Restructuring an e-commerce Portal

BACKGROUND

The client is one of the foremost in the business supplying elegant chair covers and other decorative materials for special occasions. The client contacted Softweb to redesign the portal that listed all the products & services available and would allow customers to manage their purchases. They also desired to have a solution for order management.

CHALLENGE

The challenge was to re-architecture the existing site that would have a virtual display of the entire product list. To make the experience more interactive, a shopping cart system was to be developed. The client also needed to have more control on the site in terms of content publishing and content updates.

SOLUTION

We analyzed the client's requirements and proposed a 3-stage approach to address the issues - Architectural assessment, Gap Analysis and Integration with UPS.

Following a detailed analysis, recommendations were made integrating various solutions with clear key differentiators for streamlining the content management requirements. Strategic short-term, medium-term and long-term initiative for the client were spelt out.

The result was a self-contained web based system that allowed staff to fully manage the content and the products on the website. Also incorporated was a powerful and easy to use customer order processing system.

TECHNOLOGIES

We have used N-Tier technology using ASP.NET/ MS SQL platform. C# was used as the programming language.

A majority of the front-end uses SSI pages with the extensive use of JavaScript. Interactive features are developed using JavaScript and AJAX.

RESULTS

The reporting system provides critical business reports for sales performance and stock consumption, number of customers, number of sales and sales figures in one easy glance. It also allows easy management of news, events, and material as well as the process of expanding the product catalogue.

The result is an elegant portal that advertises all the product & services provided for managing special events. The site conveys a highly professional image that instills confidence in visitors prompting them to get in touch with the client translating into more business.