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How to verify affiliate partner settlements?

Online stores more and more often choose to work with bloggers or internet users whose fans are the brand’s target audience. Affiliate marketing is an effective form of reaching potential customers, but sometimes problems arise in the efficient management of this collaboration. However, i-systems company has created an Affiliate Partner Module for its clients, which, from the e-commerce system, monitors the effects of individual affiliates.

Affiliate Marketing – What is it?

Affiliate programs are special agreements between the seller (for example, an online store) and affiliates (bloggers, website owners, etc.). Affiliates promote online store on their own advertising surfaces through mailing, themed posts, banners, social media, and video. Regardless of the type of methods used to reach the consumer, there is always a special link at the end of the ad that identifies the partner.

Trust or control, meaning settlement problems

When deciding to work with affiliates, the owner of the affiliate program determines for what action and how much he will pay. The most common are the three forms of payment. In the CPL model, or cost per lead, this means paying commission for obtaining contact data. The CPC, or cost per click, means paying for the number of clicks. The CPS, or cost per sale, means the commission for the successful completion of the sale. The last model is chosen the most often by online stores.

Once in a specified time in the partnership agreement, usually in a monthly cycle, the affiliate transfers the list of transactions that were made as a result of his advertising activities. It is the verification of these settlements that worries many online stores. Brands want to check the listings they receive from affiliates, often by using a variety of tools for web analytics, such as Google Analytics. However, among the transactions coming from affiliates links, there may also be those that did not complete with success. When the customer did not pay for the order, did not pick up the product or returned the goods, the affiliate should not receive a commission. Manual checking and matching to the appropriate affiliate of these orders is time consuming and error prone. On the other hand, the boundless trust towards reports sent by affiliate can be quite risky.

Efficient and faultless verification of affiliate settlements

The i-systems Affiliate Partner Module allows you to gather all affiliates in one place. For each affiliate, an individual link is created that he places in the ads. After clicking, the consumer is transferred to the online store, his browser stores a „cookie” and after the purchase, the transaction is credited to the affiliate account.

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Functionality guarantees correct accounting. It allows you to generate a detailed summary of all transactions from the given link, at any time interval. The report shows both completed, paid orders, refunds, missed and unpaid shipments. Thanks to the solution, an online store employee can efficiently verify the settlement sent by the affiliate, as the data comes directly from the sales system.

In addition to verifying affiliate activities, the solution also enables you to analyze your marketing activities. The module allows you to check the effectiveness of your ads, such as banner campaigns on the internet media.

Affiliate Partner Module is a modern tool for effective and efficient collaboration with affiliates. Thanks to the solution the brand can be sure that the invoice issued by the affiliate is consistent with its actual sale.

New version of the mobile app

The i-systems mobile team has recently been actively working on the new capabilities of the mobile application, developed at the end of 2016. The result of the work is the next version of the application, with new solutions.

Focusing on positive customer experience

Taking care of the positive experience of the app users, the navigation has been changed, adapting it to the Material Design and iOS practices. The login screen and shopping cart have been rebuilt. In addition, the new version of the mobile application allows the customer to log in four ways, because two more options are now available – Google Account and Touch ID.

After logging into the application, a completely new form of the home page is displayed. The sales system administrator configures this view directly from the online store. The page can be tailored to the individual needs of the brand, including: title, description, photo, order, product link, flag or category. New settings appear immediately in the mobile app.

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Functionalities that support sales

In the new version of the mobile application, a bar code scanner was launched. This solution can enhance omnichannel actions. Its usefulness is shown in an example below:

A customer in a brick-and-mortar store cannot find an appropriate size of the product. What he needs is only to scan a barcode on the article and he will be redirected to this product in the online store. Therefore he will be able to check if the product of the right size is available online and make a purchase.

Mobile app has been integrated with Ionic Cloud. It made it possible to add push notification function. By push notifications, an administrator of the online store can easily send information about a sale, additional discount, order accepted for execution or waiting for execution, as well as change in a shipment status. According to research, push notifications are opened by around 90% of mobile users.

Integration has also enabled Live Updates. The solution allows quick update of data in mobile app. Once a change is made to the sales system, for example: a new sale is added, it will also appear in the app. This is possible, because once launched, the application registers itself in the data cloud and checks for new versions. This is another element that provides consistency of data in the online store and in the mobile app.

How to manage discounts in e-commerce?

Managing discount policy is an art of finding balance between encouraging customers and making profit for the company. The question is: how to prepare a consistent discount policy and avoid mistakes?

When we want to design a discount policy, we should start with an analysis of the customer and his behavior, while sales data should be used as a source of knowledge. The second step is to determine the profitable levels of discounts, with the company’s assumed profits. The third step should be to define the activities for which the company wants to reward the customer. It is good practice to adopt the principle that the highest discounts are received only by a privileged group of customers, which is a priority for us. The analysis should provide us with practical knowledge to first and foremost be able to make a fair segmentation of our customers and, second, to implement an appropriate strategy tailored to the model and business area of the customer.

Discount Politics Module

 
Managing discounts is extremely simple thanks to Discount Politics Module. All data can be managed from the administration panel. It allows easy implementation of new forms of discounts. In addition, it provides the ability to determine the link between discounts, manage transport pricing strategies and set an individual basis for calculating the base price or post-promotion price. The order of the discounts is determined by the position of the delegate in the hierarchy – the higher in the hierarchy, the higher the discount form. Discount Policy Module is a excellent sales tool.

Each of 6 solutions, described below, has advanced technology, and the user interface has been designed so as the key functionalities are always visible. Consequently, no matter what functionality the administrator uses, he always has an easy access to the basic settings, such as whether the discount includes a cumulative discount, a discount on the base price, the discount limit, the exclusion of products from further discounts, or the possibility to stop a discount after application.

Customer individual discount

Owners of the online stores often encounter situations where the customer requires an individual approach, but unfortunately he cannot qualify for any of the categories of registered, one-time, or VIP customers. The best solution is to apply the Customer Individual Discount, which allows to set the discounts and assign them to selected contractors in an unlimited way.

It is a valuable solution for the seller to choose sequence or cumulative discounts. They have an option to set an individual price calculation basis. A sequence discount is recommended when the online store offers a discount on a product with the price already lowered by a previously discounted price. The second classic solution is a cumulative discount – always deducted from the base price of the product. An individual customer discount is perfect as a single solution, but it can also be a complement to the other 5 types of tools in the Discount Policy Module. It is worth remembering that when it is linked to other discounts, its priority is reflected in the list in the administration panel.

Coupons

The customer who received a discount coupon will most likely visit an online store and decide to use it. The i-systems solutions allow to create a discount policy to drive targeted traffic. In addition, the solution allows the administrator to create coupons based on all possible parameters, including delivery costs, cart values, product flags, order quantities, or user categories.

The coupon tool is ideal for store owners with diverse customer groups. The i-systems solution allows to create group and dedicated coupons that multiply conversion. A great feature for online store administrators is the ability to automatically generate coupons, depending on the final price of the cart or for each product individually. Having coupons in Discount Politics is an investment in the store that builds relationships with customers and allows to attract new customers.

Promotion

Promotion is a business concept, which in the Discount Policy Module is nothing more than defining the most powerful tools that drive sales. By activating the delegate responsible for the Promotion, we can primarily manage active store promotions and dependable discounts. This means the possibility of granting discounts to specific products, provided that other specific products are in the basket, the ability to exclude products and categories from applying a discount. In addition, the program allows to create an individual algorithm to apply discounts depending on the needs of the store or sales platform.

Depending on what sales results we want to achieve, we can use the mechanisms that activate the discount options, at a given time, and set the hierarchy and the amount of discounts. An important solution in this delegate is its compatibility with the other 5 delegates. The system allows you to schedule the exclusion period for the product category data from applying the discount.

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Threshold discounts

Determining the discount thresholds is essential to maintain a consistent discount policy of the company. Owners of the online stores are pursuing a diversified discount policy in order to be competitive. Control of the system and correlation between different business groups is not always obvious. A Threshold Discount delegate, designed by i-systems, is an improvement in setting discount levels and their implementation. This solution is dedicated mainly to stores where many promotions have to be overlapped, for example, the seasonal promotion is overlapped with the coupon and the individual discount of the customer. In this situation, setting a discount threshold at a certain level will keep a consistent discount strategy.

Free delivery dependent on the product flag

An interesting way to give a discount is to assign it depending on the category of a product customer is to order. In that way, the designed discount offer is based on minimizing transport costs. In order to prepare such a promotion, the product flag must be specified. It determines whether the shipment will be free when the product in the cart has this specific flag. The delegate of free delivery dependent on the product has a very important function, which is the choice of the country the discount will be applied to. It is possible to choose the form and maximum cost of the transport.

Free delivery dependent on the cart value

There is also a possibility to set up discounts to make them dependent on the cart value. This is a favorite form of discount, especially in industries where customers are used to large orders. In this case, a price ranges for free shipping are being defined. Free delivery dependent on the cart value can be also correlated with the basic settings of the Discount Policy Module and, for example, it can exclude products from further discounts or add individual customer discounts.

Discounts and zero prices

A common problem for stores are products or services that have a zero price. This is a result of gratises and discounts. However, from the accounting point of view, zero-priced products cannot appear on the invoice. This issue can be solved in the Discount Policy settings. For example: one solution is to add a penny (or 0.01 in another currency) to the price of the product. Finally, in order not to change the final sum for payment, added units (0,01) are added to the prices and services of other products or transportation. The designed functionality of the Discount Policy module allows balancing of prices and smoothly running an integrated sales policy according to accounting standards.

Solutions for e-commerce

The Discount Policy module uses the latest solutions and is the answer to the challenges of the e-commerce market, where both the diversification of promotional activities and their compatibility are important. The program is a dedicated, multi-functional premium tool, equipped with key functionalities which provide users with: easy calculation of applied discounts, the ability to set active discount hierarchy and intuitive management of all active promotions in the store.

Behat as the best scenario for software testing

Behat is a testing tool, which allows to apply behaviour-driven development (BDD). The basic premise of BDD is to get to know the expectations, needs and goals of the user, in order to create the software which meets all of these demands. BDD was created from a combination of unit tests (to test the correctness of individual components) and acceptance tests (to obtain confirmation of software quality).

BDD is based on the so-called scenarios, that describe the business needs of the software, which, in combination with a tool such as Behat, allows to automate the implementation process. The Behat tests, created by Konstantin Kudryashov, are written in PHP and they support communication between developers and any person using the software during the creation process.

Behat tests can be run on each stage of new code implementation. The first stage is creating feature file for given functionality, in which the scenario is placed. Feature should consist of: easy, clear language, .feature extension, benefits, roles and features of the given functionality.
For example:

Feature: Weather Module

In order to get the offer of the product matching my location,
as not logged user,
I need to be able to share my location on my mobile device.

Before starting works on a feature, it is important to talk to a business stakeholder because he may want to introduce rules or conditions for a particular feature. With this knowledge, there are no obstacles to start the stage of creating the scenario.

Each feature can be described by one or more scenarios, which are to explain the way the functionality works in different conditions. Scenarios follow a steady plan, which include scenario description, context, event and result, and they are written in special language, called Gherkin. By default, each scenario consists of three steps: Given, When, Then. For example, a simplified scenario might look like this:

Scenario: Display products from winter collection.

Given the user is in Aspen, when the temperature is -1℃, then the down jacket will be displayed.

This scenario can be further enhanced by the steps And and But. Similarly, the sentence above may look like this:

Given the user is in Aspen, when the temperature is -1℃ and it is snowing, then the down jacket will be displayed and Pom Pom Cup, but not swimsuit.

The above mentioned steps are nothing more than just PHP functions created with a keyword, regular expression, and callback function. The message in the scenario will be treated each time as a step. Steps define what should happen when one of the messages is triggered inside the scenario.

In the next stage, after defining the feature, scenario, and steps, an attempt is made to execute the scenario as a test with the bin/behat command, followed by a message that the test was successful or failed.

The same scenario can be run in different contexts, so different application environments can be tested.

Behat provides a simple, understandable and constructive conversation between a developer and a stakeholder, written in a structured format. Thanks to this, it can be determined what the functionality should look like before implementing it, and to make sure it is of the right quality. Behat also allows to automate checking its behavior under certain conditions. After successful completion of the test, the functionality works in the e-commerce system according to the assumptions used in the scenario.

Optimizing images on mobile devices

The i-systems offer has been extended to include another novelty – optimizing the size of the loaded images.

Until recently, all banners, graphics, and photos were loaded responsively, which means they scaled automatically by adjusting to the size of the screen. However, the size of the image remained the same, regardless of the device. For example: a large image was loaded onto a smartphone, hence the loading time could have been longer. In addition, Responsive Web Design has become a standard solution, so i-systems has made a further improvement.

At present, a change has been introduced, dedicated to loading photos of products, as well as any images in the online store, adjusted to a specific mobile device. This allows the online store to load much faster on mobile devices, because smaller images are loaded to fit the screen size.
 
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The graphic depicts how the speed and weight of loading the 48 products in the category page are changing. In the case of a desktop category page weight of 2.7 MB, after optimization on a mobile device, it decreases to 0.5 MB, which means that the page weight is reduced by 82%. Similarly, the page loading speed changes, which in the case of the desktop is 3.37 seconds, and after optimization on the mobile device, it is 44% faster.

For high-resolution HiDPI screens, the so-called Retina, there is a significant improvement in image quality. In addition, there is the option of turning off quality to significantly speed up the store loading on these devices. The store administrator determines what is the priority when loading photos (quality or speed).

In the near future, the new solution can allow mobile browsers to decide whether to load sharp images (when connected to wifi) or poor quality, but faster (using 3G) or personalized phone settings.
 

The summary of Q1 2017 at i-systems

In the life of every business, also in this operating in the e-commerce sector, the beginning of the year is a very intense time. Here are the highlights of the last quarter in i-systems. The next summaries will be delivered each quarter of the year.

New projects

At the beginning of the year, 6 contracts were signed with the new customers for the implementation and development of the sales systems. Four of them are related to solutions for B2B sector. These companies operate in the fields of construction, cosmetic, marketing, as well as distribution for the chemical, petrochemical, energy industries and also food industry.

The work begins with a business analysis. More about i-systems business analysis can be found on our website.

Trends in system development

Based on the market observations and repetitive developments in i-systems, we will be presenting market needs and trends. In Q1 the connection between online and offline, as well as the usage of the omnichannel potential is the most important matter. At the beginning of the year, the functionalities that strengthen multi-channel sales were implemented, among others in: 5.10.15. or R-GOL, where the availability of the product at the stationary store can be checked through the online store.

Development of the organization

For the development of our own products and our customers’ systems, a larger team is needed. In Q1, the representatives of i-systems were present at the events of the Faculty of Automatics, Electronics and Informatics of the Silesian University of Technology, as well as at the Engineering Job Fair in Gliwice. Among other things, these activities led to the fact that in the first three months of this year, our team had grown by 12 people. The IT department and the software testing department has expanded the most. Further recruitment is planned, mainly in product and solutions departments at i-systems. Continuous recruitment allows for the development of software and creating new teams, designated for the implementation of specific projects.

Internal projects for quality improvement

The most important change in the first quarter is full support for internal processes related to the long-term work planning for our Customers. The resource planner is integrated with all company tools and internal workflow.

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Planner allows reserving working time for customers who then take priority over work on the system. This tool is and will be used throughout all company work.

In February, a new version of the mobile app was launched. Its most important advantage is the constant connection with the e-commerce system and its management from the same panel. The new version is now available in App Store and Google Play. More can be found on i-systems blog.

New cloud resources are available for the current and new Customers. New disks and more powerful processors have been purchased, and the infrastructure has been replaced. In addition, the network has been upgraded to 10 Gbps. As a result, cloud support will be at a higher level.

In order to pursue the effective support for each sector of trade, i-systems has started the cooperation with the Polish Council of Shopping Centers (abbrv. PRCH). PRCH is the largest organization in Poland, associating over 240 companies related to the industry of shopping centers and shopping streets. PRCH is a not-for-profit association that has been operating since 2003 and it is a national partner of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

As a member of the Polish Council of Shopping Centers, we have many new opportunities. First and foremost, we want to show that it is possible to connect the online and offline worlds – states Krzysztof Jaciw, CFO at i-systems.

The first implementation of the e-commerce solution for the shopping center in the CEE region is FASHION HOUSE Online Shopping. More about this implementation can be found on i-systems website.

We invite you to read another summary of i-systems events. The next one will appear in early July. In order not to miss the Q2 summary, we invite you to subscribe to the newsletter.



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i-systems release – version 4.4

Another update of i-systems software, release 4.4, entails significant changes, this time in the structure of plugins. In addition, the ARMS module has been introduced, a couple of modules have been refactored, as well as previous versions of the system have been improved. Changelog in the case of this version of the system consists of 179 positions.

Plugin Migration

In this version of the system, plugins, such as payment and shipment, have been migrated to modules. Previously, they were part of the Plugins module. From now on, all deliveries and payments are made from separate modules, designed particularly for this purpose. They have common principles, their own installation files, translation languages, etc. The results of such migration are: much bigger transparency and development opportunities, as well as easier personalization.

ARMS Module

Account Receivable Management System is a system designed to support the company through effective management of accounts receivable, but also to prevent from the formation of overdue receivables, and their recovery.
In practice, a defined group of customers is created, for instance: “Trusted Customers”, “Premium Customers”, or “Blacklist”, and particular tasks are being assigned to this groups, along with the deadlines. Then, conditions are selected for those tasks. For example, reminder based on the fixed date of issue of the document, the total value of receivables, the amounts remaining to be settled, the amount of trade credit, as well as the payment date. This tool can be also integrated with other modules, which make it possible for instance to send payment reminders, automatically add a task to the calendar, or block placing orders. This solution is especially useful in the case of B2B companies.

Default Order Status Panel

A configuration panel in Order Status Module has been added to release 4.4. Each store has particular order statuses in system settings, such as new order, or canceled order. This status has its own ID, which is changed to another one – corresponding to the present order status when the update is made. The new solution will prevent any problem of improper queuing of stock levels and will facilitate order status checks.
This update of the system is also associated with the extension of installing files, and consequently – improved handling of multi-language fields in queries to the SQL (Structured Query Language) database. Refactoring of the Trade Credit module has also been completed, product images have been improved, and improvements have been made to the order edition.

The release is an update to the base version, on which the e-commerce system is based, to which new functionalities are regularly added. Thanks to the update, it is possible to develop the system and adapt it to the changing market. It is also possible to update dedicated solutions in subsequent releases.

New lookbook = higher conversion

At the end of 2016, the i-systems company introduced new lookbook. Lookbook is a photo gallery, presenting a product collection of the designer or a brand. Interactive version of this tool has multiple features, both from the administrator’s and customer’s point of view.

“Natural environment” of the product

New lookbook directs the user from multimedia product gallery, straight to the product page. The customer, while viewing products on models, has a direct possibility to click on the specific image or product and place an order. Hence, there is no need to search for the product by catalogues, categories or tabs. There are two advantages of this solution: firstly, the customers can see the product in its “natural environment”. Therefore, they are able to check how the chosen product looks like in reality and make a fair assessment. Secondly, shorter path to purchase is a more efficient way to conversion.

Interactive gallery

When it comes to the functionalities of the administrative panel, lookbook gives unlimited possibilities of product presentation. The most important tasks of lookbook include: the ability to create any number of categories and subcategories. You can also assign multiple lookbooks to a single category, and add multiple images to a single interactive gallery. There is also a possibility to assign a number of products to given photo in lookbook and to determine the date of publication.

New lookbook – what does it mean?

Lookbook attracts customer’s attention for longer period of time because of the new kind of interaction. In the latest version of lookbook, a new design and layout were created, to build the position of the brand on the market more efficiently. In addition, the new version draws more attention, because of the simplified navigation on the site, shortening the path to purchase.

Adjusting to individual needs of the brand

Every lookbook is a very flexible tool and significantly influences buying decisions. Therefore, its layout and navigation have to be adjusted each time to individual needs of the brand, the size of the collection and target group.

While making a decision to implement Lookbook module to online store, it is worth remembering to create several dedicated options for different occasions. It is also important to make the layout variable. This affects the better performance, which leads to conversion. Lookbook is a form of professional portfolio, which serves fashion bloggers in communication from several years. When it comes to e-commerce, especially the fashion industry, it is based on this type of modules, because the seasonality of products is what matters, as well as offer transparency and easy navigation on the site.



Find out more about lookbook



The i-systems company again in Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA

This is the 16th time Deloitte – a global consulting company – announced ranking of 500 fastest-growing technology companies. The i-systems company managed to be included in this prestige program, that recognizes companies in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), for the second time in a row.

Deloitte Technology Fast 500 program is based on percentage fiscal-year revenue growth over the last four years. To be a part of the program, the companies have to develop or create proprietary technologies,  have an annual operating income in the amount of no less than 50 000 EUR, and have its headquarters in a participating country.

In this year’s edition there was 39 companies from Central Europe, of which 15 companies with its headquarters in Poland. The first place in the ranking took the Swedish company – Fingerprints Cards, specializing in biometric technologies.

Last year, i-systems took 354 place with the income growth of 300%, however this year the income growth reached 373% and the company took 310 place.

This is the second time i-systems qualified not only to Deloitte Technology Fast 500, but also to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking, announced a month earlier, which recognizes fastest-growing technology companies from Central Europe.

During the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award gala, the topic of powerful connections has been discussed. Companies included in the ranking, in the short footage, with a green ball, had to present what means „powerful connections” in their daily activities. In the short film, created by i-systems, green ball symbolizes the friendly atmosphere, the desire to help colleagues, share ideas, as well as kindness and respect both in relations between customers and employees.

Matching recommended products depending on the weather

Selling seasonal products is still a challenge for online stores. In this case, the demand lasts from 3 to 4 months, so the time limitation forces sales optimization. Integration of the online store with Weather Module is the solution. Its sales effectiveness can be seen especially in the following sectors: clothing, cosmetics and outdoor.

Even well-planned advertising campaign can not bring expected results if the offer of an online store is not personalized. An effective solution is a combination of measures and tools for matching product offerings to customer needs in real time. Dedicated Weather Module offers the choice of products, depending on the location, type of weather, temperature and sex.

Advantages of Weather Module

The solution can be used in two ways. In the first case, the system indicates the appropriate products on the basis of geolocation specified by the customer. A forecast service, configured with an online store, makes data updates on the prevailing weather conditions in different localizations exactly every hour. In the second case, the customer determines the weather, for which he would like to find the relevant products.

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Online stores, equipped with Weather Module, facilitate shopping for their customers, for which components of the product and its use under varying weather conditions play an important role. Weather Module will help people traveling to different climate zones – select products from the appropriate categories, to suit the prevailing weather conditions at a particular location in the best way.

Cross-selling

Weather Module has three functions: basic – sales function (in real time) and two additional: it builds loyalty among customers and develop cross-selling. The last function allows to determine products in order to increase sales records, by offering complementary products. For example: someone who bought ski goggles may also need windstopper gloves and skipass holders.

Know-how

Implementation requires from the administrator to enter a category of products, that will be displayed, depending on the selected weather or city. In the tab of the product to be matched to the weather, it is worth choosing several options, among others: availability – whether the product is to be available in search by weather; category – whether the product is for man, woman; kind of weather – cloudy, sunny, rainy; temperature – temperature range for the specific product. Full configuration of the module allows the customer to search, for instance, all the rainproof clothes for women. In addition, Weather Module is equipped with mass editor, which allows mass attribution of the parameters to the specific groups of products. It is a convenient and time-saving functionality for the administrator of an online store. The module makes a weather updates every hour. Weather forecasts are configured with http://openweathermap.org service, making the solution ideal for travel planning in different latitudes.