Multi-country and multi-brand eCommerce using ScandiPWA — Som Dadhich | ScandiPWA Spring Meetup
Som Dadhich, Head of eCommerce and ERP at IndGlobal Digital
The customer from Singapore had approached us for a multi-country, multi-brand eCommerce built on PWA. It is a holding company with over 30% of the market share in Islamic countries.
The requirements:
- Multi-brand and multi-country setup (language, currency, gateways);
- Mobile-first experience. Fast speed and UX;
- 1 month launch time;
- Flexibility in terms of future customization;
- No limitations in terms of design.
Due to time constraints, we did not have an option of going for a custom framework like Vue Storefront, or a completely custom React storefront store. So we were looking at options, and we had heard a lot about ScandiPWA. The biggest benefit was that we had all the features of Magento available out of the box. Otherwise building everything from scratch is just not possible at this time.
Our plan and process
We usually divide the project into two phases: an MVP, a minimum viable product, which is about 30 days, and an improved enhancement phase. Then we work on perfecting the integrations, like payment gateways, the logistics partners, the SMS, emails, WhatsApp, social logins because those are the major points that take most of the time both testing and perfecting.
To save time, there are very good third-party providers for any feature that you take up, especially the post-purchase scenario, because that does not affect the user experience, at least initially. We usually go for a third-party implementation for shipments. The end-to-end post-shipment process — the notifications, order tracking, return centers, or promised dates — is taken care of by third parties. As well, videos and user-generated content can be handled by a third party.
The client asked to keep admin side processes and customization to a minimum, and it was fine as it does not impact the user experience. We also used the default Scandi layout for the cart, checkout, and my account with only a little CSS modification to suit the theme.
Reasons to choose Scandi
Speed
Why did we choose Scandi only? The speed. Everyone is in love with the speed because everyone is used to the speed of Magento, almost a snail speed platform. We were trying to compare it with custom frameworks, with the export frame, and we saw that Scandi is still faster.
User experience
With speed comes a great user experience. Scandi first optimized it for mobile and then adapted it for the web. So it does feel like an app, and it’s faster than some native apps that we are used to using here in India.
Magento features availability
You’re not starting from scratch. You get all the features, almost 300, from Magento. You don’t feel like you’re using another platform. You’re on Magento, but you are getting the crazy speed that you always wanted.
Extensibility
This client’s biggest request was the multi-country and the multi-brand features. Scandi supports all of them, unlike Shopify or Bigcommerce.
Actively developed, supported, and documented
Other platforms do not have similar support.
Challenges
Initial setup
ScandiPWA was an absolutely new thing as we had not done a lot of development Scandi before, so we took help from a partner. Initially, it is a little difficult to get an understanding of how to customize. Also, the setup may be a little tricky.
Availability of extensions
Everyone needs the extensions so we were looking at the possible extensions. There are good ones, but not for the countries that this client was looking at. Thus, we looked at third-party extensions that we could just plug in place, making an extension for Magento. The major extensions, the payments, SMS, and emails, were developed from scratch.
Documentation/Library
Due to the novelty of the platform, there is less documentation than you would expect.
Results
We are launching with two brands, and the two brands are available in different countries. Gateway systems are completed, integrations with delivery are developed, and custom design is implemented.
We have integrated standard IO for the UGC, user-generated content, and reviews post process. And we have post notifications.
This is what is going on currently and we plan to launch it in the first week of April.
We wish the best of luck to other agencies who are looking at adopting Scandi for their customers. ScandiPWA is a free and open-source PWA theme for Magento. You can learn more about it on its official website scandipwa.com.
ScandiPWA is a free and open-source PWA theme for Magento —
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