Fast implementation of e-commerce platform for the medical industry

About the brand

Mercator Medical Group is a manufacturer and distributor of disposable medical supplies. The company has nearly thirty years of experience, which makes it a recognizable brand in the medical industry. As a manufacturer it sells in 70 countries around the world, acting as a distributor in the markets of Europe and Russia.

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Supporting digital transformation

The main challenge of the project was to launch online sales in a very short time. Disposable products offered by the brand (gloves and masks) were necessities right after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the brand's previous store did not allow for quick and convenient online shopping. We offered our client a modern e-commerce platform - a proven solution that offers the necessary tools to launch online sales. A system can be freely developed and used in the future to sell on many markets.

Customer benefits of implementation:

• New e-commerce platform Magento Commerce 2.4. (Adobe Commerce) adapted to modern standards of online sales.
• An easy way to create offers and add new products to your store.
• Launching an online store that provides fast online shopping with multiple payment and delivery options.
• Possibility to expand the platform with new markets and language versions (multistore).
• Integration with sales support tools: ERP, marketing automation, InPost packages.
  
  
  

"Strix supported us at a crucial time for our business when a pandemic broke out and demand for our products increased significantly. Strix proved to be a solid implementation partner, and their specialists helped us quickly and efficiently launch an online store that is functional and tailored to the needs of our business."- Michał Meller, E-commerce Manager, Mercator

Selling on the marketplace

An additional solution that we implemented was the integration with Mirakl. This solution allows for automation of the marketplace, including vendor support, management of distributed orders, invoicing and integration of the system with Allegro or Empik.

Perfectly tailored UX

As part of the project, we distinguished our client's most important target groups to  meet the needs of each persona. We created a new look for the store, following a holistic approach to design. We applied the user experience guidelines and best practices prepared by Baymard Institute, an independent organization that conducts usability studies of e-commerce websites.

As part of our cooperation, we prepared designs of the most essential elements of the online store: categorization, product card, category listing, homepage, checkout. The whole project is adapted to mobile devices and displaying the store on all devices.

• Home page - a significant element of the home page is the "Find product by application" section, thanks to which the user can immediately go to the product category by selecting his/her industry, e.g. medical, hotel, industry, which shortens the product search process and the customer's purchase path. In this way, we respond to the needs of specific user groups. On the homepage, we have also added the "Selected categories" section, which allows us to highlight and promote the selected assortment and present the most frequently chosen product categories. All these elements facilitate navigation and movement of users on the site. Both modules are fully configurable - store administrator can freely change and rearrange them.
  

• Product card - to meet the needs of users ordering standard quantities of products, as well as B2B, we implemented a solution that allows to pick the type and number of packages for a given product. The module is fully configurable at the backend level, so our client can control and expand these options as needed. Meanwhile, the store user from the level of one product card has the ability to order, for example, a package containing 100 pieces of the product or a carton containing 10 packages of 100 pieces.

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• Navigation - following the best practices of Baymard Institute, the main menu presents product categories at once, instead of the general "Products" tab. Discovering the main product categories in the menu makes it easier for users to determine what page they are on and allows them to quickly familiarize themselves with the store's offer without having to expand the menu or scroll the whole page.
• Add to cart from the list - in case of products which are not expensive and customers often buy them (FMCG) Baymard Institute recommends placing the "Add to cart" button directly on the list of products in a given category - especially when the most important information, such as price, is visible right on the list. If the user knows the product, they can add it to the cart right away, which significantly shortens the purchase path and speeds up the purchase. From the category level, the user can also add products e.g. to Favorites and return to them later, as well as read product ratings.

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• Checkout - some users coming to the Mercator store represent B2B companies, therefore we have added an option to generate a proforma invoice in the checkout. When a user selects "Traditional transfer" option, he automatically receives a proforma invoice that he can print out. The order is placed and only after the proforma is paid, the order is processed. Proforma payment is based on BlueMedia payment solution.
• Listing and filtering - in each product category there are dedicated filters, which change depending on the assortment and correspond to the attributes of a given set of products. An additional facilitation of using the filters is placing the applied filter's section right above the products, so the user can easily uncheck a given filter or clear all the filters without having to scroll the page. Store administrator can freely manage filters (set selected filters on selected categories, hide, uncover, rearrange order, configure colors and options for the filter).

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• "See another option" - a section on the product card that aims to encourage the user to choose another product in a higher version, e.g. when the user is on the card with a standard product, in the recommended assortment section he will find a premium product (up-selling).
• Product out of stock - when the product is currently out of stock, the user gets information about a suggested substitute that is in stock. The user can immediately add it to the cart and make a purchase, so you do not lose a customer.
• Products matching a given category - a section under the category products where you can recommend other products matching a given category, e.g. in case of selling medical gloves, these will be aprons, masks, caps (cross-selling).