IdoSell implementation of 12 sexshops for one customer

In autumn of 2005, the owner of 12 sexshops decided to contact us. We wrote him a letter after we saw that in the Money.pl ranking for the best online stores, he achieved a high position. The problem was that he had 12 different stores, based on several different systems implemented in different time periods. Their handling and synchronization led to many problems. Additionally, some stores were associated with various web portals (Onet, WP, Interia).

We started the implementation from building only one store SexButik.pl for the test. After creating the store, we imported the product database from the old system. As it turned out, opening one store did not solve the problem in any way, because the seller received little benefit and needed to continue performing multiple operations manually, eg. sending reports to web portals.

In the second phase we have started working on the comprehensive implementation of other 11 stores. To perform it, we needed the completion of web portal modules. After about 1.5 months web portal module was ready. At the same time graphic layouts were created. We received a guidance that stores should be similar in appearance to its predecessors, so as not to shock customers. Normally, such task would be impossible to perform, because other shop systems usually allow to obtain only one layout. In our system it was possible to recreate exactly the same appearance, despite the fact that shops were previously based on different systems, as well as make changes where this was sensible. We were even able to keep the original flash animation from the main store of the customer, namely Dom-Wysylkowy.pl. The end of the second phase was completed by clearing the product database and by the import.

At a later stage, the customer was ready to launch shops. We conducted tests of web portals and those stores that did not use web portals could be started first. It turned out, however, that introducing changes to more than 3,000 products was problematic and implementation could be delayed. Our development department came with a solution - they created special tools for product group edition. Thanks to that, it was possible to introduce changes within a reasonable period of time. Introducing changes could take several months, but it was necessary to perform them within a month, since the customer received a message that the current provider ceases his online operations. Because at that time works were on a quite advanced level, within two weeks all store domains were directed to our server. 12 stores were prepared to be implemented approximately after four months. After about a month, the customer was able to synchronize stock levels with the database and at the moment he does not have to worry about time-consuming stock level synchronization. Below you can read the opinion of the owner of the Eco-Net company:

Implementation of the store was not time-consuming, but the staff had to get used to a completely new software. Most of the time was spend on introducing several thousands of products from the old base (old store) to a new one. A tool of updating import from Excel was helpful, no to mention the IdoSell Support.
After the implementation, our company changed dramatically. Previously we worked on a very simplified software. It for example lacked automatic update of stock levels. Every day we for about 1-2 hours we had to manually change stock levels of sold articles. Usually we did it once a day, so it happened that the next customer ordered something which has already been sold. Now stock level management comes down to introducing the delivery.
The very process of packing parcels is much faster. The preparation of prints or invoices involves a few clicks. IdoSell virtually replaces the warehouse and billing program. There is no need to keep separate records manually. There is much more news: an advanced order handling, extended statistics and many more.
As far as the costs are concerned, I unfortunately pay more. Previously we were based on the so-called free system. Many minor improvements - substituting graphic design or changing color etc. - we made on our own. No possibility to modify shop design on our own through the administrative panel or via FTP was probably the biggest flaw of this system. But beyond that, saved time fully compensates more expensive use of our stores.
Besides, as I mentioned earlier, there are almost no situations in which the customer ordered something which is no longer in stock. Payment modules enable pre-payment and a system which automatically notifies a customer if you change the order status – these are just some elements which facilitated the process of placing the order. The very processing is also more
efficient, so the expense was totally worth it.

Jarosław Turek
owner of the stores

Information update 2008-03-27: The customer consolidated all stores to 6. All existing domain redirect to www.dom-wysylkowy.pl, which allows for not losing customers and handling their orders through one of the shops.

Gallery of current design of shops

Gallery of previous design of shops