18 July 2018
The future of e-commerce, available to everyone
Can an e-commerce site be beautiful, functional, and secure?
You'd be happy to know that the answer is yes, yes it is.
* loud cheering in the background *
We've recently worked with the lovely people at Holdson to launch their fresh new e-commerce website and we're not going to lie: we had to face many challenges. Holdson is a well-established business with an already strong online presence. They had systems already in place, a solid customer base both on B2B and B2C, customers all around the world (= lots of different delivery options), an extensive product list... and almost a decade old website that didn't integrate all the various aspects of this successful company.
Luckily, we love challenges and this was the perfect opportunity to further test our skills with the platform we use to deliver our high-quality, state-of-the-art e-commerce websites: nopCommerce.
For the ones of you who don't know anything about this platform (don't worry, we forgive you this once) know that nopCommerce is a leading ASP.NET based open-source platform. ASP.NET means that's extremely stable and reliable, and its open-source nature allows us to rely on a massive community of developers scattered all around the Globe.
Let's have a closer look at the main concerns around e-commerce, and what our solutions are.
Here's an extremely useful, and totally plausible, imaginary interview between two different personalities inside our heads. Because we can.
1. Will it look like one of those tacky, out-of-the-box, low-cost website templates?
Nah.
Ok, let us elaborate a bit: we do start from nopCommerce templates for two different reasons. One, it allows the client to really focus on e-commerce specific functionalities, and allocate as much budget as possible on those to make sure every aspect of the business is fully met. Two, our experienced team will know exactly how to tweak it in different ways to create unique looks and feels that are exclusive to each of our clients.
2. Yes, but how functional will it be?
Glad you asked, as high functionality is very important to us. We'd be happy to sit down and talk about the hundreds of reasons why we chose nopCommerce (and so did companies such as Volvo, BMW, and even Elton John himself - smart man!) for hours, but let us give you a quick rundown. The e-commerce websites we build support multiple stores, with multiple vendors options. The standard installation allows admins to run multiple stores. It can be configured to talk directly to your database system, and happy inventory days. There's an extensive list of different shipping options, it supports all major payment gateways, on top of the obvious compatibility with every Microsoft product. On top of all this, they're highly efficient with the more mundane content management, SEO, and various marketing features.
Specifically, our developers have massive experience in custom plugins, specifically designed to suit any need - an option always available if you can afford a bigger budget.
3. Sure, but what if I have hundreds of products? Or multiple stores? Or differentiate between B2B and B2C?
Hundreds of products you say? We don't mean to boast (OK maybe we do a little) but we honed our skills enough to be able to import any product list size, so that's really not an issue. As per the rest, we already mentioned the possibility of running different stores and vendors on one Dashboard, and we can even add that those different stores and vendors don't have to all look the same! If you want your e-commerce website to be as professional as it gets, but don't have tens of thousands of dollars to invest, we have good news: the out-of-the-box functionalities are many, and can set you up to own a mean-as online shop.
4. Hmmm would this platform be safe? We're handling customers' money and sensible information after all!
Super safe, promise. ASP.NET is one of the most secure, stable infrastructures out there. Here. You know what we mean. It easily integrates with SSL Cert requirements to make purchases through https. Super safe.
5. Alright, but what about mobile phones?
As it happens, nopCommerce is designed to be fully responsive, which means that it's designed to look well on tablets and smartphones by default - which is a great feature for us too, as we can focus on e-commerce specific needs rather than investing many hours in grappling CSS to please every OS, size, browser, and Interwebs Pantheon.
6. Whatever, I bet it's too expensive anyway. Or is it?
We already mentioned that it's open-source, and lots of functionalities are ready to be used without any custom development. Pretty sure we did anyway. If not: it's open-source, and lots of functionalities are ready to be used without any custom development!
Make no mistake: we always warn our clients that some money must be spent if they want a high quality, professional e-commerce website that will help their business succeed online rather than draining precious resources to keep up with hiccups and failures. Talk to us about your ideas, the budget you have in mind, and let's have a honest conversation around how to best invest your money to land a strong, profitable online business.
P.S. this is what their old website looked like, just for reference (and to make you go daaaaaayum!)
Serena Cappellini