Tag Archives: AR technology

4 COMMON MISTAKES WHILE DOING GROCERY E-COMMERCE
Grocery e-commerce is an inevitable business trend in the current Vietnamese e-commerce market. Some grocery stores have implemented e-commerce very early and have achieved great success, such as An Nam Gourmet, Bach Hoa Xanh, WinMart, and Co.op Online.
However, not all businesses are fortunate to deploy effective e-commerce because risks and wrong decisions when doing business can happen in any market, not only in the eGrocery market.
Some mistakes are fixable, but there are mistakes no matter how much budget and time it takes to make up. Here are some online grocery store mistakes that eGrocery business leaders need to know.

Building operating procedures for complex e-commerce systems
The grocery store business process in chain stores and e-commerce websites is entirely different. However, when implementing e-commerce, many businesses put the entire existing process on the website system without any customization or modification to conform to general operating procedures.
To shift business from offline to online, businesses must face difficulties such as synchronizing data from POS (Point of sale), e-commerce platforms, and e-commerce websites for other systems like CRM, ERP, BI, etc.
Grocery e-commerce is an extraordinary industry, with many complex features such as products with many units, selling methods, weight differences, constantly changing prices (day/week/month/year), expired products that need to be canceled, or imported new must have specific data, complicated payment processes, cumbersome warehousing operations, etc.
In particular, most products in the grocery store are fresh and fast food, so the damage rate is high, and the delivery time needs to be faster than in other fields. In addition, for these items, “housewives” also need to choose the correct delivery time.

Because of the complexity of the operation process, the requirements for the e-commerce system are also more unique compared to other industries, making it difficult for managers to grasp the business situation and not be able to manage the number of products in stock in each branch.
Enterprises should build their in-house team or look for experienced grocery e-commerce developers to design the system operation process for specific industry and business problems that SaaS platforms cannot provide.
Wrong choice of an e-commerce platform for egrocery
An e-commerce platform is software that businesses use to build an e-commerce website. Choosing a platform is always the first step in the e-commerce business process, so choosing the wrong one will lead to the entire online grocery store strategy going down.
After a period of using the unsuitable platform, businesses are required to “change blood” with another platform. This mistake wastes time and budget to build an e-commerce website for businesses without bringing about the expected results. It takes time to recruit and train employees to get used to the new platform.
To avoid this unnecessary mistake, businesses need to clearly define short-term and long-term goals for the brand, thereby building the criteria for choosing the most suitable e-commerce platform. To do that, businesses can do their research or seek professional advice before making a final decision. Of course, this takes time, but it will save time in the long run for the business.

Currently, businesses that want to implement e-commerce step by step often choose Saas (Software as a service) platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and Haravan in the early stages. This helps businesses save budget and time in the short term, market exploration, etc. Then, switch to open source platforms (Open Source) such as WooCommerce, OpenCart, and Magento to upgrade and expand the website system with convenient features for users and businesses.
Businesses with a long-term e-commerce business orientation often choose open source platforms right from the start to long-term companionship with businesses. Starting and developing continuously on an open source platform helps businesses save money and time to switch platforms, and own and fully control the system from source code to customer data, efficiently and proactively develop new features suitable for users and markets.
However, similar to building an operating process, choosing an e-commerce platform does not have a typical “recipe” for all businesses. Hence, each business needs to understand its business strategy, operating model carefully, and so on. in each stage of development.
Not investing in website interface design
The interface is essential in the grocery business, and it is necessary to meet UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience – User Experience) standards. These are two crucial factors in any e-commerce website. However, many businesses forget these two factors when designing websites, leading to consequences such as an unattractive interface, not showing the characteristics of the business and the grocery, poor website performance, and page loading—slow, poor navigation, and few specialized functions for e-commerce, etc.
The UI / UX standard design has not been emphasized. However, the user experience on the enterprise’s website becomes worse, unable to retain users, affecting the revenue and brand positioning of the business.
So when choosing an e-commerce platform, businesses should also choose platforms that can help businesses customize the interface and functionality of the source code.

Currently, there are 3 ways to design the interface for a website:
- First, use existing themes (interfaces): Businesses can choose from themes available in the market, development community, or cooperation units. This will help businesses save costs, but brand awareness is low because it is easy to duplicate with other websites.
- Customize the interface based on the existing theme: Similar to the above, businesses can customize their characteristics by affecting the code in the front end. From there, businesses both save costs and express their characteristics.
- Design your interface: This is often more expensive than using a theme, but it meets the business’s most specific and specific needs.
Inappropriate feature build roadmap
At the right time, the functional system is not what “needs not to have” and “what has is not needed.” For example, in the early stages of entering the e-commerce market, businesses often do not have a certain number of users, so the functions of the Loyalty Program (loyalty program) are not necessary. Instead, businesses should focus on building functions that help exploit potential customers. Then, after having a stable number of users, businesses can gradually build more specialized functions, solving industry-specific problems.
Building a functional system that is not suitable for users’ needs at each time will waste time and cost to build a website without providing a satisfactory shopping experience, affecting revenue efficiency and can be left behind competitors in the industry.

In general, egrocery is the “golden opportunity” for businesses to implement e-commerce. However, to capture opportunities and market share, businesses need to pay attention to many factors, especially the mistakes to avoid mentioned in this article.
With experience in successfully implementing complex grocery e-commerce systems like An Nam Gourmet, SECOMM understands grocery businesses’ obstacles. Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on detailed e-commerce system development solutions!

5 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR EGROCERY BUSINESS TO BE SUCCEED
When grocery business activities face many obstacles such as strict lockdown measures by Covid-19, shortage of necessities, and geographical distance, the demand for egrocery increases daily. E-commerce marketplaces such as Tiki (Tiki Ngon), Lazada (Lazada Supermarket), Shopee (Shopee Fresh), and super apps like Momo (Online shopping), Grab (Grab Mart), etc. all, in turn, deploy egrocery to respond to consumer needs promptly. In particular, grocery stores’ e-commerce websites such as Bach Hoa Xanh, WinMart, and Co.opmart quickly seized the opportunity and grew impressively!
The egrocery market continued to thrive after the lockdown period was removed, indicating the expanding potential of the grocery e-commerce business.
Not only was grocery e-commerce appearing in the Vietnamese market but also globalization. For example, in the United States market, egrocery has an annual growth rate of 200% (according to Statista).
Businesses must swiftly develop an e-commerce system fit for industry and customers to capture changes in the market. However, to efficiently engage in the market, administrators must consider several concerns while implementing grocery e-commerce.

Choose the right e-commerce platform
Choosing the right e-commerce platform is essential for any business, not just the grocery industry. An e-commerce platform compatible with business strategies will help companies save time, accelerate the digital transformation process, and save money on deploying e-commerce websites in both the short and long term. In addition, businesses do not need to switch platforms many times, saving time and budget for recruiting and training personnel to familiarize themselves with the system.

Some of the e-commerce platforms for grocery businesses include Ziel Commerce, Haravan, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. In particular, Ziel Commerce is a platform designed explicitly for eGrocery businesses. SaaS platforms like Haravan and Shopify are suitable for SMEs (small and medium enterprises), startups, or new entrants to e-commerce. WooCommerce is ideal for businesses that need to own the source code and customize the website at an affordable cost. The Magento platform is suitable for many different business models (B2C, B2B, B2B2C, etc) and many different business sizes (SME, startup, large corporation, etc). This platform meets the needs of building an in-depth e-commerce website under its characteristics, with full ownership of the source code and the ability to customize the website. However, due to the prolonged deployment time and high prices, many businesses are hesitant to use Magento, while many enterprises trust it.
Building a system of industry-specific features
A big problem that egrocery businesses need to pay attention to is that the grocery industry has a relatively complicated operation.

Grocery products have many units of measure, weight differences, and different ways of selling; prices are constantly fluctuating and updated continuously by day/week/month/year. The import and export of warehouses are complicated (general warehouse, store warehouse, warehouse for each area in the store), so when deploying an online grocery store, businesses need to synchronize the price and quantity of products so that when restocking, the data will not be lost. Weight and cost data on branches are changed under control, avoiding the lack of synchronization between frontend and backend, causing data processing to be interrupted.
At the same time, grocery products are mainly fresh foods such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, etc, so they need to be refrigerated, delivered quickly, or selected with the correct delivery time.
Handling all the problems in the complex operating process of the grocery industry requires a team of highly qualified IT and e-commerce personnel to design an e-commerce system that is suitable for the specific process and requirements of the business – something current SaaS platforms are not enough to meet.
Enhance customer experience
When running an online grocery store, the user experience requirements are very high; from navigating shopping behavior to the checkout process, order delivery needs to be optimized. Because user experience increases the likelihood of customers placing their first order, it also gives customers more reasons to buy again, contributing to a competitive advantage over competitors in the same industry. There are many ways for businesses to enhance the user experience, such as layering product categories to navigate customers more intuitively and building specialized functions such as quick add products to cart, fast checkout, search enhancements, and product recommendations based on collected data, etc.

At the same time, personalizing the user experience is an essential factor in the customer’s shopping journey. Businesses exploit, analyze, and leverage data to build the right customer journey, match consumer behavior, and increase the user experience level of personalization. Personalize from CMS content and display products to navigate the shopping journey for businesses to increase loyalty and customer lifetime value (CLV).
Implement attractive promotions
The secret of doing business in online grocery is to build incentive programs suitable for customer segments.

Some popular promotions that businesses can apply in the early stages include free shipping, buy one get one free, gifts/vouchers, or promotions with specific conditions (certain items reach a particular value).
After that, businesses can deploy loyalty programs such as accumulating points for purchases, VIP membership, converting reward points into discount codes, donating bonus points to charities associated with the brand, subscription plans, etc.
Applying omni-channel
Omni-channel is one of the inevitable e-commerce trends in 2022; the application of Omni-channel will help businesses do online grocery business more conveniently.

Omni-channel will help customers’ shopping experience be seamless from the physical store to the website, helping businesses follow customers from e-commerce platforms, social networks, websites, etc.
In addition, by collecting and analyzing information from Omni-channel, businesses can efficiently study customer behavior, preferences, and psychology and know whether they are satisfied with the product, service quality, or not to take reasonable measures to change.
It can be said that the grocery e-commerce business has both opportunities and challenges, requiring business managers to think carefully about tactics to make the most effective steps. But, of course, that work is not easy, finding a companion is also tricky, building an in-house team is not easy, and businesses have to pay a lot of opportunity costs and time to reach the “finish line” themselves.
With experience in successfully implementing complex grocery e-commerce systems like An Nam Gourmet, SECOMM understands grocery businesses’ obstacles. Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on detailed e-commerce system development solutions!

TOP 5 ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS FOR EGROCERY
With the boom in recent years, ecommerce is a potential business form pursued by many businesses, especially egrocery stores. According to Statista, the grocery ecommerce market in the United States is likely to exceed $24 billion by 2023.
Realizing the potential of the egrocery market, several businesses have deployed grocery ecommerce websites early and experienced breakthrough growth, such as Grofers (Blinkit) and BigBasket in India, Bach Hoa Xanh, An Nam Gourmet, Farmer’s Market, WinMart, and Organica in Vietnam.
The common thing that makes the success of the above brands lies in the ecommerce platform. Therefore, to develop and operate an effective ecommerce website, the role of platforms is enormous.
So which ecommerce platforms are suitable for the grocery industry?
Platform selection criteria
User interface and administration interface
For the website interface, in addition to meeting basic needs such as UI/UX standards and showing the brand’s characteristics and the eGrocery industry, businesses also need to focus on the presented product images. Therefore, on the website, everything needs to be synchronized and precise.
The administrator interface (admin) must be easy to use, navigate, control, and manage all data in the system.
Functional system
With eGrocery, the system of ecommerce features needs to be diverse from basic to advanced, solving complex characteristics of the grocery industry such as products with multiple units, weight difference, and price volatility, export-import complex warehouse, and synchronized data throughout the system.
Some functions required in a grocery ecommerce website system such as:
- Primary functions: Meet the most basic needs when operating an ecommerce system, such as order management, checkout, payment, shipping, etc
- Advanced Functions: Functions that enhance the consumer experience and accelerate the shopping process such as order tracking, abandoned cart recovery, similar product recommendations, product search fast products, multi-layered product portfolio, etc
- Specific functions: Functions that help to thoroughly solve the difficulties of implementing specialized grocery ecommerce, meeting the needs of customer segments and businesses such as fast delivery, choice of time delivery point, etc
Integration capabilities
To have a seamless online volatility store system with multiple sales channels, businesses must integrate their ecommerce website with other payment services, shipping services, management software, analysis, report, and distribution systems:
- Payment: Integrate various payment methods from domestic cards to international cards, such as payment gateways (Paypal, Stripe, OnePay), e-wallets (Momo, ZaloPay), etc.
- Shipping: Integrate with international shipping providers like DHL Express, Fedex, Ups, USPS, and popular shipping providers in Vietnam like Fast Delivery, Economy Delivery, Ninja Van, etc. With order tracking applications to help process and operate the delivery processes
- Management software: Easily integrate CRM, ERP, and POS software to get a seamless connection on all supply channels from offline to online
- Analysis and reporting: Integrate analysis and reporting software such as Business Intelligent, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.
This integration helps businesses overcome the limitations of the “rice-powered” process, increase the automation of the system, limit business mistakes, and ensure high accuracy and performance.
Ability to extension
To accompany businesses to develop over time, from startups, and SMEs (small and medium enterprises), to large corporations, from B2B, B2C, and D2C business models to B2B2C, commerce electronics platforms must be highly scalable. High scalability helps meet all future business growth needs, such as multi-site, multi-country, and multi-currency, all manageable on “one screen.” Not only that, but highly scalable platforms also support businesses to operate the system stably regardless of the traffic in promotion campaigns.
Evaluate 5 ecommerce platforms for egrocery business based on each criterion

Ziel Commerce
Ziel Commerce is a readymade grocery ecommerce platform with all the features designed to support an online grocery store business.

Website interface
Ziel Commerce provides a repository of themes specifically for the grocery industry, allowing businesses to customize according to their needs, helping to both reflect the characteristics of the industry and position the brand image.
Remarkably, the interface for administrators is also invested by the founders to make it most accessible for businesses to use. But currently, Ziel Commerce is not popular in the Vietnamese market, so there is no Vietnamese version for businesses.
Functional system
As a platform designed specifically for the eGrocery industry, Ziel Commerce can meet all the most specialized needs of businesses, including fundamental to advanced functionality systems and existing industry-specific solutions.
Integration capabilities
Ziel Commerce has a significant drawback in integrating the website system. In addition, this platform only supports add-ons available in its ecosystem, so businesses will not be able to link with the ERP, POS, CRM, BI, etc., systems in use. Therefore, when using Ziel Commerce, companies need to transfer all existing data to the server of this platform.
Ability of extension
Although it does not own the source code, Ziel Commerce is still a highly appreciated platform for its scalability compared to SaaS platforms. Ziel Commerce supports businesses to expand their ecommerce website system from one to many stores/websites, multi-language, multi-currency without many obstacles. However, in the long run, Ziel Commerce cannot support businesses to expand or develop new functions because firms cannot affect the source code; if it affects it, it will cause instability for the commercial website system.
→ Rating: 3/4
Ziel Commerce provides an almost comprehensive online grocery store website building solution for businesses, from website interface and functional system to scalability. However, the implementation cost is relatively high, about $50,000/project in 6 months. Therefore, Ziel Commerce is only popular with retail chains, has high functional demand, and operates mainly abroad. However, when using Ziel Commerce, businesses should consider adding the platform’s integration, limiting instability in the operation when 3rd party systems are not compatible with the platform.
Shopify
Shopify is a SaaS ecommerce platform favored by the international ecommerce business community because of its fast implementation time and reasonable starting cost.

Website interface
Shopify provides a variety of interfaces, including grocery industry and UI/UX standards, but cannot be edited according to the characteristics of the business.
Functional system
Shopify’s functional system is relatively complete, meeting the basic needs of businesses. But to use advanced functions, companies have to pay a certain amount of money every month, leading to an increased cost of using the functional system. In addition, even Shopify can barely provide eGrocery industry-specific resolution functions.
Integration capabilities
Because it is a SaaS platform, businesses cannot affect the source code, and it is not easy to integrate with many 3rd parties. Companies can only integrate utilities provided by Shopify or a platform partner.
Some utilities that companies can integrate with Shopify include:
- Payment: Paypal, Stripe, SagePay, AliPay Global, etc
- Shipping: DHL Express, USPS, UPS, etc
- Administration: Microsoft Dynamic 365 (ERP), Oracle NetSuite (ERP), Acumatica (ERP), etc
- Marketing: Google Tools, MailChimp, Facebook Pixel, etc
Ability of extension
Similar to the ability to integrate, the scalability on Shopify is not high because businesses cannot influence the source code to edit and upgrade the website. Therefore, online grocery businesses can only use Shopify for the first time.
→ Rating: 2/4
Shopify is only suitable for businesses new to the ecommerce market, startups, or SMEs (small and medium enterprises) because of the reasonable development cost and time to deploy an online grocery store business website.
Haravan
Founded in 2014, Haravan is an ecommerce platform based on Shopify. Currently, Haravan is a popular platform in the Vietnamese market with more than 50,000 business people and trusted brands.

Website interface
Haravan has many standard UI/UX interfaces suitable for the grocery industry, including free and paid. At the same time, the interface for administrators supports Vietnamese and is easy to use, so businesses do not face many difficulties when using it.
Functional system
Haravan provides many utilities – functions for online grocery stores in Vietnam.
In addition, similar to Shopify, to use more advanced functions, businesses have to pay a monthly application fee of about 100,000 VND/month/app.
However, businesses can’t find parts that deal with the grocery’s specifics in Haravan’s app store and can’t develop in terms of specific functions. Enterprises can only use the functions included in the package and app store.
Integration capabilities
For integration capabilities, Haravan can integrate with Haravan’s partners such as transportation (Economic Delivery, Fast Delivery, Ahamove, GrabExpress, etc.), payment (Ngan Luong, VNPAY, Napas, PayPal, etc.), etc.).
It is difficult for businesses to integrate for 3rd party utilities outside Haravan’s ecosystem on their ecommerce website.
Ability of extension
As for the extension of the ecommerce website system, Haravan can only support the multi-language – currency but cannot expand from one to many websites/stores. It is challenging to manage all the data on a foundation.
As the business gradually grows and expands, Haravan will no longer be functional enough to maintain an online grocery store business. As a result, companies are forced to switch to more specialized platforms such as Magento, WooCommerce, and OpenCart. But, of course, switching platforms will create many other problems such as costs, time, personnel, etc.
→ Rating: 2/4
Similar to Shopify, Haravan is only suitable for businesses new to the ecommerce market, startups, and SMEs. But Shopify can support online grocery business globally, and Haravan only stops at the Vietnamese market.
Woocommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source platform in the form of a WordPress plugin, allowing businesses to use it completely free.

Website interface
WooCommerce and the community provide businesses with various themes designed for the grocery industry. At the same time, this platform also allows influencing the source code to customize according to needs, helping businesses quickly convey brand messages and images.
Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, the admin will continue to manage the website on the WordPress interface itself. This makes it easy for businesses using WordPress to adapt, use, and navigate on the WooCommerce dashboard.
Functional system
WooCommerce supports a variety of features, from basic to advanced. However, this platform has some limitations on features specific to the grocery industry because interfering with developing these functions will easily cause instability for the website system.
Integration capabilities
Thanks to the advantages of the open source platform, WooCommerce has flexible customization capabilities and supports integration with many 3rd party utilities.
In payment, businesses can use amount plugins such as Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Square to their ecommerce website system with high security and safety. In addition, companies can integrate with many shipping providers such as Fedex, Ups, USPS, and DHL Express. The WooCommerce platform also allows businesses to integrate with management software such as Odoo, Square POS, WP ERP, and Marketing software such as Google Listings, Google Ads, and Facebook Pixel to support businesses in effective business management. More fruitful.
Ability of extension
Contrary to the integration capabilities, the extensibility of WooCommerce is not appreciated. Because the system is easily overloaded with plugin themes, and the number of products does not exceed 2000 SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit). Therefore, businesses wishing to expand their website system need to consider when using this platform in the long run.
→ Rating: 3/4
WooCommerce is the right platform for grocery businesses that use WordPress and are looking to develop an ecommerce system. But when using WooCommerce, companies should consider the limitations of integration, extensibility, and customizability of specific features.
Magento
Magento is a popular open source commerce platform in ecommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free) and Magento Commerce (paid).

Website interface
Although Magento does not own a rich theme store like other ecommerce platforms, businesses can look to the developer community, market (Envato), or design their own. Having many options when designing the interface helps Magento websites to have their uniqueness, avoid overlapping the interface with many different websites and bring a higher shopping experience.
Previously, the admin interface on Magento 1 was often considered difficult to use and took a long time to adapt. As a result, Magento publishers developed Magento 2 with a more intuitive and easy-to-navigate dashboard to overcome this problem.
Functional system
The Magento platform has a highly diverse system of features from basic and advanced to industry-specific to help grocery businesses quickly build and develop a sustainable system.
A basic functional system, including catalog management, product management, customer management, report analysis, etc., helps meet the basic needs of a convenient online grocery store business.
In particular, Magento also has many advanced functions for ecommerce, such as multi-language support, multi-currency, multi-store, PWA, MSI, ElasticSearch, etc. Shopping happens faster.
Magento does not have built-in features only for the grocery industry regarding specific features. Still, businesses can quickly build a system of particular features such as category classification, quick search, and delivery time selection thanks to flexible customization on open source code.
Integration capabilities
Thanks to the advantages of the open source platform, the Magento website can be easily integrated with any 3rd party utilities, from payment, shipping, and business administration.
Regarding payment, Magento easily connects with today’s popular payment methods such as card payments (domestic cards, VISA, Mastercard), e-wallets (MOMO, Zalopay), and payment gateways (OnePay, VNPay, etc.) PayPal) or COD, which helps to diversify payment methods.
Magento can integrate with shipping providers such as Fast Delivery, Economy Delivery, Viettel Post, and order tracking applications.
Magento can be integrated into back-office management software (ERP, CRM, POS) such as SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle to help operate all resources and processes seamlessly in the enterprise.
In addition, Magento also supports integration with business analysis tools such as Power BI, Tableau, and Looker and analysis and reporting utilities such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixels to exploit all data from the system. As a result, Magento plans to improve its business strategy.
Ability of extension
Magento allows businesses to expand from one website to many different websites on the same system to meet the needs of business development. In addition, with the available support for language and currency conversion from Magento, businesses can build a grocery ecommerce system with content suitable for a diverse audience of customers around the globe.
In addition, open source customization enables Magento developers to build functional solutions specific to the grocery industry. This advantage makes Magento expand the system of capabilities according to each business size, from small businesses to large-scale corporations.
→ Rating: 4/4
Because Magento possesses many outstanding advantages, from website interface and functional system to the ability to integrate and expand, Magento is suitable for a variety of grocery business models from B2B, B2C to B2B2C, a multiform of enterprise-scale such as startup, SME, enterprise (large corporation). However, the time to deploy ecommerce on Magento is usually long – from 6 months to 1 year, with high construction costs of about 50,000 – 100,000 USD/project. At the same time, businesses also need to have a professional team or cooperate with experienced units to develop an effective grocery ecommerce system. Therefore, Magento is popularly used in the community of large-scale businesses that need many functions to increase user experience.

Choosing the right platform is the first and most significant step when building a grocery ecommerce website. Selecting the right ecommerce platform will help businesses save budget and time in building a website while increasing competitive advantage and sustainable growth. On the contrary, choosing the wrong forum will cost businesses a lot of time and budget to deploy and switch platforms. Therefore, companies need to consider the goals and problems in the current model to choose the most suitable platform.
With experience in successfully implementing complex grocery ecommerce systems like An Nam Gourmet, SECOMM understands grocery businesses’ obstacles.
Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on detailed ecommerce system development solutions!

TOP 3 SAAS ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS: HARAVAN, SHOPIFY, AND BIG COMMERCE
Many firms have selected SaaS eCommerce platforms to create e-commerce enterprises for brands because of their essential qualities, which can rapidly install eCommerce at a low cost.
Haravan
In Vietnam, Haravan is the most popular eCommerce platform that allows multi-channel sales. This platform was officially launched in 2014, aims to assist companies in developing professional e-commerce websites at an affordable cost.

Themes
Haravan provides many UI/UX themes so that firms may select a design that suits the brand’s image. At the same time, many organizations regard the admin interface to be easy to use. However, companies must pay additional fees to raise the number of admin accounts.
Features
Haravan’s essential features, on the other hand, are just enough for businesses to run their web operations successfully but not ideal sufficient for long-term development. In addition, because Haravan is a SaaS platform, organizations find it difficult to customize or expand functionality outside of its ecosystem.
Deployment time
Haravan’s drag-and-drop manipulation allows companies to create an eCommerce website with all the critical functionality for business online in around 30 minutes.
Deployment costs
Businesses must pay a monthly charge ranging from 200,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND based on their demands:
- Standard (200,000 VND/month): Appropriate for independent sellers
- Pro (600,000 VND/month): For organizations who wish to implement Omnichannel
- Grow (1,500,000 VND/month): For firms need automating processes to take care of and resell current customers
- Scale (3,000,000 VND/month): Help establish loyal customers
Haravan is now gaining popularity in the Vietnamese eCommerce business, particularly in the B2C model or low-involvement product business, due to its ability to deploy with affordable charges swiftly. Vinamilk, Juno, and L’Oréal are some companies that use Haravan.
Shopify
Shopify is a software-as-a-service platform for online retailers and point-of-sale systems. Shopify is popular among the eCommerce community due to its simplicity, quick development timelines, and low setup expenses.

Themes
Shopify provides many attractive themes that are device-agnostic and ideal for a broad array of industries. Shopify’s admin dashboard is simple to use, and it offers a Vietnamese version for Vietnamese firms. Like Haravan, firms must upgrade their service packs to expand the number of admin accounts.
Features
Deployment time
Depending on the system’s complexity, each business will need some time to get used to Shopify. Still, in general, it will not take long for companies to establish a website, taking between 1 and 2 days on average.
Deployment costs
Shopify has created a variety of packs for companies to choose from:
- Basic Shopify ($29/month): Suitable for new businesses with small sales.
- Shopify ($79/month): Appropriate for growing online enterprises
- Advanced Shopify ($299/month): Ideal for firms that need to expand and want advanced reporting capabilities.
Shopify also creates different service bundles to meet a range of organizations:
- Shopify Lite ($9/month): Ideal for businesses to integrate sales buttons and payment services into an existing website or blog.
- Shopify Plus ($2000/month): Offer a sophisticated eCommerce solution for large enterprises that need to process high-volume orders.
Shopify is constantly developing and enhancing its offerings to meet a wide range of customer requests rapidly and effectively, making it perfect for B2C enterprises. However, the monthly cost is a significant impediment because firms must pay significantly more to use extra functions. Sony Vietnam, Vsmart, and DHC Vietnam are some Vietnamese companies that use Shopify.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a SaaS platform that launched in 2009 and has made a significant impact on the eCommerce developer community. Despite being founded later than other platforms, BigCommerce does not fall behind in terms of a functional system, theme store, and so all.

Themes
BigCommerce provides a wide range of visually appealing themes and adapts to customer behavior, including 12 free versions and over 160 professional ones. BigCommerce’s admin dashboard is easy to use, and it supports businesses in rapidly setting up eCommerce websites. However, since BigCommerce does not offer a Vietnamese version, firms must hire and train English-qualified employees to manage the site.
Features
BigCommerce’ packages are jam-packed with features and add-ons to help businesses achieve solid internet business. However, BigCommerce’s capacity to customize and expand functionalities remains limited, restricting firms from adapting to their needs to deal with industry-specific difficulties.
Deployment time
Thanks to its drag-and-drop page builder feature, the time it takes to establish a website on BigCommerce is shortish. BigCommerce construction process takes about 1-2 days on average.
Deployment costs
BigCommerce now supports three package options and one on-demand solution:
- Standard: $29.95/month for businesses with more than $50,000 in revenue
- Plus: $79.95/month for enterprises with more than $180,000 in revenue
- Pro: $299.95/month for companies with more than $400.000 in revenue
- Enterprise: For firms with high sales volumes, costs will be calculated depending on the brand’s online sales
Moreover, BigCommerce will charge you additional fees based on your online sales.
Overall, BigCommerce is not inferior to Haravan or Shopify in every way; nevertheless, the central issue right now is that this platform does not support Vietnamese enterprises.
Which SaaS eCommerce platform is best for your company?
Inheriting the advantages of a SaaS eCommerce platform, all three platforms are easy to use, with various themes and functions for quick construction at a reasonable cost.

Businesses that solely conduct business in Vietnam may choose to use Haravan to take advantage of cost-competitive benefits and functionalities tailored to suit Vietnamese shopping habits. Shopify and BigCommerce are options to explore if you want to develop your business worldwide. Simultaneously, Shopify is ranked higher for providing great 24/7 live chat support, which will aid companies in addressing difficulties as quickly as possible. As a consequence, Shopify will be ideal for large-scale and high-volume enterprises. BigCommerce, on the other hand, compresses functionality into more affordable solutions and is not restricted to the number of administrators like Shopify, making it suitable for small or medium-sized businesses.
However, using SaaS eCommerce platforms like Haravan, Shopify, and BigCommerce in the long term would result in the following deficiencies:
- Duplicate design ideas: Using the given interface will easily be similar to other websites, making it hard to show the brand’s distinctive qualities.
- Difficult to customize functionality: Because these platforms are not as flexible as Open Source eCommerce platforms, firms may only select from existing options and customize to the extent permitted. In the future, it will be essential to change to build advanced and specialized functions based on the features of products and industries to meet the demands of customers and the expansion of companies through time. Switching to an Open Source eCommerce platform such as Magento, OpenCart, WooCommerce, etc will take a significant amount of time and money.
- A lot of fees: Because of the monthly charge, the longer you use it, the more expensive it is to use the website. Furthermore, Shopify and BigCommerce impose extra fees based on online revenue.
- Do not own the source code: If the contract with these platforms is canceled, the company will no longer utilize the source code of the website and will have to rebuild it from scratch on the new platform. Switching platforms is not only time-consuming and expensive, but it may also result in data loss or misalignment.
SECOMM has significant experience developing complicated eCommerce websites in different countries, and we know the challenges that businesses face when selecting and implementing an e-commerce platform.
Contact SECOMM for a free consultation on eCommerce website development!

SAAS ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS VS OPEN SOURCE ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS
SaaS eCommerce Platform
A SaaS eCommerce Platform is a service delivery paradigm for developing a software-based website system. Data is kept on the provider’s server system under this approach, and that platform is in charge of dealing with technical concerns for the business.

Advantages of SaaS eCommerce Platform
Available eCommerce system
The provider pre-designs the SaaS platform for the full system, from hosting, interface, and features to technological infrastructure maintenance. As a result, organizations can quickly create and manage a website system without worrying about technological concerns.
Furthermore, the platform developer offers firms 24/7 assistance through live chat, desk help, or a hotline while the platform is in operation.



Various interfaces and functionalities
The SaaS eCommerce Platform includes a multitude of functionality and appealing UX/UI interfaces, making it suitable for a variety of businesses.
Furthermore, these platforms include a wide range of essential eCommerce functions, including product administration, order management, customer management, marketing, business analysis, and reporting to let firms quickly develop an e-commerce website. Moreover, extensions such as Omni-channel, Affiliate Marketing, E-Payment, E-Logistic, and so on are constantly added to these platforms to strengthen the e-commerce system.
Quick implementation
The time it takes to establish a website on a SaaS eCommerce Platform is quite fast, ranging from 1 to 7 days on average, depending on the website’s setup.
Affordable investment budget
The initial building cost is pretty cheap because firms would pay monthly or yearly use fees (subscription-based) to establish a website using SaaS eCommerce Platforms, such as:
- Haravan:
- Standard (200,000 VND/month): Appropriate for independent sellers
- Pro (600,000 VND/month): For organizations who wish to implement Omnichannel
- Grow (1,500,000 VND/month): For firms need automating processes to take care of and resell current customers
- Scale (3,000,000 VND/month): Help establish loyal customers
- Shopify:
- Basic Shopify ($29/month): Suitable for new businesses with small sales.
- Shopify ($79/month): Appropriate for growing online enterprises
- Advanced Shopify ($299/month): Ideal for firms that need to expand and want advanced reporting capabilities.
- BigCommerce:
- Standard: $29.95/month for businesses with more than $50,000 in revenue
- Plus: $79.95/month for enterprises with more than $180,000 in revenue
- Pro: $299.95/month for companies with more than $400.000 in revenue
- Enterprise: For firms with high sales volumes, costs will be calculated depending on the brand’s online sales
Aside from the monthly/yearly licensing charge, businesses must pay extra expenditures such as interface fees, new features, expanding the number of backend users, and POS (Point of Sale) to grow the eCommerce system.
Disadvantages of SaaS eCommerce Platform
Having no control over the source code and data
Because the enterprise’s whole website system is housed on the provider’s server, ownership and control of the website source code will belong to that platform, not the firm. Businesses who transfer platforms can no longer utilize the previous site source code and must rebuild from scratch on the new platform. Moreover, data loss or misalignment is usually unavoidable.
The enterprise’s data, like the source code, is likewise kept on the provider’s server, thus ownership and control over the data remains constrained. There are many difficulties for not owning and controlling data, such as linking data between departments, customizing users, and so on.
Poor scalability and flexibility
Because the website system depends on the SaaS platform, customization and expansion are currently limited. When it comes to upgrading existing features, developing new functions for the company’s development, in line with the particular requirements of the product and industry, and optimizing the user experience, SaaS platforms are frequently unable to adapt. As a result, switching platforms after a period of usage is unavoidable, and of course, this change will take significant time and money for the company.
Usage costs increase over time
Because you must pay monthly or yearly license fees, the longer you use the higher the overall cost of use. Furthermore, the SaaS eCommerce Platform charges on the revenue online sales.
For example, various Shopify apps, such as DCart (Create Discount Codes on Cart), OctaneAI (Similar Product Suggestions), Ali Reviews (Product Reviews), and others, would charge a monthly fee, average $10 /month/features. The more applications that are installed, the more the monthly or yearly expenses will be.

Businesses can use the SaaS platform if they wish to enter the e-commerce industry rapidly, have minimal need for customization, and do not need to enhance the system. As a result, SaaS systems are frequently selected by startups, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and businesses just getting started in the e-commerce industry.
Open Source eCommerce Platform
Open Source is software whose source code is publicly available and freely used by anyone.
Because the data and source code will be housed on a separate server system, Open Source eCommerce Platforms have the opposite aspects of SaaS platforms. Businesses that use open source platforms must collaborate with professional website developers or build a highly specialized in-house team for the website system to achieve maximum efficiency.

Advantages of Open Source eCommerce Platform
Control the data and own the source code.
Businesses have complete ownership and control over the source code and data on the system due to the characteristic of being housed on a separate server system. As a consequence, while deploying an eCommerce website, companies only need to pay development expenses in order to utilize the source code, rather than monthly/yearly license fees just like SaaS platforms. At this point, you could reuse the previous source code if you change developers or platforms. Furthermore, security is improved, reducing hacker attacks, server failures, and technical faults from staff and consumers.

Customize the interface to meet your requirements.
Businesses have more choices in developing their website’s interface to boost brand image and maximize revenue since they use Open Source eCommerce Platforms.
Currently, there are three methods for designing interfaces:
- Use pre-existing themes: Like SaaS platforms, organizations can select and use pre-existing themes from the market, development community, or cooperation unit. This method will help businesses save the most money since a standard UX/UI theme costs between $50 and $200 on average.
- Customize the interface based on an existing theme: Similar to the preceding method, but instead of purchasing and using the same theme, firms may design their own traits by rewriting the website’s code at the front-end. Since then, organizations have cut expenses while also expressing their own distinct characteristics.
- Create your own user interface: To effectively position the brand on the website, the interface should be created individually. This is typically more expensive than utilizing a theme, but it addresses the most particular and specific requirements of the company.
Full of features and add-ons
In terms of website system features, Open Source eCommerce Platforms are quite superior to SaaS platforms. Not only have basic functions, but Open Source eCommerce Platforms also have many advanced features such as quick search, similar product suggestions, abandoned cart notifications, real-time products, and so on.
In addition, the Open Source eCommerce Platforms also has many add-ons that are improved, provided, and shared by the developer community.
Great flexibility
Because organizations control their own source code, they can simply update the functional system, build new features, or expand the system to suit business demands and meet consumer needs. At the same time, the open-source code’s flexibility allows businesses to easily link with third-party utilities in order to run the system.
Disadvantages of Open Source eCommerce Platform
Require a professional team or experienced developer
It is hard to build “tailor-made” systems for each firm with a system of various e-commerce features ranging from basic to complex, therefore systems developed on open source e-commerce platforms frequently have high accuracy. As a result, in order to build and function efficiently, a specialized team or development organization must have strong knowledge and several years of experience.
Prolonged setup time
Deployment times for open source e-commerce platforms are frequently lengthier than those for SaaS platforms. Depending on the complexity of the functional system, the average amount of time for the IT team to build a website varies from 3 months to 1 year.
Expensive development
Using an open-source platform is basically free, but having a full e-commerce system from website to mobile app needs a significant commitment of your own labor. The in-house IT team will design interfaces and functions. As a result, the initial cost of developing an e-commerce website using an open-source platform is pretty expensive, an average of $10,000 per project.

The Open Source eCommerce Platform is suited for all sorts of enterprises due to its numerous features. However, budget and implementation time restrictions have kept many small and medium-sized businesses from utilizing it. Large firms frequently engage in these platforms to construct specialized and specialized eCommerce systems.
In general, the decision of which eCommerce platform to select will be determined by each firm’s business plan, budget, and time of eCommerce development.
In the early stages, firms who are new to eCommerce or have a restricted budget would often use a SaaS platform to develop a simple eCommerce website. Following that, companies will switch to an Open Source eCommerce Platform to develop a comprehensive eCommerce website. However, due to budget constraints and the prolonged time required to move platforms, firms must exercise caution while selecting these platforms. Nowadays, some organizations have decided to begin an eCommerce business with an Open Source eCommerce Platform and then progressively enhance their websites over time in order to gain the lead in the market and avoid switching platforms.
SECOMM has spent over 7 years implementing complicated e-commerce systems in a variety of nations, we know the challenges that businesses face.
Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on how to select a long-term eCommerce platform!

HOW AI TRANSFORMS THE ECOMMERCE EXPERIENCE?
1. How customers experience products in traditional shopping
Traditional shopping refers to the way customers directly buy products at stores, markets, or supermarkets. Since that trading model has emerged, the ecommerce experience about products has often originated from direct product-observation and -interaction. A consumer can hold and touch the item directly, feeling its characteristics, such as hardness, softness, size, or even color. They can quickly try one dress and exchange another one for a suitable size. This model has several benefits for shoppers:
- Guarantee of product quality: Customers have the opportunity to interact and observe the product directly before buying. At that time, customers can choose a product with complete packaging, favorite colors, or delicious fresh food, or a skirt of a suitable length.
- Time-saving in return and exchange policy: The traditional purchase is rooted in the amicable sale principle. Of course, the buyers will be partly responsible for goods quality due to the opportunity to touch and inspect them before buying.
- High-satisfaction level: Customers tend to be more enthusiastic and get more exciting feelings when using products. They will not put too much doubt on the reliability of the product.

The benefits of experiencing products with traditional models will have many changes in online shopping models. Although customers will enjoy the convenience of freely choosing a suitable item in a wide range of goods at more bargained prices and also experience regular promotions, the limited interaction with the product pre-buying has reduced the convenience as the traditional model did before.
2. AI invention penetrating process to optimize the ecommerce experience
With the rapid development of the digital age, customer demand is a critical factor that is a priority in every development strategy and orientation. In particular, businesses also invest more in modern technologies to optimize consumer-product interaction, and AI applications are a useful option for ecommerce experience optimization process.

Within the Ecommerce field, AI aims to the product experience, contributing to the efficiency of the business’s customer-centric orientation. The AI application has been integrated into search engine systems to support the creative and effective searching process with features such as “search by image” associating with material, shape, size, or brand. The display technology also invests in improving product interaction, shortening the distance between online and offline models.
Moreover, AI supports the ecommerce industry as a knowledgeable online assistant. This technology can bring two-way benefits when supporting both user experience and data analysis about user behavior trends.
Those are the two factors motivating brands to invest in developing more modern and efficient AI platforms towards a smarter, automated model for perfect customer experience.
3. AI trends for smarter ecommerce experiences in the digital age
Since applying to the ecommerce industry, various AI technology types have contributed to significantly changing consumer habits and purchasing decision-making processes, ultimately optimizing the convenience that customers received from online shopping. However, AI tools are continually developing and improving every day to enhance the user experience, and they also regularly stay updated with many popular trends.
Product 3D view
The 3D formats have been practical to enhance more excited customer-product interactions. Customers can observe different product aspects or even try placing a small decoration item at any house location to check the product’s suitability. This invisibility generally creates exciting experiences to increase interaction making customers more interested in the product.

Some interior brands have been using 3D scanning technology to perfectly experience interior space and architecture. Based on a provided video, customers can enjoy AR via remotely 3D virtual reality technology.
Mobile virtual reality fitting room
That AI ability can be a perfect solution when a store has too many customers visiting at the same time while the fitting room is overloaded. Customers can scan product images and try them out on a mobile phone screen. This technology is already available on Lacoste’s app, supporting customers to try their favorite shoes freely via their smartphone.

The development of 3D and virtual reality technology has proved that nothing is impossible in the digital age. AI development is also a considerable solution for ecommerce barriers, mainly interacting with products when buying online to optimize ecommerce experience.
In the future, as many expert predictions, AI can be a modern and popular trend to optimize the ecommerce experience correctly. However, businesses also need to consider the needs of target customers to have appropriate applications and increase the number of potential customers and loyal customers in the long run.