Challenge
In order to get full advantage of the current business system, our client has decided to launch website that motivate users to create “Sets” that will inspire other users to share and shop. The website has provided collaborative platform that increase engagement of retailers, curators and shopper with consumers in different way than the traditional Ecommerce.
Following are the prime considerations that need to be fulfilled by the new Social E-commerce website:
- Design an online retail website that is easy to use and people love spending time on it
- Provide an exciting tool for people to “play” with products to present them for sale online as “Sets”
- Present products in an engaging manner to shoppers for investigating it more
- Provide financial, social and personal incentives for people to design sets and promote products on behalf of the retailer
- Automate product uploads through the use of affiliate network retailers and APIs
- Automate set creator payments to a one click process and links to PayPal
- Update the website without the need for deep technical knowledge
- Provide flexible framework that can scale up as stores, brands and product ranges increase
- Flexibility to support text, image and video content
- Optimized for all major search engines
- Provide retailers with easy access to upload or edit their products, access reports and to maintain their store data
Expertise
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Architecture
MVC
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Database
Microsoft SQL Server
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Technologies
Asp.Net, C#, MEF, LINQ, Knockout.js, WCF services
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Server
Windows Server, BizTalk server
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External Tools or Components
SSRS, Facebook API, Twitter API, QR Code Generator, Tiny URL API
Solution
TatvaSoft provided an Ecommerce solution that implemented social and “Virtual Marketing” concepts for engaging and retaining consumers.
Following are few features that makes this ecommerce website different from other traditional Ecommerce websites.
- Product Sets: Enable Shoppers to create and manage sets for different products. It serve a source of revenue to set-builder as they receive percentage commission when a shopper clicks through and makes a purchased directly from published set
- Search and Filters: Facilitates free text search that returns results specific to shoppers’ profile and preference. It also allow them to set and remove filters on product set, users, products and stores
- User Profiles and Settings: This allow shoppers to sign up with website using popular social media account like Facebook and Twitter. They can modify their profile, account information and can set preferences. They can set favorite brand, products and can also share this favorites with friends.
- Live Feeds: Facilitates user to view most recent activities related to favorite products, stores, brands, friends and shopping community members
- Friends: It provides ability to view those friends added in shoppers’ community, search for friend and invite friend to get connected, allow access to friends’ dashboard based on access rights set by friend and identify friends who are online
- Social Media: This allow users to follow website through popular social media sites. Shoppers or set builder can publish sets on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well as share with the friends. The users can review, rate and write suggestions for the sets
- Newsletters: Enable user to receive website newsletter by simply providing email address and without registering on website.
- Retailer Portal: Allow retailer to get insight into who likes their products, different brands being paired with their products and set creators putting their products to complete the product sets. It also allow retailers to register their store, products and inventory on the site. Retailers can manage information to be displayed for store, how their products to be loaded and will also receive notification on pending approval requests for them
- Competition: Retailer can create and sponsor a competition. They will be able to set the theme, entry criteria etc. Any competition created by the retailer has to be approved by the system administrator to be available on the website. It encourages shoppers and set builders for participation and promote the products. Shoppers and retailers can share the competition, participation entries and winning entry on the site, Facebook, Twitter, bogs, etc.
- Message Broker Engine- A BizTalk Application: This allow to process product data received in different format from different sources. The engine converts information in standard format to be loaded in the application database. All data to engine is validated as per the message transformation rules for particular retailer. This ensures that background of all images are transparent to look clear and standard on website
Result
As a new way of doing business, some of the key benefits offered by Ecommerce website includes implementation of a new concept of shopping with earning through unique “Product Sets”, allow to locate specific product from website in no time, encourage more people to join using leading social media that includes Facebook and Twitter, increased sales and potentially increase in profits with decreased cost of online store, Increased product and brand awareness eventually increase in customer loyalty.
