Tag Archives: woocommerce
THE PROVEN ROADMAP TO DEVELOP YOUR ECOMMERCE APP
Facing the boom of Mobile Commerce, businesses now have two choices: to build an eCommerce app to adapt to this boom or to ignore it and gradually fall behind.
According to Insider Intelligence’s forecast, mobile commerce market sales will reach $534.18 billion in 2024, of which two devices contributing to this incredible number are smartphones and tablets. Smartphones alone account for 87.2% of mobile commerce sales. These figures are the most convincing answer to the above consideration: Yes, businesses need to build an eCommerce app.
The Process of Creating An eCommerce App
Building an eCommerce app requires a lot of effort and serious work because it is a complex process with many stages and the involvement of many relevant. Below are 8 summarized implementation steps that will help businesses understand the building process of an eCommerce app to make their business operation more effective.
Identifying Objectives
The first step of the process is to determine the objective of the eCommerce app, including deciding which products will be sold through the app and identifying the target audience. This way, businesses can build an app that meets their needs and quickly achieves the objective.
Businesses should do market research to understand their target audience’s needs, preferences, and behaviors in various ways, such as through surveys, interviews, etc. It helps them define the app’s features and the marketing strategies to promote it. Moreover, businesses should find the app’s unique selling points that differentiate it from its competitors, making it easy to attract potential customers and stand out.
Define Must-Have Feature Set
After identifying the objectives, the business proceeds to the next step: identifying the vital features of the eCommerce app. Here are some recommendations:
- Product Catalog: The app should include a catalog of the business’s products, clear product images, detailed descriptions, and comments about products.
- Search function: Not only websites, but eCommerce apps also need a search bar to help customers easily search for products they are interested in.
- Shopping cart: The shopping cart feature allows users to add products to their cart, view the list inside, and add or remove items from the cart.
- Payment integration: To help the payment process run smoothly, businesses can integrate multiple payment methods to provide customers with various options such as cash on delivery (COD), credit/debit cards, eWallets, etc.
- Social media integration: This integration not only helps customers log in quickly but also encourages them to connect with the business on social media platforms.
- Push notification: For eCommerce apps, push notifications play a crucial role as a communication channel with customers and support businesses in marketing campaigns.
Select Platform and App Type
- Select platform (iOS/Android)
The selection of a platform for building an eCommerce app depends on many factors, including target customers, budget, development stage, necessary features, expansion needs, etc. iOS and Android are two popular platforms in today’s market. In most cases, businesses will build eCommerce apps on both platforms. However, those with limited resources, start with one platform first and then expand to the other later.
Additionally, if a business is targeting customers in the European and North American markets, iOS would be the right choice because iOS dominates these markets. However, because Android has a superior market share in Asia, businesses with plans to penetrate the Asian market should consider choosing Android.
- Select App Type (Native app/Hybrid app)
Any business looking to build an eCommerce app will have to choose between a Native app and a Hybrid app. Developing a Native app refers to building a specific app for a specific platform (iOS & Android), using the respective programming languages of the platform – Swift/Objective-C for iOS and Java/Kotlin for Android. Native apps can provide great performance and user experience as they are optimized for the specific platform the app is built on. However, building Native apps can be costly and time-consuming.
Developing a Hybrid app involves building a single app that works on both iOS and Android platforms, using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Hybrid apps can speed up the development cycle and be less expensive in terms of budget and time compared to native apps. However, Hybrid apps cannot provide the same performance and user experience as Native apps.
Therefore, the choice between developing a Native app or a Hybrid app depends on the budget, development process, and the desired user experience. If the business has a surplus budget to invest in user experience, then developing a Native app is a good choice. However, if the business needs to bring its eCommerce app to the market quickly but has budget constraints, then it should focus on developing a Hybrid app.
Related Reading: Native App & Hybrid App: Key Differences, Pros & Cons
In-house or Outsourced App Development
In the next step, businesses decide whether to use an in-house team or collaborate with a specialized agency, which depends on the budget, experience, expertise, and resources. Below are some pros and cons of the two options: In-housing and Outsourcing.
In-house development team
Pros:
- The team will control the entire development process.
- The in-house team can communicate and make decisions directly.
- The in-house team will deeply understand the project and the business goals.
Cons:
- It can be expensive in terms of budget and time to recruit, train, and maintain an in-house development team.
- If the in-house expertise and resources are insufficient, it may take a long time to build the app, affecting the product launch process.
Development partner (Outsourcing):
Pros:
- The business benefits from a partner with a lot of experience building eCommerce apps.
- The eCommerce app development process may be faster than an in-house team because the partner’s expertise is proven.
- Saves budget and time in recruiting, training, and maintaining an in-house team.
Cons:
- It takes a lot of time for the business analysis phase so that the partner can understand the business operations and goals to make decisions on the app development.
- The communication and decision-making process between both parties may be difficult due to geographic distance.
- If choosing the wrong partner, the final result may not meet the requirements of the business.
Create UI/UX Design
The UI/UX design of an eCommerce app refers to creating a visually appealing and user-friendly interface to help users easily search for and purchase products. Here are some suggestions for businesses to consider when designing the UI/UX for eCommerce apps:
- The design should reflect the image and brand value.
- The design should be simple to enhance user experience and easy navigation.
- Use high-quality product images and keep file sizes small to minimize load times.
- Consistent design throughout the entire app, including colors, fonts, etc.
- Ensure the design is responsive and performs well on various screen sizes.
- Use clear and intuitive navigation systems to help customers find out what they need on the app.
- Collect user feedback and make necessary adjustments to improve UI/UX design.
Build the MVP
In eCommerce app development, MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product, which is typically a condensed version of the app that is launched to the market before the official launch of the full app. Building an MVP for an eCommerce app usually focuses on developing the core features and ensuring those features work effectively before adding additional features.
As listed, the most crucial core features may include a product catalog, search bar, shopping cart, payment methods, etc. When releasing an MVP, the business must ensure that it is error-free and meets the needs of the target customers. The goal of an MVP is to understand the customer’s thoughts on the product, minimize risk, and allocate resources effectively before launching the full product to the market.
Gather Feedback
After building and releasing the MVP, businesses should collect feedback from users through various channels such as social media, surveys, or reviews on the App Store or Google Play to gather their opinions on the experience when using the eCommerce app. Moreover, businesses should carefully review the feedback and use it to make decisions about how to improve the app. In particular, they should prioritize the most important issues users are facing and resolve them quickly.
Refine and Launch the app
After gathering and reviewing user feedback, businesses can will refine the app and conduct a second round of testing to ensure the app performs well and the improvements have enhanced the user experience. Once the refining and second round of testing is done, businesses can release the product to the market and run marketing campaigns to reach target customers. However, the business needs to closely monitor the performance of the eCommerce app and regularly collect feedback from customers while continuously improving to meet the ever-changing demand of users and maintain a competitive advantage in the market.
3 Things To Keep In Mind
Security
It is a top priority factor that businesses should put their minds to when building an eCommerce application. When users download, register an account, and start using the app, their private data such as login information, personal information, and payment information will be stored on the system. Therefore, businesses should comply with general regulations related to security issues and provide customer information as well as deploy secure payment gateways, and use SSL encryption or two-factor authentication to protect user data of the eCommerce app.
Stability
The stability and reliability of an eCommerce app are crucial for a business to provide an incredible user experience. Customers typically prefer apps that run smoothly without any bugs or errors. However, releasing a flawless eCommerce app without any bugs is unrealistic. Therefore, businesses need to conduct thorough testing to identify and fix any issues before launching, while also regularly maintaining and updating the app to improve its performance and prevent or correct any errors that may arise.
Scalability
This is the ability of an eCommerce app to handle increasing traffic, user volume, and shopping transactions without affecting the performance or functionality of the app. When getting started, businesses should predict the app’s future growth and place to build an app that is easily scalable when necessary. Moreover, businesses need to plan for the addition of advanced features to meet expansion needs.
In summary, security, stability, and scalability are three factors to consider when building an eCommerce app. By focusing on these three factors, businesses can provide customers with a safe, reliable, and scalable app that corresponds to the development of the business.
Above is the general process of 8 steps for building an eCommerce app with some important notes during the implementation. With years of experience implementing eCommerce for businesses from many countries, SECOMM understands the difficulties businesses will face when implementing eCommerce apps.
Contact us today for a free consultation.
NATIVE APP & HYBRID APP: KEY DIFFERENCES, PROS & CONS
According to Statista, by 2023, there will be approximately 6.9 billion smartphone users worldwide, which will lead to the emergence of mobile apps to enrich user experience. That is why many businesses find ways to build and develop mobile apps to interact with their customers. However, with many platforms and devices around, mobile app development can be a complex and costly process. There are two most popular types of mobile apps including Native Apps and Hybrid Apps.
Both apps have their own advantages and disadvantages, so businesses should consider their demand and resources to choose the right type of app.
Native App
What is Native app?
Native app is a type of mobile application that is developed specifically for a particular platform or operating system, such as iOS or Android. Native apps use different programming languages depending on the platform they are built on: Objective-C or Swift are the main programming languages for iOS, while Java or Kotlin are the main programming languages for Android.
Advantages of Native App
- Performance: Native apps are designed to run directly on the device’s operating system, which means that they can fully leverage the device’s capabilities. Therefore, the app’s performance is faster and the user experience is smoother.
- Access to device features: Native apps have full access to the hardware features of mobile devices such as the camera, GPS, contacts, microphone, etc. Developers can create mobile apps with advanced features and functionality that hybrid apps cannot help.
- User experience: Because Native apps are optimized for specific platforms, they provide an intuitive and rich user experience. Users also can use native apps even when they are not connected to the Internet.
- Security: The data security of Native apps is high because they are optimized for specific platforms, so developers must comply with certain principles for securing user data and information on each platform.
Disadvantages of Native App
In addition to outstanding advantages, Native apps still have some limitations to be aware of:
- Separate codebase: This is a major disadvantage of Native apps because it requires a high level of skills and expertise in developing tools and programming languages for each platform. Moreover, the process of maintaining and updating the application version must be done separately for each codebase, leading to a lack of consistency on iOS but not on Android, or the app versions on Android are updated regularly while on iOS they are updated slower and vice versa. Because businesses have to create a separate version of the app for each platform, this can limit the app’s reach to many target customers.
- Costly and time-consuming: Because native apps have a separate codebase for each platform, businesses will spend a lot of time and costs to develop, maintain, and update app versions.
Native apps will be suitable for businesses that want to build mobile apps with high performance, diverse features, and a focus on user experience. However, this choice requires a lot of development and maintenance costs, as well as significant time and effort to be put in.
Hybrid App
What is Hybrid app?
Hybrid app is a type of mobile application built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and then packaged in a Native app container. This allows hybrid apps to run on multiple platforms or different operating systems, including iOS and Android.
Frameworks for developing hybrid apps include React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, and Ionic.
Advantages of Hybrid App
- Single Codebase: This is a major advantage of hybrid apps because developers can create an app that runs on multiple platforms with a single codebase instead of creating separate app versions for each platform like native apps. This helps businesses save a considerable amount of budget, for example, instead of finding developers specialized in both iOS and Android platforms to build a mobile app, they only need to find someone with expertise in hybrid apps. Additionally, since hybrid apps are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, developers can leverage existing web development skills and expertise to speed up the development process.
- Time and cost savings: With a single codebase that runs on multiple platforms, businesses will develop hybrid apps faster and at a lower cost. Also, maintenance will be easier since update versions are made on a single codebase and applied simultaneously across all platforms.
Disadvantages of Hybrid App
In addition to the advantages mentioned above, hybrid apps also have some drawbacks that businesses need to consider when building them.
- Performance: Compared to native apps, hybrid apps have pooper performance and sometimes experience lag or stuttering during use.
- Limited access to device features: Unlike native apps, hybrid apps have limited access to devise hardware features such as cameras, contacts, microphones, etc. This can significantly impact the user experience of the app.
- User experience: Platforms such as iOS or Android have different rules and operating methods, so a design that is used across most hybrid apps may not be suitable for each platform’s operating rules. This can result in a poor and disjointed user experience. Additionally, users may not be able to use the apps without an Internet connection.
- Security: Because hybrid apps are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and are compatible with multiple platforms, they are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Hybrid apps are a good choice for businesses that want to create a mobile app that works on multiple platforms and devices, with a faster development time and lower costs than native apps. However, hybrid apps still have many limitations in terms of performance, user experience, etc. Therefore, businesses should consider this before deciding to build a hybrid app.
Comparison Table
Facing the rapid development of mobile apps, quickly building a proprietary app is an urgent mission for every business. With the set of advantages and disadvantages summarized of the two most popular types of applications today: Native app and Hybrid app, the decision will depend on the purpose of each business.
SECOMM has gained many years of experience implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, understanding the difficulties and challenges each business faces when deploying mobile applications.
Contact us today to receive a free consultation.
TOP 6 BENEFITS OF ECOMMERCE APPS IMPLEMENTATION
According to data compiled by Forbes Advisor, global Mobile Commerce sales reached $415 billion in 2022 and are expected to reach $710 billion in 2025.
In fact, Mobile Commerce dominates the eCommerce industry, accounting for about 73%, and the use of eCommerce apps is growing faster than any other type of app on the market, with an annual growth rate of 54%. This shows that eCommerce apps contribute significantly to sales on mobile devices and implementing eCommerce apps is considered the right path for every business in the mobile commerce era.
Boost Brand Awareness
Increasing brand awareness is one of the benefits that eCommerce apps bring to businesses. Since most customers spend hours on mobile devices (e.g smartphones), it’s easier for brands to connect with them through eCommerce apps. However, to fully leverage the other capabilities of eCommerce apps, brands need to provide a rich and high-quality mobile app experience. As Statista has noted, about 32%-34% of app users will uninstall if the app is difficult to use or has too many unwanted ads.
Offer Personalized Shopping Experience
eCommerce websites help deliver personalized shopping experiences with algorithms and support tools but eCommerce apps enable businesses to offer personalized special incentives or promotional programs right in the app without having to access the websites via browsers on desktop or mobile. As a result, among various methods, business owners can combine push notifications, and instead of sending the same push notification to all app users, they can send personalized notifications based on user behavior.
Increase Conversion Rates
As mentioned, customers tend to love and prioritize shopping on eCommerce mobile apps instead of eCommerce mobile web. Therefore, the conversion rate of the mobile app will be higher than that of the mobile web. The graph below indicates the different conversion rates between the mobile app and mobile web.
Mobile app users view products more than 286% and add items to the cart at a higher rate of 85% compared to mobile web users. Moreover, the graph shows that the conversion rate of mobile apps is over 130% higher than that of the mobile web. Naturally, when the conversion rate increases, it will lead to an increase in sales revenue and profits.
Increase Average Order Value
Building an eCommerce app not only boosts brand awareness, enhances customer experience, and improves conversion rate but also increases the average order value (AOV). This is the average dollar amount customers spend each time an order is placed on the eCommerce app.
Customers prefer shopping on eCommerce apps because it’s convenient for them to browse through products and make purchases. Therefore, they have more opportunities to browse through a wider range of products. This enables businesses to apply cross-selling and upselling techniques, suggesting complementary products to encourage customers to make additional purchases. As a result, the increased AOV drives up revenue and profits.
Reduce Cart Abandonment
Some data on cart abandonment has been reported by Ruby Garage:
One of the top reasons for that is the long and confusing checkout process. eCommerce apps will help businesses reduce cart abandonment with the optimized checkout process. When customers buy products, relevant information will be stored in the app’s system, so they don’t have to re-enter their information but complete the purchase with a few taps. In addition, businesses can also shorten the checkout process to improve cart abandonment rates by integrating various payment methods into the mobile app.
Improve Customer Retention and Loyalty
For every eCommerce business, increasing sales revenue is a valuable achievement. However, it’s crucial to point out how many regular customers contribute to this success. According to the Harvard Business Review, the cost of acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining and satisfying an existing one, ranging from 5-25 times higher. But, if the customer retention rate increases by just 5%, profits can increase from 5% to 95%. As a result, businesses need to put their minds to existing customers.
There is a 50% chance that customers will return to an eCommerce app within 30 days of their last purchase. In other words, businesses can increase customer retention and loyalty with their eCommerce app in several ways, including
- Leveraging customer data to provide personalized shopping experiences;
- Using push notifications as a means of communicating with customers;
- Offering exclusive incentives to encourage users to download and use the app;
- Building a loyalty program to encourage people to return to the app, shop, and interact more to earn reward points.
With the incredible benefits of mobile eCommerce apps, businesses are increasingly motivated to quickly build their app to enrich the customer shopping experience while capturing the Mobile Commerce trend.
With years of experience in implementing eCommerce for many businesses in many countries, SECOMM understands the difficulties and obstacles in developing eCommerce apps.
Contact us today for free advice.
THE 10 MOST SUCCESSFUL ECOMMERCE APPS IN VIETNAMESE MARKET
The significant increase in the number of smartphone users has contributed to the rise of Mobile Commerce trends worldwide, including in Vietnam. It’s time for retailers to focus on supporting their customers in searching and shopping through mobile devices, in addition to eCommerce websites.
Many businesses across various sectors, from shopping, healthcare to food, have performed very well in this strategy by becoming pioneers in embracing Mobile Commerce trends in Vietnam.
SHEIN
The SHEIN app is known as one of the most successful eCommerce apps in the world today, and now it has become the most downloaded mobile app in the shopping category in 2022 with 229 million downloads and installs from both Google Play and the App Store.
In the Vietnamese market, SHEIN is also highly rated by users for their shopping experience on the app. In the latest update, SHEIN added a discount program for some fashion items of up to 70%, as well as fixing some bugs and improving performance to provide users with a better experience.
- Downloads: +100M
- Reviews: 4.5 ★ (Google Play), 4.4 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #4 in the Shopping category
Download the SHEIN app: Google Play | App Store
Uniqlo VN
When entering the Vietnamese market in 2019, Uniqlo quickly captured and responded to the local consumers’ fashion shopping trends, which made the brand very popular. The Uniqlo VN app stands out with many necessary functions for a consistent shopping experience between mobile devices and other channels. In order to attract more users, Uniqlo will offer a 150,000 VND discount voucher for anyone who downloads the app and signs up as a new member.
Although the Uniqlo VN app is highly rated for user experience, the brand still keeps updating and improving its features. In the latest update, Uniqlo has improved the quality of product image display and adjusted the accurate display of the number of products available in-store.
- Downloads: +500K
- Reviews: 4.7 ★ (Google Play), 4.9 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #10 in the Shopping category
Download the Uniqlo VN app: Google Play | App Store
Hasaki
Hasaki not only has nationwide brick-and-mortar stores and an eCommerce website but also develops a mobile app to offer its customers enriched shopping experiences and attractive incentives.
By using the Hasaki app, customers can conveniently search and purchase products anytime, anywhere, track their order status, and make appointments for spa and clinic services at the store. One thing that makes Hasaki special is the free delivery within 2 hours for all customers, whether shopping at the store, eCommerce website, or mobile app. Despite getting much critical feedback for usage quality, Hasaki is still very receptive, fixing bugs and optimizing performance in the recent updates.
- Downloads: +100K
- Reviews: 3.3 ★ (Google Play), 4.3 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #12 in the Shopping category
Download the Hasaki app: Google Play | App Store
Go! & Big C
After rebranding, the Big C supermarket chain has been renamed Go!. As a result, the mobile app of this business is now called Go! & Big C. Customers who shop on the app will enjoy many benefits, including:
- Free shipping for orders over 300,000 VND purchased on the mobile app;
- Daily promotions will be automatically updated;
- Create shopping lists directly on the app;
- Participate in weekly games to win coupons or vouchers;
- Track & accumulate points directly in the app.
The Go! & Big C app is regularly updated to improve the online shopping experience for customers. In the most recent update, the developer has improved the payment function, fixed bugs, optimized performance, and image display capabilities.
- Downloads: +1M
- Reviews: 2.8 ★ (Google Play), 2.4★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #13 in the Shopping category
Download the Go! & Big C: Google Play | App Store
Con Cung
Con Cung is one of the first childcare brands to develop its mobile app to provide customers with a consistent shopping experience across different channels, including physical stores, mobile apps, and eCommerce websites.
The Con Cung app has received very positive reviews from users on both Google Play and App Store for user experience, product quality, and promotional programs. However, the brand still maintains the practice of testing and improving certain features such as displaying detailed driver’s information when customers place orders for the 1-hour delivery service and fixing bugs related to payment via eWallet.
- Downloads: +1M
- Reviews: 4.7 ★ (Google Play), 4.8 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #24 in the Shopping category
Download the Con Cung app: Google Play | App Store
Dien May Xanh
Dien May Xanh is a big player in the Vietnamese home appliance industry that has successfully captured the market trend and quickly developed a mobile app to reach the huge smartphone user base in Vietnam – approximately 69 million users.
In addition to massive promotional programs on special occasions, Dien May Xanh also provides customers with discounted payment programs using various methods such as Buy Now Pay Later, QR Code, etc. All of these are carried out quickly and easily both on the website and the mobile app.
- Download: +1M
- Reviews: 4.0 ★ (Google Play), 2.3 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #31 in the Shopping category
Download the app: Google Play | App Store
LixiBox
The Vietnamese mobile commerce market has witnessed the entrance of another famous cosmetics retail brand, LixiBox. Similar to Hasaki, LixiBox also continuously updates its app to enhance the shopping experience of customers.
Moreover, the brand offers many special incentives to attract users such as a 20% discount for the first order placed on the app, a referral program where customers can receive 500,000 VND, a magazine section where users can update the latest beauty trends right on the app, and a LixiBox Feed section where customers can share their experiences on products and services.
- Downloads: +100K
- Reviews: 4.4 ★ (Google Play), 4.4 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #113 in the Shopping category
Download the LixiBox app: Google Play | App Store
Long Chau
When the Long Chau mobile app was launched during the Covid epidemic, it quickly received support from customers everywhere because they could buy medicine and healthcare products online and have them delivered to their door, while also earning reward points for their next purchase. In addition, the app has a call and message feature that allows users to contact pharmacists online for free in-depth advice and support. Furthermore, Long Chau is the first pharmacy to pioneer the Buy Now Pay Later service with 0% interest, helping patients and customers find a new convenient way to make purchases.
User experience is a particularly important factor that Long Chau focuses on, and the app regularly releases updates. These updates include optimizing the login function, improving the payment function, integrating payment via eWallet, synchronizing order status on the website and app, suggesting reordering, and more.
- Downloads: +1M
- Reviews: 4.5 ★ (Google Play), 4.8 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #1 in the Medical category
Download the Long Chau app: Google Play | App Store
Pharmacity
Pharmacity is a mobile app developed by the convenient pharmacy chain – Pharmacity in 2018. Similar to Long Chau, the Pharmacity app was created to provide customers and patients with a convenient and fast shopping experience, along with online consultation services from a team of highly specialized pharmacists.
In its latest update, Pharmacity has improved and added some features, including a gift program for first-time users who download the app and sign up as members.
- Downloads: +100K
- Reviews: 2.2 ★ (Google Play), 3.9 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #4 in the Medical category
Download the Pharmacity app: Google Play | App Store
The Coffee House
In 2021, the famous beverage brand The Coffee House officially launched its mobile app with the same name, aimed at providing customers with the experience of ordering drinks for delivery or picking up at the store, along with many reward point programs for attractive incentives.
After two years of development, the new version of The Coffee House app features a completely new interface and many special features designed to enhance the customer experience both on the app and at physical stores.
- Downloads: +500K
- Reviews: 3.7 ★ (Google Play), 4.7 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #20 in the Cuisine category
Download the app: Google Play | App Store
Mobile eCommerce apps are one of the rising trends in mobile commerce. As a result, developing mobile shopping apps is the first smart move to achieve sustainable growth in the booming era of mobile commerce.
Contact SECOMM now for advice on how to implement and develop the best strategies to dominate the Mobile Commerce market.
TOP 5 MOST POPULAR ECOMMERCE MARKETING CHANNELS
The global pandemic has created an unprecedented boost for the eCommerce industry, forcing business leaders to go for digital transformation whether they want to or not. However, there are still many businesses that are hesitant and encounter difficulties while embracing it.
In addition to selecting an eCommerce platform and building a website, they can leverage incredible marketing channels to develop an eCommerce marketing strategy.
What is eCommerce Marketing?
eCommerce Marketing, also known as Electronic Commerce Marketing, is the practice of using various marketing channels such as social media marketing, content marketing, SEO, or email marketing to increase the efficiency of eCommerce operations. To be more specific, eCommerce Marketing does the following:
- Directs traffic to an eCommerce website;
- Helps a brand appear in front of the target audience;
- Makes it easy for people searching for products the company sells and to discover the company’s website;
- Converts website visitors into new potential customers;
- Encourage existing customers to make repeat purchases;
- Enhances the post-purchase shopping experience to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Drive more frequent and larger orders at the eCommerce website.
The purpose of eCommerce Marketing is to enhance brand awareness and boost sales. Therefore, if a business doesn’t have an eCommerce Marketing strategy, then it’s really hard for their eCommerce website to generate conversion despite the beautiful interface and well-built functional system.
Most popular eCommerce Marketing Channels
Social Media Marketing
Currently, most brands and content creators take advantage of the popularity of social media as the first step for connecting and serving their target audience with content that interests them. eCommerce businesses can do the same by using engaging content and images to grab the audience’s attention and direct traffic to their website.
In this case, the eCommerce website interface must have a high level of visual appeal, especially showcasing prominent products to create inspirational shopping. Moreover, businesses can implement social commerce to directly sell products on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and so forth.
Content Marketing
This is an effective marketing channel that brings long-term results for eCommerce businesses as well as a sustainable branding tool for their brands. Currently, various types of content are widely used, including
- Blogs;
- Videos;
- Podcasts;
- Educational content;
- User-generated content, such as images, videos, forum discussions, testimonials, etc.
The goal of content marketing is to answer questions, provide information, promote the brand, suggest and guide customers in choosing products, and even entertain them. With optimized content, customers will quickly find out the website and the business can increase the conversion rate. Moreover, the business can leverage that content for the next eCommerce marketing campaigns.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM includes both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid advertising. While SEO requires marketers to understand Google’s ranking algorithm to optimize their content to meet Google’s evaluation criteria, SEM relies on various campaigns such as pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, display campaigns, or product advertising campaigns like Google Shopping Ads.
On Google, PPC campaigns ensure that potential customers will see the link leading to the brand’s website when they enter search terms that match the selected campaign keywords. That is the reason why eCommerce businesses frequently utilize Google Adwords and run PPC campaigns to advertise their product pages.
This way enhances the chances of searchers clicking on the link and making a purchase decision before leaving the eCommerce website, leading to a notable increase in conversion rates.
Influencer Marketing
A reliable influencer can be a brand’s ‘best friend’. The introduction or endorsement of an influencer can help businesses quickly increase sales, optimize marketing ROI, and raise brand awareness. In addition, Influencer Marketing leverages the trust in an individual’s persuasive abilities and self-confidence to influence and encourage their followers to make purchasing decisions.
Influencer marketing is a highly effective eCommerce marketing channel in that eCommerce brands are more likely to continually find ways to collaborate with influential individuals to drive recognition and emotional shopping for specific products or services
Email Marketing
This is one of the oldest categories of Digital Marketing. Today, in the eCommerce world, email marketing still plays a very special role that enables businesses to automate campaigns toward targeting subscribers from different segments or stages in the customer journey
However, businesses should be careful in selecting and categorizing the target groups in their email list, to send the right content to the right target audience. This way, businesses can maintain the trust of potential customers at a time when privacy and personal data security have become increasingly important to Internet users.
Therefore, they should be cautious in building their email list if email marketing is a part of their eCommerce marketing strategy.
With all things considered, if there is no eCommerce Marketing, eCommerce websites are virtually unknown. The only way for a website to gain brand recognition, attract more online customers, and generate consistent and regular revenue is to effectively implement target marketing activities.
With a wealth of experience successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in various countries in recent years, SECOMM understands the difficulties and obstacles businesses face when undertaking tasks related to eCommerce marketing strategy.
Contact SECOMM today to receive free support and consultation.
TOP 5 FASHION ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS TO BUILD WEBSITE
Despite the significant impact of Covid-19, the fashion industry is still on a roll, with the potential to reach $1 trillion globally by 2025 (according to Statista) thanks to eCommerce.
According to the IDEA 2022 research, the fashion eCommerce business in Vietnam is a highly competitive area, with up to 69 consumers using the eCommerce channel for every 100 fashion shoppers.
With the high potential of this commerce business, developing an eCommerce website is a must for success, necessitating the search for a platform on which to build a specialised eCommerce website for the fashion industry.
Businesses can use the following platforms to deploy fashion websites: Big Cartel, Haravan, Shopify, Woocommerce, and Magento.
Characteristics of fashion eCommerce
Eye-catching UI/UX design
UI/UX is a criterion that businesses frequently establish when creating an eCommerce website in order to develop a comfortable interface for a group of users who are passionate about fashion and maximise the capacity to engage with customers.
Comprehensive functional system
To meet the eCommerce business demands of fashion enterprises, organizations require a comprehensive functional system ranging from basic to complex, which includes:
- Catalog Management: Manage properties, pricing systems, inventory, photos, and videos to keep them running
- Content Management: Content development for CMS pages, image hosting, theme customization, and website design
- Customer Management: Control information, behavior, and consumption habits to build strategies for each specific customer group
- Sales Management: Set up and operate sales, order, payment, and shipping processes
- Marketing Management: Implement and optimize programs to attract potential customers with built-in support tools
- System Management: Seamless supply chain response with shipping navigation and automation management tools
- Store Management: Navigate and maintain your eCommerce business from online to offline
- Cart & Checkout: Manage shopping carts and process the next payment steps for customers
- Analytics and Reports: Monitor and measure eCommerce performance to give detailed reports to improve business efficiency
- Omnichannel sales allows business to follow customers across all channels, including eCommerce platforms, social networks, and social commerce websites.
- Multi-layer menu displaying a range of product categories
- Experiment using a variety of marketing strategies: Loyalty programmes, livestreaming, shopper entertainment, and affiliate marketing all assist to broaden methods of reaching out to potential consumers.
- Huge traffic to deal with enormous traffic volumes during “selling seasons”
Integration with a range of third-party services
To provide clients with a comprehensive shopping experience, fashion enterprises may frequently combine a number of payment options, shipping services, management software, and business analysis tools to enhance the e-commerce business system.
Numerous common payment options available today must be integrated into the website, including:
- Card payment: Domestic card, VISA, Mastercard, etc
E-wallets: MOMO, Zalopay, etc
Payment gateway: OnePay, VNPay, PayPal, etc
COD (Cash on Delivery)
Possibility to expand in the future
Often, firms at the start of a fashion business will not focus on the capacity to develop eCommerce websites in the future since platforms that enable this function are typically scarce. But, in terms of strategy, investing in a platform that supports this function can help organisations gain a competitive advantage over competitors in the market.
Top 5 fashion eCommerce platforms to build website
Haravan
Haravan is a well-known SaaS eCommerce platform in the Vietnamese industry, offering a variety of options for both enterprises and individuals. Haravan is used by a variety of websites, including Juno, Biti’s, Maison, and others.
Platform review
Pro:
- A repository of readily available and diversified interfaces for the fashion industry
- A diverse feature, ranging from basic to complex, for starting an e-commerce business
Cons:
- The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system
- The system of specific functions for the fashion sector is still limited
- Only integrated with services/utilities located in Haravan’s ecosystem
- Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Haravan to expand the website in the future
→ Rating: 2/4
Haravan is suitable for start-up furniture businesses or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with operations mainly in Vietnam.
Pricing
Haravan is considered to have a reasonably low and diverse eCommerce website implementation cost for various businesses:
- Standard: 200.000 VND/month for personal sellers
- Pro: 600.000 VND/month for businesses that want to deploy Omnichannel
- Grow: 1.500.000 VND/month with the advantage of automating programs to take care and resell customers
- Scale: 3.000.000 VND/month for building loyal customers
Tuy nhiên, doanh nghiệp nên suy xét khi sử dụng Haravan trong dài hạn vì chi phí giấy phép sử dụng và các tiện ích mở rộng sẽ ngày càng tăng theo thời gian sử dụng.
Deployment time
However, businesses should consider when using Haravan in the long term because the cost of licenses and extensions will increase over time.
Shopify
Shopify is a SaaS ecommerce platform favored by the international ecommerce business community because of its fast implementation time and reasonable starting cost.
Platform review
Pro:
- Having a large selection of templates ideal for the fashion industry
- Functional system from basic to advanced, supporting eCommerce business
Cons:
- The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
- The system of specific functions for the fashion sector is still limited.
- More third-party services than Haravan, although still only integrated with services available in Shopify’s app store.
- Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Shopify to expand the website in the future
→ Rating: 2/4
Shopify is considered suitable for start-ups or SMEs with global operations.
Pricing
Starting an eCommerce business using Shopify is quite inexpensive at beginning, with several options:
- Basic Shopify: $29/month appropriate for start-ups with limited sales volume
- Shopify: $79/month suitable for growing internet companies
- Advanced Shopify: $299/month ideal for growing enterprises that require comprehensive reporting and analytical capabilities
- Shopify Lite: $9/month perfect for companies who wish to add sales and payment buttons to their current website or blog.
- Shopify Plus: $2000/month provides advanced eCommerce solutions for large businesses that need to process large volumes of orders
Nevertheless, the long-term cost of utilising Shopify will rise owing to rising costs for extensions, yearly usage fees, and % per transaction on the system.
Deployment time
The typical time to develop an e-commerce website is 1-7 days or more, depending on the system’s complexity.
Big Cartel
Big Cartel is a platform that assists in the creation of specialised eCommerce websites for the fashion industry or for art goods such as ceramics, paintings, and photographs. Big Cartel is used by several websites such as Atakontu, Indikidual, and others.
Platform review
Pro:
- Wide variety of themes for the arts, including the fashion industry
- Comprehensive functional system: basic, advanced, specific
Cons:
- Only services accessible in Big Cartel’s app store are incorporated.
- Because it is a SaaS platform, future expansion of the website will be tough to plan.
→ Rating: 2.5/4
Big Cartel will be appropriate for startups, SMEs, or new e-commerce participants that need to handle the complicated “issue” of fashion eCommerce.
Pricing
Website setup expenses are modest, with few possibilities for solution packages such as Haravan or Shopify:
- Package 1: Free for businesses that need to experience
- Package 2: $9.99/month suitable for businesses with a limit of 50 products
- Package 3: $19.99/month suitable for businesses with a limit of 500 products
Deployment time
Big Cartel allows you to develop a fashion e-commerce website in as little as 1-2 weeks, depending on the system’s complexity.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open source platform, as a WordPress plug-in introduced in 2011 and allows businesses to use completely free. Popular websites using WooCommerce in Vietnam include Hai Trieu, Orchard, etc.
Platform review
Pro:
- There are several free and paid themes for the fashion industry available from the WordPress and WooCommerce community that are simple to adapt or develop.
- eCommerce functional system ranging from basic to sophisticated
- Simple connection with a wide range of third-party services
- Businesses may plan to extend their website in the future because it is a source code platform
Cons:
- The functional system is still restricted in terms of fashion-specific elements.
- Scalability is not very great in comparison to other open source systems like as Open Cart, Magento, and others.
→ Rating: 3/4
WooCommerce is suitable for fashion businesses who are used to WordPress before and are in need of developing an eCommerce system.
Pricing
Because it is an open source platform, fashion firms can use it for free; nevertheless, businesses must pay development costs while utilising the platform, such as:
- Domain: $15/year
- Hosting: $120/year
- SSL Certificate: $50 – $300/year
- Website development: $1,000 – $3,000 depending on the complexity of the system
- Extensions: $10/utilities
- Website maintenance and upgrade costs: $200/year, depending on the cooperation unit
Deployment time
An eCommerce website will take longer to create than the previous three platforms since it must be constructed from the ground up, which will take at least 1-3 months.
Magento
Magento is an open source platform with 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free) and Magento Commerce (paid). Some websites are using Magento such as Canifa, Hoang Phuc International, OnOff, etc.
Platform review
Pro:
- Numerous fashion-specific themes are available from the worldwide developer community, marketplace, and Magento website developers, allowing businesses to use current themes or quickly alter them to meet their unique needs. Create your own user interface.
- Complete functional system: fundamental, advanced, and specific
- Simple connection with a wide range of third-party services
- Excellent scalability: multi-language, currency, and easy feature development in the future
Cons:
- There is no theme repository from Magento to support businesses
→ Rating: 4/4
Magento is appropriate for a wide range of fashion business types, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, as well as a wide range of business sizes, including startups, SMEs, and huge corporations. Nevertheless, because the cost of deploying Magento is sometimes very high, Magento is favoured by major organisations.
Pricing
Magento Open Source, like WooCommerce, is an open source platform, therefore it is free to use; nonetheless, businesses must consider the following costs:
- Domain: $15/year
- Hosting: $120/year
- SSL Certificate: $50 – $300/year
- Website development: $1.800 – $10.000 depending on the complexity of the system
- Extensions: $60 – $600/utilities
- Website maintenance and upgrade costs: $200/year, depending on the partner
Businesses will be working directly with Magento’s development team for Magento Commerce, thus they will have to pay licence fees as well as certain additional charges such as:
- Licenses: $22.000 – $125.000/year
- Domain: $15 – $400/year
- Hosting: $500 – $6.500/year
- SSL Certificate: $50 – $300/year
- Website development: $10.000+
- Extensions: $60 – $600/utilities
Deployment time
A complete Magento project typically requires 3 to 6 months of deployment time, with some projects requiring up to a year. The reason for this is the complicated functioning structure and the lack of Magento experts.
Summary
COSMETICS ECOMMERCE: 5 PLATFORMS FOR WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
Cosmetics eCommerce is currently developing into a fresh and promising sales channel for companies in addition to the traditional sales channel. Businesses must work hard to sustain and achieve breakthrough growth through eCommerce platforms, though.
As a result, numerous cosmetics companies started developing online cosmetics business websites and found surprising success, such as Kylie Cosmetics, Hasaki, and Guardian,…
These websites’ success can be attributed to their early selection of an adequate and suitable eCommerce platform. Which platforms are appropriate for the cosmetics industry, then?
Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) is a highly flexible SaaS eCommerce platform that allows companies to offer the best B2B and B2C shopping experiences. Moreover, Salesforce gives Commerce Cloud access to Einstein AI to further enhance this system’s intelligence.
Top cosmetic brands currently using Salesforce Commerce Cloud to deploy eCommerce include L’Occitane, Lancôme, Loreal, Nars, Neutrogena, NYX Cosmetics, and Shiseido,…
Pros:
- SFCC offers a flexible and scalable hosting infrastructure as a cloud-based SaaS platform, and this vendor will be in charge of configuration, updates, maintenance, security, etc., helping users save time and money in these areas.
- Since SFCC is practically a ready-made solution, businesses only need to express their ideas, and SFCC’s IT team will develop them in a matter of weeks.
- The amazingly functional system supports cosmetic eCommerce businesses by allowing customers to select product sizes, purchase items in sets, take advantage of shock deals and flash sales, and receive new customer discounts and loyalty points.
- Unlike other SaaS platforms, SFCC scales and manages traffic spikes for sales seasons and other unplanned events with ease.
- Synchronizing sales channels, reaching, and serving clients across many channels are made possible by omnichannel solutions for the cosmetics industry.
Cons:
- Developers and businesses are required extensive SFCC understanding.
- SFCC charges users on a revenue-based model. Depending on the selected plan package, customers will pay 1 or 2% GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) to preserve website ownership. This means that the higher the revenue, the more expenses must be paid to SFCC.
- Limited integration with 3rd party services.
=> SFCC is suitable for B2C and B2B cosmetic businesses.
Magento
Magento is a popular open-source commerce platform in the field of eCommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free), and Magento Commerce (paid).
Cosmetic eCommerce websites built successfully on the Magento platform with high brand awareness include Laneige, Sigma Beauty, and Hasaki,…
Pros:
- Many cosmetics themes from the global developer community and Magento website developers so businesses can use existing themes which easy to customize or use self-designed themes.
- Functional systems from basic to advanced, specialized for the cosmetic industry such as choosing product size, buying in sets, exclusive deals, product suggestions, viewed products, member incentives, etc.
- Due to its comprehensive customization options, Magento enables businesses to fully own, control, and customize the source code, facilitating the efficient operation of systems. Moreover, Magento may be customized to fit the eCommerce requirements of enterprises of various sizes.
- Highly scalable, beneficial for future system expansion, and featuring multiple sites, stores, languages, and currencies.
- Because Magento is a complete eCommerce system, it can guarantee smooth operation and minimize potential dangers from data systems and transaction processes, resulting in high security. As a result, the reputation of the website, system safety, and user rights are all improved.
- There is a huge skilled Magento developer community present worldwide, ready to help with technical issues as well as provide assistance in creating eCommerce solutions appropriate for each business model.
Cons:
- There is no repository of themes from Magento to support businesses.
- Implementation typically takes three to six months, but it might take up to a year due to a sophisticated functioning system.
- Although the platform is free to use, the cost of implementing eCommerce with Magento is quite high, about $50,000-$100,000 depending on the complexity of the project.
=> Magento is appropriate for a range of cosmetics business types, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, as well as for various business sizes, including start-ups, SMEs, and major companies. However, large organizations use Magento because it is frequently relatively expensive to deploy.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows businesses to transform a regular WordPress website into a professional eCommerce website with full features and easy customization with just a few simple steps.
A few good examples of big brands that have built successful eCommerce websites with WooCommerce and generated huge sales such as: MOI Cosmetics, Bo Shop, Nuty Cosmetics, AB Beauty World, Beauty Garden,. ..
Pros:
- There are many free and premium themes from the WordPress and WooCommerce communities for the cosmetics sector which are easy to customize or businesses can use self-designed themes.
- Functional systems from basic to advanced for cosmetic eCommerce business such as similar product suggestions, viewed products, discount vouchers, and new customer incentives,…
- Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
- The cost of building an eCommerce website is not too high compared to other open-source platforms like Magento, with total annual costs ranging from $110 to $1,500+ for domains, hosting, themes, extensions, plugins, etc.
- eCommerce website implementation time with WooCommerce takes about 1 to 3 months to complete.
Cons:
- The functional system is still limited in terms of features specific to the cosmetics industry.
- The scalability is not as high compared to other open-source platforms such as Open Cart, and Magento because it depends on the WordPress system.
=> WooCommerce will be suitable for cosmetics businesses that are familiar with the WordPress platform and want to develop an eCommerce system.
Shopify
Shopify is a popular SaaS platform in the world that provides a variety of solutions for businesses of all sizes to successfully build eCommerce websites. After being in the market for about 20 years, Shopify has gradually grown to become one of the top eCommerce platforms in the world, trusted by many Vietnamese and foreign companies.
Kylie Cosmetics, Innisfree, Sulwhasoo, Cho Tinh Cua Boo, Guardian, and Ofélia are some examples of companies in the cosmetics industry leveraging Shopify for eCommerce websites and enjoying great success.
Pros:
- Available and diverse themes for the cosmetics industry.
- Functional system from basic to advanced, supporting eCommerce business such as similar product suggestions, viewed products, discount vouchers, and new customer incentives.
- The initial cost is quite reasonable with a variety of options for businesses from $29/month to about $2,000/month.
- The time to build an eCommerce website is quite fast from 1-7 days, or more depending on the complexity of the system.
- Shopify has a large developer community to serve businesses.
Cons:
- The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
- The system of specific functions for the cosmetics sector is still limited.
- A wider range of 3rd party services but still only integrated with services available in Shopify’s app store.
- Deployment costs are both advantages and disadvantages of Shopify when the initial cost is quite reasonable, but in the long run, businesses have to pay the cost of using the platform, interface, application, etc., regularly every month. This makes it difficult to manage cash flow.
- Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Shopify to expand its website in the future.
=> Shopify is considered suitable for start-ups or SMEs with global operations.
Haravan
Haravan is a leading technology firm in Vietnam, that was founded in 2014, with the intention of eventually extending to many other Southeast Asian nations.
It specializes in offering businesses and merchants in Vietnam solutions for eCommerce, engagement marketing, and omnichannel retail.
Haravan has gained the trust of many companies in the cosmetics industry as a result of the efficiency of the website system that the business has created and the ground-breaking online retail sales.
The Face Shop, The World of Lipsticks, The World Skin Food, and Lam Thao Cosmetics are some well-known cosmetics companies in Vietnam that have launched eCommerce websites using the Haravan platform.
Pros:
- Available and diverse themes for the cosmetics industry.
- Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business.
- Reasonable eCommerce deployment cost, various packages from 200,000 VND/month to 3,000,000 VND/month, making it easy for customers to choose.
- The time to build an eCommerce website is fast, only about 30 minutes for businesses to own a website with all the necessary features to get started. However, for the website to work effectively, businesses need to spend more time researching and developing the system.
Cons:
- The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
- The system of specific functions for the cosmetics sector is still limited.
- Only integrated with services/utilities located in Haravan’s ecosystem.
- Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Haravan to expand the website in the future.
=> Haravan is suitable for start-up cosmetics businesses or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with operations mainly in Vietnam.
An extremely critical first step in developing a cosmetic eCommerce website is selecting the appropriate platform. Businesses may develop websites more quickly and affordably while enhancing their competitive advantage and sustainable growth by choosing the right eCommerce platform.
The improper platform, on the other hand, will cost firms a lot of money and effort to adopt and switch platforms repeatedly. Therefore, in order to select the best platform, organizations must take into account the objectives and issues with the current model.
With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions.
Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.
5 ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS FOR THE FURNITURE WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
eCommerce is currently developing into a fresh and promising sales channel for furniture companies in addition to the traditional sales channel. Businesses must work hard to sustain and achieve breakthrough growth through eCommerce platforms, though.
As a result, numerous furniture companies started developing online furniture business websites and found surprising success, such Sieu Thi Noi That va Trang Tri Baya, Nha Xinh, Cozy, or Noi Phat Hoa Phat.
These websites’ success can be attributed to their early selection of an adequate and suitable eCommerce platform. Which platforms are appropriate for the furniture industry, then?
Main aspects of the eCommerce furniture industry
UI/UX standard furniture eCommerce website interface
The first criterion businesses set when developing an eCommerce website is a standard UI / UX interface, friendly to users who enjoy shopping for furniture online and other home goods to increase customer interaction.
Similar to eCommerce websites in other sectors like fashion, electronics, etc., websites in the furniture sector must feature stunning and high-quality photographs and videos.
This makes it simpler for companies to communicate product information to customers, especially with banner advertisements that have an easy-to-use interface and a pleasing style that will pique shoppers’ interests.
Businesses also need to consider other concerns including call-to-action button placement, cross-device compatibility, and layout designs that display a range of product designs from the navigation bar to page-by-page details.
Comprehensive functional system
Furniture firms need a functional system from basic to advanced to fully meet consumers’ buying expectations and maximize the user experience. This system should include:
- Catalog Management: Manage properties, pricing systems, inventory, photos, and videos to keep them running
- Content Management: Content development for CMS pages, image hosting, theme customization, and website design
- Customer Management: Control information, behavior, and consumption habits to build strategies for each specific customer group
- Sales Management: Set up and operate sales, order, payment, and shipping processes
- Marketing Management: Implement and optimize programs to attract potential customers with built-in support tools
- System Management: Seamless supply chain response with shipping navigation and automation management tools
- Store Management: Navigate and maintain your eCommerce business from online to offline
- Cart & Checkout: Manage shopping carts and process the next payment steps for customers
- Analytics and Reports: Monitor and measure eCommerce performance to give detailed reports to improve business efficiency
Businesses also need to develop some additional specialized features to address the furniture industry’s “own challenge,” such as:
- Omnichannel to track customer footprints across all channels from eCommerce platforms, and social networks, to eCommerce websites and mobile apps to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
- VR/AR or 360-degree view brings a visual experience and realistic visualization of the product, thereby enhancing the online furniture shopping experience.
- Customers who request customized products can specify the colors, materials, and sizes they want and pay a deposit. The supplier will then continue to produce the furniture items in accordance with the requirements and deliver them to the customer once they are finished. The consumer will then pay the supplier the balance at that time.
Integration with a variety of third-party services
Furniture businesses frequently integrate a range of payment options, shipping services, management software, and business analysis tools to optimize eCommerce business systems in order to provide customers with a comprehensive shopping experience.
Some popular payment methods businesses can integrate on the website to diversify payment methods to help customers have many choices such as card payment; eWallet; payment gateways.
Businesses might take into consideration software like ERP (SAP, Salesforce, Oracle), among others, when integrating back-office administration and operation software.
Finally, incorporating BI tools like Tableau, Looker, etc. will aid in the long-term analysis of business plans.
Scalability of the website
Businesses that are just starting to use eCommerce won’t concentrate on the website’s scalability in the future because platforms that provide this feature are sometimes hard to find. But tactically, spending money on a platform that facilitates this function will provide organizations an advantage over rivals in the market.
These aid furniture companies in making necessary adjustments, creating new features, and expanding their online systems to support several stores, languages, and currencies in the future.
Top 5 eCommerce platforms for furniture website development
Haravan
Haravan was founded in 2014 and is a very popular and popular eCommerce deployment platform in the Vietnam market with a variety of solutions for businesses and individual sellers.
Pros:
- Available and diverse themes for the furniture industry
- Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business
- Reasonable eCommerce deployment cost, various packages from 200,000 VND/month to 3,000,000 VND/month, making it easy for customers to choose.
- Time to build an eCommerce website is fast, only about 30 minutes for businesses to own a website with all the necessary features to get started. However, for the website to work effectively, businesses need to spend more time researching and developing the system.
Cons:
- The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
- The system of specific functions for the furniture sector is still limited.
- Only integrated with services/utilities located in Haravan’s ecosystem.
- Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Haravan to expand the website in the future.
=> Rating: 2/4
Haravan is suitable for start-up furniture businesses or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with operations mainly in Vietnam.
Shopify
Shopify is a popular SaaS platform in the world that provides a variety of solutions for businesses of all sizes to successfully build eCommerce websites.
Pros:
- Available and diverse themes for the furniture industry.
- Wide range of applications, from basic to advanced to start an eCommerce business.
- The initial cost is quite reasonable with a variety of options for businesses from $29/month to about $2,000/month.
- The time to build an eCommerce website is quite fast from 1-7 days, or more depending on the complexity of the system.
- Shopify has a large developer community to serve businesses.
Cons:
- The layout of existing templates causes duplicating, and it’s challenging to alter themes or create your own interface because doing so will have an adverse effect on the entire system.
- The system of specific functions for the furniture sector is still limited.
- A wider range of 3rd party services than Haravan but still only integrated with services available in Shopify’s app store.
- Deployment costs are both advantages and disadvantages of Shopify when the initial cost is quite reasonable, but in the long run, businesses have to pay the cost of using the platform, interface, application, etc., regularly every month. This makes it difficult to manage cash flow
- Because it is a SaaS platform, it will be difficult for Shopify to expand its website in the future.
=> Rating: 2/4
Shopify is considered suitable for start-ups or SMEs with global operations.
ZielCommerce
ZielCommerce is an eCommerce platform with ready-made solutions specialized for the furniture industry.
Pros:
- Many themes are specific to the furniture industry, allowing businesses to customize according to their needs, helping to reflect the characteristics of the industry and position the brand image.
- Detailed internal eCommerce website construction challenges can be solved with the help of a comprehensive system of functions that combines the fundamental, sophisticated, and niche aspects of both customer and business needs, such as the best order processing system.
Cons:
- The ability to integrate with 3rd party services is still limited. This platform only supports add-ons available in its ecosystem, so businesses will not be able to link with the ERP, POS, CRM, BI, etc. Therefore, when using Ziel Commerce, businesses need to transfer all existing data to the platform’s servers.
- Although highly appreciated for the ability to expand the website system, this is still the disadvantage of Ziel Commerce in the long run. Accordingly, this platform will not support businesses to expand or develop new features because businesses cannot own the source code, so when affected, it will destabilize the entire website system.
- Ziel Commerce is not yet popular in the Vietnam market, so there is no Vietnamese version yet.
- Deployment time will depend on the complexity of the system, the average time is from 3-6 months.
- High implementation cost of about $50,000 per project.
=> Rating: 3/4
ZielCommerce will be the optimal choice for B2B, and B2C furniture businesses to deploy eCommerce websites or build mobile apps. However, this platform is not really popular in the Vietnamese market but is especially favored by foreign furniture retailers such as Frampo, Zeyka, etc.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows businesses to transform a regular WordPress website into a professional eCommerce website with full features and easy customization with just a few simple steps.
Pros:
- There are many free and premium themes from the WordPress and WooCommerce communities for the furniture sector which are easy to customize or businesses can use self-designed themes.
- Functional system from basic to advanced for eCommerce business.
- Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
- Because it is an open-source code platform, businesses can plan to expand their website in the future.
- The cost of building an eCommerce website is not too high compared to other open-source platforms like Magento, with total annual costs ranging from $110 to $1,500+ for domains, hosting, themes, extensions, plugins, etc.
- eCommerce website implementation time with WooCommerce takes about 1 to 3 months to complete.
Cons:
- The functional system is still limited in terms of features specific to the furniture industry.
- The scalability is not as high compared to other open-source platforms such as Open Cart, Magento because it depends on the WordPress system.
=> Rating: 3/4
WooCommerce will be suitable for furniture businesses who are familiar with the WordPress platform and want to develop an eCommerce system.
Magento
Magento is a popular open-source commerce platform in the field of eCommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free), and Magento Commerce (paid).
Pros:
- Many furniture themes from the global developer community and Magento website developers so businesses can use existing themes which easy to customize or use self-designed themes.
- Easy integration with a variety of 3rd party services.
- High scalability: multi-language, currency, easy future feature development.
Cons:
- There is no repository of themes from Magento to support businesses.
- Implementation typically takes three to six months, but it might take up to a year due to a sophisticated functioning system.
- Although the platform is free to use, the cost of implementing eCommerce with Magento is quite high, about $50,000-$100,000 depending on the complexity of the project.
=> Rating: 4/4
Magento is appropriate for a range of furniture business types, including B2B, B2C, and B2B2C, as well as for various business sizes, including start-ups, SMEs, and major companies. However, large organizations use Magento because it is frequently relatively expensive to deploy.
Choosing the right platform is an extremely important first step when building an interior eCommerce website. Choosing the right eCommerce platform will help businesses save budget and time to build a website while increasing competitive advantage and sustainable growth. On the contrary, when choosing the wrong platform, it will cost businesses a lot of time and budget to deploy and switch platforms many times. Therefore, businesses need to consider the goals and problems in the current model to be able to choose the most suitable platform.
With many years of experience in successfully implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive and professional eCommerce implementation solutions.
Contact SECOMM today for free support and advice.
WOOCOMMERCE 2022: ITS BENEFITS AND DOWNSIDES TO CONSIDER
As eCommerce becomes a new trend that encourages a slew of brands to enter the market, selecting the right eCommerce platform to build a successful eCommerce website becomes critical. While Shopify is the most popular SaaS platform, Magento is the top choice in the open-source platform, and the WooCommerce plugin has won the trust of many brands due to its outstanding features and ease of use.
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows brands to set up an eCommerce website by adding eCommerce functionality to an existing WordPress site. This plugin can transform a regular WordPress website into an eCommerce website with all the necessary features and easy customization with just a few clicks.
The benefits of using WooCommerce
It’s free to get started
Price is an essential factor to think about when selecting a platform for implementing eCommerce. Popular platforms on the market today have prices ranging from free to several thousand dollars per year, making it even more prominent and preferred by businesses because this plugin is entirely free to download and install.
As a result, any business can benefit from its features without committing to costly support contracts or software licenses.
The flexibility of the open-source platform
It is an open-source plugin built on the WordPress CMS that gives users complete control and allows them to easily customize their eCommerce website to their specific needs. WooCommerce, in addition to being suitable for a variety of businesses serving different customer segments, also provides long-term scalability, giving businesses of all sizes more flexibility in deploying eCommerce.
Integration with WordPress
The seamless integration between WooCommerce and WordPress brings many benefits to this plugin because of the availability of the large WordPress community throughout the years. WooCommerce can take advantage of the platform’s massive ecosystem of plugins, themes, guides, and other unique features.
Yoast SEO, for example, has long been a well-liked plugin with numerous international translations, ease of use, and advanced SEO support. Since WooCommerce integrates with WordPress, Yoast SEO also integrates with WooCommerce.
Especially when a business has a website on the WordPress platform and needs to turn it into an eCommerce website, WooCommerce will make it easy and seamless, so users do not have to start over with a brand new platform.
Providing qualified-standard content management
Content Marketing is the key to an effective eCommerce website. If businesses are looking for an eCommerce platform built on the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), WooCommerce can fulfill that expectation.
When the WooCommerce plugin is integrated into WordPress, many content management options, including Blogs, Landing Pages, Product Descriptions, Email Marketing, and SEO plugins (Yoast WooCommerce SEO), will help sellers optimize content for search.
Providing in-depth analytics
Integrated analytics is another advantage of the plugin because the more you learn about customers and how they interact with your eCommerce website, the more you can adjust to meet customer expectations. For example, businesses can use sales data to learn about customers, thereby establishing a customer persona to increase sales in the future.
Furthermore, it provides a comprehensive WooCommerce analyzer displayed in a clean and user-friendly interface. Businesses can then easily integrate WooCommerce with third-party analytics services such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and others.
The downsides of using WooCommerce
Technical maintenance support
When using this plugin, the user is responsible for keeping the eCommerce website up-to-date, accessible, and functional. In fact, there is some support from the hosting company and the WooCommerce community, but it does not allow users to simply call for technical assistance.
Plugins will notify users of security updates, but users must install and handle problems themselves. In fact, hosting companies will support this. Still, users need to have a bit of technical knowledge to facilitate the process of supporting related issues to avoid affecting the performance of the eCommerce website.
This disadvantage stems directly from the fact that businesses have complete control over the eCommerce website system’s source code and data. Maximum authority entails maximum accountability. Although businesses continue to receive support for WooCommerce issues, compared to other eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, etc., WooCommerce still has many shortcomings in the technical maintenance support process.
Speed and Security
With the constant increase in unauthorized access (Website Hacking), website speed and security are more critical than ever. Speed and security are significant advantages for SaaS platforms such as Shopify and BigCommerce. At that point, your eCommerce website is housed in the infrastructure of these platforms, and a team of technical experts will continuously monitor and resolve any issues that arise to keep the website running smoothly.
Similar to a technical maintenance situation, WooCommerce essentially leaves the user responsible for the speed and security of the website despite the wide range of 3rd party support options.
Although speed and security are not an issue for some new businesses deploying eCommerce websites, this is still a significant drawback of this plugin when businesses are responsible for many issues ranging from technical maintenance to website speed and security, especially if the eCommerce site is on the verge of rapidly growing from hundreds to thousands of hits.
Growth and Scalability
Because it is a WordPress plugin, it will operate in accordance with WordPress functions. Meanwhile, WordPress functionality is not explicitly designed for eCommerce but rather is based on the flexibility of open-source code. This means that when a user exceeds a certain query threshold, the way WooCommerce works is broken.
For example, when a large number of shopping carts are added, or checkout occurs at the same time, or when too many users visit the website simultaneously, overload occurs, making the operation of the eCommerce website difficult. This is difficult because the WordPress system and the WooCommerce plugin are no longer compatible.
If your eCommerce website is still small and growing, this is not a problem; problems can still be quickly resolved. However, as the size of your website expands and grows rapidly, this is a disadvantage in terms of both performance and cost that businesses must consider before proceeding.
In a nutshell, WooCommerce is a fantastic plugin that many businesses would love to choose when deploying an eCommerce website. However, besides the outstanding advantages, there are still certain downsides, so businesses must carefully consider and compare with other platforms before starting out.
With many years of experience implementing eCommerce in many countries, SECOMM provides free consulting services with professional eCommerce solutions.
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TOP 5 ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS FOR EGROCERY
With the boom in recent years, ecommerce is a potential business form pursued by many businesses, especially egrocery stores. According to Statista, the grocery ecommerce market in the United States is likely to exceed $24 billion by 2023.
Realizing the potential of the egrocery market, several businesses have deployed grocery ecommerce websites early and experienced breakthrough growth, such as Grofers (Blinkit) and BigBasket in India, Bach Hoa Xanh, An Nam Gourmet, Farmer’s Market, WinMart, and Organica in Vietnam.
The common thing that makes the success of the above brands lies in the ecommerce platform. Therefore, to develop and operate an effective ecommerce website, the role of platforms is enormous.
So which ecommerce platforms are suitable for the grocery industry?
Platform selection criteria
User interface and administration interface
For the website interface, in addition to meeting basic needs such as UI/UX standards and showing the brand’s characteristics and the eGrocery industry, businesses also need to focus on the presented product images. Therefore, on the website, everything needs to be synchronized and precise.
The administrator interface (admin) must be easy to use, navigate, control, and manage all data in the system.
Functional system
With eGrocery, the system of ecommerce features needs to be diverse from basic to advanced, solving complex characteristics of the grocery industry such as products with multiple units, weight difference, and price volatility, export-import complex warehouse, and synchronized data throughout the system.
Some functions required in a grocery ecommerce website system such as:
- Primary functions: Meet the most basic needs when operating an ecommerce system, such as order management, checkout, payment, shipping, etc
- Advanced Functions: Functions that enhance the consumer experience and accelerate the shopping process such as order tracking, abandoned cart recovery, similar product recommendations, product search fast products, multi-layered product portfolio, etc
- Specific functions: Functions that help to thoroughly solve the difficulties of implementing specialized grocery ecommerce, meeting the needs of customer segments and businesses such as fast delivery, choice of time delivery point, etc
Integration capabilities
To have a seamless online volatility store system with multiple sales channels, businesses must integrate their ecommerce website with other payment services, shipping services, management software, analysis, report, and distribution systems:
- Payment: Integrate various payment methods from domestic cards to international cards, such as payment gateways (Paypal, Stripe, OnePay), e-wallets (Momo, ZaloPay), etc.
- Shipping: Integrate with international shipping providers like DHL Express, Fedex, Ups, USPS, and popular shipping providers in Vietnam like Fast Delivery, Economy Delivery, Ninja Van, etc. With order tracking applications to help process and operate the delivery processes
- Management software: Easily integrate CRM, ERP, and POS software to get a seamless connection on all supply channels from offline to online
- Analysis and reporting: Integrate analysis and reporting software such as Business Intelligent, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.
This integration helps businesses overcome the limitations of the “rice-powered” process, increase the automation of the system, limit business mistakes, and ensure high accuracy and performance.
Ability to extension
To accompany businesses to develop over time, from startups, and SMEs (small and medium enterprises), to large corporations, from B2B, B2C, and D2C business models to B2B2C, commerce electronics platforms must be highly scalable. High scalability helps meet all future business growth needs, such as multi-site, multi-country, and multi-currency, all manageable on “one screen.” Not only that, but highly scalable platforms also support businesses to operate the system stably regardless of the traffic in promotion campaigns.
Evaluate 5 ecommerce platforms for egrocery business based on each criterion
Ziel Commerce
Ziel Commerce is a readymade grocery ecommerce platform with all the features designed to support an online grocery store business.
Website interface
Ziel Commerce provides a repository of themes specifically for the grocery industry, allowing businesses to customize according to their needs, helping to both reflect the characteristics of the industry and position the brand image.
Remarkably, the interface for administrators is also invested by the founders to make it most accessible for businesses to use. But currently, Ziel Commerce is not popular in the Vietnamese market, so there is no Vietnamese version for businesses.
Functional system
As a platform designed specifically for the eGrocery industry, Ziel Commerce can meet all the most specialized needs of businesses, including fundamental to advanced functionality systems and existing industry-specific solutions.
Integration capabilities
Ziel Commerce has a significant drawback in integrating the website system. In addition, this platform only supports add-ons available in its ecosystem, so businesses will not be able to link with the ERP, POS, CRM, BI, etc., systems in use. Therefore, when using Ziel Commerce, companies need to transfer all existing data to the server of this platform.
Ability of extension
Although it does not own the source code, Ziel Commerce is still a highly appreciated platform for its scalability compared to SaaS platforms. Ziel Commerce supports businesses to expand their ecommerce website system from one to many stores/websites, multi-language, multi-currency without many obstacles. However, in the long run, Ziel Commerce cannot support businesses to expand or develop new functions because firms cannot affect the source code; if it affects it, it will cause instability for the commercial website system.
→ Rating: 3/4
Ziel Commerce provides an almost comprehensive online grocery store website building solution for businesses, from website interface and functional system to scalability. However, the implementation cost is relatively high, about $50,000/project in 6 months. Therefore, Ziel Commerce is only popular with retail chains, has high functional demand, and operates mainly abroad. However, when using Ziel Commerce, businesses should consider adding the platform’s integration, limiting instability in the operation when 3rd party systems are not compatible with the platform.
Shopify
Shopify is a SaaS ecommerce platform favored by the international ecommerce business community because of its fast implementation time and reasonable starting cost.
Website interface
Shopify provides a variety of interfaces, including grocery industry and UI/UX standards, but cannot be edited according to the characteristics of the business.
Functional system
Shopify’s functional system is relatively complete, meeting the basic needs of businesses. But to use advanced functions, companies have to pay a certain amount of money every month, leading to an increased cost of using the functional system. In addition, even Shopify can barely provide eGrocery industry-specific resolution functions.
Integration capabilities
Because it is a SaaS platform, businesses cannot affect the source code, and it is not easy to integrate with many 3rd parties. Companies can only integrate utilities provided by Shopify or a platform partner.
Some utilities that companies can integrate with Shopify include:
- Payment: Paypal, Stripe, SagePay, AliPay Global, etc
- Shipping: DHL Express, USPS, UPS, etc
- Administration: Microsoft Dynamic 365 (ERP), Oracle NetSuite (ERP), Acumatica (ERP), etc
- Marketing: Google Tools, MailChimp, Facebook Pixel, etc
Ability of extension
Similar to the ability to integrate, the scalability on Shopify is not high because businesses cannot influence the source code to edit and upgrade the website. Therefore, online grocery businesses can only use Shopify for the first time.
→ Rating: 2/4
Shopify is only suitable for businesses new to the ecommerce market, startups, or SMEs (small and medium enterprises) because of the reasonable development cost and time to deploy an online grocery store business website.
Haravan
Founded in 2014, Haravan is an ecommerce platform based on Shopify. Currently, Haravan is a popular platform in the Vietnamese market with more than 50,000 business people and trusted brands.
Website interface
Haravan has many standard UI/UX interfaces suitable for the grocery industry, including free and paid. At the same time, the interface for administrators supports Vietnamese and is easy to use, so businesses do not face many difficulties when using it.
Functional system
Haravan provides many utilities – functions for online grocery stores in Vietnam.
In addition, similar to Shopify, to use more advanced functions, businesses have to pay a monthly application fee of about 100,000 VND/month/app.
However, businesses can’t find parts that deal with the grocery’s specifics in Haravan’s app store and can’t develop in terms of specific functions. Enterprises can only use the functions included in the package and app store.
Integration capabilities
For integration capabilities, Haravan can integrate with Haravan’s partners such as transportation (Economic Delivery, Fast Delivery, Ahamove, GrabExpress, etc.), payment (Ngan Luong, VNPAY, Napas, PayPal, etc.), etc.).
It is difficult for businesses to integrate for 3rd party utilities outside Haravan’s ecosystem on their ecommerce website.
Ability of extension
As for the extension of the ecommerce website system, Haravan can only support the multi-language – currency but cannot expand from one to many websites/stores. It is challenging to manage all the data on a foundation.
As the business gradually grows and expands, Haravan will no longer be functional enough to maintain an online grocery store business. As a result, companies are forced to switch to more specialized platforms such as Magento, WooCommerce, and OpenCart. But, of course, switching platforms will create many other problems such as costs, time, personnel, etc.
→ Rating: 2/4
Similar to Shopify, Haravan is only suitable for businesses new to the ecommerce market, startups, and SMEs. But Shopify can support online grocery business globally, and Haravan only stops at the Vietnamese market.
Woocommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source platform in the form of a WordPress plugin, allowing businesses to use it completely free.
Website interface
WooCommerce and the community provide businesses with various themes designed for the grocery industry. At the same time, this platform also allows influencing the source code to customize according to needs, helping businesses quickly convey brand messages and images.
Since WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, the admin will continue to manage the website on the WordPress interface itself. This makes it easy for businesses using WordPress to adapt, use, and navigate on the WooCommerce dashboard.
Functional system
WooCommerce supports a variety of features, from basic to advanced. However, this platform has some limitations on features specific to the grocery industry because interfering with developing these functions will easily cause instability for the website system.
Integration capabilities
Thanks to the advantages of the open source platform, WooCommerce has flexible customization capabilities and supports integration with many 3rd party utilities.
In payment, businesses can use amount plugins such as Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Square to their ecommerce website system with high security and safety. In addition, companies can integrate with many shipping providers such as Fedex, Ups, USPS, and DHL Express. The WooCommerce platform also allows businesses to integrate with management software such as Odoo, Square POS, WP ERP, and Marketing software such as Google Listings, Google Ads, and Facebook Pixel to support businesses in effective business management. More fruitful.
Ability of extension
Contrary to the integration capabilities, the extensibility of WooCommerce is not appreciated. Because the system is easily overloaded with plugin themes, and the number of products does not exceed 2000 SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit). Therefore, businesses wishing to expand their website system need to consider when using this platform in the long run.
→ Rating: 3/4
WooCommerce is the right platform for grocery businesses that use WordPress and are looking to develop an ecommerce system. But when using WooCommerce, companies should consider the limitations of integration, extensibility, and customizability of specific features.
Magento
Magento is a popular open source commerce platform in ecommerce, with nearly 200,000 websites in use. Currently, Magento has 2 versions: Magento Open Source (free) and Magento Commerce (paid).
Website interface
Although Magento does not own a rich theme store like other ecommerce platforms, businesses can look to the developer community, market (Envato), or design their own. Having many options when designing the interface helps Magento websites to have their uniqueness, avoid overlapping the interface with many different websites and bring a higher shopping experience.
Previously, the admin interface on Magento 1 was often considered difficult to use and took a long time to adapt. As a result, Magento publishers developed Magento 2 with a more intuitive and easy-to-navigate dashboard to overcome this problem.
Functional system
The Magento platform has a highly diverse system of features from basic and advanced to industry-specific to help grocery businesses quickly build and develop a sustainable system.
A basic functional system, including catalog management, product management, customer management, report analysis, etc., helps meet the basic needs of a convenient online grocery store business.
In particular, Magento also has many advanced functions for ecommerce, such as multi-language support, multi-currency, multi-store, PWA, MSI, ElasticSearch, etc. Shopping happens faster.
Magento does not have built-in features only for the grocery industry regarding specific features. Still, businesses can quickly build a system of particular features such as category classification, quick search, and delivery time selection thanks to flexible customization on open source code.
Integration capabilities
Thanks to the advantages of the open source platform, the Magento website can be easily integrated with any 3rd party utilities, from payment, shipping, and business administration.
Regarding payment, Magento easily connects with today’s popular payment methods such as card payments (domestic cards, VISA, Mastercard), e-wallets (MOMO, Zalopay), and payment gateways (OnePay, VNPay, etc.) PayPal) or COD, which helps to diversify payment methods.
Magento can integrate with shipping providers such as Fast Delivery, Economy Delivery, Viettel Post, and order tracking applications.
Magento can be integrated into back-office management software (ERP, CRM, POS) such as SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle to help operate all resources and processes seamlessly in the enterprise.
In addition, Magento also supports integration with business analysis tools such as Power BI, Tableau, and Looker and analysis and reporting utilities such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Pixels to exploit all data from the system. As a result, Magento plans to improve its business strategy.
Ability of extension
Magento allows businesses to expand from one website to many different websites on the same system to meet the needs of business development. In addition, with the available support for language and currency conversion from Magento, businesses can build a grocery ecommerce system with content suitable for a diverse audience of customers around the globe.
In addition, open source customization enables Magento developers to build functional solutions specific to the grocery industry. This advantage makes Magento expand the system of capabilities according to each business size, from small businesses to large-scale corporations.
→ Rating: 4/4
Because Magento possesses many outstanding advantages, from website interface and functional system to the ability to integrate and expand, Magento is suitable for a variety of grocery business models from B2B, B2C to B2B2C, a multiform of enterprise-scale such as startup, SME, enterprise (large corporation). However, the time to deploy ecommerce on Magento is usually long – from 6 months to 1 year, with high construction costs of about 50,000 – 100,000 USD/project. At the same time, businesses also need to have a professional team or cooperate with experienced units to develop an effective grocery ecommerce system. Therefore, Magento is popularly used in the community of large-scale businesses that need many functions to increase user experience.
Choosing the right platform is the first and most significant step when building a grocery ecommerce website. Selecting the right ecommerce platform will help businesses save budget and time in building a website while increasing competitive advantage and sustainable growth. On the contrary, choosing the wrong forum will cost businesses a lot of time and budget to deploy and switch platforms. Therefore, companies need to consider the goals and problems in the current model to choose the most suitable platform.
With experience in successfully implementing complex grocery ecommerce systems like An Nam Gourmet, SECOMM understands grocery businesses’ obstacles.
Contact SECOMM now for a free consultation on detailed ecommerce system development solutions!