S2M Ecommerce Shopify Plugin

Background

A Startup based in West Babylon, NY approached App Maisters to develop a patented app for Ecommerce platforms(Shopify) that simplifies the shopping experience for consumers shopping on websites by allowing them to easily communicate and purchase goods and services from via SMS.

Objective

It is a Patented Mobile Messaging & Ecommerce Platform that allows Store Owners to interact with shoppers and enable them to complete a Purchase simply via SMS using their Mobile phones. It does this by simply allowing store owners to place 3 buttons, Send2Mobile, ‘Let me Know’ and ‘Make an Offer’, on Shopify E-commerce product pages. Shoppers can then click on these buttons and follow the prompts to set up their account and then later on once the product becomes available, purchase the product or service by responding to the store via SMS.

Challenges

  • Going through the rigorous approval process of Shopify and understanding different integration option available on Shopify to maximize revenues.
  • Implementing a scalable SMS messaging platform into the backend architecture.
  • Building a scalable and distributed architecture that would support millions of transactions running through the system.
  • Developing a solution that works with future ecommerce portals and messengers like Magento, Facebook and other similar platforms.

Solution

  • Provide Store Owners and Shoppers the tools to communicate and buy and sell goods and services from Shopify E-commerce store via their Mobile devices and SMS.
  • Simplified Shopper experience that enabled them to purchase products and services at the desired price.
  • Delivered a Scalable and distributed architecture using AWS Cloud that would support millions of transactions and SMS running through the system Reporting for store owners to measure interest in various products at their stores
  • Provided an architecture that can be extended to other ecommerce platforms and messengers

Main Features

  • The app has the following main features available which worked in conjunction with Shopify Api.
  • Update consumers via SMS when the price and quantity of the product or services change in Shopify
  • Ability to make an offer to the store owner about what price would be acceptable
  • Payment processing
  • Purchasing of products and services via SMS
  • Reporting tool for store owners to review and download transactions
  • Provide Dashboard and Analytical reports for Administrator

Tools And Technologies

  • Amazon EC2
  • Amazon ElasticCache
  • Amazon Load Balancer,
  • Amazon Cloud Watch
  • Amazon Dynamo DB
  • PHP
  • Twilio API
  • Shopify API

Results

  • Enhanced user experience and engagement and simplified buying process via SMS.