A Garden Equipment Online Store
Launched in 3 months to reach 17 countries
We’ve got a request about transforming a catalog site into a full-fledged eCommerce solution from this company five years ago. At that time, it was mostly an offline business with no online distribution offering professional garden equipment globally. The main office wanted to get an online sales channel but that was not the wish of dealers. They resisted going online, preferring to rest on their accustomed way of offline sales.
BUSINESS AREA
Garden equipment
SERVICES
LOCATION
Europe
It took many efforts to persuade dealers to join the online platform. The eCommerce solution convenience was not that last point in opting for going online.
The company rep asked us for a ready-made eCommerce platform that can be launched as fast as possible, no matter at what cost, the main concern was the reliability of the developed platform. We’ve rolled up our sleeves because it seemed to be an ambitious project.
To timely deliver the developed solution, it was decided to work by sprints using the Agile methodology. Tasks came to us one after another and soon the platform got 17 storefronts localized for each country.
Although the initial request was to launch as a marketplace, after studying the project background, we shortly found out that the online store solution with multiple storefronts will best suit the business needs. Dealers don’t need to run their vendor panels and keep using their ERP system synchronized with our solution. The store is now based on the CS-Cart Ultimate platform with the infrastructure managed by our hosting team, designed and customized for better dealer and ERP management.
Challenges
Collect dealers in one network on the site
Introduce a convenient quick online ordering from the nearest dealer
Expand the customer base of dealers
Synchronize with the internal ERP system
Create a new sales channel
Organize delivery and provide equipment installation services for customers
Implementing the project
Here we’ll tell you how we customized the project to improve its efficiency and functionality.
Dealer network
The developed site provides access to 17 countries-storefronts. A certain number of dealers is assigned to each storefront. They can process orders and make deliveries.
Assigning a dealer when purchasing a product
Customers of the store can choose how to get their orders. There are two options:
- Pick up an order in store: customers pick up their orders themselves
- Delivery to the door: a purchase with home delivery
The second option implied a modified workflow:
- Search by dealers: a customer enters a zip code – a map opens – the customer sees the nearest dealer who can deliver the selected product
- Dealer auto-assignment: at checkout the customer enters his or her address – the nearest dealer is auto-assigned
Administrators can change the dealer zone by editing a dealer or using dealer import functionality.
Dealer search on the map and dealer stock check
As the store mainly focuses on enhancing the work of dealers, it was decided first to facilitate their location finding for customers. Customers now can choose the nearest dealer through the introduced Dealer Locator functionality. They enter a zip code and get a list of the dealers that fit that code.
Dealer delivery check, delivery radius
The dealer sets the radius within which an order can be delivered. Our code checks on the product page if the given dealer is suitable for delivery within the given radius and assigns the dealer as the nearest one if it is.
Accounting (commission calculation)
Since dealers are not directly connected to the platform, a separate mechanism for mutual settlements was needed. We introduced a commission system. The administrator can enter different commissions for different dealers. The system generates a file and sends it to each dealer ERP. That file contains data about orders, commission for this dealer, tax data, etc.
Integration with ERP
Product stock update and order data exchange
Dealers do not have direct access to the CS-Cart dashboard. Instead, they work in their familiar ERP system. All orders from the store are uploaded to a special file, which is then sent to the dealers’ ERP system. From there, dealers get to know that an order arrived and needs to be processed. The stock is updated automatically. After changes have taken place in the ERP, files are exchanged, and the stock is updated on the CS-Cart side on a schedule.
Integration with Adyen payments
We developed an add-on that allows accepting payments via the Adyen payment system.
Our team used webhooks to exchange and synchronize data between two applications automatically.
After integration of the new add-on, a new payment method was added. The store can accept eCommerce, mobile, and point-of-sale payments and customize invoices.
Design integration
Our front-end developers integrated the design for the website based on the client’s mockups. The whole store including all pages got a refreshed look with cohesive colors and fonts that united 17 storefronts in one style.
Infrastructure setup and support
We provided the project with the managed hosting solution that gives top performance, security and infrastructure support. Our team built a secure environment for the project application.
Within the service, we created and configured testing, preproduction, and production environments. Our DevOps&SRE specialists prepared the Bitbucket pipeline and fully set up the auto-deploy. Now, the developed code is automatically delivered to the server and is immediately available to users.
Auto-tests of the main functionality
All the main functionality, like the checkout page operation, is automatically checked for any error. That means that every release is accompanied with automatic testing and we can see whether the test passed or failed.
With tests made automatically after each release, the project owners can be sure that no human factor will affect their store’s correct operation.
Results
A global project localized for every country storefront with the common design and a handy management system for dealers.
