Creating an eCommerce website is a critical step in assisting businesses in spreading their brands and increasing their ability to reach potential customers on the Internet, thereby increasing revenue and profit. However, developing a business website is a complicated process with many aspects, particularly with eCommerce websites.
Businesses must consider everything from user experience to operational performance and many other aspects of the site. Here is a summary of the key factors of an eCommerce website that businesses and website developers should consider before getting started.
SEO and website performance optimization
According to Think with Google research, if a web page takes up to 5 seconds to load, the likelihood of a user exiting increases by 90%. As a result, businesses must prioritize optimization and ensure that their eCommerce website is always operational.
Page load speed and bounce rate are closely related
Furthermore, businesses must pay attention to optimizing SEO so that the website has the highest possible ranking on search engines using specific techniques and strategies if they want to maximize revenue on their brand websites. One of them is the strategy of incorporating keywords into the eCommerce website’s content, as well as description, title, and image information.
When adding an “alt text” description to an image, many businesses forget that customers can find their website through image search. This is also a significant flaw that results in a significant loss of potential customers.
Furthermore, in the early stages of e-commerce website deployment, businesses should consider hiring SEO experts. They can launch the website with the necessary meta tags, organize the page structure and internal links, create content strategies, design recommendations for cross-device-friendly functionality, improve page load speed, and many other critical aspects.
Marketing strategy fulfillment
A good marketing strategy may benefit the first orders offline and online, particularly in eCommerce. Creating an early marketing strategy assists businesses in identifying the features that must be included in developing eCommerce systems.
An excellent Marketing strategy is a springboard for the eCommerce website to achieve first success.
For example, when businesses want to add the option to share a promotion campaign to social networks or push notifications on mobile apps from an eCommerce website, it will be more effective if this is part of the Marketing strategy and is planned to be implemented during the development of the eCommerce website rather than proposed to be developed after the website has been launched.
Multi-devices compatible website
According to the World Bank, two-thirds of adults worldwide use digital payments, with this figure expected to rise from 35% in 2014 to 57% by 2021. Although users prefer to make purchases via mobile apps, businesses can still increase conversions if the eCommerce interface is easily adaptable to the mobile web.
For example, after releasing a more optimized responsive design, Walmart Canada successfully increased website conversions by 20% and improved mobile order growth by 98%.
Reach customers around the world with a website that is compatible with all devices and browsers.
Furthermore, businesses must ensure that customers from all over the world can easily access and shop on their eCommerce website using any available browser.
As a result, businesses will conduct cross-browser testing using Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and other browsers to find and fix errors, ensuring customers have a great shopping experience on your website using any browser, any device, and anywhere. Businesses can hire a qualified third party to assist them, or they can conduct their own testing using a few available help tools.
Implement Omnichannel
In the digital age, “Omnichannel” is becoming increasingly popular and is an essential communication strategy between businesses and their customers. Every business should adopt an omnichannel strategy to connect with customers, increase traffic, drive sales, and survive the changes of the times.
As a result, implementing Omnichannel enables businesses to synchronize all sales channels for easier data management and increased eCommerce business efficiency. At the same time, Omnichannel provides customers with a seamless experience, allowing businesses to sell omnichannel and increase conversion rates.
When implementing Omnichannel, businesses can use Omnichannel platforms and systems (ETP Group, NEF, GoSELL) or choose one system as the data center for the entire system, such as an eCommerce system (Magento), ERP (Odoo, SAP).
Omnichannel selling is becoming popular and successfully applied by many businesses.
Omnichannel implementation process:
Step 1: Data collection: Customers, Sales (Sales), Marketing,…
Step 2: Analyze data to identify issues for improvement to implement Omnichannel effectively.
Step 3: Create customer journeys and align campaign messages across sales channels.
Step 4: Check, evaluate and optimize Omnichannel
Diversify the registration of user accounts
Most eCommerce websites require customers to create an account before making a purchase. This allows businesses to store the customer’s purchase history, delivery address for demographic analysis, purchase behavior assessment, sales analysis, and incentive to buy next time through Marketing campaigns.
Regular customers, in particular, will be willing to do this to reap the benefits of having an account on the website, such as quickly saving information for the next purchase or receiving notifications about upcoming big promotions. However, not all customers want to register for an account to purchase products.
Collect data, and evaluate buying behavior, creating many effective Marketing campaigns by diversifying user account registrations.
Therefore, businesses must provide options for customers who want to buy goods without registering an account, such as requiring customers to log in with a social network account or fill out a small payment form with their name, email, phone number, and address to complete the purchase process.
The eCommerce website system will automatically create an account and submit guest email login information in both cases.
Add filtering and advanced search functions to the website.
Even on websites that do not sell anything, users frequently use the search bar. For businesses with eCommerce websites, the search bar must provide advanced search functionality.
Advanced search and filtering functions make it easy for customers to find the desired product.
The image search feature, for example, allows users to upload a photo of a favorite item and have the eCommerce website’s search engine return products that are the same, nearly identical, or similar to the product the customers are looking for.
If users don’t know what to look for and need some suggestions, they should browse the website’s product categories. In these cases, the multi-layered product catalog function is extremely useful. In other cases, customers already have search objectives; a search bar with advanced support functions will also assist customers in finding the products they require with a few clicks.
Diversify payment methods and delivery costs
Because online shopping and payments are becoming incredibly popular, it is critical to provide the appropriate payment options when developing an eCommerce website. According to the Payment Methods Report 2019, many shoppers abandon shopping carts because of delivery costs (55%) and complicated checkout processes (26%).
As a result, depending on the product and market that the company is targeting, the company will select a payment method that is appropriate for customers, products, and regions. The most popular payment methods in North America, according to Hostgator, are PayPal, Amazon Pay, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Visa or MasterCard, and so on.
Provide a variety of payment methods and delivery costs to make it easy for customers to consider
MoMo, Zalo Pay, Shopee Pay, Visa or MasterCard, and others will be particularly popular in the Vietnam market.
Furthermore, businesses should consider delivery costs because this is one of the primary reasons why customers abandon the purchasing process. Businesses can deploy flexible free shipping offers on special promotions, or if customers are required to pay shipping fees, the system should provide detailed information to avoid confusion and create a bad customer experience.
Integrate with the content management system
A content management system (CMS) allows you to centrally store and manage your written, visual, and document content. Businesses can change or add information, and the changes will be reflected on the eCommerce website. CMS can also help staff respond more quickly to customer feedback.
Improve customer service
Most Internet shoppers are Millennials, Gen Y, and Gen Z. These generations value personalization, such as personalized recommendations, recommendations, or solutions from the support team.
Many eCommerce businesses are trying to meet this, the customer care department will help buyers solve problems during the purchase, payment, delivery, returns, complaints, and so on.
Improving customer service helps increase brand reputation.
Furthermore, businesses should add a contact section to their eCommerce website with a hotline number or email that can be easily clicked or linked to the Facebook Messenger application, Zalo, live chat for orders, and general support chat for those who prefer this method of communication.
Improve the eCommerce website’s safety and security
Businesses will be responsible for storing large amounts of user data and product information on an eCommerce website, so safety and security are the most important factors for any eCommerce website. Any negligence can put the company in danger of permanent data loss, and customer information can be stolen and sold.
Google and other search engines will flag an eCommerce website if it is deemed unsafe and has poor security, such as no SSL certificate and HTTPS protocol. This is considered a warning or recommendation for Internet users to be cautious about accessing websites that lack the above two components, as a result of which businesses will easily lose a large number of potential orders, causing marketing disruption and affecting the brand’s reputation.
Earn customers’ trust thanks to the safety and high security of the eCommerce website.
Furthermore, businesses must register an eCommerce website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the eCommerce Management Portal to demonstrate the website’s transparency following Vietnamese Government Decree 52/2013 ND-CP.
The 10 essential factors listed above are those that businesses must consider when implementing eCommerce. In reality, even when businesses use WordPress, the Woocommerce plugin, or a SaaS platform like Shopify, it is not easy to create an eCommerce website with full features that work well to attract customers. If your business decides to hire a website development company, that company must be capable of creating a comprehensive eCommerce website in terms of both design and functionality.
With many years of experience implementing eCommerce in many countries, SECOMM provides free consulting services with professional eCommerce solutions.
I am a Content Marketer with Technology and Ecommerce background, and I use innovative strategies to create engaging content that resonates with my audience.
Consumer demand for beauty and health care is rising as the quality of life gradually improves. The fact that so many individuals are involved in commerce has also contributed to the cosmetics industry’s reputation as one of the most important sectors in the modern economy.
Additionally, the rapid growth of eCommerce following the pandemic is gradually emerging as a successful business strategy and a crucial step in the digital transformation of every industry, including the cosmetics industry.
The market size for cosmetics sold online is estimated by CommonThread to be $483 billion in 2020 and expand to $511 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.75%. The market size is anticipated to surpass 716 billion USD by 2025 and reach 784.6 billion USD by 2027.
Global cosmetic eCommerce market size
How do cosmetics firms benefit from eCommerce?
Keep up rapidly with the market shift
In the past pandemic years, the global economy has witnessed a sudden decline in sales in many industries, including the cosmetics industry.
People are compelled to reduce their social interactions while social distancing mechanisms are in effect.
At this time, people’s psychology will be more concerned with keeping an eye on and caring for themselves. Due to the unpredictable changes of the pandemic, there has been a sharp rise in the need for skincare, hair care, and body care products to enhance spiritual life.
Deploying eCommerce helps cosmetics businesses keep up with the market shift
Due to restrictions on leaving the house, online shopping at the time had become not only a need but also an urgent method of purchasing in place of in-person purchases. That serves as a springboard for eCommerce to take off and spur significant growth in other industries like fashion, grocery, wine, and even cosmetics.
These two elements highlight the enormous potential of this “cake,” assisting several cosmetic companies in realizing and swiftly implementing eCommerce for both sustainable development and market revolution.
Scale up the business
Using eCommerce as a solution will allow the cosmetics industry to shift from offline to online (O2O) business models rather than allowing their businesses to “get lost” in the crisis of the global pandemic.
Additionally, if businesses still do not have a competent eCommerce website to introduce and sell products to customers who love to shop online in the age of digital transformation, they will quickly lose many potential customers to rivals.
Scale up the business by developing cosmetics eCommerce
This is especially true for a highly competitive industry like cosmetics, but several firms, including Hasaki, LixiBox, Watsons, Guardian, etc., have embraced the trend early and are now the market leaders in cosmetic eCommerce.
Furthermore, early eCommerce development will also provide benefits that will make marketing efforts more successful, broadening the economic opportunities for businesses.
Enhance customer’s shopping experience
Businesses must consider customers’ purchasing experiences when launching eCommerce websites, and not just for the cosmetic industry.
Thanks to the use of contemporary technologies, which are quite popular in the cosmetics industry, the purchasing procedure will be swift, and effective, and bring customers satisfaction when they choose to buy cosmetics online.
For example, a 360-degree intuitive vision, virtual reality (VR), or augmented reality (AR) technology (AR).
Building an eCommerce website to enhance customer’s online shopping experience
eCommerce enables businesses to quickly and effortlessly tailor the experience for customers by gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing the consumption behavior of each target group. Typically, this is done with the capabilities listed below: Products have seen, similar product recommendations, etc.
eCommerce provides clients with a seamless experience in addition to an intuitive one across a variety of channels, including social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Zalo, etc.), eCommerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo, etc.), eCommerce websites, mobile apps, etc.
Best cosmetics eCommerce sites that really stand out
Kylie Cosmetics
One of the most successful cosmetic brands that has a significant global media impact is Kylie Cosmetics. When it comes to Kylie Cosmetics, it’s tough not to give Kylie Jenner credit.
She’s the youngest female millionaire in the US and has been hailed as a business genius by prominent publications like Forbes due to her success in the saturated cosmetics industry.
When Kylie Cosmetics was founded in 2015, it generated an astonishing $ 420 million in revenue in its first 18 months. It is predicted that by 2022, net sales will have reached $ 1 billion.
The sensible business strategy, in addition to the founder’s reputation, focuses on utilizing the “gold mine” of eCommerce and launching social media marketing campaigns, which are the factors that contribute to that respectable revenue block.
As a result, the company used Shopify, a platform that specializes in creating websites for the top online retailers in North America, to develop its eCommerce website.
With pink and white as its primary colors, the website’s design is incredibly clean and uncomplicated. The layout of the website centers on showcasing the company’s products.
Also, this is a part of Kylie Cosmetics’ business strategy, which includes releasing collections of cosmetic products like lipsticks, eyeshadow, and eyebrow pencils with limited design and manufacturing to appeal to customers’ FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).
It is not surprising that Kylie’s new collections or cosmetics Cosmetics are continually “sold out” every time it is published because this is thought to be a very intelligent strategy of Kylie Cosmetics, completely different from other well-known cosmetic firms.
Kylie Cosmetics’ eCommerce website
The business also utilizes social media platforms that are hugely popular in the US, like Instagram, Youtube, and Snapchat, to create content to market brands and products and engage with a huge audience across three platforms before driving traffic to the eCommerce website and generating conversions.
The company’s inventiveness and innovation are also on display in offline events that draw customers to free product samples. Here, the company wins over even customers who have reservations about the product’s quality, which greatly increases sales.
Since Kylie Cosmetics established its first traditional cosmetic retail store in 2018, customers may now purchase cosmetics from this cult brand at Ulta Beauty locations around the US.
Indeed, Kylie Cosmetics started off quite shrewdly and went on to tremendous success by keeping up with market changes by building an online business model at first, that is, selling through an eCommerce website and relying primarily on social media for promotion.
Guardian
Since entering the Vietnamese market in 2011, Guardian has grown to be a very well-known and recognizable brand among consumers of cosmetics. This brand is a part of the Dairy Farm Group, a company that manufactures and distributes health and beauty products in Asia.
Since its start, Guardian has made ongoing improvements to encourage millions of followers to lead healthy lifestyles and offer a trustworthy, high-quality purchasing experience at the finest rates and services.
With a system of more than 100 outlets “encompassing everywhere,” this retail chain is delighted to be a place to shop for cosmetics “for everyone” who can “purchase everything” and simply select appropriate items.
A clever business strategy and significant investment in successful marketing efforts are the only explanations needed to understand Guardian’s success.
When first entering the Vietnamese market, Guardian specifically pushed to quickly expand its business chain, focusing on cities with high purchasing power, with 80% of stores located in Ho Chi Minh City, the rest in Hanoi and some other major cities such as Da Nang, Can Tho, Bien Hoa, and Vung Tau.
Because at the time, online channels were not really well-known and powerful enough for this business to keep an eye on.
As a result, the company successfully raises the level of brand recognition with extensive coverage from the Guardian orange white wave, taking into account the characteristics of the cosmetics and beauty care industry, which require customers to have a direct point of contact, learn from, and test. By 2019, the company began its journey toward digital transformation by combining offline and online (O2O) business models in parallel, and simultaneously, deploying Omnichannel.
Guardian’s eCommerce website
It is even more critical for Guardian to immediately implement potential sales channels like marketplaces, applications, fast delivery services like GrabMart, and eCommerce website operate side by side with a chain of 105 retail outlets in strategic locations due to the pandemic’s dual effects, which include changing market trends and altering consumer buying habits.
The orange and white colors and quick page loads make the Guardian website’s design stunning. Additionally, Guardian offers enticing incentives in the shipping policy, such as free fast delivery within 4 hours with orders from 349,000 VND, to encourage online shoppers.
The company’s unique product catalog, which is prominently shown on Guardian’s eCommerce website and features items like shampoos, shower gels, and hand sanitizers, is another standout.
The foundation for helping Guardian dominate the cosmetic retail market and leave a lasting impact on customers is a deliberate investment in developing a multi-channel ecosystem.
Hasaki
Modernity and growth come with invisible pressures that have an impact on everyone’s life as people struggle to keep up with the “standards” of the times.
However, that does not result in a drop in the demand for beauty and self-care, on the contrary, it is always rising, with a diversity of sufficient options to match customer expectations.
Vietnamese women are among the most beautiful in Asia, but, due to the responsibilities of work pressure and family, they occasionally neglect to care for and love themselves.
Because of this, Hasaki Beauty & Clinic was established with the desire to become a reliable beauty and spiritual care destination for Vietnamese women.
The Hasaki store system, which was introduced in 2016 and now has 76 locations across 29 Vietnamese provinces and cities, has steadily established itself as one of the top retail chains for real cosmetics. Hasaki is dedicated to offering real cosmetics at discounted pricing, living up to its motto of “True Quality – True Value”.
Along with system expansion, Hasaki also works on creating an eCommerce website with features appropriate for the cosmetics industry and always enhancing and upgrading the system to provide customers with the greatest online shopping experience.
Hasaki’s eCommerce website
The Magento platform was used to build the website, and the interface is attractive with green serving as the primary color tone for the entire eCommerce website and app system. Customers can check current promotions and conveniently look up order details when accessing the Hasaki website.
Additionally, the “handbook” section at Hasaki has a wealth of knowledge on cosmetics and skin care tips that each customer may learn and arm themselves with before making a purchase decision. Since then, the process of beauty restoration is safe and effective.
Similar to Guardian, Hasaki encourages people to order online with NowFree 2h and take advantage of free shipping rules.
As a result, Hasaki will provide free delivery to customers within two hours of receiving orders of 90,000 VND in 29 provinces and cities where the company has locations, including on Saturday and Sunday. Customers will benefit from free national shipping on orders that are at least 249,000 VND.
Therefore, Hasaki has sparked a “green craze” among many beauty fans and is now gradually competing with the country’s top cosmetics brands thanks to its quick recognition of market trends and broad perspective with an efficient marketing mix strategy.
It is clear that the growth of the furniture market has been hastened by the speed at which eCommerce is developing.
Today, numerous local and international cosmetics companies participate in and offer the greatest shopping experiences to customers through the effective implementation of an eCommerce website, including Kylie Cosmetics (USA), Guardian, and Hasaki (Vietnam).
From there, companies may quickly connect with a wider pool of Internet users and generate conversions through efficient marketing strategies.
However, business leaders need to carefully and comprehensively take into account the growing customer expectations and rapidly shifting market trends, not to mention specifically describe a systematic and precise business strategy for taking the most advantageous actions in the short and long term.
Completing that difficult task will take a lot of time and resources. As a result, many cosmetics companies opt for a more straightforward approach to the issue, enlisting the assistance of a highly qualified and dependable unit.
SECOMM has many years of expertise in effectively executing eCommerce for numerous customers in various countries. We specialize in offering free consultation services with qualified eCommerce implementation solutions.
Contact us right away for free counsel and assistance.
The vast and competitive eCommerce sector is witnessing the constant entry of all-sized businesses, making it challenging for many “nascent” companies to prosper in a billion-dollar market that is seen as the domain of technology giants.
Therefore, creating a professional eCommerce website is a crucial objective for new enterprises looking to take the first steps firmly, quickly dominate the market, and follow the success of the big guys.
As a result, Magento is one of the best options to consider when establishing an eCommerce website to ensure that the process is carried out successfully. It can be difficult to find a partner with strong IT skills and Magento platform development experience.
The list below details the top 5 leading Magento development companies in Vietnam that businesses can refer to make the best choice.
Kyanon Digital
One of the leading consulting companies providing solutions to develop eCommerce websites with the Magento platform and Omnichannel (Omnichannel) is Kyanon Digital. through many years of operation steadily established itself as a trustworthy technology partner of many major retail groups in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to its team of qualified experts.
Kyanon Digital
Magenest JSC
Magenest is a longtime technology solutions partner based in Vietnam and a leading partner of Adobe Magento, Odoo ERP, Salesforce, AWS, and Google Cloud Platform.
The company specializes in providing comprehensive hosting services and eCommerce implementation and providing package solutions in line with market trends to promote the business activities of partner businesses.
Magenest strives to support brands in achieving their goals of developing eCommerce websites with Magento. Magenest has a solid technical and consulting experience from over 30 certified consultants and developers.
Magenest
BSS Commerce
BSS Commerce is an Adobe Solution Partner that provides proper Magento-related eCommerce solutions to businesses throughout the world.
The business has serviced more than 22,000 customers worldwide since its foundation in 2012, accomplished more than 500 projects, and earned the greatest level of customer satisfaction.
BSS Commerce
SECOMM
SECOMM is another well-known eCommerce website developer in Vietnam that is well-regarded by customers for the excellence of its work and service.
This business specializes in eCommerce consulting and offers a wide range of services, including site development, maintenance, and upgrades on platforms including Magento.
Since its establishment in 2014, SECOMM has worked with major local and foreign clients like LayByLand, Trentham Estate, An Nam Group, and others to implement eCommerce websites on the Magento platform effectively.
By simplifying all eCommerce activities, SECOMM is confident to be a reliable companion in the comprehensive digital transformation journey of businesses in Vietnam and globally.
SECOMM
InApps Technology
Another prominent name in the field of eCommerce and mobile application development in Vietnam is InApps Technology.
The passion for technology as well as the desire to bring customers the best service experience has led the company to make constant efforts to improve services and solutions to customers.
InApps Technology understands that technology will be one of the most effective levers to promote business growth.
InApps Technology
It is evident that eCommerce implementation offers businesses many advantages for entering and dominating the industry. The top 5 support firms for creating and developing eCommerce websites on the Magento platform that companies can rely on are listed above.
Exporting and trading internationally has become challenging due to the Covid-19 epidemic. In order to increase sales and find online customers, numerous companies in several industries, including the cosmetics industry, have used eCommerce.
Additionally, to support eCommerce activities and achieve the objective of growth and scalability, cosmetic retailers shift from traditional business practices to keep up with the general development trend of the global economy.
In Vietnam alone, a handful of cosmetic firms in Vietnam have demonstrated extraordinary flexibility and agility in reacting to market adjustments “despite” the complicated changes brought on by the global pandemic.
The following brands have gained the trust of and made a lasting impression on cosmetic customers by creating professional and insightful eCommerce websites.
Hasaki
Hasaki, a company founded in April 2016 to provide full health and beauty care for Vietnamese people, has developed secure and quick online shopping experiences with a choice of high-quality cosmetic items from many of the world’s leading brands in today’s market.
Hasaki’s eCommerce website was invested in and methodically developed from the start with the open-source platform – Magento – in order to deliver clients satisfaction in terms of comfort and efficiency when purchasing online.
More than 7 million visitors per month of traffic at a very high level demonstrate the wisdom of Hasaki’s eCommerce investment. This company’s expansion of its distribution network increased market penetration, and identification and diversification of the target customer were all made possible by sensible strategy.
The Gioi Skin Food is another well-known eCommerce site with over 2 million monthly visitors that focuses on selling cosmetics. This business worked with Haravan to create an effective eCommerce website with an easy-to-use interface.
The Gioi Skin Food has up now employed eCommerce in addition to the conventional retail shop method, which has been incredibly successful. This would enable the business to catch up with the online-to-offline (O2O) trend and raise brand awareness and revenue.
The Watsons Group, Asia’s top retail organization for health and beauty products, owns the Watsons Vietnam brand. The company desires to provide Vietnamese customers with the finest shopping experience possible while also bringing them high-quality products that are appropriate for their needs.
Notably, Watsons adopted the O2O business model right away after entering the Vietnamese market. With the goal of dominating the market, Watsons Vietnam invests in developing an eCommerce website with SAP Commerce Cloud in addition to the store system dispersed throughout the neighbourhoods of Ho Chi Minh City.
Additionally, the user-friendly and aesthetically designed interface contributes to the website’s amazing monthly visitation of more than 1 million.
The Gioi Son Moi is one of the places where people go to get lipstick that is well-known and reputable because of the guaranteed product quality and the courteousness of the staff. Every day, new products are added to the site, ensuring that there is always enough supply of well-known companies’ lipstick lines in the right hues at competitive rates.
The Gioi Son Moi also swiftly launched an eCommerce website to join the common playground of the cosmetic retail sector, in addition to two physical locations in HCMC that are constantly being renovated, extending the amount of shopping space. As a result, the website is built on the Haravan platform and has a straightforward interface that is nonetheless opulent and complex.
Also, the extremely high monthly traffic volume (more than 1 million) also demonstrates the company’s successful business strategy in the context of the market’s innovation trend.
Beauty lovers in HCMC can’t help but be aware of Bo Shop, a company that provides a broad range of high-quality cosmetics, from skincare to makeup, at rates that are specifically stated to fulfil customers’ demands for all types of beauty care.
The company quickly creates an eCommerce website using WooCommerce to keep up with contemporary business trends in order to become the top cosmetic retail brand in Vietnam.
For many years, Vietnamese consumers of cosmetics have been familiar with the name Guardian. This is a brand from the Dairy Farm Group that manufactures and distributes well-known health and beauty care goods all over Asia. In Vietnam, where Guardian first opened in 2011, the company now has more than 100 outlets.
In 2019, the business started its transformational path and parallel fusion of offline and internet business models. In order to create an omnichannel sales network (Omnichannel), Guardian focuses on building eCommerce websites with Shopify in addition to deploying potential sales channels like eCommerce platforms, apps, and fast delivery channels via GrabMart.
This gives customers more affordable, quick, and convenient home shopping options. After only a short period of time in operation, the Guardian website has attracted close to 1 million visitors each month.
Guardian has risen to the top of the industry and evolved into the biggest and most prominent retail chain for health and beauty products in existence today thanks to a significant investment in developing a multi-channel ecosystem.
Since Lam Thao Cosmetics’ formal opening in 2017, young people have come to love it as one of their favourite cosmetic shops. Lam Thao Cosmetics is continually upgrading its product line with the most affordable rates in an effort to give customers more options with the trendiest goods and improve their experience.
Along with offering high-quality goods, Lam Thao also runs an eCommerce site on the Haravan platform to enhance clients’ offline and online purchasing experiences. The success of eCommerce implementation has also helped Lam Thao Cosmetics reach a significant number of online prospects, boosting both sales and brand recognition.
For those who love cosmetics, Nuty Cosmetics is regarded as a cosmetics heaven. After operating and growing for more than ten years amid market ups and downs, the business is still a renowned source for real beauty products from well-known manufacturers in the US, Germany, France, Japan, and Korea.
The WooCommerce platform was used to create Nuty Cosmetics’ website, which has an easy-to-use interface and exceptional features that may satisfy clients when they shop online. Additionally, Nuty Cosmetics’ website offers thorough information about each product, along with clearly stated costs.
Because of this, despite the fact that there are only roughly 200,000 visitors per month on the site currently, Nuty Cosmetics has the potential to become a major player in the cosmetics industry with the correct efforts and attitude.
In the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak that was raging in 2020, AB Beauty World (ABBW) was founded with the goal of being the top family-friendly cosmetics retailer in Vietnam. The brand has not given up despite the fact that this birth appears to have occurred at the wrong time.
In fact, AB Beauty World has grown and expanded with approximately 20 branches spread throughout the city’s districts in just two years since opening the first store in HCMC, concentrating on growing eCommerce, thanks to the timely redirection.
The WooCommerce-powered cosmetics website for AB Beauty World features an interface and capabilities tailored to the sector. The website has already seen more than 150,000 visitors in the short time since it launched, which is nonetheless viewed favourably for a newcomer to the fight for digital transformation.
Beauty Garden is one of the top retail and distribution brands for real cosmetics today. Since its establishment in 2014, the company has effectively extended its retail network to be present in numerous provinces and major and minor towns throughout the nation, including Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Dong Nai, and Can Tho.
In addition, Beauty Garden concentrates on developing eCommerce websites in the context of economic integration. As a result, the company’s website is expertly and systematically constructed using WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce development platform worldwide, and is ideal for the cosmetics business.
The eCommerce implementation of Beauty Garden is seen as a sensible move since the development potential of this area is extremely great and at that time, the company had many advantages to build a business model, even though the number of users is still modest with more than 100,000/month.
All things considered, the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has impacted and altered consumer shopping behaviours for a variety of goods. Shopping for cosmetics, in particular, has seen a significant change from physical to online formats.
The information above is a summary and evaluation of SECOMM for 10 eCommerce sites with a good reputation and the capacity to meet customers’ demands when making a decision to purchase cosmetics.
These companies demonstrate their efforts to create the technological infrastructure needed to enhance the online shopping experience as well as their well-founded optimism regarding the market’s growth potential and dominance in Vietnam.
With many years of experience in successfully implementing e-commerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional e-commerce implementation solutions.
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is seen as an “obstacle” to the business activities of most businesses, eCommerce is emerging as an efficient way to enable Vietnamese furniture businesses to participate in the typical “playground” of global digital transformation.
At the same time, it is a pressing solution for furniture products to be consumed easily and accessible to many potential customers.
Therefore, the first wise step furniture brands have been hurrying to do in order to fast access the market is developing an eCommerce website. However, this difficult path calls for a significant investment of time and energy.
With years of expertise supporting several companies, SECOMM has developed a thorough process for developing a successful eCommerce website exclusively for the furniture sector.
Overview
A brief overview of the eCommerce market
The Covid-19 pandemic’s convoluted dynamics made travel challenging, which led to a necessity and urgency that resulted in the explosion of global eCommerce. At that point, internet buying and selling, which is more practical, takes the place of on-the-spot buying and selling.
Global eCommerce sales will rise from 15% in 2019 to 21% in 2021 and then continue to rise to 22% in 2022, according to Morgan Stanley. eCommerce will likely continue to have a large surplus. The market is established, and its growth rate might rise from its current level of 3.3 trillion USD to 5.6 trillion USD in 2026 as a result of significant company penetration in all industries worldwide.
In Vietnam alone, many service sectors had negative growth as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, although the eCommerce market continued to grow steadily. In particular, the sector for wholesale and retail fell by 0.21%, transportation and warehousing fell by 5.02%, and that for lodging and food services fell by 20.81% in comparison to 2020.
In contrast to that doom, eCommerce has consistently grown at a pace of 16%, with retail sales reaching $13.7 billion USD in 2021. Additionally, the proportion of eCommerce retail sales in all retail consumer goods and services nationally reached 7%, up 27% from the same period in 2020. (Vietnam eCommerce White Paper in 2022).
Because of this, even if the epidemic is now under control and customers are beginning to purchase again in stores, expectations about the potential and rapid growth of the post-Covid eCommerce business are well-founded. The furniture business will not be the only one promoted to extraordinary growth from that point on.
Significance of eCommerce in the Furniture industry
According to Forbes, furniture and building materials have experienced the biggest growth in eCommerce sales during the past two years of the epidemic, with a cumulative growth rate of more than 200% over the year prior to the pandemic, 2019. The category of furniture and home appliances likewise experienced a remarkable cumulative gain of more than 66% compared to the same time in 2019.
The incredible Compound annual growth rate of the furniture category in eCommerce in 2021 compared to 2019
Recent findings made by Maddyness include the following intriguing details:
The value of the worldwide furniture eCommerce market exceeds $200 billion.
Online sales account for more than 90% of the growth of the furniture industry.
According to estimates, 8 out of every 10 consumers who purchase furniture have made an internet purchase at least once.
One in three consumers prefers to buy furniture online.
16% of sales of furniture and home goods are made online.
Customers anticipate purchasing sofas online in 53% of cases and mattresses in 80% of cases.
Stage 1: Basic furniture eCommerce website development
Basic furniture eCommerce website development
Targeting
The very first thing that furniture businesses need to do is to determine their short-term and long-term goals and priorities before starting to develop an eCommerce website.
To accomplish the anticipated revenue increase in the short term, firms should place a priority on promoting marketing activities, tracking and analyzing customer behaviour, and assessing the efficacy of marketing initiatives. Furthermore, user experience is a crucial consideration that furniture companies must have in mind while advertising eCommerce.
Long-term objectives for firms could include raising brand awareness and coverage as well as evaluating the viability of individual items on online marketplaces. Effective marketing campaigns are also one of the long-term objectives that firms should take into consideration if they want to increase their online consumer base.
Businesses can take a lot of advice from specialized eCommerce implementation consulting units with a lot of experience in consulting a long-term roadmap to get the right list and priority of goals for both this period and beyond since they currently have little data to analyze and evaluate for the entire process.
Platform selection
There are currently two categories of platforms available on the market that enable the development of expert eCommerce websites and are highly well-liked, namely SaaS platforms and Open-source platforms. When used to create eCommerce for the furniture sector, these two types of platforms will each have the following advantages and disadvantages:
SaaS Platform
A service-based software application distribution mechanism for eCommerce commercial purposes is the simplest definition of a SaaS platform. To put it another way, the service provider develops and maintains software to aid in the creation of an eCommerce website, and the firm pays a set fee to use this service.
With SaaS platforms, the provider will own and manage the source code and data because the complete enterprise website system is hosted on the provider’s server. This means that the service provider will be in charge of handling and resolving technical issues that arise during the implementation of eCommerce by businesses.
Popular SaaS platforms are especially favored by businesses today, such as Haravan, Shopify, BigCommerce, etc.
Some of the advantages of the SaaS platform include:
Fast eCommerce site deployment: Typically, it only takes a few minutes or days for businesses to possess an eCommerce site with all the features they need for the furniture sector at a fair initial building cost.
Ease of use: The SaaS platform is built with user-friendliness in mind, making it possible for companies without IT advantages or technical expertise to swiftly develop and manage an eCommerce website.
Good security: SaaS providers are in charge of the security aspect since they give and maintain the platform for building eCommerce websites. As a result, eCommerce companies in general, and furniture eCommerce companies in particular, won’t need to worry too much about PCI compliance, SSL, or the possibility of websites being hacked.
Excellent customer service: Due to the supplier’s 24/7 assistance, businesses may easily contact them by email, hotline, or live chat if their eCommerce website experiences any issues during implementation.
The leading furniture enterprises in Vietnam using the SaaS platforms to build eCommerce websites include
Noi That Hoa Phat: The Vietnamese furniture giant has implemented eCommerce with the BigCommerce platform to maintain its position in the market.
Noi That Moho: A rooky of the furniture village uses the Haravan platform to build a website as the first step on the journey to conquer eCommerce.
Noi That Cozy: The European furniture import and distribution tycoon has chosen Shopify as a companion to design a website to expand sales channels in the online environment.
However, there are still several drawbacks to the SaaS platform that should be taken into account:
Expenses rise over time: Instead of paying once and owning the platform for a long time, businesses will have to pay for interfaces, applications, extensions, marketing, and SEO, among other fees, steadily and continuously. This is in addition to having to pay for the cost of using the platform month by month and year by year. Too many expenses are incurred each month, which makes it challenging to monitor cash flow.
Can not own the source code and data: As mentioned earlier, the business will not own and control the source code and data of the website that this right belongs to the supplier. Therefore, when you want to switch platforms, businesses will not be able to keep and bring all the source code and data to the new platform because of the Lock-in feature of SaaS.
Limited functionality and customization: Businesses employing SaaS platforms will have fewer options for functionalities and customization in accordance with the particular requirements of each eCommerce website. To enhance clients’ online shopping experiences, the website system must be modified to reflect the company model’s growth as well as industry and product features. SaaS’s constraint, however, makes it challenging to adapt to corporate demands.
Open-Source Platform
Open Source Platform is software with generally available source code that enables customers to obtain, upgrade, and modify additional features required for eCommerce company needs. Instead of being produced by a single corporation, open-source platforms are frequently created by a community of developers.
In addition, because it offers extensive customization options, this platform will be perfect for creating sophisticated eCommerce website systems tailored to a variety of industries, including the furniture industry.
This means that in order to efficiently administer the website and handle technological issues, firms either need to work with expert eCommerce website builders or develop a team of highly qualified internal workers.
In Vietnam, the most popular Open Source platforms to mention are Magento, OpenCart, WooCommerce (WordPress Plugin), etc.
The outstanding advantages of the Open-Source platform:
Ownership of source code and data: Unlike a SaaS platform, the enterprise is the sole owner of the system’s source code and data. Businesses can thus bring all the data and reuse the existing source code when switching to a new platform.
Flexible customization: Companies using the Open Source platform can quickly alter or expand the functional system and create new features to keep up with the rapidly shifting market. From there, companies may quickly link with systems and services provided by other parties to help run eCommerce websites more effectively. Moreover, the Open Source platform’s flexible customization capabilities enable businesses to choose between three popular options for customizing the interface design of their eCommerce website: using an existing theme, customization based on an existing interface and designing its own interface tailored to the particular requirements of the industry.
Numerous features and add-ons: The Open Source platform includes a wide range of advanced capabilities, like advanced search, product suggestions, abandon cart, etc., in addition to the fundamental functions that facilitate eCommerce implementation. Since the Open Source platform is so well-liked, there is a sizable global developer and expert community from which add-ons are explored and shared. These add-ons are more varied and better than the SaaS platform’s utilities.
The following well-known Vietnamese furniture companies are developing their online stores using the Open Source platform:
Sieu Thi Noi That va Trang Tri Baya: A reputable furniture retailer that serves many Vietnamese families, has created a professional eCommerce website using the Magento platform for the purpose of immediately dominating the market.
Noi That Nha Xinh: Manufacturer and supplier of Asian-style furniture products, using the WooCommerce platform for easy and effective eCommerce website deployment.
The disadvantages worth noting when implementing eCommerce with the Open Source platform:
Long implementation period: In comparison to SaaS systems, an open-source platform typically takes 3 months to 1 year to create an eCommerce website, depending on the complexity of the functional system.
High building expenses: Even though companies are free to utilize the platform, it costs quite a bit of money to own a complete eCommerce website with all of its features, usually between $10,000 and $50,000 per project.
Not easy to use: Building an eCommerce system is more difficult than building on SaaS platforms since the system of open source eCommerce features is so diverse and is made to be fine-tuned for each business model. When IT is not a strong suit for a company, this presents a significant challenge, necessitating the assistance of a highly skilled unit.
Web interface design
Businesses should focus on making sure that the website interface conforms to UI/UX standards, clearly displays the brand’s distinctive characteristics and those of the furniture industry, and is synchronous in terms of product presentation and layout when designing the interface of an eCommerce website.
So, businesses can select one of the three methods listed below to create the website interface:
Using the available interface: In comparison to the other two payment options, this is the most affordable way for businesses to pay for the interface. With pricing ranging from $300 to $500, both SaaS and Open Source platforms offer a selection of common UI/UX interfaces.
Customizing based on the available interface: Like the previous method, businesses will use the current interface but will modify it to suit their brand’s requirements. As a result, companies cut expenses while also expressing their brand’s distinctive qualities in part.
Using a self-designed interface: Companies can start thinking about designing their own website interface right immediately to develop a brand image that is unique and more creative than rivals. Even while this is more expensive for businesses than adopting an already-existing interface, the “tailor-made” design interface will match the industry-specific requirements and expectations of the company during the eCommerce deployment phase.
Firms should typically only use methods 1 or 2 at this point because the functional system is still in its early phases and easily found in the available interface.
Functional system development
In phase 1, businesses can prioritize the development of a system of basic functions needed for a complete furniture eCommerce website, specifically as follows:
Catalog management: Manage and control categories, product functions, as well as prices and images/videos for each product to optimize the operation and achieve high efficiency when doing furniture eCommerce business.
Sales management: Manage all order information, including order status and order fulfillment process, thereby helping businesses understand and analyze customers’ shopping behavior and set up and control payment and delivery processes efficiently.
Marketing management: Integrating basic SEO optimization support features such as URLs, meta tags, internal links, etc., and deploying effective marketing campaigns to drive sales.
Content management: Build and optimize content for CMS pages from text, images, pagination, blocks, banners, widgets, and templates to all kinds of branded content, blogs, etc.
Customer management: Manage and control all customer information and customer groups to improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, thereby providing a better shopping experience for customers.
System management: Manage and decentralize administrators to control and operate, secure and maintain the eCommerce website system.
Store management: Using tools to support inventory management at branches, stores, and different warehouses to ensure the continuous supply of goods for the whole system.
Cart and checkout management: Manage and control customers’ shopping carts and payment information.
Analysis and reporting: Support to analyze and measure the performance of the eCommerce website system, thereby offering the next effective business strategies in the future.
Legal procedures finalizing
The final step of building a basic eCommerce website is completing the necessary legal procedures for the website to be allowed to operate legally. Businesses can follow the simple registration steps as instructed at the eCommerce Management Portal.
This is a mandatory requirement of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for every individual or organization that owns an eCommerce website to sell goods and to perform the registration/notification obligation on time.
Stage 2: In-depth furniture eCommerce website development
In-depth furniture eCommerce website development
Re-targeting
Along the journey of business development that comes with ever-changing consumer needs, business goals and strategies need to be adjusted and reconfigured to fit the current business landscape In addition, at this stage, businesses also have problems, data, and insights about their online users, so setting goals will be easy.
In the short term, companies can use efficient marketing techniques to locate and connect with a wider pool of new potential clients online and boost online sales.
In the long run, market sector expansion and building a loyal customer base might be objectives for furniture eCommerce firms. In the second step of the trip to create a successful eCommerce website, businesses will simply develop and implement marketing strategies in accordance with the product features and individual directions of each business by identifying the target market segment.
Businesses must prioritize thinking about the time and cost of investing in a furniture eCommerce website system in addition to short- and long-term objectives because at this stage, the cost and investment budget will frequently be substantial and much higher than the above basic building phase.
eCommerce platform switching
If a company decides to use the SaaS platform to create an internal eCommerce website in the first stage, it will not be able to satisfy the expectations for development and expansion in the second stage due to its restricted customization and capability. Businesses should now convert to an open-source platform with well-known names worth considering, such as Magento, WooCommerce, Ziel Commerce, etc., in order to create an advanced furniture eCommerce website.
Following are some criteria for furniture companies to take into account when selecting an Open Source platform:
Support to design standard UI / UX website interface with beautiful and high-quality images and videos, showing the unique characteristics of the brand and the furniture eCommerce industry.
Provide a functional system from basic to advanced in the furniture industry
High levels of scalability and customization enable the creation of specialized features as well as the integration of several add-ons, third-party services, and administrative support that extends from a single website to numerous websites, multiple language support, multiple currencies, etc.
High levels of security assist businesses in reducing the dangers from illegal access to the data system and, when necessary, aid in data recovery for the eCommerce website system.
Businesses should focus on the costs associated with switching from a SaaS platform to an Open Source platform, the time required for staff to adapt to the new platform, the risk of data loss, and any errors that may occur during the changeover.
Resources selection
Resource selection for the deployment of an advanced system must be made with considerable thought, in contrast to the basic system development phase. Businesses have the option of creating an internal team or hiring a professional website developer to assist them.
The business will hire and train skilled and specialized IT people on the selected platform for internal team building which requires a lot of time and money, but it will improve resource management and control and actively adapt the development of the eCommerce website system in line with the original objective.
Businesses frequently consult several eCommerce website developers before choosing the finest one for their collaboration. The needs of the businesses for an eCommerce website will thus be satisfied as anticipated, the collaboration process will go smoothly, and the businesses will gain more expertise and experience in website development from that partner, which will provide them with directions consistent with the development trend of the furniture eCommerce industry.
These are the criteria that businesses should consider when choosing: In-depth knowledge and experience in eCommerce and the furniture industry; professional working team; clear and detailed working process; ability to quickly handle problems that arise during website construction.
Web interface re-design
Businesses are not required to update the website interface while switching platforms. However, the redesign of the website interface to fit the Open Source platform is now turning out to be a beneficial piece of advice given the new company development plan introduced concurrently with the implementation of eCommerce websites at a more advanced level.
Similar to the preceding period, companies have three alternatives for designing the user interfaces of their eCommerce websites: they can use the existing interface, customize it based on the existing interface, or create their own interface. To ensure the distinctiveness of the brand and the particularity of the furniture eCommerce industry, businesses should typically use methods 2 or 3 to develop the interface at this stage.
Upgrade the system with advanced and industry-specific functions
Businesses should concentrate on establishing a system of advanced and specific features of the furniture eCommerce industry to suit the new development phase, in addition to the basic functions that have been established for the eCommerce website system in the early stages.
Businesses may better grasp the challenges of implementing intense furniture eCommerce and provide solutions to address those challenges and fulfil the market’s rising expectations thanks to advanced and distinctive functions.
As a result, companies use AR technology to improve the consumer experience. While augmented reality (AR) technology is built on virtual reality (VR) technology, it focuses on fusing the actual environment and digital data to give users the ability to view digital data in the physical world. The furniture eCommerce sector makes extensive use of this technology.
Customers now only need to download the company’s AR program, turn on the camera, and evaluate the product’s fit with the area of the house rather than physically going to the store to see the things and try them on to see whether they fit.
Customers’ buying experiences are improved and made more unique by augmented reality (AR) applications, which convert traditional marketing into interactive marketing. IKEA Place App, the furniture buying an app from “big man” IKEA, is a wonderful example because it offers clients a novel and engaging shopping experience.
Customers can use their smartphones to place and try out the more than 2,000 tables, chairs, sofas, shelves, and other household appliances in a real room, change the viewing angle, and zoom in and out. Also, the software will scale items to their true size with 98% accuracy.
The eCommerce website system maintenance
A sophisticated eCommerce website system demands a great deal of experience and effort to operate and maintain. This is the procedure of continuously maintaining, updating, and upgrading the entire system to aid firms in foreseeing and resolving problems (for example, sudden increase in traffic from the promotions that stimulate shopping).
That supports sustained and persistent online sales growth, which is important for eCommerce businesses in general and furniture eCommerce in particular as they compete for a market share of this “pie,” which is “delicious” but can be challenging to consume.
eCommerce acceleration
Furniture eCommerce enterprises readily accomplish growth above and beyond expectations by putting into practice efficient business and marketing strategies.
Therefore, the entire process—from planning through implementation—must be structured with effective, practical solutions that have been demonstrated to work. Implementing Omnichannel, eCommerce Marketing, and SEO optimization are some suggested methods for eCommerce enterprises to accelerate growth.
eCommerce business optimization
The journey of developing an eCommerce website ends with measuring, analyzing, and optimizing eCommerce business activities.
Businesses can use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, etc., to track, update and measure website performance metrics as well as the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
From there, the eCommerce business strategy for the next stage of development will be carefully and methodically planned thanks to clear and detailed reports & analysis.
Some special notes for furniture eCommerce website development
The journey of developing an eCommerce website for the furniture sector is divided into two phases with clear step-by-step instructions. Businesses will, however, be able to go in one of two strategies, each with its own advantages and drawbacks, depending on the platform they decide to use for the first phase.
Strategy no.1: Initially use an eCommerce SaaS platform before switching to an Open Source platform later on.
Strategy 1 for choosing an eCommerce platform
Pros
The quick deployment time of a SaaS platform is one of its benefits. In order to swiftly enter the market and create a simple website system, enterprises can pick SaaS at an early stage. Businesses will evaluate the furniture items’ suitability for the eCommerce market’s demands as well as their influence on upcoming consumer trends there.
The switch to an open-source platform will make it more reasonable to extend and develop a specialized website system in order to raise brand awareness and increase online sales over a period of time long enough for businesses to become accustomed to and adapt to the ever-changing market.
Businesses will save a lot of money by implementing eCommerce utilizing the SaaS platform early on as opposed to developing a website using the Open Source platform. Businesses can use that capital to invest in other activities, such as marketing strategy, which is one of the crucial components for the success of any company, not only furniture companies, because the initial cost of a SaaS platform is typically not too expensive.
The ability to conduct business while gaining knowledge and expertise in technology and how to efficiently implement eCommerce is another advantage of this approach to developing an eCommerce website. In general, running a business is challenging, and operating an eCommerce firm is even more challenging in today’s continuously shifting market and technologically complicated and varied trends.
As a result, acquiring knowledge and real-world experience is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for businesses to achieve extraordinary success. Because a SaaS platform is simple to use and doesn’t require a lot of technical knowledge, choosing one to deploy in the early stages can help businesses become comfortable with eCommerce terminology, concepts, and how to build a website at a basic level.
Due to the complex requirements of an extensive eCommerce website system, businesses will need support from a strong IT team during the second stage of switching to the Open Source platform. The collaborators and partners will then complement each other’s knowledge and experience at that point.
Cons
As was stated in the introduction to the platform, the fundamental functional system of SaaS platforms will not be sufficient to meet the needs of the eCommerce business at the growth and scalability stage.
Therefore, whether you like it or not at this moment, you must switch to the Open Source platform in order for the eCommerce system’s expansion and scalability goals to continue to be successfully implemented.
When adopting this approach for the process of developing and perfecting the website system, eCommerce firms in general, and furniture enterprises, in particular, should pay close attention to this first drawback.
Businesses will significantly reduce the initial cost of the working process by using this strategy. The initial benefit, though, later turns into a detriment in the long run. In addition to the ongoing platform usage fees that companies must pay for the SaaS platform, additional service costs are also significant enough to complicate and make cash flow management challenging to manage.
Because of the characteristic of the SaaS platform, customers are not permitted to keep the source code and data when switching platforms, thus enterprises must once again pay the initial development costs after the stage of moving to the Open Source platform. Additionally, the cost of development using an Open Source platform is rather costly, ranging between $30,000 and $50,000 on average.
Additionally, firms will “headache” from the sunk costs associated with switching platforms. The cost of staff training is seen as an additional expense rather than a true investment if you are accustomed to the new system, especially at a time when the economy is anticipated to rebound following COVID-19.
Furthermore, it is easy to make mistakes during the platform shift that result in the loss of crucial firm data, such as data that is closely tied to financial matters. With all the hazards mentioned, managing cash flow and maintaining balance is still a challenging issue that obviously affects furniture companies’ eCommerce business strategies.
Strategy no. 1 will be appropriate for startups or SMEs learning about eCommerce and entering the market safely based on the pros and disadvantages highlighted.
Strategy no.2: Implement an open-source eCommerce platform from the first phase on and use it throughout the second phase.
Strategy 2 for choosing an eCommerce platform
Pros
With the second strategy, companies develop eCommerce websites on the Open Source platform from the very beginning. Due to the smooth website development process, businesses merely need to gradually improve their functional systems in line with their growth and scale rather than switching platforms.
Long-term cost savings for enterprises are made possible by this seamlessness. In which, addition to saving money by avoiding the cost of starting over when switching platforms as a first strategy, firms also minimize the danger of data loss and spend less time and money training staff to use the brand-new platform.
The second approach, on the other hand, aids firms in laying a strong foundation right away with a professionally designed and smooth eCommerce website system and a team of essential technical personnel who are knowledgeable and well-trained from the start.
Cons
Similar to the first strategy, despite its notable benefits, the second one still has some drawbacks that companies should take into account before implementing furniture eCommerce. The market penetration will be slowed down if Open Source is chosen for the first phase of the deployment process.
All of the website’s features will be designed from the ground up because it will be built on an open-source platform. It takes the team a lot of effort, time, and brainpower to accomplish the entire process, which often takes between three months and a year.
Therefore, the lengthy implementation period is a drawback that slows down market entry, increasing the risk of falling behind in the competitive eCommerce race. Correspondingly, firms will have to pay a considerably larger upfront development fee than they would for a SaaS platform.
When companies must invest a significant sum of money in a platform upfront yet are unsure of its viability and effectiveness for adopting eCommerce, there is a risk involved.
From a business perspective, this drawback is viewed as an opportunity cost, meaning that while this strategy offers firms enormous long-term rewards, it also comes with trade-offs that present difficulties in the short term.
To meet growth and scalability objectives as well as avoid potential risks from switching platforms mentioned in advance, or to make the process of eCommerce implementation simple and efficient.
Therefore, it is incredibly appropriate to invest time and money in starting from scratch with Open Source.
The second approach can be appropriate for firms with a variety of business models, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, when the advantages and downsides are carefully thought.
With the high growth rate of Vietnam’s economy, eCommerce makes a significant contribution to promoting the flow of goods and services, supporting small and medium enterprises, especially those in the furniture sector, to seek effective business opportunities in the context of deep integration and the spread of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Moreover, a qualified eCommerce website serves as a “bridge” for furniture companies to achieve that integration objective. However, building a comprehensive, modern, and professional eCommerce website is never simple and necessitates a significant financial investment.
The journey to develop an eCommerce website is described above in great detail by SECOMM with a few extra tips that furniture businesses can refer to shorten your own planning.
With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries in recent years, SECOMM understands the difficulties and challenges in the process of implementing an interior eCommerce website.
Fashion eCommerce has shown excellent development potential in recent years, with a worldwide market worth USD 759.5 billion in 2021 and predicted to reach USD 1 trillion by 2025. Clothing (+12.7%), Footwear (+11.6%), and Bags and accessories (+8.5%) are expected to increase the fastest in 2023.
Furthermore, fashion is one of the “four pillars” of Vietnam’s e-commerce economy, accounting for 43% of all online purchases, trailing only the eGrocery industry. According to the e-Conomy SEA Report 2021, 47% of Vietnamese respondents think that fashion eCommerce has become a consumer purchasing habit.
Despite the numerous prospects, this industry has multiple problems, including numerous rivals, continually changing consumer preferences, pushing firms to diversify models, Omnichannel sales to create more customer touchpoints, and so on.
As a result, to properly deploy fashion eCommerce, company managers must examine various elements, including the fundamental factor of developing a website. Among eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, Magento is renowned as a platform used by many famous brands to establish eCommerce, including Canifa, Hoang Phuc International, OnOff, and others. So, why have these companies selected Magento?
Is Magento suitable for fashion eCommerce?
Fashion eCommerce requirements
Website interface
The demanding consumer base with excellent aesthetic sensibility is a common element of the fashion sector. This necessitates that fashion firms concentrate on the design of the eCommerce website interface, particularly the homepage, which must be professional and eye-catching.
The disadvantage of online fashion purchasing is that you cannot “See it with your own eyes, touch it with your own hands.” Therefore, the more detailed and colourful the image/video, the more authentic and trustworthy it will appear to buyers.
The website interface is an essential factor when developing a fashion website
In terms of the UI (User Interface), visualisation affects the capacity of customers to engage with the website, helping to answer the question: “Has the user being able to navigate clearly from one page to another in a convenient way? “
Another website interface design is user experience (UX), from consistency in call to action button (CTA) or illustration locations, everything should be more convenient to create the most consistent experience for all website users.
Functional system
Many functionalities are required for an online fashion business website to satisfy industry requirements.
The fashion sector is distinguished by multichannel sales and numerous client touchpoints. For instance, on e-commerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo), social networking channels (Facebook, Tiktok, Zalo, Instagram), and e-commerce websites and applications. When implementing eCommerce for fashion companies, administrators must employ an Omnichannel approach.
Usually, the fashion industry will have a lot of product categories and collections, from clothes, and shoes, to bags and accessories, so consumers’ need to search for products on the website and e-commerce app is very high. From there, businesses should build multi-layer menus and advanced product search functions by keywords or filters to serve the needs of searching and navigating customers.
Furthermore, because fashion is a highly competitive market, the more influential the communication strategies, the more orders the brand will obtain. Loyalty Programs, Livestream, Shoppertainment, Affiliate Marketing, and other fashion-related communication strategies on websites and mobile apps.
The fashion industry has many peculiarities that need to be resolved to deploy eCommerce effectively
Clothing, bags, shoes, and fashion accessories are frequently low-involvement goods, thus creating a rapid shopping cart function would assist consumers to speed up the purchase process, increasing online sales for businesses.
Businesses should construct a feature to help categorise consumers to take care of and tailor the experience for each type of client in the fashion sector, which frequently has several customer groups, such as new, old, and VIP. From there, organisations will gradually use the understanding of each sort of consumer to develop better business solutions in the future.
After all, fashion eCommerce systems must frequently manage high traffic levels during peak seasons.
Integration
Businesses require a highly integrated website construction platform to properly execute fashion eCommerce, including Omni-channel, management system, payment, shipping, analytics, and reporting.
Because the fashion industry is distinct, it needs considerable coverage across all sales channels to reach many potential customers. Therefore, while implementing eCommerce, businesses have to use an Omnichannel strategy. However, to synchronise all data from front-end to back-end when deploying Omnichannel, companies require a highly linked system across all sales channels.
Integration is the next consideration when implementing eCommerce
Simultaneously, fashion firms frequently utilise several third-party management systems such as POS, CRM, ERP, and BI, so businesses must find an eCommerce platform that can combine and manage all data information on” a single screen”
Furthermore, companies must vary payment and delivery methods so that clients have more options when buying fashion goods.
Finally, organisations must integrate analytics and reporting tools to provide real-time measurements with the most user-friendly reporting table. From there, firms could provide more practical guidance in the future.
Scalability
Fashion businesses will have many different sizes, from startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and new entrants to large corporations. Moreover, each business will have a different operating model, such as B2C, B2B2C, and so on.
All sizes and operating models will have unique requirements for each stage of brand development, so businesses need a platform to accompany them throughout the journey, preventing the circumstance of switching platforms consumes time and money when firms install eCommerce.
All sizes and operating models will have unique requirements for each stage of the brand’s development
In summary, companies require a comprehensive platform to efficiently implement fashion eCommerce for the long run, including website interface, functional system, integration, and scalability.
How does Magento solve the eCommerce problem for the fashion industry?
Website interface
When designing a fashionable eCommerce website interface on the Magento platform, businesses have many choices, including using existing themes, customising themes, and designing their own interface.
Magento solves the problem of website interface for the fashion industry
For using existing themes, companies may find these in the marketplace, developer community, or partner for Magento-specific themes in the fashion industry. This helps businesses reduce the expense of interface design, but it limits firms’ brand positioning because the interface is easily imitated by other websites.
For customising themes, businesses can save money and add brand identification aspects like colours, fonts, layout and so on. However, to efficiently set up and customise the website interface, businesses require a team with significant knowledge and experience.
For designing their own interface, businesses will have a “tailored” website for their fashion brand. However, this will necessitate a more significant investment in development expenditures and a more competent workforce.
When using Magento to develop an eCommerce website, most fashion businesses often choose a customised theme or design their own interface to support a centralised eCommerce business.
Functional system
The Magento platform has all the capabilities needed to create a comprehensive eCommerce website, from essential to complex. At the same time, this platform permits the development of custom functions to tackle unique difficulties in the fashion business.
Basic features that assist businesses in running an efficient and seamless fashion eCommerce website, such as:
Catalog Management: Manage all data, processes, categories, attributes, prices, inventory quantities, and images/videos to operate and optimise the efficiency
Store Management: Manage product inventory and each branch’s business activities and personnel
Cart and Checkout: Manage the shopping cart and customers’ information when they check out
Customer Management: Manage customer information to increase marketing efficiency, purchase experience, and customer satisfaction
Marketing Management: Optimize SEO and implement marketing strategies with tools to increase business sales
Sales Management: Create and manage sales, order, payment, and shipping processes
Content Management: Create and optimise all content elements for CMS pages, image storage, customise themes, and design websites
System Management: Delegate administrators to review the best methods for website security and maintenance
Analysis and Report: Support tracking and measuring eCommerce system performance and developing future strategies
The Magento platform has all the capabilities needed to create a comprehensive eCommerce website
Advanced functionality that enhances the online shopping experience for consumers, such as:
Advanced features that improve the online buying experience for customers, such as:
Advanced search (Elasticsearch, live-search) to improve the website’s ability to locate items.
PWA (Progressive Web Apps) allows the website to have the same mobile functionalities and interactions as a native app.
Advanced SEO to examine indexed web pages, assess the SEO quality of each page and make recommendations to improve website ranks.
MSI (Multi Source Inventory) aids in the administration of items across several stores, significantly increasing inventory management.
Specific functions are those that assist businesses in dealing with fashion industry issues, such as:
The multi-layer menu aids in displaying the range of fashion products
Advanced search to help consumers find the product they’re looking for
View 360 to see fashion product details
AR/VR to replace the real shopping experience
In general, Magento can create any sophisticated functional system, with infrastructural development before and after depending on the demands of each organisation.
Integration
With high integration capabilities, Magento can manage it on a “single” screen
Magento is well-known as an e-commerce platform with significant connectivity with a wide range of third-party services, including Omnichannel, administration software, analytical and reporting tools, payment and shipping.
Payment: Easily link the Magento system with current popular payment methods such as card payment (VISA, Mastercard), e-wallet (MOMO, Zalopay), payment gateway (OnePay, VNPay, PayPal) or COD to help diversify payment methods
Shipping: Easily integrate shipping providers like Giao Hang Nhanh, Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, Ninja Van, Viettel Post and shipping tracking applications to optimise delivery processes
Administration software: Integrating with back-office management and operation software (ERP, CRM, POS) like SAP, Salesforce, Ocracle to help operate all processes and resources in the organisation
Business Intelligence tools: Link with business analysis tools like Power BI, Tableau, and Looker to offer database-driven analysis and reporting
Omnichannel: Combine all sales channels on the same system to control data and operations from offline to online business
Scalability
Magento allows organisations to extend from one website to many distinct websites on the same system to satisfy the requirements of company-scale development. This implies that organisations can access and manage data from a single central Magento system.
With Magento’s language-switching functionality, businesses can create an attractive eCommerce website with customer-friendly content and languages. Furthermore, the Magento system enables businesses to effortlessly exchange currencies, allowing them to grow into new markets in a variety of nations.
From then, Magento can help businesses scale and function effectively without switching to another eCommerce platform from the beginning of business through the period of expansion.
Magento can accompany businesses from the beginning to the point of expanding the business system due to flexible customization
In a nutshell, Magento is an e-commerce platform that caters for the demands of all types and sizes of fashion businesses, from website interface design and functional system development to integration and scalability. However, there are numerous challenges that firms must overcome when implementing fashion eCommerce with Magento, such as high installation costs, long construction times, and the requirement for highly skilled employees.
Recognising the aforementioned business difficulties, SECOMM provides free consultation services on technology and resource solutions for each company.
The growth of the grocery eCommerce industry in the Vietnamese market in 2021 is undeniable. According to the Google report, online grocery-related searches will increase by 223% in 2021, 3.6 times in June, and 11 times in July during Vietnam’s lockdown due to Covid-19 in several provinces.
Recognizing the market’s enormous potential, the need for a professional eCommerce website for online grocery businesses has grown significantly to expand the business system, supporting digital transformation and long-term revenue growth. Some of Vietnam’s largest grocery businesses, including Annam Gourmet Market, Bach Hoa Xanh, Organica, Farmer’s Market, and WinMart, have led the way in developing an eCommerce website system and have seen great success.
Choosing the right platform to build an eCommerce website makes the above brands successful. Platforms play a significant role in developing and operating an effective online grocery website. Along with well-known names such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, Magento is considered the best online grocery support platform.
The advantages of creating eGrocery websites on the Magento platform
Various approaches to designing a website interface
Businesses have many options when designing the eGrocery website interface on the Magento platform, including using available themes, customizing themes, and creating their own.
Businesses can find Magento-specific themes in the grocery field, developer community, or partner using available themes. It helps businesses reduce the cost of interface design, but it limits businesses’ brand positioning because the interface is easy to duplicate with other websites.
There are three ways to design an eGrocery website interface on the Magento platform.
Businesses can save money and add brand identity elements such as colors, fonts, layout, and so on by customizing their themes. However, businesses need a team with extensive Magento expertise and experience to set up and customize the interface efficiently.
Businesses will have a one-of-a-kind website for their brand if they design their interface. However, it will require an enormous investment in development costs and a professional team.
When choosing Magento to develop an eCommerce website, most grocery stores often customize or use their themes to support an in-depth eCommerce business.
Various eCommerce functional systems
The Magento platform provides a comprehensive set of features, ranging from basic to advanced, for the development of professional eCommerce websites. Additionally, Magento allows you to create custom functions to solve specialized grocery industry problems.
Basic functions to assist businesses in running an efficient and smooth website system, such as
Catalog Management: Manage all data, processes, categories, attributes, prices, inventory quantities, and images/videos to operate and optimize the efficiency of the online grocery store.
Store Management: Manage product inventory and each branch’s business activities and personnel.
Cart and Checkout: Manage the shopping cart and customers’ information when they check out.
Customer Management: Manage customer information to increase marketing efficiency, purchase experience, and customer satisfaction.
Marketing Management: Optimize SEO and implement marketing strategies with tools to increase business sales.
Sales Management: Create and manage sales, order, payment, and shipping processes.
Content Management: Create and optimize all content elements for CMS pages, image storage, customize themes, and design websites.
System Management: Delegate administrators to review the best methods for website security and maintenance
Analysis and Report: Support tracking and measuring eCommerce system performance and developing future strategies.
Magento’s functional system
Advanced functions that improve consumers’ online shopping experiences, such as advanced search (Elasticsearch, live-search), MSI (Multi-Source Inventory), abandoned cart, similar product recommendations, PWA (Progressive Web Apps), multi-layered product catalog, and so on.
In addition, industry-specific functions assist businesses in dealing with their problems and reducing mistakes in the online grocery industry, such as order tracking, fast delivery, delivery time and location options, etc.
The ability to expand the system in the future
The high flexibility of Magento open source is an outstanding advantage that helps the system not only operate effectively at present but also expand the system to accompany businesses in the future.
Grocery businesses can fully integrate 3rd party services with Magento, making eCommerce operations efficient and smooth:
Payment: Integrating with card payments (ATM, VISA, Master Card); e-wallet (MOMO, Zalo Pay); payment gateways (OnePay, VNPay, Paypal), and COD that helps diversify the payment experience.
Delivery: Integrating with delivery companies like Giao Hang Nhanh, Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, Viettel Post, and order tracking applications aid in the processing and optimizing delivery processes.
Management software: Integrating with software like ERP, CRM, POS (SAP), Salesforce, and Oracle that help run all businesses’ resources.
Business analysis tool: Integrating with business analysis tools (Business Intelligence-BI) like Power BI, Tableau, and Looker assists in the improvement of the business strategy and growth plan
Marketing: Integrating with marketing software from Email Marketing (Mailchimp, Getresponse) to advertisement (Facebook, Google, Zalo, Tik Tok) to optimize eCommerce business
The ability to expand the system
Besides that, Magento also allows businesses to expand from one website, and one store to many websites, and stores, and convert multi-language, and multi-currency flexibly while still being able to manage all data at the same time.
As a result, Magento is a suitable platform for a wide range of business models, including B2C, B2B, B2B2C, and O2O, as well as a wide range of business sizes, including new businesses entering the eCommerce market, startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and large corporations.
Outstanding security
In the path to building a website, security is another significant benefit that makes the Magento platform the preferred platform for online grocery stores.
Magento’s outstanding security
Magento includes a security scan tool that helps identify problems and propose security solutions to handle arising errors, effectively optimizing the security of grocery eCommerce websites. Moreover, to improve admin account security, Magento requires admins to use advanced passwords with at least 7 characters, including letters, numbers, and special symbols. Simultaneously, password complexity can be added to lowercase and uppercase passwords or re-login after a certain amount of login session time. Furthermore, Magento supports two-factor authentication, such as OTP or CAPTCHA code, to strengthen the security of the grocery eCommerce website system.
Diverse ecosystems
The Magento platform has a worldwide developer community that includes many experienced and professional Magento developers.
Magento is also part of the Adobe ecosystem, helping businesses easily access new technology trends and use Adobe’s available application store.
With such a strong development community, online grocery store businesses will receive the most assistance in resolving technical issues and consulting on building eCommerce solutions that are appropriate for their business model.
Magento’s ecosystem
Difficulties in creating an eGrocery website on the Magento platform
High development cost
Although Magento is highly appreciated for its features and performance, the cost issue is still a significant obstacle that makes many eGrocery businesses hesitate to choose Magento.
Implementing a complete eCommerce website system built on Magento costs between $10,000 and $250,000.
Cost
Magento Open Source
Magento Commerce
Magento Commerce Cloud
User licenses
Free
$22.000 -$125.000/yr
$40.000-$190.000/yr
Hosting
$100-$500/yr
$500-$6.500/yr
Free
Domain
$10-$400/yr
$10-$400/yr
$10-$400/yr
SSL Certificate
$50-$300/yr
$50-$300/yr
$50-$300/yr
Creating website
$5.000+
$5.000+
$5.000+
Developing website
$1.800-$10.000/yr
$10.000+
$10.000+
Extensions
$60-$600/ea
60-$600/ea
60-$600/ea
Total
$10.000-$17.000
$33.000-$149.000
$50.000-$207.000
The table comparing Magento construction costs
Take time to implement
A complete Magento project typically requires 3 to 6 months, with some projects requiring up to a year. As a result, businesses frequently waste time because of the complex functional system and the scarcity of Magento experts.
Professional team required
Businesses require a professional team with a deep understanding of Magento as well as practical experience on highly complex systems to implement an effective eGrocery website using Magento.
Annam Gourmet’s case study
Although Annam Gourmet has previously owned a website, it is primarily used for brand development, and the effectiveness of eCommerce activities has not been prioritized. As a result, this website system is not comprehensive and is limited to crucial eCommerce functions. Furthermore, to transition into the “new normal”, Annam Gourmet must expand its online sales channel more intensively and effectively.
In order to meet the needs mentioned earlier, as well as to support the company’s long-term development goals in the Vietnamese market, Secomm and Synova successfully built a complete eCommerce website system on the Magento 2 platform.
Creating eGrocery website for Annam Gourmet
The Magento 2 website system is operationally stable and effective with other components in Annam Gourmet’s operating system. As a result, Annam Gourmet’s eCommerce website, with typical grocery industry elements, is capable of meeting all business needs, such as operating effectively in a highly complex system, quickly processing huge amounts of data about products, customers, and orders, and seamlessly syncing with ERP, CRM, POS, and so on.
In general, when building a grocery eCommerce website with Magento, businesses can master everything from interface design to feature system, leveraging a diverse ecosystem, a system capable of flexible customization, and superior security. On the other hand, businesses must prepare and invest in a budget, time, and team to successfully and effectively implement it.
Our company – SECOMM, has been partnering with many big enterprises such as An Nam Group (Vietnam), Jasnor (Australia), and Changi Airport Group (Singapore). As a result, we are aware of the challenges and worries firms face while developing an eCommerce website system.
Get in touch with us now for FREE eCommerce consultancy and solutions in eGrocery businesses.
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