1Store™ Platform

After researching out of the box shopping cart products for one of our clients, we identified gaps in the market and a need to develop a shopping cart business solution. 1Store a highly scalable product that can be adapted to any business. Unlike other eCommerce products 1Store is not bond to a common frameworks and design structures, 1Store can be adapted to any business, being flexible to every business model as no 2 businesses are ever the same. 

 

We considered and compared  business requirements within the online shopping industry – retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, importers. Front end usability, product filtering, product displays, products sizing, discounts and coupons, user management, order management, subscribers, email generation, stockists, retail and wholesale account mamangement, invoice generation, and importing and exporting content to external accounting software were features we identified for our features list.

 

We then proceeded to create wireframes for the front and backend to address the requirements for the individual features. At this point we chopped and changed as much as we liked, mixing and matching features to find the best way users could interact within the front and back end with maximum speed and efficiency. The more efficient the user journey, the more likely users would have a faster shopping experience, resulting in more purchases & return visits.

Once the product wireframes met our requirements, we split the project into two parts; frontend design and backend platform build.

Front end Design
The challenge of the frontend design was to create a design that would be flexible and support the delivery of content, whilst delivering a unique brand shopping experience. We applied our design process and the client approved the frontend design in our first round of creative.

Backend Platform Development
To achieve the project requirements for this build, we took a step by step approach and relied heavily on project management to task manage.

Once the two phases were complete we moved into integration. 1MD spent much time ensuring the design and functionality was seamless, and the user experience met the expectations of the project.

User Testing
At this point of the project most creative’s pack up and move onto the next project but with 1MD we don’t exactly work that way. We ensure from a consumer perspective that certain demands are met; that the shopping experience is enticing and engaging and leaves you with a sense of trust for the brand. This experience usually results in brand advocacy, return visits, and an increase in the growth of consumers organically.

During user testing we create personas, where each persona has individual requirements and needs. From there we put test plans together set against each persona to see if we can ‘break’ the site. In this case we had 2 x Retail customers, 2 x Whole Customers, 1 Site Owner, and 1 Administrator.

Merchant Approval
With all ecommerce platforms, you must abide to the individual rules and requirements of banks. A site must be built to spec and contain all content before being submitted for approval. This can take up to 3 weeks, however we were fortunate to meet the requirements and were able to soft launch before the expected launch date.

The Technology
1 Store is a Python based platform that can be adapted to almost any hosting setup. We realised don’t need to blow big dollars on multiple servers. 1MD have a hosting agreement with a hosting provider and the servers are very secure. We arrange a monthly licensing agreement that covers hosting and Support for the 1Store™ platform.

 

1Store™ Features:   Featured Products Display Discounts and Coupons Flexible discount rules Self contained Blog Manage Retail Pricing and Accounts Manage Wholesale Pricing and Accounts Flexible tax settings & options Custom Postage Calculations Import Existing Databases Export Database to MYOB Manage multiple domains in the one CMS

Flexible homepage content Related Products Manage your product inventory SEO Optimised Multiple logins with permissions(up to 20) Order Management Merchant Facility eNewsletter Registration email communications Generates invoices & packing slips

 

Eastbourne Art launched in August 2010. Since launching the online store, our client has experience a 30% growth in wholesale orders, and an 80% growth in retail orders. The database growth is steady, currently 1500 members. The average time on site is 8 minutes, with a 0% bounce rate. Eastbourne Art is ranked 1-3 in google search for all products 
Since the build of 1 Store we have readapted the platform to create several smaller products that can be purchased separately. We have also adapted the platform to manage a comparison engine.

"We engaged 1MD to help take our business online. Our objectives and requirements were very specific to meet the demands of our clientele. The collaborative nature of working with 1MD has resulted in a solution that meets our current business needs and will allow our business to grow online. Since launching our website in August, sales have increased by 150%, site traffic has increased by 350%, and the average time on our website is 8 minutes. Overall we are very pleased with 1MD and look forward to our future projects".

 

 

Profile Products Australia pty ltd
November 22, 2010