About the client and collaboration with him
Our client is a business owner of an eBay shop of men’s suits. He was looking to build out a shopping portal on the web site utilizing the suite of eBay API integrations. His business is a large eBay store (13k+ skus) and sells almost all of his items through that channel.
We got a request to build a website integrated with his eBay store. It could release his marketing strategy and expand his brand of men’s suits.
Product description and challenges
The customer’s website was essentially a fancy landing page that only had links to their eBay store, redirecting visitors to browse and make purchases on eBay. The client wished to enhance the customer experience by allowing them to browse eBay’s catalog and complete transactions directly on the client’s website. Additionally, the client required the integration of the eBay partner network referral marketing program directly into their website. So we answered the client’s request and started converting and developing with the client immediately. During releasing the project, we faced a number of challenges, such as:
- eBay API integration;
- exporting the eBay item database to the site;
- creating a search with the most relevant results.
Key Project Features
The key feature of this product is the direct integration with the client’s ebay store, but this is the main challenge. First the developer has to get access to the API interfaces and API keys. Then get familiar with the API documentation and understand what methods and functions are needed to implement the desired functionality. In addition, the eBay API may have various limitations and security requirements that must also be considered when integrating. It should also be noted that the eBay API can change over time, and you need to keep track of updates and adapt the integration accordingly. Nevertheless our developers have achieved their goals by finding and using other optimal solutions to get out of integration difficult situations.
We created a platform in which it is possible to find a large number of products, for the most relevant data. The value is that eBay has a very detailed ranking of items by category, such as size, color, material, etc. Since the customer has a store of 13,000+ items, it’s important to match the search query with the most relevant data.
Value of development
Rich web application development gave your client a set of opportunities:
- Ensuring a place that can be promoted (brand promotion, instead of eBay promotion);
- Capturing visitor’s attention and building a loyal audience which can be retained with the continuous increase of repeating sales;
- Further on the roadmap the shop portal can various payment gateways (not just eBay transaction) to broaden for audience payment channels;
- Opportunity to get rid of eBay other seller’s promotion and recommend to your audience your smart suggestions, increasing the check value;
- Have really unique style for the shop portal going forward, that can make client stand out in UX.
