Zoommer: store migration and re-design for electronics retailer

Challenge

Zoommer is one of the largest retail chains of smartphones, digital cameras, laptops and audio/video appliances. 9 years ago, Zoommer was a startup formed by young entrepreneurs. Since then it has grown into one of the largest retail chains in Georgia.

Before moving to nopCommerce platform, they had been using CS-Cart, which was provided by vendor in Holland for almost 8 years. The support process was delayed and hard to maintain as the vendor wasn’t available on the local market and the communication process was stressful and inefficient.

Integration with the accounting system was one of the critical issues Zoommer was facing till 2018, until Wandio took over the process. It was taking a lot of manpower to update data on the website. The platform’s design was outdated, feature enrichment was taking too much time and standard modules available on the CS-Cart store were not supported. Facing these problems the company decided to fully refresh the website and take it to the next level.

Solution

For a store that needs lots of customizations and which should be user-friendly, Wandio chose the nopCommerce 4.0 version. Its extensive out-of-the-box functionality, paired with a large marketplace, made it a great choice. Its open-source code gave the developers unlimited possibilities to replace the default features according to the client’s needs.

Old to New

• The first step was creating a new, attractive (finely detailed) and mobile-friendly design.
• The functionality of the price reservation was added. When the discount appears for a special product, the user is notified by mail about the reduced price.
• All search results are now on the home page under “Browsing History”, making it faster to find what you are looking for.
• Over 30k products have been migrated from the old version of the website (engine - CS-Cart).
• On the checkout page, the user can fill in custom text and choose from several packing options. The product will be wrapped and delivered to the recipient accompanied by the special card.

Home Page

• On the home page, custom modules were added, showing products from a specific category. The blocks are shown according to the built-in logic .
• The Wandio team added custom banner configuration to the home page to avoid limitations in quantity.
• The “Hot Deals” custom module was added, now a whole page background can be a banner where other hot deals are suggested also.
• Added an easy to navigate and a very informative map of the branches, showing all the necessary info about each branch.

Menu

• Created a Mega Menu - a menu that the website administrator can customize by adding different links and images. It can not only display items from categories but also include custom filtered lists, like phones by price range for example.
• Created custom filters in Menu. E.g. while searching for Nikon, the user sees only the features which are available for the brand Nikon in filters.
• In filters, top features are on the top of the list, showing more options are available.

Product Details

• Added video support in product details together with images.
• Added gifts support on a single product. In product details, each product has a gifts tab, where admin can place available gifts, and users can also choose the gift they prefer. Each product has a gift icon on a thumbnail image, too.
• Added price reservation option.
• Added bundling functionality. In product details users can choose bundled products and get discounts, e.g. buy an iPhone with a case and get -15% on the case.
• In product details, you can see which branch has the product in stock and where the store is located on a built-in map.
• Added custom three-level products specification.
• Added products comparison module for 2 or more products. Users can look through the whole comparison, or choose to highlight only the differences. A list of comparisons can be printed from the page.
• When checking a product page, users get offered complimentary accessories as well as similar products.
• Added custom labels for products. The administrator can control which products are labeled during promotions and celebrations.
• Some of the products fall into the premium category, therefore Wandio created a custom page for premium products and enabled the option to have a banner as a background.
• Added custom shipping cost calculation which depends on the region where the product will be delivered.

Payment

In Georgia it is very common to purchase products using online installment loans, so the additional ways of purchasing were implemented. On checkout, the user chooses which provider to use: Direct Pay using a card or installment from different banks. For the last option, Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank were chosen (the two largest banks in Georgia).

Result

Today Zoommer.ge is one of the top eCommerce web sites in Georgia with convenient payment methods and user-friendly interface.

30.000 products are being imported and renewed from 1C (Accounting system) on a daily basis. Synchronization of stock balance and products with 1C happens in accordance with the branches of the store. Prices are managed in the 1C and reflected on the website.

Wandio is a software outsourcing company based in Georgia that builds reliable back-end systems, web & mobile applications. Specialization of the team includes building large eCommerce and payment solutions, CMS systems, ERP/CRM, HR/Recruitment applications, intranets and alike.