Adobe Commerce is an open-source eCommerce platform designed specifically for businesses ranging from medium to very large scales with high growth and significant customization and scalability needs.

Adobe Commerce has two versions, including:

• Magento Open Source: The free version, deployed and managed on the business’s servers.
• Adobe Commerce Cloud: The paid version, is deployed and managed on the cloud by Adobe.

According to reports from W3Techs and Adobe Commerce, as of July 2023, there are a total of over 367,000 eCommerce websites using Magento and Adobe Commerce. Among them, Magento holds about 5% of the global eCommerce market share, and Adobe Commerce holds about 3% of the global eCommerce market share.

See more: What is Adobe Commerce? Should we use Adobe Commerce?

Here is a list of 10 famous international brands and 10 famous brands in Vietnam currently using Adobe Commerce.

HP

HP is a multinational IT company based in Palo Alto, California, specializing in the development of personal computers, printers, and related supplies, as well as 3D printing solutions.

HP deployed its first Magento Open Source 1 (formerly known as Magento Commerce) website in Thailand and Indonesia in 2013. When opening stores in China, they decided to switch to the Adobe Commerce version to support customers searching for products globally.

With Adobe Commerce, HP can further optimize the shopping experience and implement new features more quickly, helping the business achieve its eCommerce goals.

• Website: https://www.hp.com/ 
• Platform Used: Adobe Commerce
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 61.7M/month
• Ranking: 624 (United States) & 736 (Global)

ASUS

ASUS is an abbreviation for Asus Software Unit Systems, a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Taiwan, specializing in the manufacturing of electronic products and computer hardware. ASUS was founded in 1989 and is currently one of the world’s largest computer manufacturers.

ASUS aimed to have a unified platform for both B2B and B2C eCommerce, so the business chose Adobe Commerce for its flexibility in integration, high customization, and streamlining of support processes.

• Website: https://www.asus.com/ 
• Platform Used: Adobe Commerce
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 48.8M/month
• Ranking: 998 (Taiwan) & 2,375 (Global)

Hydro Flask

Hydro Flask is a brand of thermal flasks and water bottles established in 2009 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The brand is known for its high-quality, well-insulated, and visually appealing products.

Hydro Flask utilized Magento Open Source to build and develop its eCommerce website due to its ability to provide the necessary features and functionalities.

• Website: https://www.hydroflask.com/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Home & Living
• Traffic: 1.6M/month
• Ranking: 6,679 (USA) & 31,775 (Global)

Filson

Filson is an outdoor gear manufacturing company based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company was established in 1897 by Charles Filson, a tailor and cobbler. Filson specializes in producing high-quality, durable products designed for outdoor activities such as camping, fishing, hiking, etc.

In 2022, Filson adopted Magento 2 to build its eCommerce website. With the microservices architecture of Magento 2, Filson can easily customize and scale its eCommerce website as needed.

• Website: https://www.filson.com/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 1M/month
• Ranking: 11,546 (USA) & 55,840 (Global)

Alshaya Group

Alshaya is one of the major franchise operators globally, managing brands such as American Eagle Outfitters, H&M, Debenhams, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, The Body Shop, Boots, and M.A.C in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As shopping habits began to change, Alshaya gradually shifted towards developing its eCommerce sector and decided to choose Adobe Commerce to build its website in 2017.

“Thankfully, when COVID-19 hit, we had already built up the digital framework to launch new websites quickly. And because we had built our approach on the Adobe Commerce global reference architecture, we were able to leverage parent configurations rather than building new sites from scratch. With IT complexity removed from the equation, we were able to roll out the new sites in a matter of weeks.” – Marc van der Heijden, Chief Technology Officer, Alshaya Group.

• Website: https://www.alshaya.com/ 
• Platform Used: Adobe Commerce
• Industry: Retail
• Traffic: 681.7K/month
• Ranking: 747 (UAE) & 63,003 (Global)

Catbird

Catbird is a high-end jewelry brand established in 2004 in New York City, USA. The brand is known for its delicate and artistic designs. Catbird’s products are crafted from various materials, including gold, silver, gemstones, etc.

Catbird has utilized Adobe Commerce to build custom functionalities for the jewelry eCommerce industry, including notifications for available, and out-of-stock items, and advance delivery notices to ensure customers can view complete inventory. According to Ali Ahmed, the Founder of Imagination Media, “Like Catbird, Adobe Commerce is a truly robust, dazzling, and creative platform that allows us to build and create basically whatever we want because it is open and extensible”.

• Website: https://www.catbirdnyc.com/ 
• Platform Used: Adobe Commerce
• Industry: Jewelry
• Traffic: 487.6K/month
• Ranking: 20,501 (US) & 95,772 (Global)

DKNY

DKNY, short for Donna Karan New York, is a high-end fashion and apparel brand founded by designer Donna Karan in 1989. DKNY is known for its youthful, modern, and highly practical fashion products.

DKNY leveraged Magento to build its fashion eCommerce website in 2023. Thanks to the advantages of open source, DKNY prioritizes user interface personalization, showcasing its distinctive brand style, and providing advanced features such as intelligent product search, product previews, and product customization.

• Website: https://www.dkny.com/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 258K/month

Ranking: 95,191 (US) & 173,066 (Global)

Volkswagen Classic Parts

Volkswagen Classic Parts is a part of the Volkswagen Group, responsible for supplying genuine replacement parts for classic Volkswagen vehicles. Volkswagen Classic Parts is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, and operates in over 100 countries worldwide.

The eCommerce website for Volkswagen parts features around 60,000 accessories, catering to the needs of both new and seasoned Volkswagen enthusiasts, bringing joy to fans of classic Volkswagen vehicles.

Initially, Volkswagen used Magento Commerce 1 for several years and reaped significant benefits from this open-source platform. Recently, Volkswagen Classic Parts decided to upgrade to Adobe Commerce and utilize Adobe Experience Manager to further develop the brand in the eCommerce market.

• Website: https://www.volkswagen-classic-parts.com/ 
• Platform Used: Adobe Commerce
• Industry: Automotive
• Traffic: 155.1K/month
• Ranking: 12,821 (Germany) & 205,974 (Global)

Laybyland

Laybyland is a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ retail business for consumer electronics established by Stuart Duff in 2012 in Australia. After two years of operation, Laybyland realized that the current CMS system using Drupal was not meeting the operational requirements and struggled to handle the growing data volume.

Therefore, Laybyland chose SECOMM to migrate the website to a robust eCommerce platform like Magento Open Source. With over 10 years of operation, thanks to a unique business strategy—the exclusive Lay-by payment process allowing customers to customize the time and frequency of instalments when shopping online—and a professionally controlled eCommerce system by SECOMM, Laybyland expanded the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ retail system to two other major markets, the United States and New Zealand.

“SECOMM’s technical expertise allowed us to successfully overcome these development challenges and deploy a website that has performed exactly as we wanted from day one.” – Stuart Duff, CEO at Laybyland

• Website: https://www.laybyland.com.au/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Retail
• Traffic: 80.6K/month
• Ranking: 13,263 (Australia) & 641,341 (Global)

Covento

Covento is a young business in the renewable energy sector, operating in five countries: Denmark, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and France. At Covento, users can find the necessary spare parts/components for turbine models from various manufacturers and suppliers.

Jill Ashley Brandt, CEO of Covento, plans to leverage the continuous improvements of Adobe Commerce to make Covento more user-friendly for buyers and suppliers in the U.S. market, serving the goal of expanding the business.

• Website: https://covento.com/ 
• Platform Used: Adobe Commerce
• Industry: Energy
• Traffic: 27.1K/month
• Ranking: 52,014 (Australia) & 3,204,045 (Global)

Di Dong Viet

Di Dong Viet is a reputable brand in the field of electronic devices and a strategic partner of global technology conglomerates such as Apple, Samsung, OPPO, Sony, ASUS, and more.

By using Magento Open Source, Di Dong Viet has successfully built a high-quality eCommerce website with features such as product management, shopping cart, online payment, order management, and various other extended features to create a convenient online shopping experience for customers.

• Website: https://didongviet.vn/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 4.5M/month
• Ranking: 281 (Vietnam) & 14,617 (Global)

CGV

CGV is one of the top 5 largest cinema chains globally and is a major film distributor and cinema chain in Vietnam, alongside Galaxy, Lotte Cinema, BHD Star Cineplex, and CineStar.

CGV has built an eCommerce website on the Magento Enterprise platform (the paid version of Magento, now known as Adobe Commerce) to meet the feature requirements suitable for large enterprises like CGV.

• Website: https://www.cgv.vn/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Enterprise (Adobe Commerce)
• Industry: Film
• Traffic: 2M/month
• Ranking: 600 (Vietnam) & 31,466 (Global)

Kids Plaza

Established in 2009, Kids Plaza is a major player in the eCommerce race in the Baby industry. Kids Plaza has deployed an eCommerce website on the Magento platform to efficiently manage a diverse and extensive product portfolio. The brand regularly runs promotional programmes such as gift shopping promotions, flash sales, buy 5 get 1 free, and loyalty point accumulation for attractive rewards.

This has contributed significantly to the increase in website traffic on every promotional occasion, and deploying Magento can enhance customization and scalability to handle sudden traffic increases. On average, the website receives about 1 million visits per month.

• Website: https://www.kidsplaza.vn/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Mother & Baby
• Traffic: 1.3M/month
• Ranking: 1,047 (Vietnam) & 54,186 (Global)

Hoang Phuc International

Hoang Phuc International is a high-end fashion retailer for Kappa, Ecko Unltd, Superga, Replay, and Staple, established in 1989. After three decades of traditional business development, the brand decided to transition to participate in the eCommerce market.

To successfully develop the current eCommerce website, Hoang Phuc has used and converted many platforms. As of now, the business is using the Magento platform – an open-source eCommerce platform specializing in eCommerce.

• Website: https://hoang-phuc.com/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 248.3K/month
• Ranking: 3,602 (Vietnam) & 171,782 (Global)

Bach Long Mobile

Bach Long is one of the popular retailers of smartphones, tablets, and technology accessories in Vietnam. Similar to other consumer electronics retailers like CellphoneS, Di Dong Viet, Bach Long Mobile also chose the Magento platform to build their websites.

Therefore, the brand’s website has seen significant improvements in features, customization capabilities, and performance, helping the company attract more customers, grow its market share, and increase revenue and profits.

• Website: https://bachlongmobile.com/
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 197.3K/month
• Ranking: 5,472 (Vietnam) & 254,860 (Global)

On Off

On Off is a lingerie brand established in 2005 with a mission to bring daily comfort to everyone. 

On Off has chosen the Magento Open Source version, the free version of Magento, to build its eCommerce website to meet the company’s specific needs for features, customization capabilities, and system scalability.

• Website: https://onoff.vn/
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 156.9K/month
• Ranking: 7,196 (Vietnam) & 326,722 (Global)

EROPI

EROPI is another prominent jewelry brand in Vietnam, specialising in distributing various types of gold, silver, jewelry, gemstones, pearls, wedding jewelry, and feng shui jewelry. After many years of operation, the company has not only expanded its chain of stores nationwide but also developed an online sales channel to meet the shopping needs of customers.

The primary online channel that EROPI focuses on is the eCommerce website built on the Magento Open Source platform with superior customization capabilities. This allows EROPI to develop advanced features and flexible scalability, ensuring the long-term development goals of the business.

• Website: https://eropi.com/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Jewelry
• Traffic: 95.8K/month
• Ranking: 13,832 (Vietnam) & 602,063 (Global)

Baya

At first, the company was established in 2006 under the name Uma Furniture Supermarket and officially changed its name to Baya Furniture and Decoration Supermarket in 2019. Despite the name change, the brand still retains its core values and brings customers high-quality furniture with simple, elegant designs, in line with contemporary trends, featuring neutral colours, and each piece having its own beauty.

As of the current time, Baya’s website attracts nearly 100,000 visits per month, thanks to the proper investment in building an eCommerce furniture website with the open-source Magento platform. The website features an attractive, captivating interface that is user-friendly.

• Website: https://baya.vn/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Furniture
• Traffic: 76K/month
• Ranking: 7,544 (Vietnam) & 352,023 (Global)

Rohto Vietnam

Rohto is a well-known Japanese pharmaceutical and cosmetic brand established in 1899, specialising in manufacturing and selling eye care, skincare, lip care, hair care, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Rohto Vietnam’s eCommerce website is built on the Magento Enterprise version. Through Magento, the website is designed with an attractive and user-friendly interface, integrating features and customer support services to make shopping easier and more convenient.

• Website: https://shop.rohto.com.vn/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Enterprise
• Industry: Health
• Traffic: 69.7K/month
• Ranking: 24,537 (Vietnam) & 853,571 (Global)

Annam Gourmet

Annam Gourmet, born out of a deep passion for European cuisine by the founders of the Annam Group, has been a strong player in the Vietnamese market for over 20 years. The Annam Gourmet store chain has expanded significantly, offering imported high-quality products such as premium food, wine, beverages, and cosmetics.

While Annam Gourmet had an existing online presence, it was primarily used for brand development, and the effectiveness of eCommerce was not a primary focus. To ensure the website is fully developed and operates smoothly, Annam Gourmet chose SECOMM and strategic partner Synova to develop the eCommerce website on the Magento Open Source 2 platform.

• Website: https://shop.annam-gourmet.com/ 
• Platform Used: Magento Open Source
• Industry: Food & Beverage
• Traffic: 49.4K/month
• Ranking: 16,711 (Vietnam) & 643,508 (Global)

Here is a list of the top 20 eCommerce websites using the Adobe Commerce (Magento) eCommerce platform in both the international and Vietnamese markets.

Is the Adobe Commerce (Magento) development solution suitable?

With deep experience and the development of complex eCommerce systems for clients such as Changi Airport Group (Singapore), Trentham Estate (Australia), and The Warehouse (Vietnam), SECOMM understands the challenges in choosing a platform and implementing eCommerce that businesses are facing.

Contact SECOMM now or call directly on the hotline (028 7108 9908) for free advice on developing eCommerce on the Adobe Commerce (Magento) platform!

• Comprehensive understanding: Provide a comprehensive eCommerce solution from consulting, development, and operation to the growth of the eCommerce system.
• Deep expertise: Over 8 years of experience in implementing complex eCommerce systems for clients from various countries.
• Customized solutions: Propose eCommerce solutions including technology architecture and a suitable team for each business.
• Flexible progress: The project timeline and progress are adjusted according to the specific needs of the business.

WooCommerce is an open-source plugin for WordPress, that enables businesses to turn their brand’s content website into an online store. According to WooCommerce’s report, as of July 2023, over 6 million eCommerce websites are using WooCommerce, capturing more than 25% of the global eCommerce market share.

Here are some well-known brands using WooCommerce in both the international and Vietnamese markets.

Dr. Scholl’s

Established by Dr. William Mathias Scholl over 110 years ago, Dr. Scholl’s has become a trusted name in foot health care. The brand is known for various innovative products, from shoe insoles and foot-shaping tools to specialized treatment methods.

Despite being a globally renowned brand, Dr. Scholl’s continues to advance with strategies to maximize online sales. By utilizing the open-source eCommerce platform WooCommerce, Dr. Scholl’s has streamlined the process of building an eCommerce website and rationalized the online sales process.

• Website: https://www.drscholls.com/ 
• Industry: Health
• Traffic: 662.1K/month
• Ranking: 18,381 (US) & 89,309 (Global)

Wienerschnitzel 

Wienerschnitzel is the world’s largest hot dog chain, founded by John Galardi in 1961. Currently serving over 120 million hot dogs annually, Wienerschnitzel’s website is built using WooCommerce to enter the eCommerce market. 

This system also connects franchisees with the main management system, allowing customers to easily locate the nearest restaurants through Google Maps API.

• Website: https://www.wienerschnitzel.com/ 
• Industry: Food and Beverage
• Traffic: 395.1K/month
• Ranking: 20,279 (US) & 115,404 (Global)

Superdrug Health Clinics

Superdrug Health Clinics is the second-largest well-known health clinic in the UK, with a presence throughout the United Kingdom. The clinics at Superdrug offer various eCommerce pharmaceutical services such as vaccinations for children, sexual health screenings, flu vaccinations, and occupational health services.

By building a basic eCommerce website using WooCommerce, customers can schedule free consultations with nurses/pharmacists or book appointments at specific locations.

• Website: https://healthclinics.superdrug.com/ 
• Industry: Health
• Traffic: 390.8K/month
• Ranking: 120,604 (UK) & 387,012 (Global)

GoComics

GoComics is a popular online comic and cartoon business in the United States. Some iconic cartoons associated with GoComics include Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, Peanuts, and The Far Side, alongside recent successes like Pearls Before Swine, The Boondocks, and Foxtrot.

By building a WooCommerce website, users can choose between two membership options – free and premium – to gain personalized access to the GoComics library and shop online for items such as art prints, books, and calendars, ideal for comic enthusiasts of all ages.

• Website: https://store.gocomics.com/ 
• Industry: Bookstore
• Traffic: 134.4K/month
• Ranking: 50,379 (US) & 325,404 (Global)

The Kind Pen

The Kind Pen is a vape (electronic cigarette) manufacturing company based in Ocean City, New Jersey, USA. With a lifetime warranty and over 1,000,000 satisfied customers, this brand has quickly become a trusted name in the industry.

Kind Pen has decided to use WooCommerce to enhance the user experience on its online store. Images are optimized and converted into fast-loading formats without compromising quality, CSS and JavaScript files are compressed and merged, and with WordPress and WooCommerce extensions, the results have yielded unexpected benefits for user experience, such as a more than 35% increase in website loading speed.

• Website: https://www.thekindpen.com/ 
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 98.5K/month
• Ranking: 124,995 (US) & 657,668 (Global)

Badeloft

Badeloft is an online retailer of bathroom fixtures founded by Cedric Christiani in Berlin, Germany, in 2009. After achieving certain successes in their home country, Cedric set his sights on the U.S. market. He recruited some high school friends, Eric Jensen and Tyler Kuhlman, and together, they established Badeloft USA at the end of 2013. Today, the company has rapidly expanded to the point where its sales have surpassed the European market.

In 2017, Badeloft decided to transition its eCommerce website platform from X-Cart to WooCommerce due to its customization capabilities and the availability of numerous extensions.

• Website: https://www.badeloftusa.com/ 
• Industry: Furniture
• Traffic: 97.7K/month
• Ranking: 115,604 (US) & 497,012 (Global)

All Blacks

All Blacks is the national rugby team of New Zealand and is the most successful international sports team in the past 100 years. With such a long and illustrious history, it’s no surprise that the team’s jerseys, training gear, and support equipment are highly favoured by fans worldwide.

This provided the foundation for All Blacks to establish an online store for the brand on WooCommerce, offering a variety of products for supporters of all ages.

“We selected WooCommerce as it allowed for easy integration into the team’s other back-office systems.“– Norm McKenzie, Meta Digital

• Website: https://allblackshop.com/ 
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 87.6K/month
• Ranking: 6,757 (New Zealand) & 434,042 (Global)

Telldus

Telldus is a Swedish brand specializing in home automation products, aiming to provide simple solutions to everyday problems to enhance one’s quality of life tremendously.

“We believe that simple solutions to small everyday problems can increase one’s quality of life tremendously.”

To expand its customer base in Sweden, Tellus chose WooCommerce to build its website due to its customization capabilities and support for integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and product information management (PIM).

• Website: https://telldus.com/ 
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 86.7K/month
• Ranking: 7,721 (Sweden) & 449,029 (Global)

Grace Loves Lace

Grace Loves Lace is a wedding fashion brand founded by Megan Ziems in 2011 in Australia. The brand is renowned for its beautiful, handcrafted, and custom-fitted wedding attire.

After years of development in both offline and online markets, Grace Loves Lace has become one of the most popular and successful eCommerce websites for wedding fashion nationwide. The success is, in part, attributed to the WooCommerce website system designed to focus on professional product images and optimized for high conversion rates and mobile-friendliness.

• Website: https://graceloveslace.com.au/ 
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 61.8K/month
• Ranking: 8,597 (Australia) & 471,233 (Global)

Daelmans Stroopwafels

Daelmans Stroopwafels is the world’s leading company in Stroopwafels (traditional Dutch syrup waffles). Established in 1909, Daelmans has elevated the stroopwafel to become a globally popular pastry.

Over the years, the small bakery in Vlijmen has evolved into an international business. Therefore, building a WooCommerce website is essential, allowing customers to shop online and design their custom stroopwafel boxes.

• Website: https://www.stroopwafels.com/ 
• Industry: Food and Beverage
• Traffic: 50K/month
• Ranking: 38,108 (Netherlands) & 1,062,929 (Global)

Hai Trieu

Established in 1991, Hải Triều has over 30 years of experience in the watch market. To become the leading watch retailer in Vietnam, Hải Triều has combined its eCommerce strategy on the WooCommerce platform with a unique business model to adapt to changes in the market and consumer preferences.

As of now, Hai Trieu’s eCommerce website has over 2 million monthly visits and is a prominent figure consistently topping the rankings in the fashion eCommerce sector in Vietnam (according to iPrice).

• Website: https://donghohaitrieu.com/ 
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 2.5M/month
• Ranking: 584 (Vietnam) & 29,249 (Global)

Dien Thoai Vui

Dien Thoai Vui – The name carries a commitment to bring joy and happiness to customers with damaged phones or other electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, smartwatches, etc.

After many years of operation, Dien Thoai Vui has become a familiar destination for many customers both online and offline. The website system of Dien Thoai Vui is built on WooCommerce, allowing customization to a certain extent for the consumer electronics industry’s functionalities, as well as supporting integration with many third-party services.

• Website: https://dienthoaivui.com.vn/ 
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 1.4M/month
• Ranking: 1,137 (Vietnam) & 56,958 (Global)

Clickbuy

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

Similar to Dien Thoai Vui, Clickbuy is also built on WooCommerce due to its customization capabilities and integration with many third-party services through WordPress.

• Website: https://clickbuy.com.vn/ 
• Industry: Consumer Electronics
• Traffic: 1.2M/month
• Ranking: 1,254 (Vietnam) & 64,647 (Global)

Nha Thuoc Than Thien

Nha Thuoc Than Thien is a retail pharmacy chain meeting GPP standards in Vietnam. This brand specializes in prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, and some other healthcare products.

The business combines an offline pharmacy model with an online pharmacy through its main sales channel, an eCommerce website developed with WooCommerce. The website is designed for easy navigation, featuring basic functionalities that help customers easily search for products, make purchases, and track orders.

• Website: https://nhathuocthanthien.com.vn/ 
• Industry: Pharmacy
• Traffic: 253.5K/month
• Ranking: 5,781 (Vietnam) & 268,868 (Global)

Paula’s Choice

Paula’s Choice is a skincare and cosmetics brand founded by Paula Begoun, a leading expert in beauty and skincare. This brand is renowned for producing high-quality and meticulously researched skincare products, often recognized for their simplicity and transparency in ingredient disclosure.

After establishing a presence in the Vietnamese market, Paula’s Choice decided to build a website on the WooCommerce platform for the ability to customize the website and leverage the existing functional system.

• Website: https://paulaschoice.vn/ 
• Industry: Cosmetics
• Traffic: 211.5K/month
• Ranking: 4,170 (Vietnam) & 197,732 (Global)

Bo Shop

Beauty enthusiasts in Ho Chi Minh City undoubtedly know about Bo Shop, a brand that offers a wide range of quality cosmetics from skincare to makeup at specific and affordable prices, catering to all beauty care needs.

To become the leading cosmetics retail brand in Vietnam, the company swiftly developed an eCommerce website with WooCommerce to align with modern business trends.

• Website: https://www.boshop.vn/ 
• Industry: Cosmetics
• Traffic: 186.8K/month
• Ranking: 6,409 (Vietnam) & 298,796 (Global)

AB Beauty World

AB Beauty World (ABBW) emerged amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, positioning itself as the leading family cosmetics hypermarket in Vietnam. Despite the seemingly untimely launch, the brand did not succumb to adversity.

Just two years after opening its first store, AB Beauty World has grown and expanded to nearly 20 branches across districts and neighbourhoods in Ho Chi Minh City, thanks to timely adaptation and a focus on eCommerce development.

The cosmetics selling website of AB Beauty World is built with WooCommerce, featuring industry-specific design and functionality. In a short time since its launch, the website has garnered high traffic for a newcomer in the digital transformation race.

• Website: https://abbeautyworld.com/ 
• Industry: Cosmetics
• Traffic: 83.8K/month
• Ranking: 22,173 (Vietnam) & 911,443 (Global)

Orchard 

Founded in 2004, Orchard is the destination for over 200 premium perfume brands worldwide. To become the number one perfume retail brand in Vietnam, Orchard early on implemented eCommerce to tap into the ‘gold mine’ of this market.

To date, Orchard’s eCommerce website, built with WooCommerce, is the top choice for customers who love to shop for perfumes online.

• Website: https://orchard.vn/ 
• Industry: Perfume
• Traffic: 67.2K/month
• Ranking: 19,314 (Vietnam) & 772,251 (Global)

Nha Xinh

With a minimalist and cosy interior design style, Nhà Xinh (Beautiful Home) chooses simplicity for each of its products. This is evident in the eCommerce website’s interface, which is built on the WooCommerce platform, and features a simple and user-friendly design.

In addition, Nha Xinh’s website incorporates 360-degree technology, allowing customers to experience the company’s furniture products remotely in a realistic manner, exploring every nook and cranny of the room and every angle of the product with detailed information and pricing for each item.

• Website: https://nhaxinh.com/ 
• Industry: Furniture
• Traffic: 41.6K/month
• Ranking: 41,251 (Vietnam) & 1,547,325 (Global)

Winecellar

Established in 2007, Vietnam Wine Cellar Co., Ltd. is one of the largest wine companies in Vietnam, specializing in providing a wide range of products, including wine, beer, whiskey, food, mineral water, tea, and high-quality ceramics.

Winecellar pursues an eCommerce business model by investing in building a website on the WooCommerce platform. Through this, the company can easily reach numerous potential customers in the online market.

• Website: https://winecellar.vn/ 
• Industry: Wine
• Traffic: 31.4K/month
• Ranking: 73,054 (Vietnam) & 3,034,069 (Global)

Above is a list of the top 20 eCommerce websites using the WooCommerce platform in both the international and Vietnamese markets.

With deep expertise and experience in developing complex eCommerce systems on WooCommerce for various clients such as Laybyland (Australia, the US, New Zealand), Jasnor (Australia, New Zealand), and The Warehouse (Vietnam), SECOMM understands the challenges in choosing a platform and implementing eCommerce solutions that businesses are currently facing.

Contact SECOMM today or call directly on the hotline (028 7108 9908) for a free consultation on deploying a WooCommerce website for your brand.

According to Grand View Research, the global jewelry eCommerce market is predicted to reach USD 117.8 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 12.2% from 2022 to 2027. According to Research and Markets, the United States is the largest jewelry eCommerce market in the world, with expected revenue of USD 45.6 billion by 2027. Other regions, including China, India, and Southeast Asia, are also experiencing rapid growth.

Several jewelry brands have successfully implemented eCommerce early on and achieved unexpected success, such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., PNJ, ANA LUISA, Missoma, etc. The common characteristic of these brands lies in comprehensive eCommerce websites that cater to customers’ needs for purchasing jewelry and gemstones.

For more information:

• What opportunities are open to the jewelry eCommerce?
• 10 Jewelry eCommerce websites in Vietnam and worldwide

With nearly 10 years of experience in eCommerce, SECOMM has outlined the common journey of building jewelry eCommerce websites in Vietnamese businesses.

Phase 1: Building the basic jewelry eCommerce website

Determining Objectives

Firstly, businesses in the jewelry industry need to clearly define their goals and prioritize each of these goals when planning the development of an eCommerce website.

In the long-term vision, businesses may be interested in building and strengthening their brand presence in the online market, exploring the potential of online customers, and optimizing business operations from online to offline.

For short-term objectives, businesses may prioritize monitoring and analyzing customer behaviour on the website, assessing the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns to improve sales performance.

When setting objectives, the timeframe is also a crucial factor. Businesses may choose to deploy quickly to penetrate the eCommerce market or even opt for a gradual deployment to have time for testing, evaluation, and adaptation to this large and competitive market.

Choosing an eCommerce Platform

Currently, two popular types of platforms support the development of eCommerce websites: SaaS (Software as a Service) and open source.

Read more:

• What is Shopify? Pros and Cons of using Shopify in 2023
• BigCommerce 2023: Pricing, Features, Pros and Cons
• What is Magento? The superior pros and cons of Magento
• WooCommerce 2022: Its benefits and downsides to consider
• What is OpenCart? Pros and Cons of using OpenCart

Typically, new businesses entering the eCommerce market will choose SaaS platforms to save time and costs during the initial stage of building an eCommerce website. Subsequently, businesses may transition to open-source platforms for the development of more advanced eCommerce websites.

However, businesses can also choose an open-source platform right from the start to build a basic eCommerce website and later upgrade the system over time on the same platform to avoid the need for platform migration in later stages.

Design website interface

When designing the website interface, businesses need to meet basic criteria such as UI/UX standards, reflecting the brand’s characteristics, presenting products consistently, providing complete usage instructions, etc.

Currently, there are three ways to design the interface, including:

• Use ready-made themes: Optimize interface design costs but may limit the brand positioning due to the risk of theme duplication with other websites.
• Customize themes according to needs: Save costs while adding some brand identity elements such as colours, fonts, layout, etc. However, effective theme customization requires a specialized and experienced team.
• Design a custom theme: Businesses will have a website tailored to their brand. However, this approach requires more investment in design costs and time.

In this stage, businesses often choose ready-made themes to save costs, but some financially stronger businesses may opt for the other two methods to better position their brand.

Build features for the website

In this stage, businesses can prioritize the development of basic functions to meet the most fundamental needs when operating a jewelry eCommerce website. Some essential functions that should be included in a jewelry eCommerce website are:

• Category Management: Control data, product functions, categories, prices, inventory quantities, and images/videos for smooth operation and optimized business.
• Store Management: Manage inventory quantities, and control business operations, and personnel for each branch.
• Cart & Checkout: Manage the shopping cart and customer checkout information.
• Customer Management: Manage customer information to improve marketing efficiency, shopping experience, and overall customer satisfaction.
• Marketing Management: Optimize SEO and implement marketing programs using supportive tools to boost sales for the business.
• Sales Management: Establish and operate sales processes, orders, payments, and shipping.
• Content Management: Develop and optimize all content-related aspects for CMS pages, image storage, theme customization, and website design.
• System Management: Assign administrator roles for system operation, and review the best methods for security, maintenance, and overall system care.
• Analysis & Reporting: Support track, measure the performance of the eCommerce system, and plan for future strategies.

Complete Legal Procedures

After successfully completing the features, testing, and launching of the website, the business needs to fulfil legal procedures related to eCommerce operations. According to Decree 52/2013/ND-CP issued by the Government of Vietnam, individuals or organizations owning eCommerce websites for sales are required to notify or register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade through the Public Service Portal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Note: Websites that operate for an extended period or fail to register/notify the competent management authority within the specified time frame may be subject to administrative penalties as stipulated by the regulations.

Phase 2: Building an Advanced eCommerce Jewelry Website

Reevaluate Objectives

When a business is in the development phase and the market is undergoing significant changes, adjusting objectives becomes necessary. This is particularly crucial when leadership needs to review the business strategy and make decisions regarding investing in an eCommerce website, including both time and budget considerations.

In this phase, businesses often focus on setting short-term and long-term goals for the online jewelry business system. For long-term objectives, businesses may consider expanding the brand presence in the market, building a loyal customer program, and promoting the purchasing habits of jewelry and gemstone customers in the middle and upper classes. These goals lay the foundation for sustainable development and prosperity in the future.

Regarding short-term goals, businesses may concentrate on attracting additional potential customers, increasing revenue, and supporting the eCommerce marketing strategy. Tools such as Influencer Marketing may be prioritized to drive rapid growth and create immediate business opportunities.

Overall, establishing specific goals and adjusting them based on market conditions and business development is a crucial part of managing and succeeding in the eCommerce jewelry industry.

Platform Selection for Transition

When basic SaaS platforms are no longer sufficient to support the expansion of the website system, businesses will need to transition to more specialized platforms such as Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Enterprise to develop a more advanced eCommerce jewelry website.

Read more: 

• Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce Enterprise: Full Comparison 2024
• Top 5 eCommerce Platforms for Building Jewelry Websites

Of course, when switching platforms, businesses will face challenges such as conversion costs, time required for staff training on the new platform, and potential data loss during the platform migration.

Choosing development resources

To build a professional and complex eCommerce website, businesses need to choose suitable resources to implement the project. Generally, there are two main options: building an in-house team or partnering with a professional development partner. Regardless of the choice, specialized knowledge and experience in the chosen field are crucial.

When deciding to build an in-house team, businesses need to recruit and train IT and eCommerce personnel with knowledge and practical experience on the chosen platform. This may require a significant amount of time and financial resources to build a suitable workforce. However, this approach allows the business to have better control over resources and the ability to make adjustments, developing the website system according to specific requirements.

Another option is to collaborate with a professional development partner. In this case, businesses should seek a partner with extensive experience in eCommerce, a professional team, clear work processes, and the ability to handle complex projects. Collaborating with specialized units helps businesses learn and accumulate more experience while developing an eCommerce website that suits the specific characteristics of the jewelry industry.

Therefore, the choice between building an in-house resource and collaborating with a development partner depends on the goals, resources, and specific requirements of the business.

Redesigning the website interface

During the platform transition process, businesses may decide to keep the current website interface if the brand believes it still aligns with the strategy and the new platform. However, many businesses often choose to redesign the interface to ensure that the eCommerce website reflects the brand’s business strategy and the new platform accurately.

Similar to the previous stage, businesses have several options when designing the eCommerce website interface: using ready-made themes available on the market, customizing themes, and designing a unique interface.

In the jewelry industry, customizing or designing a unique interface is often prioritized to showcase the uniqueness and sophistication of the products. However, the final decision should be based on the business strategy and resources available.

Platform Conversion and Data Migration

After choosing a suitable conversion platform, the redesign of the system and platform conversion is crucial. This requires a high level of expertise from solution architects to design a system that can address the challenges the business is facing and align with the long-term development journey and business model of the enterprise.

In addition, the process of migrating data also needs to be carried out carefully to limit the risk of data loss or errors for the business. Typically, data conversion is automated as much as possible to avoid potential errors.

The platform conversion process includes the following steps:

• Current State Analysis: Detailed evaluation of the existing system, including the database, interface design, integrations, and any custom options implemented.
• Modeling: Detailed data modelling, determining source and target systems, data formats, and data structures to visualize how data will move and plan the most appropriate conversion.
• Conversion Planning: Develop a detailed plan for the conversion process, including timelines, resources, and participants.
• Integration and Data Transfer: Extract data from the old system and record it in the new system, including information about products, orders, customers, and other relevant data. Common conversion methods include data file import/export, manual conversion, and automated conversion.
• Testing and Quality Assurance: Conduct comprehensive testing to identify and fix errors to ensure that the conversion is carried out according to the plan, the system operates smoothly and securely, and that the data has been fully and accurately migrated.

Upgrade System Functions

In addition to basic functions, at this stage, businesses should focus on building more sophisticated system functions, including advanced and industry-specific features for the jewelry sector.

• Virtual Try-On: Integrate augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) tools to allow customers to visualize how jewelry items will look when worn.
• Wishlist: Enable customers to save favourite items for future reference, encouraging revisits and conversions.
• Product Recommendations: Utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to deploy product recommendation tools based on customer behaviour and preferences.
• Loyalty Program: Establish a loyalty program to reward frequent customers with discounts, exclusive offers for new collections, and other incentives.

Furthermore, businesses need to continuously innovate and update to develop user-friendly functions and keep up with market trends.

Operations & System Maintenance

Operating an eCommerce system is an ongoing process that businesses must carry out to ensure the system operates smoothly and efficiently. This process includes the following crucial tasks:

• Resource Management: This involves monitoring and managing fundamental resources such as server hardware, application software, data, and IT personnel. This ensures that the system is provided with sufficient resources to operate smoothly.
• Process Management: Ensuring that all system operation processes are carried out efficiently. This may include processes for new development, deployment, daily operations, and regular maintenance.
• Incident Management: For any system, incidents can occur. The incident management process involves identifying the cause of the incident, swiftly and effectively addressing it, and establishing preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.
• Change Management: When there are changes in the system, change management ensures that the impacts of these changes are carefully assessed. Implementing changes must be done safely and effectively to avoid unintended incidents.

Additionally, continuous care, maintenance, updates, and upgrades of the website system are essential for businesses to sustain sustainable growth and adapt quickly to changes in the eCommerce market, especially in the jewelry and gemstone product sector.

Implementing Growth Strategies

After a period of operation, businesses should shift their focus to eCommerce marketing strategies or omnichannel strategies to boost the sales of jewelry products.

Implementing omnichannel involves setting up a seamless sales, marketing, and management system through various channels such as the website, social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Zalo, TikTok Shop), and eCommerce platforms (Shopee, Tiki, Lazada, Sendo) to optimize the customer experience and enhance business efficiency.

Developing a comprehensive marketing strategy and plan based on key eCommerce marketing channels such as Content Marketing, SEO/SEM, Email Marketing, and Affiliate Marketing is essential for rapid business growth.

In conclusion, the journey of building an eCommerce website for the jewelry market in Vietnam is not an easy one. This journey requires businesses to invest a significant amount of time and budget to research the most suitable eCommerce strategy for each stage of their development.

Understanding the difficulties and challenges that businesses face when building an eCommerce jewelry website, SECOMM is ready to provide free consultations and detailed solutions for the development of an eCommerce system tailored to the specific needs of each business.

Contact SECOMM today or call directly at the hotline (028 7108 9908) for a free and detailed consultation.

eCommerce is increasingly thriving and becoming a popular sales channel, especially in the jewelry industry, with global eCommerce jewelry sales reaching $100 billion in 2022 and projected to reach $150 billion in 2025.

To harness the immense potential of this market, choosing the right eCommerce platform is a crucial part of the success of your jewelry business in this billion-dollar market

Read more: What opportunities are open to jewelry eCommerce?

Criteria for Choosing an eCommerce Platform for Jewelry

Professional Interface

A professional interface is one of the crucial criteria to consider when building an eCommerce website for jewelry. This criterion helps businesses create a positive impression on customers, increase conversion rates, and boost sales.

Here are some factors to note when designing the website interface:

• Aesthetic Appeal: The interface should be beautifully designed, visually appealing, and aligned with the jewelry industry and brand identity.
• User-Friendly: Ensure user-friendly elements, making it easy for customers to navigate and shop for products.
• High-Quality Images/Videos: Businesses should use high-quality, clear, and high-resolution images/videos to assist customers in detailed product examination.
• Compatibility: The interface should be compatible with various devices, especially mobile devices, to capitalize on the Mobile Commerce trend, making shopping more convenient for customers.

Specialized Functional System

When building a jewelry website, in addition to basic eCommerce functions, businesses need to focus on developing advanced features that address industry-specific needs:

• Virtual Try-On: Integrate augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) tools to allow customers to visualize how jewelry will look when worn.
• Wishlist: Enable customers to save favourite items for future reference, encouraging return visits and conversions.
• Product Recommendations: Utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology to deploy product recommendation tools based on customer behaviour and preferences.
• Loyalty Program: Establish a loyalty program to reward frequent customers with discounts, exclusive offers for new collections, and other incentives.

High Scalability

An eCommerce jewelry website needs to have high scalability to meet the evolving needs of the business in the future. Here are some factors to consider when evaluating scalability:

• Scalability in Size: As the business grows and requires the deployment of large-scale marketing campaigns, the website system needs to handle high traffic and large datasets.
• Scalability in Functionality: As behaviours and markets change, businesses need to develop new features or integrate with third-party modules and applications to meet the evolving needs of the business.
• Scalability in Design: After a period of online business, jewelry website administrators may want to customize or redesign the website interface to align with the new brand identity as well as the market and user preferences.

High Security

Jewelry is a high-value item, so an eCommerce jewelry website needs to have high security to ensure the safety of customer information and prevent fraudulent activities and theft online.  

As eCommerce jewelry websites often require customers to provide personal information such as name, address, phone number, email, credit card details, bank account numbers, etc., for ordering and payment purposes, ensuring the security of this information is crucial. If this information is compromised, customers may fall victim to scams, lose money, or have their privacy violated.

Top 5 eCommerce Platforms for Building Jewelry Websites

Shopify

Shopify is a SaaS eCommerce platform founded in 2006. Over the years, Shopify has rapidly become a leading platform in the eCommerce industry, supporting numerous businesses worldwide in establishing and growing their online presence.

The costs associated with using the Shopify platform vary and include:

• Basic: $19/month, suitable for personal or small businesses.
• Shopify: $79/month, suitable for small businesses.
• Advanced: $299/month, suitable for large businesses.
• Starter: $5/month, with features for social media payment and messaging apps for businesses.
• Retail: $89/month, includes employee management, inventory, and loyalty program features for retail stores.
• Commerce Components: Customized quotes, offering third-party modules for integration into the business’s eCommerce website.
• Shopify Plus: Customized quotes, designed for large enterprises.
• Shopify Hydrogen & Oxygen: Customized quotes, tailored for businesses with Headless Commerce deployment needs.

Read more: Top 5 benefits when applying Headless Commerce in 2023

Evaluating the suitability of Shopify for the jewelry industry:

• Website Interface: Shopify provides a variety of visually appealing and professional website interface templates for the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced versions. Additionally, businesses can use Shopify Plus or Shopify Hydrogen to customise the website interface or design a unique look to align with their brand and business needs.
• Functionality: Shopify supports many essential features for online businesses, but specialized features for the jewelry industry may require significant time and budget investment. However, these features operate with exceptionally high performance.
• Scalability: Being a SaaS platform, Shopify’s scalability has some limitations, especially in terms of customization compared to open-source platforms.
• Security: Shopify employs advanced security technologies to safeguard customer information, including customer data encryption to prevent unauthorized access, two-factor authentication to enhance customer account security, and secure payment technologies to prevent fraud.

Several jewelry businesses currently utilizing Shopify for their eCommerce websites include Made by Mary, MISSOMA, Pura Vida Bracelets, and J&CO.

Shopaccino

Shopaccino is a SaaS platform established in 2014 in India, specializing in assisting both B2C and B2B businesses in building eCommerce websites across various industries, including the jewelry sector.

Shopaccino currently offers three main solutions:

• Starter: $200/year, suitable for newly starting eCommerce businesses.
• Basic: $400/year, suitable for small businesses.
• Professional: $600/year, suitable for medium-sized businesses.
• Advanced: $1000/year, suitable for large enterprises.

Evaluating the suitability of Shopaccino for the jewelry industry:

• Website Interface: Currently, Shopaccino provides 9 free themes for building eCommerce jewelry websites. However, businesses may find it challenging to customize these existing themes or request bespoke designs, as it may impact the entire system of this SaaS platform.
• Functionality: Although Shopaccino has features that support building jewelry eCommerce websites, customization or integration of third-party services according to specific needs may be limited.
• Scalability: Similar to Shopify and other SaaS platforms, the scalability of the Shopaccino platform is not highly rated.
• Security: Shopaccino’s operational principle is to secure the existing data on the server system, relieving businesses from concerns about security issues.

Some jewelry businesses currently using Shopaccino include Navratan, KOSH, Bibelot Jewels, Greytone, Hiranya Store, Lavie Jewelz, and Euro Gems S.R.L.

Shift4Shop 

Shift4Shop is an eCommerce platform developed by Shift4 Payments, a technology payment company. Shift4Shop provides a comprehensive eCommerce solution for businesses of all sizes and industries, including jewelry businesses.

Currently, Shift4Shop only offers services in the U.S. market with four solutions ranging from free to fee-based:

• End-to-End eCommerce: Free, available only when processing credit card payments through Shift4Shop in the U.S.
• Basic Store: $29/month, suitable for businesses with limited revenue up to $100,000/year.
• Plus Store: $79/month, suitable for businesses with limited revenue up to $250,000/year.
• Pro Store: $229/month, suitable for businesses with limited revenue up to $1,000,000/year.
• Enterprise Store: $1,999/month, suitable for businesses with revenue over $10,000,000/year.

Evaluating the suitability of Shift4Shop for the jewelry industry:

• Website Interface: Shift4Shop provides 5 free themes for the jewelry industry and supports customization of these templates, but it does not support custom-designed interfaces.
• Functionality: Shift4Shop offers all the necessary functions for basic eCommerce websites and the jewelry industry. However, customization of functions and integration of third-party services may not be straightforward.
• Scalability: Similar to other SaaS platforms, the scalability of the Shift4Shop platform is not highly rated.
• Security: Shift4Shop employs advanced security technologies to protect customer information, ensuring the safety of customer personal and payment information.

Some brands currently using Shift4Shop include Jewelry Supply, Too Cute Beads, Sasha’s Gemstone Jewelry, Alara Jewelry, Diamond Jewelry NY, and Just Mens Rings.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin developed for the WordPress platform, one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) worldwide. WooCommerce allows businesses to turn their WordPress websites into online stores or integrate eCommerce features into existing websites.3

The cost of using WooCommerce depends on the complexity of each project, averaging $1,000 for a basic eCommerce website and $10,000 for a deeply customized eCommerce website.

Evaluating the suitability of WooCommerce for the jewelry industry:

• Website Interface: WooCommerce provides numerous free and premium themes and plugins to help businesses create beautiful and professional-looking jewelry eCommerce websites. Additionally, businesses can customize or design their interfaces to align with their brand.
• Functionality: WooCommerce offers all the necessary features for online jewelry businesses. Being open-source, businesses can customize functions or integrate function-extending plugins as needed.
• Scalability: WooCommerce’s scalability in terms of design and functionality is relatively good. However, its ability to handle high traffic during peak sales seasons is not highly rated.
• Security: WooCommerce is designed with robust security features to protect customer data and payments, including integrated SSL for customer data encryption, two-factor authentication, and regular security updates.

Some businesses using WooCommerce to build jewelry websites include April Soderstrom, NEWTWIST, Waufen, Hyo Silver, Alkemistry, Oxétte, Arden Jewelers, and Binenbaum Antiques & Jewelry.

Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento Commerce, is a professional and popular eCommerce system. Adobe Commerce is part of the Adobe Experience Cloud product line and is designed to help businesses build eCommerce websites.

Currently, Adobe Commerce offers two main versions:

• Adobe Commerce (Magento Commerce): This is the premium version of Magento designed for large enterprises, with development costs ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per project.
• Magento Open Source: Formerly known as Magento Community Edition, this is the open-source, free version of Magento, with development costs ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 per project.

Read more: Magento Open Source vs Magento Commerce Real Comparison 

Evaluating the suitability of Adobe Commerce for the jewelry industry:

• Website Interface: Adobe Commerce does not support ready-made themes like other platforms, but businesses can find templates on the marketplace or from the developer community. Additionally, businesses have the freedom to customize or design their interfaces for their website.
• Functionality: Adobe Commerce possesses all the features needed for a complete eCommerce website. Furthermore, Adobe Commerce has a global technical support community with experienced experts and professional development units to meet any business functionality requirements.
• Scalability: A notable feature of the Adobe Commerce platform is its high scalability, allowing businesses to add additional features and integrate external applications as needed.
• Security: All versions of Adobe Commerce have high-security standards, including built-in SSL integration for encrypting customer and payment data, security keys to help businesses create secure URLs, two-factor authentication, protection against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and safeguarding website APIs from unauthorized access.

Some businesses using Adobe Commerce to build jewelry websites include True Facet, Hannoush, Judaica, Mikimoto, Charles and Colvard, J.R.DUNN, and EraGem.

Above are some eCommerce platforms suitable for the jewelry eCommerce industry. This list is just a few examples for businesses to consider, as there are many other eCommerce platforms that businesses can explore based on specific needs and available resources.

Understanding the challenges and difficulties that businesses may face when building a jewelry eCommerce website, SECOMM is ready to provide free consultations on detailed eCommerce system development solutions for businesses.

Contact SECOMM today or call directly at the hotline number (028 7108 9908) for free and detailed advice.

According to The Business Research Company, the global pharmaceutical eCommerce market is projected to reach $732.3 billion by 2027. This represents a significant opportunity for pharmacies, healthcare service providers, or hospitals/clinics to implement eCommerce and reach a broader range of potential customers. To achieve this, building an online pharmacy on a professional platform is a great idea to address industry-specific challenges. 

Things to keep in mind when building an online pharmacy

When building a pharmacy eCommerce website, businesses must meet numerous criteria to ensure professionalism, safety, and legal compliance within this industry.

Intuitive user interface

The typical customer profile in the pharmaceutical eCommerce sector consists of individuals seeking to purchase medications, medical equipment, and other healthcare products for themselves, family, or friends.

Thus, the website interface needs to be visually appealing, and user-friendly, and prioritize colors such as blue or white to create a sense of safety and cleanliness. 

Other factors, such as layout, font choice, and imagery, should be carefully selected and coordinated to deliver the most professional user experience.

Bespoke features

When building an online pharmacy, beyond default eCommerce features, businesses should focus on developing the following features to address industry-specific needs:

• Prescription Medications: Provide prescription medications based on the doctor’s indications and instructions.
• Consultation Services from Doctors/Pharmacists: Offer health consultation services and online medical examinations on demand.
• Detailed Product Information Display: Furnish comprehensive information about products, including drug names, ingredients, indications, dosage, usage instructions, side effects, warnings, expiration dates, and prices.
• Usage Guidelines: Provide usage instructions and dosage adjustments for all medical products, about the advice of doctors/pharmacists.
• Online Medical Records: Store patient medical records and test results on the system’s information portal.

High security

An online pharmacy is a system that contains various crucial information including personal details, payment information, and the health status of customers. Therefore, the security system of the website needs to be built and deployed carefully to ensure the safety of customer data.

Compliance with legal regulations

Pharmaceutical eCommerce is a specialized business area subject to the regulations of the healthcare/pharmaceutical industry. eCommerce pharmaceutical businesses need to comply with these regulations to ensure that their operations are legal and safe for customers.

Below are some key legal regulations that e-commerce pharmaceutical businesses need to adhere to in Vietnam:

• Pharmaceutical Law: The Pharmaceutical Law regulates the conditions for pharmaceutical business, including requirements for pharmaceutical business licenses, facilities, equipment, personnel, and drug quality.
• Decree 54/2017/NĐ-CP: Decree 54/2017/NĐ-CP provides detailed regulations on pharmaceutical business activities.
• Circular 07/2018/TT-BYT: Circular 07/2018/TT-BYT guides the advertising of drugs, drug ingredients, medical equipment, and cosmetics.
• Circular 04/2016/TT-BYT: Circular 04/2016/TT-BYT guides state management of the pharmaceutical profession.
• Circular 34/2018/TT-BYT: Circular 34/2018/TT-BYT guides state management of drugs and drug ingredients.

In addition, pharmaceutical eCommerce businesses also need to comply with other legal regulations, such as Cybersecurity Law, Consumer Protection Law, and eCommerce Law.

Top 5 eCommerce Platforms to build an online pharmacy

Although this industry has many challenges to deploy, businesses always have eCommerce platforms to create their online pharmacies. Here are the 5 leading platforms for building online pharmacy that businesses may consider.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a cloud-based eCommerce platform operating on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, enabling businesses to create and manage online stores.

Currently, BigCommerce offers four main solutions, including

Pros:

• Easy to use: BigCommerce is designed to be user-friendly with a drag-and-drop builder to help businesses create and manage online stores easily without the need for technical skills.
• Multi-channel support: BigCommerce allows pharmaceutical businesses to operate across multiple platforms, including eCommerce websites, social media pages, and online marketplaces.
• Security compliance: BigCommerce is committed to adhering to high-level security standards and protects customer personal information and transaction data.
• Pharmaceutical solutions: BigCommerce offers a variety of features and interfaces specifically designed for the pharmaceutical industry.

Cons:

• Ongoing costs: As a SaaS, BigCommerce requires monthly or annual fees for usage. The value of these fee packages may increase depending on the scale of the business and transaction fees per order.
• Limited customization: While BigCommerce allows customization of eCommerce websites, it limits deeper customization. This could be an issue for businesses with specific customization requirements, such as in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Limited scalability: While BigCommerce can scale, for large businesses or those planning rapid expansion in the future, it may be necessary to consider more specialized platforms to handle these needs.
• Platform dependency: Businesses will rely on BigCommerce’s ecosystem to maintain and update their online stores. This could be a concern if a business needs complete control over its system.

Some famous pharmaceutical eCommerce businesses currently utilizing BigCommerce include Victoria Health, Molton Brown, LARQ, and Zyppah.

Shopify

Shopify is a SaaS eCommerce platform established in 2006. To date, Shopify has rapidly become one of the leading platforms in the eCommerce industry, supporting thousands of businesses worldwide to initiate and grow their online ventures.

The cost to use the Shopify platform is quite diverse, including these three solutions:

In addition, Shopify provides eCommerce solutions tailored to businesses with different needs and wants, such as:

• Starter: $5/month, leveraging payment features through social networks and messaging apps for businesses.
• Retail: $89/month, includes employee management features, inventory tracking, and loyalty programs for retail stores.
• Commerce Components: Custom pricing, offering third-party modules for integration into the eCommerce website.
• Shopify Plus: Custom pricing, designed for large enterprises.
• Shopify Hydrogen: Custom pricing, for businesses to deploy Headless Commerce.

Learn more: Top 5 benefits of Headless Commerce 

Pros:

• Easy to use: Shopify is designed with an intuitive user interface, allowing non-technical users to easily create online stores.
• Diverse pricing plans: Shopify offers a wide range of choices for businesses, catering to small, medium, startup, and large enterprises with various customization needs.
• Data Security: Shopify adheres to important security standards such as PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) to keep customer’s personal and healthcare data safe.
• Extensive Feature Set: Shopify provides many features and extensions to meet the needs of building eCommerce websites for various industries, including the pharmaceutical sector.

Cons:

• Ongoing costs: Similar to BigCommerce, Shopify requires monthly or annual fees for service usage, and costs can escalate over time due to transaction fees, expansion of features, etc.
• Limited Customization: Shopify offers a certain level of customization for basic packages like Basic, Shopify, Advanced, Retail, and Starter. If a business requires a highly customized eCommerce website, additional fees must be paid to use other solutions or consider alternative platforms.
• SEO Limitations: While Shopify supports basic SEO optimization, there are some limitations in terms of more advanced SEO optimization and custom URL management.

Healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical businesses using Shopify include Dr.Axe, 310 Nutrition, Hiya, and BUBS Naturals.

StoreHippo

StoreHippo is a SaaS eCommerce platform established in 2014 in India. Over the years, this platform has consistently updated its technologies to meet the website-building needs of businesses, particularly those in the pharmaceutical eCommerce sector.

Similar to other SaaS platforms, StoreHippo offers a variety of solutions to choose from:

Pros:

• Easy to use: StoreHippo is designed with a user-friendly interface, making it quick and easy for users to create online stores.
• Custom solutions for pharmaceutical eCommerce: StoreHippo provides dedicated solutions for various industries, including online pharmacies.
• Continuous Updates: To address specific functions for each industry, StoreHippo has consistently improved and updated the latest technologies in e-commerce, such as Headless Commerce, PWA, Angular JS, etc.

Cons:

• Limited customization: Although StoreHippo allows businesses to customize their eCommerce website interface, it still limits deeper customization compared to other eCommerce platforms.
• Limited image size: StoreHippo has limitations on the size of images that businesses can upload and use in their online stores.
• Community and Support Limitations: In comparison to larger e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, or BigCommerce, StoreHippo has a smaller user community and customer support, which may slow down the resolution of technical issues or support requests.

Some brands that built their online pharmacy with StoreHippo include WoundProfessional, Kunooz, and On A Healthy Note.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin developed for the WordPress platform, one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) globally. WooCommerce enables businesses to turn their WordPress websites into online stores or integrate eCommerce features into existing websites.

The license fee of WooCommerce depends on the complexity of each project, averaging around $1,000 for a basic eCommerce website and $10,000 for a more advanced eCommerce website.

Pros:

• Free to use: WooCommerce is an open-source platform, so it is entirely free to use and customize. However, associated costs such as hosting, domain, themes, functionality systems, and maintenance should be considered.
• Easy to use: WooCommerce is deeply integrated into WordPress, making the installation and management of online stores straightforward. Users familiar with WordPress will find WooCommerce’s interface user-friendly.
• Third-party integration:  WooCommerce has a large development community and supports integration with various third-party applications and services, including features tailored for pharmaceutical eCommerce
• High customization: Businesses can customize the eCommerce website interface using both free and premium themes. WooCommerce also allows businesses to design their interface to reflect their brand.

Cons:

• WordPress dependency: WooCommerce is essentially a plugin for WordPress, meaning businesses must use the WordPress platform to use WooCommerce. This dependency can lead to challenges such as inconsistent support, slow data retrieval, conflicts between updates, etc.
• Complex customization: While WooCommerce allows customization, implementing complex customizations or integrating specific features may be time-consuming and require high technical skills or support from developers.
• Limited scalability: WooCommerce often faces difficulties in handling large online stores with thousands of products and high traffic.

Brands using WooCommerce to build online pharmacy include Dr. Scholl’s, myLAB Box, Superdrug Health Clinics, and Apothecanna.

Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento Commerce, is a professional and widely used eCommerce system. Adobe Commerce is part of the Adobe Experience Cloud product line and is designed to assist businesses in building eCommerce websites.

Currently, Adobe Commerce provides businesses with two main versions:

• Adobe Commerce (Magento Commerce): This is the premium version of Magento designed for large enterprises, offering two options: on-premise and on-cloud.
• Magento Open Source: Formerly known as Magento Community Edition, this is the open-source and free version of Magento.

Pros:

• High Scalability: The Magento platform is built with high scalability, allowing businesses to add features and integrate third-party applications as needed.
• High Security: Adobe Commerce prioritizes security, ensuring that customer data and payments are protected securely.
• High customization: All versions of Adobe Commerce have flexible customization capabilities, addressing the complex requirements of various industries, particularly in the pharmaceutical eCommerce sector.
• Adobe Experience Cloud Ecosystem: If a business is using other Adobe products such as Adobe Analytics or Adobe Marketing Cloud, they can integrate them with Adobe Commerce to create a comprehensive system for customer experience.

Cons:

• High initial costs: Adobe Commerce has a higher development cost compared to other eCommerce platforms, making it preferred by medium and large businesses with complex eCommerce systems or high customization needs.
• Require high technical skills: Adobe Commerce is developed using the PHP programming language, which is relatively complex, requiring technical personnel with expertise and experience to develop projects correctly and effectively.
• Long deployment time: Deploying Adobe Commerce may take more time, especially for highly customized or complex eCommerce websites.

This list is just a few examples for businesses to reference; there are many other robust eCommerce platforms that businesses can consider based on specific needs and available resources. 

With extensive experience in implementing eCommerce for clients in various countries, SECOMM understands the challenges and difficulties businesses face during the deployment of pharmaceutical eCommerce.

Contact SECOMM now or call the hotline at 02871089908 today for a free consultation.

OpenCart is an open-source eCommerce platform based on the PHP programming language, utilizing the MySQL database and HTML components to build eCommerce websites. According to Builtwith, the platform powers over 2,500 websites, with the majority in the United States and Russia. 

OpenCart offers businesses various options for building eCommerce websites: Free (Open Source) and Cloud Store (Paid). Due to the flexibility of open-source code, many businesses choose this platform to meet specialized requirements in website development.

Below are some brands that have used OpenCart to create dedicated eCommerce websites

Bensound

Bensound is the brainchild of musician Benjamin Tissot, founded in 2012. It is an eCommerce website specializing in providing free and licensed music, as well as sound effects. Initially, Benjamin Tissot composed and licensed only his songs on this platform.

However, as the service grew, Benjamin Tissot started accepting musical works from other artists, making it an ideal destination for content creators on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

• Website: https://www.bensound.com/  
• Industry: Music
• Traffic: 632.3K/month
• Ranking: #69,810 (USA) & #86,312 (Worldwide)

Vicrez

Vicrez is an online automotive parts retailer established in 2014 in the city of Whittier, Southern California, USA. What sets Vicrez apart is that customers can shop online for any external car parts and accessories to customize their vehicles according to their individual preferences.

• Website: https://www.vicrez.com/ 
• Industry: Auto parts
• Traffic: 335.3K/month
• Ranking: #67,964 (USA) & #218,262 (Worldwide)

Pharmacy Direct

Pharmacy Direct is the first online pharmacy to follow the eCommerce model, owned and operated by pharmacists in Australia since 1996. Initially, the brand operated on a small scale, serving local customers. However, as the demand for health products in Australia steadily increased, Pharmacy Direct experienced remarkable growth. 

The business invested more in its eCommerce website to offer over 17,000 products, including vitamins, supplements, beauty products, fragrances, childcare products, prescription medications, and over-the-counter medicines from reputable pharmaceutical brands. This expansion allowed Pharmacy Direct to provide online services to the Australian population.

• Website: https://www.pharmacydirect.com.au/ 
• Industry: Pharmacy
• Traffic: 247.4K/month
• Ranking: #2,005 (Australia) & #126,629 (Worldwide)

Get Laid Beds

Get Laid Beds is a business specializing in handcrafting solid wood beds, founded in 2012 by John and Jean, a pair of architect and carpenter friends.

After more than 10 years of development, Get Laid Beds has expanded its product lines to include bedroom furniture, focusing on building its eCommerce website and enhancing customer service. This brand has gained popularity among customers in the UK and the US.

• Website: https://www.getlaidbeds.co.uk/ 
• Lĩnh vực: Nội thất
• Lưu lượng truy cập: 209.1 nghìn/tháng
• Xếp hạng: #7,415 (Anh) và #186,306 (Toàn cầu)

Self Edge 

Self Edge is a men’s fashion brand with a vintage style, established in 2006 by the American couple Kiya and Demitra Babzani. Currently, Self Edge has a presence in major cities such as San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Portland, and San Jose del Cabo.

Additionally, Self Edge focuses on developing its eCommerce website to reach new customers across the United States and Mexico.

• Website: https://www.selfedge.com/ 
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 194.5K/month
• Ranking: #67,298 (USA) & #223,754 (Worldwide)

BNA Model World

BNA Model World is a model business established in 2007 in Australia. Since its establishment, the brand’s management has focused on the eCommerce market and gradually upgraded its products/services. Currently, BNA Model World offers over 100,000 products from more than 1,000 manufacturers, serving over 104,000 customers worldwide.

• Website: https://www.bnamodelworld.com/ 
• Industry: Model
• Traffic: 142.7K/month
• Ranking: #8,314 (Australia) & #226,563 (Worldwide)

Godukkan

Godukkan is a consumer electronics retail business established in 2017 and headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Godukkan’s main goal is to become the number one eCommerce website in the UAE, offering a wide range of products, including laptops, mobile phones, tablets, PCs, gaming equipment, and more.

• Website: https://www.godukkan.com/ 
• Industry: Consumer Electronics 
• Traffic: 136.4K/month
• Ranking: #2,893 (UAE) & #274,790 (Worldwide)

Get Er Brewed

Get Er Brewed is a beverage brand specializing in brewing beer, wine, tea, etc., as well as supplying fermentation ingredients and brewing equipment. The business was established in 2013 and is based in Northern Ireland.

In recent years, Get Er Brewed has expanded its reach by launching an OpenCart website to cater to an international customer base, achieving certain successes, particularly in securing contracts for the installation of fermentation and brewing systems.

• Website: https://www.geterbrewed.com/ 
• Industry: Beverage
• Traffic: 110.0K/month
• Ranking: #38,209 (UK) và #380,234 (Worldwide)

CatSmart

With over 20 years of experience in the pet industry, brothers Raymond and Roger decided to establish CatSmart, the largest cat-centric brand in Singapore. Currently, CatSmart is actively investing in its OpenCart website and expanding its presence beyond traditional retail branches in the “Lion City.”

• Website: https://catsmart.com.sg/ 
• Industry: Pet
• Traffic: 48.8K/month
• Ranking: #850,172 (Singapore) & #9,174 (Worldwide)

Derails 

Derails is a business specializing in designing and selling model trains, established in 2010. With the boom of eCommerce, Derails began building an OpenCart website to adapt to the changing market.

• Website: https://derails.co.uk/ 
• Industry: Model railways
• Traffic: 26.2K/month
• Ranking: #104,013 (UK) & #1,926,389 (Worldwide)

The Bottom Line

Here are 10 brands that have developed OpenCart websites and achieved success in both branding and revenue. This success serves as inspiration for other businesses seeking solutions to break through their operations and enhance competitiveness in the market.

Learn more: OpenCart vs Magento: Which Fits Your Business Best?

With extensive experience in deploying eCommerce for clients in many countries, SECOMM understands the difficulties and challenges that businesses face during implementation.

Contact SECOMM now or call the hotline at 02871089908 today for a free consultation.

For businesses that are just entering the market, the term “eCommerce” is often recognized through eCommerce marketplaces. Most managers are often unsure of where to start, including which systems to use, which eCommerce platform to choose for development, and what steps to take next.

Therefore, in this article, SECOMM will share comprehensive information from basics to advanced levels to kickstart eCommerce business in Vietnam.

Learn about eCommerce business

According to Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP on eCommerce: “eCommerce activities involve conducting all or part of the commercial process through electronic means connected to the Internet, mobile telecommunications networks, or other open networks.”

In simpler terms, eCommerce business is the activity of buying and selling goods or services online.

Popular eCommerce models

B2C

B2C (Business to Customer) involves transactions between businesses and customers. This is also the most common model in the Vietnamese market.

Example: Thế Giới Di Động is the number one retail model in Vietnam’s eCommerce market for devices such as phones, laptops, tablets, and accessories.

• Website: https://www.thegioididong.com/ 
• Monthly traffic: 62.23 million
• Website ranking: #19 (Vietnam), #758 (Global)

B2B

B2B (Business to Business) involves commercial transactions between two businesses.

Example: TELIO is Vietnam’s first B2B eCommerce platform, facilitating the connection between small-scale traditional retailers and brands by aggregating demand, providing more choices, better prices, and more efficient logistics support.

• Website: https://www.telio.vn/ 
• Monthly traffic: 5 million
• Website ranking: #112,909 (Vietnam), #6,105,937 (Global)

B2B2C

B2B2C (Business to Business to Customer) is a business model that involves collaboration between two businesses (B2B) to create and deliver products or services to end consumers (B2C).

Example: Shopee is the most popular eCommerce platform in Vietnam. Shopee Vietnam initially operated under a C2C model, serving as an intermediary in the buying and selling process between individuals. However, Shopee Vietnam has evolved into a B2B2C hybrid model by offering various services and conveniences to support the shopping process for both businesses and consumers.

• Website: https://shopee.vn/ 
• Monthly traffic: 105.5 million
• Website ranking: #6 (Vietnam), #295 (Global)

C2C

C2C (Consumer to Consumer) is a form of business where transactions occur directly between two individuals rather than involving businesses.

Example: Chợ Tốt is an eCommerce website that facilitates transactions between individual sellers and buyers for items such as real estate, cars, job postings, used electronics, pets, and various home services.

• Website: https://www.chotot.com/ 
• Monthly traffic: 13.19 million
• Website ranking: #54 (Vietnam), #2,980 (Global)

D2C

D2C (Direct to Customer) is a business model that delivers products directly from the business to the customer, bypassing intermediary distribution channels.

Example: Coolmate is a men’s fashion startup established in 2019. Within just 2 years of operation, the brand raised a rapid $500,000 in funding for Sharktank.

• Website: https://www.coolmate.me/ 
• Monthly traffic: 1.204 million
• Website ranking: #861 (Vietnam), #46,051 (Global)

Steps to start a sustainable eCommerce business

Step 1. Make an eCommerce business plan

When starting to plan a business, the first step that managers should take is market research to understand the overall market situation, details about competitors, trends, and consumer behaviour. Some free and reputable sources businesses can refer to include the White Paper on eCommerce in Vietnam by IDEA, the e-Conomy SEA report by Google & Temasek, the eCommerce Index report by Vecom, etc.

After conducting market research, the next thing businesses should pay attention to is defining objectives, such as adding sales channels to increase revenue, positioning the brand in the eCommerce market, supporting marketing campaigns, enhancing user experience and interaction, etc.

Following market research and goal setting, businesses should also budget and plan the implementation timeline for each stage of eCommerce operations. Depending on the goals and strategies, each business will set budgets and timelines for the most effective eCommerce operations.

Step 2. Build an eCommerce system

Next, businesses need to choose an eCommerce platform to build a system that aligns with the brand’s scale and strategy. The components of an eCommerce system typically include a website and an eCommerce website application.

There are two main types of platforms nowadays: SaaS (Software as a Service) and Open Source.

For Open Source platforms:

• Advantages: Full ownership of source code and data, the ability to build advanced features, flexible customization, easy integration, and scalability.
• Disadvantages: High initial development costs and specialized expertise required, often requiring experienced professionals for implementation.
• Popular Open Source platforms: Magento, WooCommerce, OpenCart, PrestaShop, etc.
• Target users: Suitable for businesses looking for a long-term investment, aiming to save costs in the future.

For SaaS platforms:

• Advantages: User-friendly, many pre-built interfaces and features, low initial costs.
• Disadvantages: Increasing usage fees over time, limited customization and scalability, and challenging integration with external tools.
• Popular SaaS platforms: Haravan, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, etc.
• Target users: Suitable for businesses needing a simple website with minimal customization.

Once the eCommerce platform is selected, businesses have two options for resources to build the website: building an in-house team or using services from developers.

For building an in-house team, businesses need to recruit and train IT and eCommerce professionals with expertise and experience on the chosen platform. This process may take time and budget to build a suitable team but provides better control over resources, allowing adjustments or developments according to specific requirements.

For collaborating with development firms, businesses should seek developers based on criteria such as deep experience in eCommerce, an experienced team, a clear process, quick handling and support, and commitments to warranty and maintenance. This approach helps businesses gain professional expertise, enhance experience, and develop a suitable website.

Step 3. Set up eCommerce payment methods

In the eCommerce market, there are various payment methods, with Cash on Delivery (COD) being the most common. However, due to the rise of “cashless” payment trends amid the Covid-19 pandemic, electronic payment methods are gaining more prominence.

Some payment methods chosen by eCommerce businesses include:

• Bank Transfer: Transferring money from the buyer’s bank account to the seller’s bank account to pay for products or services. Internet Banking and Mobile Banking are gradually replacing traditional ATM transfers.
• Online Payment Gateways: Systems connecting banks, buyers, and sellers, allowing the seller to receive funds immediately when online transactions are completed. Some popular gateways in Vietnam such as VNPay, ZaloPay, Payoo, Paypal, Onepay, etc.
• E-wallets: Payment through e-wallets involves linking a bank account, depositing money into the wallet, and making simple and convenient payments for linked services. Some popular E-wallets in Vietnam such as Momo, ZaloPay, VNPay.
• Scratch Cards: Allowing users to pay or top up their electronic accounts by purchasing scratch cards from mobile network providers such as Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone, etc. However, this payment method is often limited to certain eCommerce platforms and specific websites.
• Brand-Specific Cards/Wallets: Payment methods designed and allowed for use within the system of a specific brand or business. Some popular wallets such as Shopee Wallet, Lazada’s eM Wallet, Starbucks Card, VinID by VinGroup.
• E-vouchers: Also known as online discount vouchers/codes provided by eCommerce businesses like Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, etc.

Step 4. Build a fulfilment process

Usually, a fulfilment process includes the following steps: Importing goods or manufacturing → Shipping to warehouse/distribution centre → Warehousing → Processing goods upon request (Shipping, invoicing, packaging, labelling) → Delivery → Handling post-sale requests (Returns, refunds, exchanges).

Therefore, a comprehensive eCommerce system needs to build or integrate functionalities such as eLogistics, blockchain, QR codes, etc., to automate the shipping process, track orders, and thereby enhance the quality of delivery to end consumers.

Step 5. Improve customer care system

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is an essential component in the operation of eCommerce businesses. Building and continuously improving the CRM system, as well as implementing a multi-channel customer care centre, helps expedite the processing of complaints, returns, and refunds. Additionally, a CRM system assists businesses in gaining insights into customer needs, facilitating the establishment of interactions between the brand and its customers.

Step 6: eCommerce System Maintenance

Maintaining the eCommerce system 24/7, continually updating and upgrading it helps businesses promptly address arising issues, achieve sustainable sales growth, and adapt quickly to the ever-changing market. Simultaneously, continuous monitoring and maintaining eCommerce operations aim to prevent risks from hackers, data breaches, etc.

Step 7: eCommerce Growth Strategy

One of the crucial strategies in current eCommerce operations is omnichannel selling. By following customers’ “footprints” across eCommerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo), social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Zalo), websites, and eCommerce apps, this strategy centralizes customer data, reaches diverse shopping behaviours, and optimizes personalized experiences in the eCommerce system. Additionally, various eCommerce marketing campaigns are being developed, such as Affiliate Marketing, Shoppertainment, SEO, Email Marketing, etc. This strategy optimizes brand visibility and boosts online sales.

Step 8: Optimization of eCommerce Business Operations

Building reporting functions to exploit the efficiency of data, including reports on Sales, Marketing, Customers, Inventory, and Operational Performance, to improve and enhance business efficiency. Integrating analytical tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixels, Microsoft Power BI, etc., supports tracking and measuring system performance to provide detailed reports on business results in eCommerce.

In summary, conducting eCommerce based on the above 8 steps is not an easy task for business managers. To stay competitive in the eCommerce race, various factors come into play, including financial strength, human resources, the general economic situation, changes in consumer behaviour, etc. Therefore, managers need to be cautious when making critical decisions to bring business efficiency.

With over 9 years of experience in designing complex eCommerce systems for companies like Annam Gourmet, Laybyland, and Jasnor, SECOMM understands the challenges businesses face in researching and efficiently implementing eCommerce.

Contact SECOMM now for free consultation on detailed eCommerce system development solutions!

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

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

Overview

What is BigCommerce?

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

What is Magento?

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

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

BigCommerce vs Magento: Pros and Cons

BigCommerce

Pros:

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

Cons:

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

Magento

Pros:

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

Cons:

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

BigCommerce vs Magento: Detailed Comparison

Ease of Use

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

BigCommerce

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

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

Magento

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

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

Pricing

BigCommerce

Magento

Hosting

BigCommerce

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

Magento

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

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

Features

SEO

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

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

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

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

Multiple channels integration

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

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

Purchase flow

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

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

Payment options

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

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

Themes & Extensions

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

BigCommerce

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

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

Magento

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

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

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

Customization & Scalability

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

Customization

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

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

Scalability

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

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

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

Security

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

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

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

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

Popularity

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

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

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

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

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

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

The eCommerce platforms are often considered the “backbone” of any experienced business in the market. To embark on the eCommerce journey, your business needs to choose the right eCommerce platform to build your website. 

In addition to Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, PrestaShop, etcOpenCart become a popular choice for many international SMEs. 

What is OpenCart?

OpenCart is an open-source eCommerce platform based on the PHP programming language, developed by Daniel Kerr in 1998. Currently, OpenCart offers two versions: Free and Cloud Store (Paid).

For the Cloud Store version, you have three solution options to build your eCommerce website: 

• Bronze: €59/month, for small businesses (1 CPU 2GB)
• Silver: €99/month, for medium-sized businesses (2 CPU 4GB)
• Gold: €199/month, for enterprise-level businesses (4 CPU 8GB)

According to BuiltWith, there are over 2,500 websites built on this platform. Some famous brands using OpenCart include WeLoveFine, GT Omega, Arrowfile, and Kleshna.

The Pros of Using OpenCart

Admin Dashboard

OpenCart is a user-friendly platform, even for those without technical experience. You don’t need to invest much time in training staff to manage products, orders, customer information, or other features on the website. 

Themes and Extensions

Over the years, OpenCart’s marketplace has offered more than 13,000 functional modules and ready-to-use themes. You can find suitable themes for any industry along with 3rd-party extensions, payment gateways, shipping providers, marketing tools, analytics, and reporting, which enrich your journey of building an eCommerce system. 

Flexibility

With its nature as an open-source eCommerce platform, OpenCart has the ability to be flexibly customized. Also, you can own and control the entire source code. That said, you’ll customize code components, create updates, or even develop new features within the system based on your needs.

In addition, OpenCart also has good scalability, enabling you to upgrade to multiple languages and currencies for your global expansion goals. 

No Transaction Fee

For eCommerce platforms like Shopify, and BigCommerce, operating on a licensing model. This means they charge fees for platform usage on a monthly/yearly basis. These platforms typically charge an average transaction fee of 1.5% to 2% per transaction. On the contrary, OpenCart’s Cloud Store version charges no fees. 

The Cons of Using OpenCart

Technical Skills Required

OpenCart is an open-source platform built with one of the most complex programming languages — PHP. That means, to successfully develop your own eCommerce website, you should build a skilled in-house team or collaborate with an experienced agency. 

Lack of Scalability

Although OpenCart offers many features, it may not be sufficient for you to manage and operate your complex eCommerce website. It’s different when compared to another PHP-based open-source eCommerce platform like Adobe Commerce (also known as Magento). Adobe Commerce allows you to expand from one website to multiple websites while managing them under the same system effectively. 

Hidden Costs 

It’s worth noting that OpenCart doesn’t charge transaction fees and it’s affordable cost of using OpencCart’s Cloud Store compared to other platforms. However, you need to add up the expenses for integrating various extensions. Each extension typically costs a minimum of $20 per month.

But if you want to create a comprehensive eCommerce website system, you may need at least 10 extensions. As a result, when opting for OpenCart, you should be aware of the potential hidden costs associated with these extensions. 

OpenCart, with its own set of pros and cons, is generally a suitable eCommerce platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, large-sized businesses looking for open-source eCommerce solutions may find platforms like Magento or Shopify Plus more fitting. 

Having in-depth expertise and a track record of successfully developing complex eCommerce systems on Magento, such as Laybyland (Australia, US, New Zealand), Jasnor (Australia, New Zealand), and An Nam Group (Vietnam), SECOMM understands the challenges that businesses encounter when selecting and implementing an open-source eCommerce platform.

Get in touch with SECOMM today or call directly to the hotline at 02871089908 for a free consultation on tailored solutions for your eCommerce system development needs!

commercetools is a cloud-based eCommerce platform that provides a multi-channel approach, supporting businesses to build and manage eCommerce websites, mobile applications, and other sales channels seamlessly. Moreover, commercetools is a pioneer of Headless eCommerce.

Therefore, as businesses focus on enhancing multi-channel marketing and sales efforts to meet the increasing customer shopping experience demands, commercetools becomes particularly prominent.

Here are 10 brands that have utilized the commercetools platform to actualize their revenue and customer experience goals.

Chronext

Chronext is a renowned global brand specializing in buying and selling luxury watches, boasting a collection of over 7,000 products. Offering a wide array of watches, including new, pre-owned, and classic pieces, Chronext’s expert watchmakers thoroughly inspect each watch before sale and provide a 24-month warranty.

Chronext has implemented an eCommerce website using commercetools, contributing to a 300% increase in page loading speed, a 40% boost in SEO ranking, and a 10% increase in conversion rate. As a result, Chronext has achieved a solid reputation in the luxury watch industry, becoming a trusted destination for watch enthusiasts

• Website: https://www.chronext.com/
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 161,7K/month
• Ranking: 377,247 (USA) & 302,679 (Global)

Promod

Promod is a French brand established in 1975, specializing in providing ready-to-wear fashion for women. This brand is currently present in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Malta.

Promod has utilized commercetools to develop an exceptional eCommerce website, aiming to achieve the expected revenue level and deliver a seamless shopping experience for customers.

• Website: https://www.promod.com/en/
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 82.9K/month
• Ranking: 38,707 (France) & 310,507 (Global)

Ulta Beauty

Since opening its first store in 1990, Ulta Beauty has evolved into the largest cosmetics retailer in the United States and a premier beauty destination for cosmetics enthusiasts. The brand offers over 25,000 products from around 500 beauty brands, including its own Ulta Beauty Collection with attractive pricing.

With the need for rapid-scale expansion and the flexibility to implement changes to the platform, Ulta Beauty chose commercetools for its Headless eCommerce solution. In 2022, Ulta Beauty officially launched an entirely new eCommerce website, enabling the brand to manage an extensive product portfolio with over 1.3 million SKUs. This upgrade enhanced the shopping experience with features like the Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) solution.

• Website: https://www.ulta.com/
• Industry: Cosmetics
• Traffic: 34.8M/month
• Ranking: 241 (USA) & 1,214 (Global)

66°North

Since 1928, 66°North has been providing protective clothing for Iceland’s rescue teams, and this successful collaboration has driven the company to continue developing outdoor clothing and accessories with diverse designs. Today, 66°North has become a leading global brand in producing protective workwear suitable for all outdoor activities.

The 66°North website employs commercetools to transition from a monolithic model to a more flexible microservices-based system, tailored to the specific needs of 66°North. This collaboration has led to a 35% increase in average order value, a 75% repeat purchase rate, and a 50% increase in transactions per minute for the 66°North eCommerce website.

• Website: https://www.66north.com/
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 141,8K/month
• Ranking: 557 (Iceland) & 304,892 (Global)

Danone

Danone is a leading global food and beverage company operating in four main business areas including Dairy and Plant-Based Products, Waters, and Nutritional Products for infants and patients. Danone currently sells products in over 120 markets.

During the crisis period of the Covid-19 pandemic, Danone accelerated its Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) eCommerce strategy and transitioned to a MACH model using commercetools to address shortages of infant formula in Europe. This move also aimed to adapt to sudden supply chain changes and local consumer demands. The addition of cart functionality to the brand websites helped customers access products more swiftly. Furthermore, this strategy allowed the company to expand its web capacity without encountering issues due to the sudden increase in access traffic.

• Website: https://www.danone.com/
• Industry: eGrocery
• Traffic: 362.7K/month
• Ranking: 34,589 (France) & 126,173 (Global)

Tamron

Anyone with a passion for photography is likely familiar with Tamron – a global leader headquartered in Japan. This company specializes in supplying camera lenses of varying focal lengths, catering to all types of cameras. Their products are distributed through a network of partners, local agents, and online platforms such as Amazon. 

As part of their strategy to explore new markets, the company embraced Headless eCommerce through the utilization of commercetools on their subsidiary’s online store in Europe, operating under the name Tamron Europe and based in Germany. The beauty of Headless eCommerce lies in its ability to decouple the user interface (frontend) from the underlying data storage (backend), allowing Tamron Europe to construct and personalize their online store to meet both present and future requirements.

• Website: https://www.tamron.eu/en-GB
• Industry: Manufacture
• Traffic: 121,5K/month
• Ranking: 44,336 (Germany) & 337,575 (Global)

Emma The Sleep Company

With over 2 million mattresses sold and revenue exceeding 645 million euros in 2021, Emma The Sleep Company has become one of the fastest-growing sleep brands in the world.

Emma chose to partner with commercetools to develop a large-scale eCommerce platform to accommodate high traffic volumes. To encourage customer shopping on the website, the company introduced various attractive sales policies such as 0% financing, free shipping, free returns, and a 365-day trial period. Additionally, Emma’s eCommerce website is integrated with Instagram to interact more with customers by encouraging them to share images of their product experiences and tag Emma. As a result, the brand has attracted a considerable number of potential customers.

• Website: https://www.emma-sleep.com/
• Industry: online retail
• Traffic: 160,8K/month
• Ranking: 67,098 (Germany) & 326,056 (Global)

John Lewis & Partners

John Lewis & Partners (formerly known as John Lewis) is a renowned British retail brand with a rich history spanning over 150 years. The brand has utilized commercetools to aim towards the goal of transitioning from its legacy eCommerce platform to a microservices-led cloud service and flexible API-first approach.

The new John Lewis website offers a wide range of high-quality products, including clothing, household appliances, electronics, and beauty products. John Lewis provides a seamless shopping experience from offline stores to the app and eCommerce website. Through quality products, excellent customer care, and optimized payment policies, John Lewis has gradually established itself as a leading and trustworthy retail brand in the United Kingdom, catering to the diverse multi-channel shopping experiences of its customers.

• Website: https://www.johnlewis.com/
• Industry: eGrocery
• Traffic: 21.3M/month
• Ranking: 87 (UK) &1,986 (Global)

Kmart

Kmart is a renowned discount retail store chain in Australia, founded in 1969. To date, Kmart has over 200 stores across Australia and New Zealand, recognized as one of the most profitable discount retail chains in the land down under.

Kmart has undergone a transformation to a cloud-based platform – commercetools, leveraging serverless capabilities with a microservices architecture. By embracing this new technology, Kmart can flexibly customize and expand its eCommerce website to provide the best online shopping experience for customers, while also driving its digital transformation strategy.

• Website: https://www.kmart.com.au/
• Industry: eGrocery
• Traffic: 24.4M/month
• Ranking: 32 (Australia) & 2,013 (Global)

Express

Express is one of the world’s most renowned fashion brands, specializing in clothing and accessories for both men and women across various segments. Recognizing that the monolithic platform posed challenges to its growth, Express turned to Commercetools for a flexible, agile, and highly scalable eCommerce solution to adapt to market trends and the ever-changing shopping preferences of customers.

With a focus on stylish fashion products, Express’s website is designed with a minimalist yet modern and elegant aesthetic. Alongside a diverse range of promotional programs, Express offers customers multiple payment solutions to enhance their shopping experience, such as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS), and Express credit card.

• Website: https://www.express.com/
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 13.3M/month
• Ranking: 629 (USA) & 3,337 (Global)

Above are 10 businesses that have developed eCommerce websites with commercetools and achieved success in both branding and revenue. This success has become a source of inspiration for other businesses seeking solutions to elevate their business operations and enhance their competitive edge in the market.

With extensive experience deploying eCommerce solutions for clients in various countries, SECOMM understands the difficulties and challenges that businesses face during the implementation process.

Contact SECOMM today or call our hotline number (02871089908) directly for a free consultation.

Selecting the right platform to build an eCommerce website is always the first and foremost step in entering the billion-dollar market of online business. 

According to Builtwith, there are more than 200 eCommerce platforms for building websites, with popular ones like Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, and Wix leading the pack. Among them, there is one platform that many enterprise-level businesses favor, and that is Commercetools. 

Since September 2021, Commercetools has raised a total of $308.1 million through six rounds of funding. In 2022, the platform achieved a net revenue milestone of $39.1 million, demonstrating its growth potential in the eCommerce industry. 

What is Commercetools?

This is a cloud-based eCommerce platform built on MACH architecture (Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless), allowing you to tailor your eCommerce experience to fit the exact needs of your business and customers. 

Beyond this, Commercetools is the creator of Headless Commerce solution, which enables you to customize and intercharge the backend and frontend without affecting each other.

Due to years of investment in eCommerce technology, it has been recognized as a ‘Leading platform’ by reputable consulting firms such as Gartner Magic Quadrant, Forrester B2C Commerce Solutions Wave™, and IDC MarketScape: Headless Digital Commerce. 

Some well-known brands that are using the platform include Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Qantas, and more

How does Commercetools work?

Microservices-based

Microservices-based is a software development architecture where applications are divided into smaller and independent components. In an eCommerce system, each microservice takes responsibility for a specific function and can undergo independent development, deployment, and management, separate from other microservices.

The Microservices-based architecture enhances flexibility and scalability, enabling developers and admins to easily maintain and update system components without affecting other parts.

This approach allows Commercetools to deploy frontend and backend components independently, resulting in faster, more reliable, and responsive performance compared to traditional approaches. 

API-first

API-first is a software design approach that focuses on building Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) before developing an eCommerce system. Instead of developing the system first and then building corresponding APIs, API-first requires developers to define the necessary APIs upfront and then use these APIs to develop the entire eCommerce system. 

This approach enhances system flexibility and scalability, reduces development time and ensures the compatibility and interaction between various functionalities.

Currently, Commercetools provides over 300 separate APIs that you can use to build your eCommerce website.

Cloud-native

Cloud-native is a development and deployment architecture designed to leverage the cloud features such as flexibility, availability, security, and automation. 

This architecture typically involves using distributed applications, microservices, automation and integrating extensions to achieve high readiness and scalability. 

Commercetools leverage a cloud-native approach hosted on Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS), both well-known brands are widely used in certified data centers across Europe, the US, and APAC (Asia-Pacific).

Headless

Headless Commerce is an architecture where the user interface (UI) and the backend are decoupled and operate independently. In headless architecture, the UI is designed solely to focus on displaying content and interacting with users, while the backend is responsible for handling business logic, data storage, and providing APIs to interact with other applications. 

The architecture provides high flexibility and scalability, allowing developers and admins to focus on a specific part of the system without having to change the entire architecture. It also enhances the application diversity and compatibility, as different UI software can be used to display content for users. 

As a pioneer in Headless Commerce technology, Commercetools offers an open and decoupled environment that enables unlimited customization across all eCommerce channels.

The pros of Commercetools

Flexibility

Commercetools has its ability to be flexible with the API architecture, making it compatible with any system and app. This allows you to easily integrate and expand your eCommerce system according to your specific needs. 

Omnichannel

Commercetools supports Omnichannel including eCommerce websites, mobile apps, eCommerce marketplaces, social platforms, brick-and-mortar stores and more. This enables you to reach customers across multiple channels, boosting your conversion rates and revenue. 

Scalability

Because Commercetools is built on MACH architecture, it has an ability to flexibly scale by adding or removing distinct functions as needed. This facilitates easy adaptation to the ever-changing market trends. 

Personalized experience

Commercetools provides you with a personalization feature to improve your customer experience. This way, you can segment your customers based on their behaviors and preference, then offer them personalized promotions or product recommendations.

The cons of Commercetools

Lack of qualified developers

Commercetools is a highly customizable eCommerce platform, which requires a team of technical-skilled developers to deploy and maintain the eCommerce system. 

Moreover, Commercetools is a relatively new platform compared to other popular ones like Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and more, so there may be fewer experienced agencies and developers available for you to choose from. 

High costs

The cost of using Commercetools is quite high and will depend on your business’s total revenue, along with the development cost and the cost of integrating third-party plugins or apps. 

If your business has a maximum annual revenue of around 100,000,000 USD, you would have to pay approximately 120,000 USD as an annual licensing fee for using Commercetools. 

Commercetools is a platform that extensively applies advanced technologies to help businesses build highly complex eCommerce websites. However, it is primarily suitable for enterprise-level businesses, with substantial budgets to implement their specialized systems. 

Related article: Top 10 eCommerce Websites Using Commercetools Platform

With years of experience implementing eCommerce solutions for various businesses around the world such as Changi Airport Group (Singapore), Laybyland (Australia), Vinamilk (Vietnam), Jasnor (Australia), My Market (Hong Kong), and more. SECOMM understands the potential of Commercetools for improving business operations, as well as the impediment involved in the development process. 

Contact or call directly our hotline (+842871089908) to the SECOMM hotline for a free consultation.

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

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

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

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

Special eCommerce requirements for the wine industry?

A modern user interface

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

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

A functional system with high complexity

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

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

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

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

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

A seamless user experience

• A complete buyer’s journey experience

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

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

• Personalized user experience

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

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

• Multi-channel customer experience

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

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

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

Related article: Wine eCommerce shines brilliantly in the digital era

Magento – Solutions for wine eCommerce

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

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

Basic features

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

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

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

Advance features

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

Scalability

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

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

Ability to integrate 

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

Integration with a variety of payment and delivery methods

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

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

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

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

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

• Integration with business management systems such as  ERP, CRM

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

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

• Integration with analytics and reporting software

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

Successful wine business with the Magento open-source platform

iShopChangi Wine – Singapore

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

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

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

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

Trentham Estate – Australia

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

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

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

The Warehouse – Vietnam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contact SECOMM for a free consultation on eCommerce website development!

Read more: 5 eCommerce platforms for the wine industry businesses

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

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

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

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

Criteria for Choosing an eCommerce Platform in the Liquor Industry

Suitable Interface for the eCommerce System in the Liquor Industry

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

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

Diverse eCommerce Feature System, from Basic to Advanced to Specialized

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

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

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

High Integration Capability

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

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

Payment and Delivery Software

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

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

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

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

Marketing Management Software

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

Maximum Scalability

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

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

Top 5 Specialized eCommerce Platforms in the Wine Industry

VineSpring

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

Evaluation based on criteria

Interface Criteria

• Industry-specific Interface Design:

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

• Multimedia Experience:

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

• Prominent CMS System:

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

Integration Capability Criteria

• Shipping Software Integration:

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

• Management Software Integration:

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

• Marketing Management Software Integration:

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

eCommerce Feature System Criteria

• Basic and Advanced Features:

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

• Specialized Features:

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

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

Cost

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

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

User Target

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

WineDirect

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

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

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

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

• Basic Features:

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

• Advanced Features:

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

• Special Features:

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

Integration Criteria

• Payment and Shipping Integration:

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

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

• Management Software Integration:

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

• Marketing Tool Integration:

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

Cost

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

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

User Target

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

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

Shopify

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

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

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

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

Basic and Advanced Features:

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

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

Integration Criteria

• Integration of Payment and Shipping Software:

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

• Integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software:

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

• Automatic Integration of Marketing Tools:

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

Cost

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

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

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

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

User Target

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

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

Read more: 

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

WooCommerce 

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

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

• The rich and customizable form library:

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

• User-friendly interface with Product Table:

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

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

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

Integration Criteria

• Payment and Shipping Software:

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

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

• Business Management Software:

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

• Marketing Management Software:

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

Cost

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

User Target

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

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

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

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

Evaluation based on criteria

Criteria for Interface

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

Criteria for eCommerce System Features

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

• Basic features:

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

• Advanced features:

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

• Specialized features:

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

Integration Criteria

• Payment and Shipping Software:

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

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

• Business Management Software:

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

• Marketing Management Software:

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

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

Criteria for scalability

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

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

Cost

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

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

User Target

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

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

Choosing an eCommerce Platform for the Wine Industry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advantages of Building a Mobile Phone Retail Website with Magento

Advantages of Building a Mobile Phone Retail Website with Magento

eCommerce Feature System from Basic to Advanced

Basic Features

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

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

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

Advanced Features

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

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

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

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

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

Flexibility in Interface Design

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

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

High Scalability

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

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

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

Easy Integration Capability

Diverse Payment and Delivery Integration

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

Integration with Enterprise Management Systems

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

Integration with Marketing Software

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

Challenges in Implementing eCommerce on the Magento Platform

High Development Costs

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

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

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

Extended Development Time

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

Need for an Experienced Specialized Team

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

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

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

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