traffic: 1M/month
• Ranking: 1,316 (Vietnam) & 67,544 (Worldwide)

4. Bibo Mart 

Founded in 2006, Bibo Mart, a retail chain dedicated to serving expectant mothers and babies, offers a diverse range of products, including maternity clothing, diapers, formula, and strollers. Just like its competitors, Bibo Mart is a strong contender in the eCommerce race.

To enhance the customer shopping experience, Bibo Mart opted for Magento Enterprise Edition (aka Adobe Commerce) to develop a custom eCommerce website. This platform enables the implementation of attractive promotions and a Loyalty Program. Presently, the website enjoys more than 500,000 monthly visitors.

• Website: https://bibomart.com.vn/
• Platform: Magento Enterprise Edition (Adobe Commerce)
• Traffic: 518K/month
• Ranking: 2,216 (Vietnam) & 109,496 (Worldwide)

5. Shop Trẻ Thơ 

Shop Trẻ Thơ stands as a well-known brand in the Maternity & Baby sector. The company is dedicated to establishing and advancing its eCommerce website alongside its network of 22 physical stores. This strategic move is aimed at staying in sync with the online shopping trend and securing a competitive edge in the realm of eCommerce.

Beyond a diverse product catalog, Shop Trẻ Thơ offers various enticing incentives to encourage online shopping, such as Buy 1 Get 1, cost-saving combos, gifts with purchase, discounts for new customers, and more. Currently, the website maintains a stable traffic of over 100,000 visitors per month.

• Website: https://shoptretho.com.vn/
• Platform: PHP language
• Traffic: 133K/month
• Ranking: 9,242 (Vietnam) & 431,259 (Worldwide)

6. Tuticare  

Tuticare is considered a prominent brand in the Maternity & Baby industry with a chain of 55 stores across Vietnam. Tuticare’s products undergo stringent checks, from their origins to their quality, providing a sense of assurance to mothers during their shopping experience. 

The company has started an eCommerce website to provide customers with an optimized online shopping experience, along with various attractive programs and offers like a Tuti Gift Card, a subscription for diapers and milk, and more. Additionally, Tuticare offers diverse payment options, including eWallets and buy now pay later.

• Website: https://www.tuticare.com/
• Platform: PHP language
• Traffic: 113.7K/month
• Ranking: 9,304 (Vietnam) & 435,124 (Worldwide)

7. Mothercare 

Mothercare, a brand focused on Baby products from the United Kingdom, offers a diverse range of fashion and essential items for expectant mothers and children of various age groups. Despite its recent inception, Mothercare has rapidly garnered attention, primarily due to its commitment to providing high-quality products at affordable prices.

The Mothercare website is strategically developed using the Magento platform, effectively catering to the online shopping preferences of their customers. Beyond attractive promotional programs, the Mothercare website also provides valuable insights on caring for newborns and young children through its dedicated blog section.

• Website: https://www.mothercare.com.vn/
• Platform: Magento
• Traffic: 28.8K/month
• Ranking: 14,558 (Vietnam) & 669,019 (Worldwide)

8. Soc & Brothers

Soc & Brothers is a rising name in the Baby eCommerce market, offering a diverse range of products for expectant mothers and children, including clothing, formula, diapers, strollers, and toys. The company has built an eCommerce website using Haravan and receives approximately 28,000 monthly visitors. Moreover, Soc & Brothers has implemented a Loyalty Program with three tiers: Silver, Gold, and Diamond, which can be utilized for purchases and point accumulation both at their offline retail stores and various online channels.

• Website: https://www.snbshop.vn/
• Platform: Haravan
• Traffic: 28.1K/month
• Ranking: 46,426 (Vietnam) & 1,950,408 (Worldwide)

9. Carter’s

Carter’s is a well-known children’s clothing brand in the North American region. Carter’s offers a wide range of products suitable for children of all ages, heights, and weights. Their website is built on Salesforce Commerce Cloud and features a primary color scheme of blue and white, emphasizing minimalism and cuteness. Currently, the website receives about 8.4 million monthly visits. Moreover, customers can purchase physical or eGift cards through the website, which can be customized in terms of design, value, and personal messages.

• Website: https://www.carters.com/
• Platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 8.4M/month
• Ranking: 1,127 (USA) & 5,584 (Worldwide)

10. Hanna Andersson

Hanna Andersson is a well-known Swedish brand that specializes in children’s clothing, offering beautiful designs and a wide range of styles, sizes, and types of clothing, from everyday wear to sleepwear and swimwear. Hanna Andersson’s eCommerce website is built and developed using the Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform and garners more than 1.4 million monthly visitors. Hanna provides a personalized shopping experience by inviting its customers to participate in clothing selection consultations, parenting advice, and direct communication for new customers.

• Website: https://www.hannaandersson.com/
• Platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 1.4M/month
• Ranking: 5,908 (USA) & 32,358 (Worldwide)

11. OshKosh B’gosh 

OshKosh, a globally beloved children’s clothing brand, has achieved significant success by utilizing Salesforce Commerce Cloud to create an eCommerce website that delivers an exceptional online shopping experience. Presently, the website receives more than 900,000 monthly visitors and provides numerous appealing shopping incentives to its customers, including a rewards program that offers unexpected gifts, birthday presents, and discount vouchers.

• Website: https://www.oshkosh.com/
• Platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 919.4K/month
• Ranking: 11,805 (USA) & 56,197 (Worldwide)

12. Janie and Jack 

Janie and Jack, another children’s fashion brand, has built an eCommerce website using the Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform. The company provides a wide variety of products for boys, girls, infants, as well as items such as jewelry and home decor. Notably, Janie and Jack has entered into a collaboration with Disney to offer fashion items featuring beloved Disney characters for children.

Additionally, the brand offers a gift-wrapping service that allows customers to select their preferred products, gift boxes, wrapping paper, and greeting cards. Customers can choose to wrap gifts themselves or take advantage of Janie and Jack’s professional gift-wrapping service.

• Website: https://www.janieandjack.com/home?lang=en
• Platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud
• Traffic: 764.8K/month
• Ranking: 9,339 (USA) & 51,103 (Worldwide)

13. Children Salon

Children Salon, established in 1952, is one of the leading brands in high-end fashion for children. They offer many products, including clothing, shoes, and hats for boys, girls, and teenagers. The company specializes in designing and producing children’s fashion collections for top global brands such as Versace, Givenchy, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, and more. Additionally, customers who purchase these designer products on the Children Salon website can enjoy discounts of up to 60%.

Children Salon’s eCommerce website is built on the Magento platform, featuring advanced functions like filtering products by size and age, displaying available sizes, and currency conversion for product prices, among others. The website currently receives over 600,000 monthly visits.

• Website: https://www.childrensalon.com/
• Platform: Magento
• Traffic: 647.5K/month
• Ranking: 56,386 (USA) & 90,938 (Worldwide)

14. Motherhood Maternity

Motherhood Maternity’s eCommerce website is a well-known and trusted fashion shopping destination for expectant mothers. The website, built on the Shopify platform, garners around 400,000 monthly visits.

Beyond its wide array of clothing and supportive accessories, Motherhood offers an “Expert Guide” section dedicated to sharing valuable knowledge about prenatal healthcare. Furthermore, the “Preggie Perks” program allows customers who shop on the website to have the chance to receive discount vouchers or unique gifts, conveniently delivered with their products to their doorstep.

• Website: https://www.motherhood.com/
• Platform: Shopify
• Traffic: 426.8K/month
• Ranking: 17,468 (USA) & 98,316 (Worldwide)

15. HATCH Collection  

HATCH Collection, a renowned global brand, specializes in offering fashion and beauty products for expectant mothers. Despite its establishment in 2011, the brand has chosen to maintain only two physical stores in California and New York, as HATCH’s primary focus lies in online retail. 

Operating through its eCommerce website, HATCH has introduced several programs  for their customers. One notable initiative is “NIKKI’s List,” wherein customers respond to specific questions, enabling HATCH to generate personalized product recommendations. The HATCH website is constructed and managed using the Shopify platform and receives approximately 223,000 monthly visits.

• Website: https://www.hatchcollection.com/
• Platform: Shopify
• Traffic: 223.7K/month
• Ranking: 40,787 (USA) & 204,740 (Worldwide)

The surge of the Covid-19 pandemic has made a significant impact on consumer shopping habits, particularly in the Baby sector, where a profound shift from offline to online shopping has been witnessed.

Presented here are 15 eCommerce websites, showcasing leading brands in the Mother & Baby industry, both in Vietnam and internationally. These brands exemplify their adaptability in capturing consumer trends and their commitment to enhancing technological infrastructure to compete for a share in the billion-dollar market.

With a track record of successfully implementing eCommerce solutions for a diverse clientele across various countries in recent years, SECOMM specializes in offering expert consultation and tailored eCommerce deployment solutions, tailored to the specific requirements of each industry.

For a free consultation, contact us or call directly to the SECOMM hotline at (02871089908).

Unlike building eCommerce websites for simpler models like B2C or B2B, implementing an online marketplace requires a higher level of technical knowledge, programming skills, database management, system administration, and more.

In this article, SECOMM will share the essential steps for successfully developing an eCommerce marketplace, from market research and business planning to designing an appealing user interface, developing functional systems, and more.

1. Conduct market research and business planning

Market research and business planning are essential and indispensable initial steps in starting an eCommerce marketplace or any business operation.

Here are some considerations for businesses when undertaking these activities:

• Understanding customers and market needs: Market research helps businesses gain a better understanding of their target customers, competitors, and industry-influencing factors. By exploring customer needs, preferences, and shopping behaviors, businesses can make strategic decisions to create the best online shopping experience and seize effective business opportunities.
• Setting goals and business strategies: Business planning helps companies identify specific objectives and devise strategies to achieve them. Companies need to define their core and secondary products/services, market access strategies, customer engagement approaches, and competitive value creation methods. A business plan helps create a detailed roadmap for how the business will build, develop, and operate its eCommerce marketplace.
• Defining USP (Unique Selling Point): Market research allows businesses to comprehend the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors. This helps businesses identify distinctive features and competitive value that their brand can provide to attract customers. Determining the USP enables businesses to leverage these elements in branding, marketing, and operational strategies to gain a competitive advantage in the eCommerce marketplace.
• Risk and financial management: Creating a financial plan and managing risks before embarking on the online marketplace development process is crucial. Businesses need to evaluate the financial resources and requirements for project implementation and establish long-term financial plans to ensure the sustainability of the business.

2. Select eCommerce platform

The eCommerce platform is a crucial element in the process of building an online marketplace. If the right choice is not made from the beginning, businesses may find themselves entangled in the whirlpool of technology when implementing their marketplace.

Typically, there are two types of eCommerce platforms for businesses to choose from: SaaS and Open Source.

SaaS platform

SaaS (Software as a Service) eCommerce platforms are a software distribution model for building websites.

In this model, data is stored on the provider’s server, and the platform is responsible for handling technical aspects for businesses. Some popular SaaS platforms today include Haravan, Shopify, BigCommerce, and more.

• Pros: User-friendly, quick development time, high security, 24/7 customer support.
• Cons: Increasing development costs over time, limited customization, functionality, and scalability, and businesses may not own the source code and data.

Open-source platform

An Open Source platform, or open-source software, is software with publicly available source code that anyone can use for free. Open-source platforms are an optimal choice for businesses looking to develop complex eCommerce systems, especially tailored to the specific needs of an online marketplace.

Prominent examples of Open Source online marketplaces include Magento, WooCommerce (a plugin for WordPress), OpenCart, and more.

• Pros: These platforms offer high levels of customization and scalability, a wide range of additional features and utilities, and businesses have ownership of the source code and data.
• Cons: They are not very user-friendly, involve high development costs, and require extended deployment times.

Each platform type has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, businesses should either have an in-house team or collaborate with an experienced and highly skilled eCommerce marketplace development agency to effectively advise on the selection, development, and operation of the chosen platform.

3. Outsource or build an in-house team

The initial decision regarding resource allocation for starting an eCommerce marketplace system has a profound impact on a company’s early business direction. Companies can choose to either collaborate with specialised development firms or establish their own in-house teams.

Opting for an in-house team entails investing time and budget into the recruitment and training of staff. However, it provides effective resource management, enabling businesses to adapt and develop the online marketplace system in alignment with their original vision.

Alternatively, when companies decide to seek external partners, they need to collaborate with various firms to identify the most reputable one. However, upon finding a partner with extensive practical experience in marketplaces across multiple platforms, businesses benefit from consultations and a multitude of solutions from diverse perspectives even before system development begins.

Moreover, these firms possess a wealth of experience in promptly addressing emerging issues during system development and operation. This not only ensures that the requirements are met as anticipated but also facilitates valuable knowledge and experience exchange among all parties involved.

4. Design UI/UX

The User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are often considered two inseparable aspects in the process of designing the interface for an eCommerce marketplace.

Here are the key steps in the UI/UX design process:

• User Research: Research and gain a deep understanding of the target user audience, including demographic information, behaviour, needs, and expectations. This helps the business identify important elements to focus on and design accordingly.
• Create Wireframes: Wireframes are simplified outlines of the website’s structure and layout, helping the business determine the placement of interface elements such as menus, buttons, images, and content containers. Wireframes provide an overview of the interface and assist in building the basic layout for the marketplace.
• Optimize User Experience (UX): Ensure the website is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and meets user needs, such as enhancing interactivity, mobile-friendliness, optimizing page loading speed, and more.
• User Interface (UI) Design: Create UI components such as buttons, menus, forms, images, and graphics that align with the brand. Make sure to use appropriate colors, fonts, and images to create a professional interface with a touch of the brand’s identity.
• Testing and Evaluation: After completing the UI/UX design, conduct testing with a user group or use testing tools to assess the effectiveness of the interface.

5. Design architecture and database

Starting from business requirements, the technical team will build the system architecture for the eCommerce marketplace based on the appropriate technology framework or platform. Various architectures can be used, such as three-tier architecture, microservices architecture, hybrid architecture, headless architecture, etc. Each type of architecture has its own advantages and limitations, so businesses need to carefully consider and work with experts on the team or partners to choose the most suitable system architecture for each stage.

Another equally important next step is to establish security and data management. Businesses need to define security measures to protect user data, payment information, and other critical data. Ensure that data is encrypted and transmitted securely via an SSL connection. Implement data protection measures such as access control, user authentication, data encryption, and data integrity checks.

Depending on the operating model of the marketplace, system and database design may need to be customized to be suitable and effective.

6. Develop functional system

After completing the essential functional systems, businesses should continue to develop specific features for their online marketplace, such as:

Operator Portal: Full control of platform information, including seller management, product categorization, customer segments, supply chain management, ad content control, and more.

• User Groups and Administrative Levels: Categorizing users into various groups and granting different permissions to different users.
• Supply Chain Management: Warehouse and inventory management, assisting sellers in order fulfilment by routing orders, and more. 
• Marketing Tools: A range of tools support marketing strategies, including search advertising, live streaming, gamification, and more.
• User Experience Personalization: The ability to display personalized products such as favorites, similar products, past purchases, and facilitate order communication with sellers.
• Analysis and Reporting: Analyzing and measuring the performance of the online marketplace to develop future business strategies.
• Integration with Other Systems: Seamless integration with external systems.

Seller Portal: Sellers self-manage their presence in the marketplace, including product listings, orders, and activities, etc

• Category and Product Management: Add, edit, delete product categories and products within categories; manage product attributes and variations (color, size, etc.); manage inventory quantities.
• Content Management: Create and optimize content, including text, images, videos, banners, widgets, templates, branding, messaging, and more.
• Order Management: View order lists and their statuses. Track shipments and deliveries. Update order status (processing, delivered, canceled, etc.).
• Advertising and Promotions: Display advertisements, banners, promotions on the website. Manage discount codes, promotional programs, and more.
• Payment Integration and Transaction Processing: Integrate payment gateways for online payment processing. Confirm and track payment transactions.

Customer Portal: Allow users to perform and manage basic information such as phone numbers, email addresses, delivery addresses, adjust payment options, request quotes, manage shopping lists, check order status, etc.

• Account Registration and Management: Register new user accounts (buyers and sellers), log in, and manage personal information, delivery addresses, payment methods, etc.
• Product Search and Viewing: Search for products by keywords, categories, brands, etc. View detailed product information, including images, descriptions, prices, ratings, and more.
• Cart and Checkout: Add products to the cart; edit product quantities, remove products from the cart, calculate and display the total amount in the cart; select payment methods; enter payment information and delivery address; confirm and place orders. 
• Reviews and Comments: Rate and write reviews about products; view reviews and comments from other users.
• Customer Support: Provide contact channels for customers to ask questions, request assistance; offer real-time support through direct chat, email, phone, and more.

7. Q/C Testing

Whether you’re building an in-house team or enlisting the services of external development agencies, the quality testing phase of a project holds immense significance. This critical stage is where businesses validate that the system functions as expected and complies with the initial requirements.

Step 1: Define Testing Objectives

Identify the objectives and scope of the testing process. Set specific criteria and requirements that the business wants to verify to ensure the platform operates accurately and meets the specified requirements.

Step 2: Test Planning

Determine a detailed test plan, including test cases, scenarios, and data. Identify the resources, timeline, and scope of the testing phases.

Step 3: Functional Testing

Verify all website functions to ensure they are working correctly as expected. If the business’s website supports multiple languages and regions, it should also verify compatibility and display of each feature in different geographical areas.

Step 4: User Interface (UI) Testing

Ensure the interface is designed beautifully and user-friendly. Evaluate information display, buttons, links, and user experience on various devices, including mobile and tablet.

Step 5: Browser Compatibility Testing

Test the website on popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge to ensure compatibility and correct display on all platforms.

Step 6: Performance Testing

Assess website performance, including page load speed, concurrent processing, and scalability. Ensure the website operates smoothly and can handle the expected traffic load.

Step 7: Security Testing

Examine the platform’s security by testing intrusion potential, data security, and user authentication. Verify security methods such as SSL, data encryption, and security certificates.

Step 8: Issue Resolution

Document and track any errors and issues that arise during testing. Identify the root causes, rectify the errors, and retest until the testing process is approved, and the entire system is ready for go-live and operation.

8. Golive

Go-live is the final stage in the process of starting an eCommerce marketplace when the system is officially launched and becomes operational.

To ensure a successful go-live process, businesses should prepare a checklist known as the Go-live checklist. This is a list of tasks that the deployment team needs to perform to prepare the system for go-live. The checklist includes task items, responsible individuals, status, and how they affect the system.

Pre-golive

• Prepare the Production environment and configure the domain.
• Ensure that the entire source code of the go-live preparation system is the final version of the quality testing process.
• Data migration: Execute the data migration process from the old system to the new system using the established method. Then, verify the data after migration to ensure the integrity and accuracy of data in the new system.
• Content update: Review website content, including text, images, videos, and other materials. Ensure that the content is displayed accurately without spelling or formatting error
• Backup all website data to ensure safety and data recovery capabilities when needed
• Identify and prepare customer guide and support materials

Finally Golive 

• Implement the transition process from the development environment to the actual production environment.
• Monitor website traffic and activities immediately after golive.
• Ensure system stability and performance throughout the go-live process.

Post-golive

• Monitor and analyze user feedback
• Address issues and problems that arise post-go-live
• Ensure the system’s stability and performance over an extended period after golive
• Ensure compatibility of integrations with external systems
• Train employees and managers to use and maintain the system effectively

9. Continuously update & develop features

Regularly updating the system is important for businesses to adapt to the ever-changing customer needs, improve customer experience, stay abreast of emerging technology trends, enhance competitiveness, and more. Moreover, continuous bug fixes and security patch updates enhance the brand’s credibility, safeguard users from internet threats, and so on. 

Moreover, the development of new features empowers businesses to capitalize on market opportunities and scale their operations more professionally. For example, after a period of operation and accumulating a specific customer base, businesses can introduce features tailored to loyal customers. 

Running a thriving marketplace involves a multitude of factors, such as the business model, financial capabilities, and building strategic partnerships with diverse brands. However, a well-functioning eCommerce platform with high performance plays a vital role in the path to success. The journey of marketplace development is anything but straightforward. It requires substantial investments of time and resources for thorough research and the seamless alignment of solutions with each development phase.

Recognizing the challenges and hurdles that businesses face during the process of starting their eCommerce marketplace, feel free to contact or call SECOMM directly at (02871089908) for a free consultation.

PIM is an essential management system that helps synchronize product information across various systems like ERP, POS, CRM, SCM, etc., and a brand’s global sales channels. It’s considered the powerful ‘right hand’ of large corporations for comprehensive information management. 

1. What is PIM?

PIM or Product Information Management is a system or platform used to collect, organize and manage detailed product information for businesses. PIM includes information such as product descriptions, images, prices, product attributes, customer ratings and reviews. 

PIM systems often integrate data from ERP, CRM, POS, and other business management systems related to a company’s products. Once integrated, shared data. 

Related article: What is POS? Why your eCommerce business need it?

2. Benefits of using PIM software 

Managing product information correctly

PIM software allows businesses to accurately and consistently collect, organize, and manage product information. This ensures that product information is updated correctly and comprehensively across all sales channels, from eCommerce websites, mobile apps, and social media to marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, Amazon, and more. When accurate product information is provided to customers, businesses can enhance trust and reputation for their brand. 

Saving time and resources

A PIM system automates the processes of data entry, processing, and product information distribution. This saves time and effort for employees while reducing the risk of errors compared to manual data entry. With more efficient workflows in place, PIM allows employees to focus on other, more critical tasks. 

Enhancing analytical and measurement capabilities

PIM software enables efficient analysis and measurement of product information. By monitoring, evaluation, and data analysis of product details, businesses can gain insights into the performance of marketing campaigns, consumer trends, customer behaviors, and more. Therefore, this empowers them to make more informed and effective business decisions for the future. 

3. Top 5 PIM software for Vietnamese businesses 

Akeneo

Akeneo is a widely embraced PIM platform known for its broad range of services, including open-source PIM and cloud-based PIM systems, etc. 

Currently, Akeneo offers three primary PIM solution packages:

• Community Edition: Free of charge – Designed for small and medium-sized enterprises looking to efficiently manage and distribute product information at a minimal cost.
• Growth Edition: Starting at $25,000 per year – Tailored for mid-sized companies aiming to unlock the potential of product information management.
• Enterprise Edition: Pricing upon request – Catered to large corporations in need of a specialized PIM system. 

Pros:

• Effective product information management: Akeneo enables businesses to easily manage product information, from data input to classification and organization, creating a precise and consistent source of product data.
• High integration: Akeneo seamlessly integrates with other systems such as ERP, CRM, POS, and eCommerce platforms (Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, etc).
• Scalability: Akeneo provides APIs and an open development framework, allowing businesses to expand and customize the PIM platform based on their specific needs.

Cons:

• High costs: The cost of using Akeneo is relatively high compared to other PIM systems.
• Complexity: Akeneo has some highly complex features that require time and expertise to effectively implement. Moreover, training employees and managing the Akeneo PIM system may demand a certain investment.
• Customer support: Some users find that Akeneo’s customer support can only address general knowledge and may not be able to resolve technical issues or address industry-specific concerns for each brand.

 1WorldSync

1WorldSync is a company that specializes in providing solutions for managing product information and synchronizing product data for large enterprises. Their platform is built on a global network for product data synchronization, connecting suppliers, retailers, distributors, and various stakeholders worldwide.

1WorldSync currently offers four customizable solutions tailored to the needs of large enterprises:

• Base: Geared towards businesses looking for quick and efficient global product content management.
• Plus: Leverages product content to boost marketing strategies and sales initiatives, and ensures compliance with transparent information policies.
• Pro: Delivers a visual data solution along with premium support services for setting up and managing high-quality product portfolios.
• Premier: Enhances brand visibility in the eCommerce market through carefully curated. high-quality content.

Pros:

• Comprehensive product information management: 1WorldSync offers a robust platform for managing product information, including images, descriptions, technical attributes, barcodes, and other details. This helps businesses efficiently maintain and update product information.
• Global product data synchronization: 1WorldSync establishes a global network for product data synchronization, enabling businesses to connect and share product information with partners and customers worldwide. This network ensures the consistency of product information across various sales channels.
• Enhancing customer experience: By providing detailed, accurate, and consistent product information across sales channels, 1WorldSync improves the shopping experience and product evaluations for customers.

Cons: 

• High costs: Since 1WorldSync is a PIM system designed for each business, the cost of using 1WorldSync can be relatively high
• Complex regulations and standards: Businesses must ensure that managing and sharing product information on 1WorldSync complies with legal regulations and standards, such as privacy rights, data protection, and industry standards.
• Complex and user-unfiendly: The interface and workflow on 1WorldSync can be relatively complex and challenging to understand for new users. It requires time and resources to train employees and adapt to the new system.

Sales Layer

Sales Layer is a PIM platform tailored for efficient product data management across medium and large businesses on a global scale. This PIM solution is designed with customization in mind, and its pricing varies depending on specific business needs, with a starting cost of $1,000 per month.

Sales Layer currently offers several solution packages, including:

• Premium: An ideal choice for businesses seeking a swift and sustainable PIM system implementation.
• Enterprise: A comprehensive solution providing all the essential features for elevating a medium-sized business into a global enterprise.
• Enterprise Plus: A specialized PIM solution adept at effortlessly handling intricate data challenges within businesses.

Pros:

• Centralized product information management: The Sales Layer provides a centralized platform for managing product information, ensuring data consistency.
• Workflow and process control: Sales Layer offers tools for managing workflows and work processes to organize and manage product information updates and approvals, guaranteeing data quality.
• Rapid information retrieval and search: The Sales Layer incorporates algorithms that enable swift retrieval and searching of information to meet specific user demands.

Cons: 

• Complex implementation process: One of the drawbacks of the Sales Layer is its relatively intricate deployment and initial configuration, especially for businesses with existing and large-scale systems.
• Specialized training requirements: Sales Layer may necessitate a certain amount of training time to become familiar with the interface and functionalities of this PIM system. Training employees and ensuring proficiency in using the Sales Layer can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.
• Limited technical support: In the event of issues or technical problems, support from the Sales Layer may not fully meet expectations or provide a quick resolution.

Salsify

Salsify is a cloud-based product information management (PIM) platform that offers businesses a solution to efficiently manage and distribute product information across various sales channels. Salsify functions as a software a service (SaaS) application, with usage costs tailored to each business, typically ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 per month. 

Pros:

• Comprehensive workflow management: Salsify offers the capacity to manage workflow procedures, permitting the adaptation, monitoring, and endorsement of alterations in product data, guaranteeing accuracy and proficient control of work processes.
• Multilingual and multiregional compatibility: Salsify backs the management of product data in several languages and geographic regions, facilitating effective expansion into international markets.
• Seamless integration with various systems: Salsify permits integration with diverse business management systems and tools like ERP, CRM, SCM, POS, and more, streamlining business processes. 

Cons: 

• High deployment and maintenance costs: The initial deployment and ongoing maintenance expenses for a PIM system on Salsify can be relatively high compared to other PIM systems. This might impact a business’s long-term financial resources.
• Initial data input challenges: Importing initial product data and information into Salsify can be challenging and time-consuming, particularly when dealing with a large volume of product details from various sources. This process requires meticulous attention to ensure accuracy.
• Complexity in usage: Salsify offers a wide array of features and product management capabilities, but it also comes with a corresponding level of of complexity. Learning how to use Salsify effectively may necessitate time spent delving into guides and documentation.

inRiver

inRiver is a PIM system developed to efficiently manage and distribute product information across various sales channels and different eCommerce platforms such as Adobe Commerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc. The cost of using inRiver is approximately $1,000 per month. 

Pros:

• Product variations management: inRiver supports the management of information regarding product variations, including color options, sizes, styles, and other details. inRiver enables comprehensive and diverse product information display, effectively meeting customer needs.
• Integration with DAM support: inRiver supports integration with Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems, allowing the management and linkage of digital assets such as images, videos, and product-related documents. This enhances the management and distribution of multimedia content related to products.
• High scalability: inRiver is designed to expand its capabilities according to a business’s specific requirements, catering to diverse business needs and objectives.

Cons: 

• Complex user interface: Some users may find it challenging to navigate River’s user interface due to its relatively complex nature, requiring training to become familiar with and use effectively.
• Resource-intensive PIM system implementation: Implementing and maintaining inRiver demands a highly skilled workforce.
• Complex customization capabilities: Customizing and integrating inRiver with existing systems and workflows can be intricate and require technical expertise. This can result in difficulties and increased costs associated with system integration and customization.

Above is a summary of the top 5 PIM software options tailored for large-scale businesses, each with its own unique set of advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the requirements for PIM system development and budget considerations, companies can explore and select the most appropriate PIM solution. 

Get in touch with SECOMM for more information!

Recent statistics indicate that Vietnam has a population of 24.7 million children and roughly 24.2 million women of childbearing age. Moreover, with an annual birth rate of approximately 1.5 million children, Vietnam stands out as a prospective market for the baby industry. As a result, it comes as no surprise that many baby brands have been progressively establishing and expanding their stores year by year. Additionally, the industry benefits from the momentum created by the pandemic and the evolving trend of transitioning from offline to online shopping.

1. 3 reasons for baby brands to get on board with eCommerce

Adapt to market trends

While offline businesses experienced a downturn during the period of social distancing, leading to the contraction of many retail chains, online commerce has been flourishing. Even as society progresses towards a “reopening” phase in the post-pandemic world, the preference for online shopping remains strong. The demand for various products, spanning from timepieces, cosmetics, and groceries, to mom-and-baby essentials, on eCommerce websites and marketplaces continues to steadily surge.

Hence, the solution for Baby enterprises to align with market trends involves the implementation of an O2O (Online to Offline) model. This approach integrates offline sales (leveraging existing physical store networks) with online channels. Among these channels, establishing an eCommerce website is paramount for businesses to promptly deploy sales and marketing strategies, attracting customers and preventing potential loss to competitors.

Expand to customer outreach

When physical stores are constrained by location, staffing, and operating hours, online stores remain open and accessible from anywhere worldwide. This offers Baby businesses the opportunity to extend their reach to a large pool of potential customers on the Internet.

By implementing effective strategies like optimizing SEO, running advertising campaigns, or leveraging social media, Baby businesses can swiftly boost their brand recognition, attract a diverse clientele to their eCommerce website, and facilitate round-the-clock product sales.

2. Top Vietnamese Baby eCommerce sites

Con Cung 

Launched in 2011, the Con Cung retail chain quickly gained recognition and became the top choice for many Vietnamese families to shop for mom-and-baby products, offering a catalog of over 2000 items. In 2016, with the investments received, Con Cung significantly expanded its store chain from 100 in 2016 to 400 in 2020 (currently at 700 stores).

Recognizing the evolving consumer landscape with a shift from offline to online shopping, the brand proactively intensified its online retail efforts through its eCommerce website and mobile app, enriching the shopping experience for its customers. With this in mind, Con Cung has set an ambitious target of reaching 1 billion USD in revenue by 2023 and aims to capture a 30% market share, envisioning a 2 billion USD in revenue by 2025, with at least 30% coming from eCommerce.

Therefore, in recent times, Con Cung has made an effort to attract customers to its eCommerce website. They consistently promote various enticing programs, including “Monday Freeship Day” and the “Stuffed Animal Fiesta for 99K.”

Additionally, Con Cung has kept pace with the Mobile Commerce trend by introducing the ‘Con Cung’ mobile app, available on both App Store and Google Play. This app has garnered highly positive user feedback and currently ranks 24th in the Shopping category.

Particularly, this retailer’s delivery service has earned high praise from customers. With a network of over 700 stores across the country. Con Cung offers lighting-fast 1-hour delivery through its “Pink Warrior” delivery team. Beyond partnering with third-party delivery providers such as Grab Expres, Giao Hang Nhanh, Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, the brand also maintains a dedicated team of delivery warriors who cater to customer’s specific time preferences. 

Kids Plaza

Established in 2009, Kids Plaza offers more than 10,000 mom-and-baby products, certified safe for babies from top-notch brands in Vietnam and around the world. In the competitive race, Kids Plaza has consistently fortified its position by embracing the O2O business model.

This strategy involves harmoniously blending traditional in-store retail with a variety of online channels, including a dedicated website, eCommerce platforms, Zalo stores, mobile applications, and more. Kids Plaza has rolled out enticing customer loyalty programs such as Kicoin, the convenient Freeship policy covering a 7km radius for all purchasing channels, and exclusive discounts for expectant mothers when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. 

Customers aren’t only satisfied by the seamless shopping experience, affordable prices, and appealing promotional offers but also by exceptional product quality. All products undergo strict quality control before being officially offered for sale to provide the best experience and service, ensuring customers’ peace of mind while shopping. 

Kids Plaza also demonstrates its care for expectant moms and babies through programs like the free antenatal classes, which have been conducted for over a decade and have successfully aided numerous mothers during their childbirth journeys. Moreover, the brand hosts annual community events and maintains an insightful knowledge-sharing blog to help elevate health awareness among both mothers and children.

Bibo Mart

The mom-and-baby retail chain, Bibo Mart, was established in 2006 and specializes in offering a wide range of products for mothers and babies, including maternity clothing, diapers, formula, and strollers. Similar to Con Cung and Kids Plaza, Bibo Mart hasn’t lagged behind in the eCommerce race. After years of operation and growth, Bibo Mart has identified a new vision for investing in an eCommerce system to meet the online shopping needs of its customers.

Currently, online sales at Bibo Mart account for 14.5% of the total revenue and are expected to increase to over 30% in the next five years. Beyond frequently offering attractive incentives to encourage customers to shop on their website and app, Bibo Mart has introduced a loyalty program with four tiers: Loyal, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. Customers are assigned membership ranks based on their specified spending levels and earn BiXu points for continued exclusive benefits.

Notably, customers can use a QR code on the app to scan for product info or accumulate points when shopping in physical stores. Bibo Mart also demonstrates its commitment to its customers by providing maternal and childcare knowledge through blogs and free online seminars and classes for mothers as well as those caring for their health during pregnancy and postpartum. 

The potential of the Baby eCommerce market in Vietnam is enormous, and the success of major players like Con Cung, Kids Plaza, and Bibo Mart has encouraged the participation of other businesses. However, for a Baby eCommerce business to succeed, it’s important to build a comprehensive and feasible strategy, both short-term and long-term. Particularly, eCommerce websites and mobile apps are the two crucial keys that determine the success or failure of a business in the eCommerce race.

Having partnered with many businesses in implementing eCommerce websites and apps over the years, SECOMM has accumulated practical experience to assist businesses in swift and effective deployment.

Feel free to contact us or call SECOMM’s hotline at (02871089908) for a free consultation.

BigCommerce and Magento are trusted names representing two types of eCommerce platforms: SaaS and Open Source. The demand for developing eCommerce websites on these platforms is increasing. However, deciding between the two is a complex task. 

This article aims to highlight the pros and cons of each and provide a thorough comparison, helping you as a business make informed decisions.

1. Overview

What is BigCommerce?

BigCommerce is a robust SaaS eCommerce platform, boasting an array of integrated features packaged to accommodate businesses of all scales and technical proficiencies. This platform facilitates the swift development of eCommerce websites. Beyond its inherent capabilities, BigCommerce extends a diverse suite of tools and extensions covering sales, marketing, SEO, data analytics, and transformation, empowering businesses to drive eCommerce growth. 

What is Magento?

Magento (now owned by Adobe) is an open-source eCommerce platform that empowers businesses with full control over developing and managing their eCommerce websites. Known for its high level of customization and scalability, Magento offers a wide range of advanced features and extensions, making it an ideal choice for meeting the complex requirements of large-scale enterprises with ample budgets and a certain level of technical expertise. Magento currently comes in two main versions:

• Magento Open Source: the free version
• Adobe Commerce: the paid version with two options, on-premise and on-cloud.

2. BigCommerce vs Magento: Pros and Cons

BigCommerce

Pros:

• User-friendly and easy-to-navigate interface
• Suitable for businesses of all sizes
• Comes with a rich set of integrated features
• Offers a variety of reasonable pricing plans
• Includes 65 popular global payment methods integrated with BigCommerce at no transaction cost
• Offers a diverse selection of themes and extensions

Cons:

• Sales volume restrictions apply
• Deployment costs tend to rise over time
• Customization options are limited

Magento

Pros:

• Ideal for large enterprises with complex customization needs and ample budgets
• High customization and scalability
• Diverse and advanced built-in features compared to SaaS platforms
• No sales volume limitations
• Wide range of available extensions

Cons:

• Requires a high level of technical expertise
• Lengthy deployment times
• high initial costs

3. BigCommerce vs Magento: Detailed Comparison

Ease of Use

Ease of use of a platform is one of the primary considerations for an eCommerce business when selecting one. A platform with an intuitive interface that is easy to set up and manage allows businesses to focus on their core operations.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a SaaS platform, making it more accessible for businesses that may not possess technical expertise or have a strong tech background in building eCommerce websites. It eliminates the need for complex programming; businesses simply need to provide basic information to gain access to the BigCommerce dashboard, where they can configure and manage all aspects of their online store, from product additions to layout modifications. 

What’s more, BigCommerce offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop page builder that empowers businesses to create a storefront without the necessity of coding skills. Moreover, themes and extensions can be swiftly integrated with just a few clicks. 

Magento

On the other hand, Magento users should have a certain level of technical expertise to execute tasks during the setup of an eCommerce website, including configuring FTP files and integrating themes into the Magento website, among other things. Tasks like modifying themes, integrating extensions, applying security patches, and optimizing speed require coding skills.

Therefore, many businesses opt to collaborate with Magento agencies to develop and maintain their Magento eCommerce websites. However, following the initial technical setup challenges, businesses can readily customize attributes and functionalities for their websites through the platform’s backend. 

Pricing

BigCommerce

Magento

Hosting

BigCommerce

Being a SaaS platform, BigCommerce offers support for various hosting-related issues, ensuring an impressive average uptime of 99.99%, quick page loading, and minimal website maintenance. 

Magento

• Magento Open Source: Businesses purchase hosting from specialized third-party providers who are responsible for infrastructure setup, security, and maintenance, allowing businesses to focus on core operations.
• Adobe Commerce on-premise: Businesses have complete control over configuring and managing their in-house hosting environment, offering customization options to meet specific needs.

Adobe Commerce on-cloud: Hosting for the business’s Magento eCommerce site is provided, configured, managed, and stored on virtual servers offered by cloud service providers (CSPs) like AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Features

SEO

SEO is a crucial feature that every eCommerce website needs and it’s an important factor for businesses to consider when assessing a platform. Both BigCommerce and Magento offer essential SEO optimization features, which include:

• Google site maps
• SEO-friendly URLs
• URL rewriting
• Meta descriptions
• 301 redirect handling
• Mobile compatibility

However, BigCommerce includes a built-in ‘blog’ feature in its solution packages, while Magento requires businesses to integrate a ‘blog’ extension to use this feature.

Plus, businesses can enhance their website’s SEO by using extensions available in the Magento and BigCommerce marketplaces. It’s worth noting that Magento offers a wider range of advanced SEO tools, although the cost of Magento extensions may be higher than those available for BigCommerce.

Multiple channels integration

With this feature, BigCommerce excels over Magento by pre-integrating the most prevalent sales channels like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Facebook, and Instagram into all pricing plans. However, if businesses require integration with additional sales channels beyond these pre-set options, they can do so by utilizing apps from BigCommerce’s marketplace. 

On the other hand, Magento offers businesses the flexibility to implement multi-channel sales by integrating various desired sales channels into their eCommerce website, each with its own associated costs. Notably, Amazon integration can be done for free. 

Purchase flow

eCommerce businesses have to ensure a seamless, swift, and user-friendly customer buying journey, encompassing features like product search support and an effortless payment process. Both Magento and BigCommerce provide capabilities to facilitate online shopping, including

• Product filtering
• Product comparison
• Recently viewed items
• Wishlist
• One-page checkout
• Checkout as a member or visitor
• Real-time shipping rate calculation
• Multiple shipping addresses
• Order tracking via registered accounts
• Reordering

Payment options

BigCommerce provides businesses with 65 integrated payment gateways, including popular options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay, all with no transaction fee.

In contrast, Magento offers only PayPal and Authorize.net for payments, requiring businesses to integrate third-party payment providers for more choices. Magento’s marketplace features over 450 payment-related extensions with various costs, but businesses will need time to select and integrate them. 

Themes & Extensions

Aside from features, themes, and extensions also contribute significantly to the growth of an eCommerce website. Therefore, this is another factor that businesses take into account when selecting a platform.

BigCommerce

The platform provides 266 themes with prices ranging from $195 to $395, including 12 free themes. Businesses can purchase BigCommerce themes on ThemeForest at prices ranging from about $16 to $179.

These designs are modern, suitable for various industries, and offer good responsiveness across multiple screen sizes, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. However, when compared to other SaaS platforms like Wix or Squarespace, BigCommerce’s customization options and the quantity of both free and paid themes may appear relatively limited. Moreover, the exact count of free and paid themes might not be entirely precise, as some themes share very similar layouts, differing mainly in color schemes.

Magento

Unlike BigCommerce, Magento provides a limited selection of themes, with just 9 options available. Among these, only 3 themes are free, while the rest range in price from $150 to $499 each. If businesses opt to purchase Magento themes on ThemeForest, they can expect prices ranging from $39 to $299 per theme.

Moreover, businesses have the option to create custom interfaces tailored to their unique requirements by partnering with specialized providers, incurring costs typically ranging from $1000 to $5000. 

Regarding extensions, both BigCommerce and Magento offer extensive extension libraries to support businesses in growing their eCommerce stores. However, Magento has a slight edge in this regard.

Customization & Scalability

Customization involves the capacity to adjust any feature, theme, or integrated extensions to meet specific requirements for an eCommerce website. Scalability, on the other hand, refers to the ability to maintain platform performance as the eCommerce site expands. Therefore, these factors play a vital role in platform selection.

Customization

Magento operates as an open-source platform, giving developers full access to and control over the source code.

On the other hand, BigCommerce functions as a SaaS platform, restricting businesses from making backend modifications. While certain frontend interface adjustments are possible with a few code snippets, most modifications need to be done in the backend. Hence, BigCommerce’s customization is somewhat limited compared to Magento. 

Scalability

Both Magento and BigCommerce can handle large website traffic and sales volumes. However, Magento outperforms BigCommerce in this aspect, which is also why Magento doesn’t have sales volume limits. 

Meanwhile, BigCommerce imposes annual sales volume limits based on the pricing plan being used. When businesses reach the sales volume limit of their current pricing plan, they need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan.

• Standard: Up to $50k/year
• Plus: Up to $180K/year
• Pro: Up to $400K/year
• Enterprise: Custom 

Security

Both BigCommerce and Magento are prominent names in the eCommerce industry, trusted by numerous businesses for their security features. Nevertheless, when it comes to providing security-related assistance, these platforms exhibit notable differences.

As a SaaS platform, BigCommerce includes security support as an integral component of its solution packages. This encompasses SSL certificates, firewalls, backups, and intrusion detection. In case any complications arise during the eCommerce deployment process, businesses can readily access 24/7 customer support for swift assistance.

In contrast, due to Magento’s open-source nature, businesses bear the responsibility for managing the security aspects of their Magento eCommerce websites. This entails tasks such as overseeing SSL certificates, implementing two-factor authentication, and adhering to PCI compliance. Additionally, while Magento periodically releases security updates, the manual update process can pose challenges for users without technical expertise.

Magento’s support options also present limitations when compared to BigCommerce. Businesses can seek assistance during Magento’s specified operating hours or engage with third-party intermediaries, a potentially time-consuming and complex process.

Popularity

BigCommerce and Magento are both leading options for eCommerce businesses, but their levels of popularity differ somewhat.

According to BuiltWith, at the present time, there are 142,010 active websites using Magento, whereas there are only 44,796 active websites using BigCommerce.

Thus, when it comes to popularity, Magento has the upper hand.

Well-known brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, and Tesla utilize Magento, while renowned brands like Skullcandy, LARQ, and Molton Brown opt for BigCommerce.

After many years of implementing eCommerce solutions for clients all around the world, using both the BigCommerce and Magento platforms, SECOMM has gained invaluable experience in helping businesses develop and operate their eCommerce websites quickly and efficiently.

Contact us or call SECOMM’s hotline directly at (02871089908) for a free consultation on implementing eCommerce websites with BigCommerce or Magento.

Recently, the trend of Headless CMS deployment has significantly influenced the eCommerce landscape. The emergence of diverse platforms offering various solutions, features, and top-notch customer support can be attributed to this phenomenon. 

Building upon Part 1, this article highlights 5 more Headless CMS platforms that numerous large enterprises leverage to enhance their seamless multi-channel content distribution process.

1. Kontent.ai

Kontent.ai is a cloud-based Headless CMS platform that helps marketers simplify their content creation and management while providing developers the capability to deliver responsive digital experiences across various devices.

The platform offers support for developers through a range of APIs, including REST, GraphQL, Management v2, and Custom Element JavaScript. Furthermore, Kontent.ai is compatible with programming languages such as JavaScript, .NET, PHP, Java, Ruby, and iOS. 

Key features

• Webhooks allow businesses to integrate Kontent.ai with other applications and automate operational processes. Also, Webhooks can be programmed to notify when any changes occur.
• Command-line interface (CLI) supports continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD process), enabling businesses to safely and regularly test and deploy necessary changes.
• Real-time collaboration optimizes content planning with clear task assignments and shared publishing schedules for easy team tracking.
• Simultaneous Editing allows multiple team members to easily edit content without worrying about affecting the work of others.
• Web Spotlight supports the creation of new webpages for upcoming marketing campaigns, adding content, rearranging page elements without the need for developer assistance, and providing content reusability across multiple channels and campaigns.

Pros

• Quick technical support
• Seamless integration with third-party services to optimize the content creation, publishing, distribution, and marketing processes.

Cons

• Limitations in user roles and sometimes encountering obstacles when installing plugins.
• The lack of publicly available pricing makes it challenging for businesses to estimate deployment costs.
• The admin UI interface only supports English, which can be difficult for users who use other languages.

Pricing

Kontent.ai offers three solution packages

• Developer: Free, provides features suitable for non-commercial projects.
• Scale: Custom pricing based on needs, offers a rich set of features for creating and distributing engaging content.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on needs, provides superior solutions for delivering and managing seamless digital experiences.

2. Contentstack

Contentstack stands out as a leading Headless CMS platform, facilitating seamless content distribution across multiple channels and devices, ranging from websites, and mobile apps to IoT devices. It offers robust support for popular frameworks like REACT, Vue.js, Angular, and a variety of programming languages such as JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, and Python, among others. Moreover, Contentstack allows businesses to integrate with various platforms, including BigCommerce, Commercetools, Shopify, YouTube, Vimeo, and more.

Key features

• Workflow & Live Preview optimizes and expedites the content creation, review, approval, and publishing process. Additionally, it enables businesses to easily preview real-time content changes across multiple channels before saving or publishing.
• Modular Blocks help instantly create and modify website or app components through simple drag-and-drop actions, without relying on developer assistance.
• Localization for creating and publishing content in 200 languages, meeting the seamless content distribution needs of a global audience.
• Contentstack AI Assistant helps businesses enhance their content creation experiences. Moreover, businesses can integrate Contentstack with other AI applications to provide VR and AR experiences.
• Headless APIs allow businesses to flexibly build interfaces and select APIs tailored to their content goals.

Pros

• Integrating with various platforms and programming languages, including iOS and Ruby.
• Rich learning resources and user-friendly instructional materials.
• Fast content creation, publishing, and distribution.
• 24/7 customer support with a ready-to-use chatbot.

Cons

• Non-disclosed pricing makes it challenging to estimate deployment costs.
• Occasional issues with the WYSIWYG editor.
• Complex to deploy compared to other Headless CMS options.

Pricing

Contentstack offers businesses three solution packages:

• Start: 10 users, 30 content types, 4 system roles.
• Grow: 10 users, 50 content types, 5 system roles.
• Scale: 10+ users, unlimited content types, and system roles.

3. dotCMS

dotCMS is an open-source Headless CMS based on Java, offering numerous solutions and features that enable businesses to create and reuse content for building personalized and seamless digital experiences across channels. dotCMS supports APIs like REST and GraphQL and can integrate with platforms such as HubSpot, Google Analytics, Salesforce, and more.

Key features

• Allows businesses to manage the process of creating and publishing multilingual content with localization support for publishing according to local time and predefined schedules.
• Provides full content, layout, and workflow control through APIs and JSON data strings.
• WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor allows businesses to create content with text processor-like formatting.
• Offers  APIs for real-time image resizing, cropping, and manipulation. Additionally, dotCMS supports image optimization for user devices, such as automatic resizing and image compression in WebP format.

Pros

• Allows businesses to customize content and integrate with other platforms.
• Provides abundant learning resources and technical support.
• Offers quick customer support with a chatbot.

Cons

• Many concepts and features may require businesses to invest time in learning.
• The platform occasionally encounters errors.

Pricing

dotCMS offers three solution packages for users to choose from:

• Open Source: Free, suitable for individuals with simple needs and self-hosting.
• Starter: $3,750/month, designed for small businesses.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on needs, suitable for medium to large enterprises with advanced features and superior support.

4. Butter CMS

Butter CMS is a Headless CMS platform that simplifies content development and management for businesses. The platform supports frameworks such as React, Vue.js, Node.js, Angular, and various programming languages like PHP, Python, Java, Swift, Kotlin, Ruby, and more.

Key features

• Developer Experience: Butter offers a variety of tech stacks for developers to deploy as needed. Developers also can configure Webhooks in their account settings to receive notifications for any content-related changes. Especially with One-click Migrations, businesses can easily create schemas or move content within the Butter CMS environment through the dashboard.
• Launch Content Faster: Butter provides features to help businesses easily manage Content Types on a centralized dashboard and build landing pages to drive organic or advertising-generated traffic. Moreover, Butter CMS’s Blog Engine offers a set of APIs for businesses to add a blog to their website and fully customize it based on their needs.
• Localization: Businesses can create and publish multilingual content. Furthermore, administrators have language-specific access to specific local markets, ensuring a unified collaboration process among global marketing teams.

Pros

• One of the best user-friendly platforms for developers and content marketers.
• Provides a headless CMS solution for various content needs, including e-commerce businesses, agencies, SaaS companies, e-commerce marketplaces, and enterprises managing multiple websites simultaneously.
• Excellent customization capabilities.
• Offers integration support for various frameworks, programming languages, and more.
• Provides a chatbot for customer inquiries.
• Offers a 30-day trial for businesses.

Cons

• Many features and concepts but lack instructional videos, leading to difficulty in understanding and application.
• Limited features for creating dynamic and interactive content.

Pricing

Butter CMS offers a variety of solution packages, including

• Micro: $83/month, suitable for freelancers implementing small projects for their clients.
• Startup: $166/month, designed for startups to quickly launch projects to the market.
• Small Business: $333/month, for growing businesses with expanding content needs and running global advertising campaigns.
• Enterprise + Agency: Custom pricing based on specific requirements.

5. Builder.io

Builder.io is a Headless CMS platform that allows businesses to visually build and optimize web and mobile experiences. The platform supports developers with frameworks like React, Vue.js, Gatsby, and Next.js. Additionally, businesses can integrate Builder.io with popular platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce, Magento, Cloudinary, Yotpo, Commercetools, and more. 

Key features

• Integrate: Provides versatile and simultaneous integration capabilities. For example, it can integrate with Crowdin, Phrase, Smartling for content localization, BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento for eCommerce deployment, and Figma for design. Builder.io can even integrate with other CMS platforms like Contentstack, Contentful, and Kontent.ai.
• Compose: Utilizes drag-and-drop tasks to customize existing design systems. Builder.io offers blocks such as text, image, video, and forms to allow users to easily create custom experiences beyond the available default designs.
• Design: Offers responsive design capabilities, enabling users to customize content and layouts to suit various devices and create animations without the need for coding. Builder.io also supports integrating design layouts from Figma to streamline the design process.
• Collaborate: Easily customize system roles and permissions to enhance collaboration and real-time content creation tracking. Team members can initiate chat discussions, share ideas, and update work progress with each other.
• Optimize: Easily create multiple pages and different content for A/B testing without compromising website and app performance. It supports personalized content targeting. Furthermore, Builder.io provides analytics on click-through rates, conversions, and user interactions with published content. Businesses can also integrate data with other analysis systems like BI (Business Intelligence) and CDP (Customer Data Platform).

Pros

• A user-friendly platform suitable for both developers and non-technical users.
• Provides quick and seamless integration with various frameworks, programming languages, and more.
• Offers numerous options for businesses to optimize design and create content.
• Rich learning resources, including easy-to-understand video tutorials.
• Includes a chatbot for customer query resolution.

Cons

• Does not offer trial options for its solution packages.
• Being a relatively new platform, it may be challenging for businesses to find user experience reviews on forums.

Pricing

Builder.io offers a range of solution packages:

• Free: $0/month, for quick deployment.
• Basic: $99/month, includes all essential tools and features to get started.
• Growth: $449/month, encompasses all tools and features for optimization and growth.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on business needs.

So, SECOMM’s comprehensive overview of the top 10 Headless CMS platforms (P1+P2) has concluded, with the expectation that enterprises will find the platform that aligns with their development requirements. By adopting a Headless CMS, businesses can promptly establish an online presence and efficiently connect with numerous potential customers through compelling content distribution.

Feel free to get in touch with SECOMM or directly call our Hotline at (02871089908) for expert guidance and assistance in implementing a Headless CMS.

As new UI/UX design trends emerge, designers must stay up-to-date to create the most engaging and user-friendly interfaces for businesses. UI/UX design plays a vital role in crafting excellent user experiences and improving online business efficiency. 

In this article, SECOMM will discuss the latest UI/UX design trends for the year 2024 and beyond

1. What is UI/UX design?

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are often regarded as two interrelated aspects when it comes to designing interfaces for any online product or service, especially in the case of eCommerce websites.

UI design encompasses the creation of various elements like call-to-action buttons, navigation bars, charts, and images, all based on choices of colors, layouts, fonts, and more, to craft an intuitive, appealing, and visually engaging user interface. In design, UI serves as a means to convey messages from businesses and brands to their users.

On the other hand, User Experience (UX) involves the process of shaping the overall experience for users during their interaction with a product or service. This encompasses meeting user requirements for ease of use and functionality, strategizing and structuring information, designing interaction workflows, and assessing effectiveness through research on user habits and behaviors within eCommerce websites.

2. The role of UI/UX design in eCommerce

Impress your consumers

Expertly crafted UI/UX design can leave a lasting impact on users when they visit your eCommerce website. In the highly competitive eCommerce landscape, a remarkable UI/UX design can set your business apart and create a distinctive identity among market rivals.

Increase interactivity

Effective UI/UX design can help you enhance your interaction capabilities with consumers. For example, creating social media sharing buttons, user reviews, and intuitive search tools can streamline the customer’s journey to products and more.

Increase credibility and trust

A professional UI/UX design helps you establish trust with customers and cultivate a positive brand image. By offering clear security information, SSL certificates, and secure payment procedures, you can instill confidence in customers while mitigating the risks of personal data breaches and financial fraud.

Increase conversions

Starting with an investment in UI/UX design helps convert potential customers into actual customers. Through data analysis and user feedback, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of customer behavior and make interface adjustments to improve the user experience and overall business performance.

Related article: The 10 biggest eCommerce trends set to dominate in 2023

3. Top 10 UI/UX design trends

Dark Mode

Although the Dark Mode design trend isn’t new to website developers, it continues to be popular in 2023. The option to switch between light and dark modes offers users more flexibility when visiting an eCommerce website. Dark Mode enhances the browsing experience, especially for users who spend extended hours in front of screens. Furthermore, it can contribute to saving battery life on mobile devices or screens equipped with OLED displays.

3D Design

The 3D design trend is gaining more popularity in UI/UX design. 3D elements bring depth and realism to website interfaces, making them visually appealing and improving user interaction. UI/UX designers frequently utilize 3D elements for website components like CTA buttons, icons, banners, and backgrounds, or employ 3D animations for feedback and transition effects, creating a more engaging user experience that fosters a visual connection with users.

Neomorphism

Neumorphism is a design trend that blends aspects of both skeuomorphism and flat design. It creates a 3D effect by using shadow and highlight effects to achieve a sleek, modern look for websites. However, UI/UX designers must be cautious not to overuse neumorphism, as it can result in a cluttered, confusing interface or create effects contrary to what a business intends to convey.

Modern Minimalism

Modern Minimalism represents a UI/UX design trend that centers on crafting straightforward, user-friendly interfaces by removing extraneous elements and highlighting vital content. This style combines simplicity with modernity, providing users with a refined and user-friendly experience. The main challenge in implementing Modern Minimalism is finding the balance between simplicity and aesthetics, ensuring that the design remains both visually appealing and easy for users to navigate.

Dynamic Gradient

Dynamic Gradient is a design trend that produces color gradient effects that adapt according to user interactions or the time of day. It can offer users a more personalized and sophisticated experience. However, when implementing Dynamic Gradient in UI/UX design, it’s crucial for designers to strike a balance so that color intensity doesn’t become overpowering and doesn’t compromise readability.

Voice Interface

Voice Interface represents a UI/UX design trend where users can interact with an eCommerce website system using voice commands rather than traditional input methods such as keyboards, mice, or touchscreens. Voice Interface employs voice recognition technology to comprehend and respond to user commands, requests, or queries. In UI/UX design, Voice Interface introduces a fresh and user-friendly mode of interaction, thereby unlocking a plethora of opportunities for tailoring the user experience and delivering personalized services.

Micro-interactions

Micro-interactions are a design style that incorporates small elements, including subtle animations, specific sound effects, image responses to user actions or voice commands, and more, to create an engaging experience and enhance interaction on a website. Micro-interactions can also help guide users through the website interface effortlessly. When applying Micro-interactions, UI/UX designers need to ensure they won’t distract or annoy users.

Augmented reality (AR)

Augmented reality (AR) is becoming increasingly popular in the UI/UX design community, especially in eCommerce websites related to technology, interior design, cosmetics, gaming, and more. AR allows users to interact with products/services as if they were in the real world, bridging the gap between online and offline shopping. However, due to its advanced technology, AR can sometimes pose challenges for older or less tech-savvy customers. Therefore, when designing the UI/UX, businesses must ensure that AR elements are intuitive and user-friendly.

Asymmetric Layouts

Asymmetric Layouts is a UI/UX design trend where elements and components aren’t arranged in the traditional symmetrical structure. Instead, elements are placed asymmetrically and inconsistently, creating a sense of balance and noticeable uniqueness in the design. 

The strength of Asymmetric Layouts lies in their ability to capture users’ attention and create a distinctive experience through images and emphasis on essential content. However, when using Asymmetric Layouts, it’s essential to consider ensuring that the eCommerce website interface remains user-friendly, easy to navigate and maintains its aesthetic appeal.

Data Visualization

Data Visualization is a design trend that involves presenting complex data in a clear and visual manner using graphs, charts, and images. In UI/UX design, Data Visualization is used to transform intricate information into engaging visuals, simplifying data comprehension and interaction for users.

Therefore, when incorporating Data Visualization into UI/UX design, it’s essential to carefully choose appropriate data representation methods, utilize colors and graphical elements effectively, and ensure information is conveyed clearly and attractively.

Those are the top 10 UI/UX design trends for eCommerce website in 2023. We hope that the valuable information in this blog will help you choose your best-fit style that conveys your brand’s essence.

Contact us now or call directly to the SECOMM hotline at (028) 7108 9908 for eCommerce consulting and implementation.

In the cloud infrastructure service market, there are many large enterprises, but the first name that comes to mind for large enterprises is AWS.

1. What is AWS?

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a cloud solution developed by the “giant” Amazon, trusted by millions of businesses, including fast-growing startups, colossal corporations and top-tier government agencies.

At present, AWS provides a comprehensive array of over 200 fully-featured services, accessible from data centers scattered across the globe. These services encompass blockchain, cloud computing, DevOps, storage, backup, recovery, and more. 

According to estimates published by the Synergy Research Group, Amazon’s market share surged to 32% during the initial quarter of 2023, maintaining its lead in the global cloud infrastructure market and surpassing all other tech titans, including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud, Salesforce, Oracle, and Tencent Cloud

2. Benefits of deploying AWS

Scalability

AWS provides flexible scalability, enabling businesses to adjust resources according to their needs, whether it involves scaling up to handle high traffic or accommodating growth, all without the need for investments in physical infrastructure.

Moreover, AWS offers effortless integration with various services and technologies through APIs and management tools. This allows AWS to seamlessly integrate its applications with third-party services and incorporate new technologies into the existing system.

Cutting-edge service

With AWS, businesses can leverage cutting-edge technologies to experiment and innovate more swiftly. Since its inception, AWS has consistently introduced novel technologies that businesses can utilize for their digital transformation.
For example:

Back in 2014, AWS led the way in serverless computing with the introduction of AWS Lambda, enabling developers to execute code without the need to provision or manage servers.

In 2017, AWS launched Amazon SageMaker, a managed machine learning service that empowers both developers and data scientists, regardless of their prior experience.

Security

AWS employs an end-to-end approach to secure and fortify its infrastructure, encompassing physical systems, operational systems, and software. AWS adheres to international security standards, offering compliance checks for rules and regulations such as:

• ISO/IEC 27001: The foremost international standard for information security management.
• ISO 9001: A quality management system standard developed and issued by the International Organization for Standardization.
• PCI DSS: A mandatory information security standard for businesses involved in storing, transmitting, and processing payment card data, overseen by five international payment organizations, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB.

Furthermore, AWS extends support to various other security standards and compliance certifications such as CSA, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, and more.

Optimized Costs

AWS employs a pay-as-you-go payment model, allowing businesses to use resources as needed without overspending their budgets.

Furthermore, AWS has earned the trust of many large enterprises due to its optimized costs. For instance, when businesses commit to using an AWS service or a bundle of services up to a specific monetary threshold (measured in USD per hour) over a 1 or 3-year duration, AWS offers more cost-effective solutions than the On-Demand pricing.

Furthermore, businesses can receive volume-based discounts based on the amount of services and resources they utilize within AWS. For example, in the case of Amazon S3, pricing is tiered, meaning the more a business uses, the less it pays per GB.

3. AWS key services

AWS offers a range of cloud services, below are some key AWS services:

Amazon EC2

Amazon EC2 (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud) is a flexible cloud computing service that provides virtual servers for running applications. It allows businesses to rent and manage virtual machines to meet their specific needs.

Use cases for Amazon EC2:

• Running cloud-based and on-premises applications: Amazon EC2 provides secure, reliable, high-performance, and cost-effective computing infrastructure to meet business needs.
• Scaling for High-Performance Computing (HPC) applications: Access infrastructure and compute power on-demand to run HPC applications faster and cost-effectively.
• Developing Apple platforms: Build, test, and validate macOS workloads on-demand. Access environments in minutes, dynamically adjust capacity as needed, and benefit from AWS’s pay-as-you-go pricing model.
• Training and deploying Machine Learning (ML) applications: Amazon EC2 offers a collection of computing services, network connectivity (up to 400 Gbps), and specialized storage to optimize price performance for ML projects.

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is a cloud storage service that enables businesses to easily store and access data with durability and high reliability.

Use cases for Amazon S3:

• Building a data lake: Run big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing applications to unlock deep insights from your data.
• Backup and recovery of critical data: Meet Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), and compliance requirements with S3’s robust replication features.
• Cost-effective data storage: Transition data storage to Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes to minimize costs, eliminate operational complexity, and gain new deep insights.
• Running cloud-native applications: Build rapidly deployable, highly mobile, and web-based cloud-native applications that can automatically scale to meet high-demand configurations.

Amazon Aurora

Amazon Aurora is a high-performance managed relational database service built with compatibility for MySQL and PostgreSQL, outperforming other relational database management systems.

Use cases for Amazon Aurora:

• Modernize enterprise applications: Operate enterprise applications like Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), supply chain, and payments with high availability and performance.
• Build SaaS applications: Support reliable, high-performance Software as a Service (SaaS) applications with the ability to scale version and storage capacity flexibly.
• Deploy globally distributed applications: Develop large-scale internet applications, such as mobile games, social networking apps, and online services, requiring scalability and recovery in multiple regions.
• Serverless technology applications: No need to manage capacity manually and only pay for the capacity used, with instant and detailed scalability to save up to 90% on costs.

Amazon DynamoDB

DynamoDB is a NoSQL database designed to handle high scalability and low-latency response time applications. Amazon DynamoDB is fully managed, serverless, and designed to run high-performance applications at any scale. 

Additionally, DynamoDB provides integrated security features, continuous backups, automatic multi-region replication, in-memory caching, and data loading and exporting tools.

Use cases for Amazon DynamoDB:

• Software application development: Build large-scale internet applications supporting super content user data and caching requirements with high synchronization and connectivity needs for millions of users and millions of requests per second.
• Create a media super data warehouse: Scale throughput and concurrency for media and entertainment workloads such as real-time live video streaming, and interactive content, while delivering lower latency with multi-region replication across AWS regions.
• Provide a seamless retail experience: Use design templates to deploy shopping carts, workflow tools, inventory tracking, and customer profiles. DynamoDB supports high-access events at a massive scale and can handle millions of requests per second.
• Scale gaming platforms: Focus on innovation without operational overhead. Build your gaming platform with player data, session history, and leaderboards for millions of users simultaneously.

Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS (Amazon Relational Database Service) is a managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, and MariaDB, designed to set up, operate, and scale relational databases in the cloud with just a few clicks.

Use cases for Amazon RDS:

• Build mobile and web applications: Support developing applications with high availability, throughput, and scalable storage capacity. Take advantage of flexible usage-based pricing policies to suit various types of application usage.
• Migrate to a managed database: Innovate and develop new applications with Amazon RDS instead of worrying about managing your own database, which can be time-consuming, complex, and costly.
• Escape from legacy databases: Free yourself from expensive commercial databases by migrating to Amazon Aurora. When you move to Aurora, you can scale, perform, and make your commercial database highly available at 1/10th the cost.

AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service that allows businesses to run code without the need to manage servers. AWS Lambda enables businesses to execute code when events occur, optimizing resource usage and reducing costs.

Use cases for AWS Lambda:

• Processing data at scale: Execute code at the capacity you need exactly when it’s required. Scale automatically to match your data volume and trigger custom events.
• Running interactive web and mobile backends: Combine AWS Lambda with other AWS services to create secure, stable, and scalable online experiences.
• Supporting powerful ML insights: Preprocess data before feeding it into your machine learning models. With access to the Amazon Elastic File System, AWS Lambda manages the scaling process and provides infrastructure to simplify scaling adjustments.
• Creating event-driven applications: Build event-driven functions to allow isolated devices to communicate easily with each other. Reduce costs by running applications at maximum demand without incidents or over-provisioning resources.

Amazon VPC

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) allows businesses to define and launch AWS resources in a logically isolated virtual network, providing full control over the virtual network environment, including resource placement, connectivity, and security.

Use cases for Amazon VPC:

• Launching a simple website or blog: Enhance the security of your web application by enforcing rules for incoming and outgoing connections.
• Hosting multi-tier web applications: Define connectivity and network constraints between your web servers, application servers, and databases.
• Creating hybrid connections: Build and manage VPC networking compatible with AWS services and your on-premises resources.

Amazon Lightsail

Amazon Lightsail is an AWS service designed to simplify the deployment and management of applications and websites in the cloud environment. It offers an easy-to-use virtual private server with pre-configured containers, storage capacity, databases, snapshots, and more, all at an affordable monthly price.

Use cases for Amazon Lightsail:

• Launching a simple web application: Use pre-configured development stacks like LAMP, Nginx, MEAN, and Node.js to quickly and easily get your content online.
• Creating custom websites: Build and personalize your personal, e-commerce, or blog website in just a few clicks with pre-configured applications like WordPress, Magento, Prestashop, and Joomla.
• Building applications for small businesses: Kickstart your business software, such as file storage and sharing, backups, financial and accounting software, and more.
• Setting up a testing environment: Easily create, delete, and test development sandboxes and testing environments to experiment with new ideas without risk.

Amazon SageMaker 

Amazon SageMaker is a service for building, training, and deploying machine learning models for any use case with fully managed infrastructure, tools, and workflows.

The primary application of Amazon SageMaker is the development of practical machine learning applications, including product recommendations, personalization, smart shopping, robots, and voice-enabled devices.

In over 16 years since its establishment to date, AWS has provided cloud services to millions of customers worldwide with a global-scale operational experience. In the near future, AWS may continue to maintain its leading position in this over 60 billion USD market with a market share range of 32-34%.

To learn more about AWS and how to deploy AWS for your business, contact SECOMM or call the Hotline at (02871089908) for a free consultation.

Today’s eCommerce consumers are no longer confined to a single channel or device for their shopping needs. They have a ton of options, including mobile apps and social media platforms. As a result, businesses are striving to establish a robust multi-channel presence to swiftly engage with their customers. One highly effective approach to achieving this goal is through the implementation of Headless Commerce. 

In recent years, investors have shown a significant interest in Headless Commerce platforms and associated solutions, recognizing their pivotal role in shaping the future of online commerce.

Forbes reports that between 2020 and 2021 alone, more than $1.65 billion in funding was directed toward Headless technologies. In response to this evolving landscape, Shopify unveiled the Hydrogen solution in June 2021, designed to facilitate the development of headless Commerce storefronts. 

The following article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Shopify Hydrogen, shedding light on both its pros and cons. 

1. Overview

Shopify offers businesses the Hydrogen framework solution, originally based on React but now being developed with Remix, in conjunction with the global hosting solution known as Oxygen.

What is Shopify Hydrogen?

In the past, Shopify website developers utilized the platform’s templating language known as Liquid, which often faced performance limitations. Consequently, to ensure top-notch website performance for headless commerce, Shopify businesses require a specialized solution.

Typically, businesses implementing headless projects on Shopify Plus opt for the React framework over Liquid due to its superior technical aspects. Moreover, headless stores on Shopify Plus offer heightened flexibility, customization, and scalability compared to standard headless stores on Shopify.

Therefore, Shopify has introduced a solution that allows both Shopify Plus and standard Shopify businesses to build and advance the most optimized headless eCommerce websites possible. This led to the creation of the Hydrogen framework solution and Oxygen hosting.

Shopify Hydrogen is a React-based framework that empowers developers to craft distinctive and entirely customized frontend Shopify experiences. This framework encompasses all the essential structures, components, and pre-built tools necessary for developers to swiftly create headless stores and deliver personalized user experiences.

What is Shopify Oxygen?

Shopify Oxygen is a worldwide hosting solution designed to store custom content, like Hydrogen stores, directly within the Shopify platform. Previously, Shopify businesses seeking to develop Headless Commerce had to depend on third-party hosting providers (e.g., Netlify).

In contrast, Oxygen is supported by Shopify’s extensive global infrastructure, featuring over 100 server locations worldwide. Thanks to this, Hydrogen stores can seamlessly and directly integrate with Oxygen hosting through the Storefront API, eliminating the need for reliance on third-party providers.

Remix – The New Highlight of Shopify Hydrogen

In the first quarter of 2023, Shopify unveiled Hydrogen v2, highlighting the web development tool called Remix. This tool has earned recognition from developers as one of the top React frameworks, trailing only behind Next.js. Consequently, Shopify acquired Remix and designated it as the cornerstone of the Shopify Hydrogen solution.

The reason for this lies in the fact that Hydrogen v1 faced performance-related criticisms after some time in operation. The acquisition of Remix is a part of Shopify’s efforts to rectify these issues, leading to the emergence of Hydrogen v2.

While developers tend to favor Next.js over Remix due to its open structure, allowing for greater customization and offering a more favorable developer experience, it doesn’t guarantee output quality and website performance.

Conversely, Remix employs a closed structure that mandates developers to adhere to the framework’s template. This approach closely aligns with Shopify’s SaaS model, providing a web development framework and enforcing developers to follow specific principles during deployment. 

This adherence ensures website performance and significantly enhances conversion rates. Therefore, Remix is the ideal solution chosen by Shopify to address the existing performance gaps in Hydrogen stores and enhance the eCommerce experience for customers.

2. Pros of Shopify Hydrogen

Developed based on React

Hydrogen represents Shopify’s investment in the development of Headless eCommerce. Therefore, it’s fair to classify any Shopify store using the Hydrogen framework and Oxygen hosting as a Headless Shopify store.

The Headless architecture has consistently garnered praise from industry experts, who anticipate its continuous evolution. Shopify’s decision to incorporate React – the JavaScript library for frontend interface development – as the cornerstone of the Hydrogen solution underscores this platform’s forward-looking perspective on the future of eCommerce, firmly rooted in the Headless trend.

Diverse Integration

The launch of Shopify Hydrogen aims to assist businesses in building professional Headless eCommerce websites and providing customers with a seamless multi-channel experience.

Therefore, Shopify extends the capability to seamlessly integrate Hydrogen stores with various third-party applications and platforms like Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Rebuy (to enhance the customer experience), as well as Sanity, Contentful, and Builder.io (for Headless CMS implementation). 

Learn more about Headless CMS:

• What is Headless CMS?
• 10 Enterprise Headless CMS Platforms (Pt.1)
• 10 Enterprise Headless CMS Platforms (Pt.2)

Flexible Customization 

Numerous enterprises choose to implement Headless eCommerce because it grants them full control over the development of the frontend interface, free from the limitations of specific platforms. Shopify Hydrogen also empowers businesses to construct entirely personalized headless website interfaces and integrate essential features for expansion.

3. Cons of Shopify Hydrogen

Technical Skill Required 

Hydrogen solution empowers businesses to leverage the potential of Headless eCommerce, but it’s predominantly a technically-driven endeavor without a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for non-technical users to easily access and modify.

Hence, the development process necessitates the engagement of highly proficient developers with programming expertise and a specific comprehension of Hydrogen and Oxygen. In this scenario, businesses have two choices: establish an in-house team of developers or partner with an external specialized entity for swift deployment.

Limited CMS Integration.

Because it relies on the React framework, Hydrogen can assist developers in creating custom frontends, but the backend CMS functionality must be connected to enable the headless eCommerce website’s operation.

However, as of now, Hydrogen is limited to integrating with specific CMS platforms like Sanity, Contentful, and Builder.io, leaving businesses responsible for connecting with others independently.

Limited 3rd-party Integration

Much like CMS platforms, Hydrogen supports businesses in integrating with third-party provider applications, but it has rather limited options. Currently, there are only 13 available applications that businesses can incorporate into their Hydrogen store.

In the many years of implementing Headless eCommerce for numerous clients across various countries, SECOMM has noticed an increasing demand for creating Headless websites using the Shopify platform. Now, businesses have a choice: they can either leverage Shopify’s tech stack (Hydrogen and Oxygen) or build a custom stack tailored to their unique requirements.

This further solidifies Shopify as one of the most flexible eCommerce platforms today, leading the way towards the next generation of eCommerce experiences.

Contact us or call SECOMM’s hotline (02871089908) for a free consultation.