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Custom Development vs Ready-Made Solution. How to Choose, Pros and Cons

Cart-Power Team — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:30:38 +0000

E-commerce is a big part of our daily life today. Every year new services, shops, platforms and marketplaces appear that save us time and make life easier. When creating a new product, one of the main issues for business owners is the choice of an IT solution on which to implement the idea. If you are about to launch your website, then this article is just for you. Here we will tell you how to make a choice between custom development and a ready-made solution.

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What is a CMS

To manage the site, you need a system, or rather, a content management system (CMS). With its help, you create a website without programming skills. It allows you to add, change images, text, graphics (content) on the site.

CMSs make layout easier because page creation is done through blocks.
Thanks to intuitive editors, it is easy to manage and use.
It’s easy to work with code. Most of the methods and functions are written by CMS developers.

CMS can be template or professional, free, shareware and paid, open-source or closed system. All ready-made solutions, platforms are about CMS. Let’s take a closer look at what options there are for creating a website on a CMS.

Website Builders

Website builders contain everything you need: block design for pages, their location, fonts. You have the ability to add and change their location as you wish. Most often, designers offer ready-made templates for websites for various niches.
In order to create a website on the constructor, you do not even need to download and install anything. It’s a software as a service (SaaS) and in most cases, this is a cloud solution. You control the content and appearance of the site, and the developer or distributor of the finished solution is responsible for the server part.

Examples of popular cloud builders: WIx, Tilda, Shopify, BigCommerce.

Price

In most cases, payment occurs for each month of use. Website creation subscription plans start at $8 per month. You can use the free version, but the functionality will be significantly limited.

What is suitable for

If you need a site with a small number of pages. For example, an online store with a small catalog of goods, a business card site, a one-page landing page for announcing and registering for an event.

Fully Managed Solution

The out-of-the-box solutions also contain everything you need to create a website: templates for creating and designing pages, the necessary functional add-ons for connecting payment methods, delivery. But for this you need to download a license, install, connect and configure the site. But unlike SaaS solution, out-of-the-box solutions is fully managed. It can be paid and free, with advanced functionality and with minimal functionality for creating simple websites, online stores.

Examples of ready-made popular CMS: WordPress, CS-Cart, Magento, Bitrix.

At the same time, for most ready-made solutions, many extensions are available in the form of additional functionality add-ons. For example, for a website on CS-Cart, you can find more than 2,000 add-ons that will allow you to integrate your website with various systems, complement marketing tools, analytics, expand the functionality for creating content, site administration, and much more.

Price

The cost of a license for a turnkey solution varies greatly. It depends on the goals and functionality that you need to create on the site. Many popular CMS provide free solutions, but most likely you will have to invest in add-ons, plugins in order to further expand your business. Their prices start at $10.
The CMS license can be sold by subscription or as a lifetime.

What is suitable for

On ready-made solutions, you can create almost any website: from a corporate portal to a marketplace. It is necessary to pay attention to the functionality that is offered in the box, the speed of work, the availability of technical support.

What is Custom Development

Custom development is an approach through which you can either completely create a product from scratch or modify something on a finished CMS.
Unlike ready-made solutions, individual development allows you to create a unique product that fully meets the needs of your business. As a result, the client receives a website that meets the requirements as much as possible, which competitors do not have.
You can order individual development for any functionality for which you are willing to pay.

Fully Custom CMS

In this case, the system is developed from scratch for the client’s tasks. Amazon, eBay, VKontakte are made on completely self-written CMS. Most often they are ordered by large businesses for non-standard tasks or large systems that combine several services, products into one brand. For example, the VKontakte network has long ceased to be just a social network. Now on this platform you can create podcasts, host applications, make calls, sell goods, NFTs, and much more.

Self-written CMS are created by programmers from scratch in any programming language (PHP, Node.js, Java and others) or framework (Laravel, Yii, Symfony2 and others), which has a certain set of ready-made code to save time.

The main advantage is that businesses pay for the development of only the functionality that they need.

Price

And this is the main problem of self-written CMS. For any additional functionality, whether it’s an additional checkmark in the product card or sending the product to the cart, you need to create a code from scratch. There are no additional add-ons or plugins either. Therefore, self-written CMS is considered the most expensive development method.

What is suitable for

This approach to website development is suitable for large businesses, but, in addition, the idea must be proven and mature. For example, the creation of an internal corporate portal with many integrations, a complex site with a system of services, a non-standard large marketplace.

Custom Development on a Ready-Made CMS Platform

In this case, you purchase a license for the platform you need and, on its basis, refine the functionality that is necessary to achieve business goals.

The advantage of custom development on a ready-made platform is that it offers solutions tailored to the specific needs of each client. At the same time, you pay for the development of not all functionality, but only the missing part of it.

Custom solutions help you scale quickly and provide flexibility, allowing businesses to easily adapt to changing market conditions. Overall, it provides a strategic approach to technology that helps you stay ahead of the competition.

Price

The price will include the price for the platform, the services of developers, QA-specialists for the implementation of individual functionality. At the same time, backend developers can be found on the freelance exchange, and their cost will start from $10 per hour of development. Or contact the partner agency of the selected CMS. In this case, the cost of an hour of specialists will be higher. But at the same time, the quality of development will also be better.

What is suitable for

When the default functionality of the platform is not enough and the required add-on or plugin is not available. For example, creating a website with a full-fledged internal CRM system, integration with new services on the market.

Pros and Cons of Ready-Made Solutions and Custom Developments

How Do You Decide Which is Right for You?

When choosing between custom development or a ready-made solution, you should rely on goals and business requirements. Many ready-made platforms are already tailored for the creation of certain sites. For example, an e-commerce site will be easier to open on the CS-Cart platform, since even its basic functionality contains the necessary functions for quickly launching ecommerce projects.

If your project requires specific functions, then custom development will be the only solution. It will allow you to create a unique product that meets the modern requirements of a business niche and audience.
But this approach can end up being both time-consuming and costly.

In order to make the right choice, it is necessary to evaluate the following factors:

Goals and objectives. The simpler and more standard the tasks that an online business has to solve, the simpler the solution should be. For an online store with a small number of products, a simple constructor may be suitable. And for a site that combines different services and sellers, you should carefully choose a platform or evaluate the development of a custom CMS.
Timing. If time is strictly limited, then self-written products will definitely not work. For a quick start, you can turn to designers or ready-made platforms.
Budget. Ready-made solutions are usually cheaper than custom development, since they are already created and do not require development time. However, a custom solution can be more cost-effective in the long run, as it adapts to specific needs and can be infinitely scalable.
Scaling. If you think that your business will grow and the needs of the site will change, then the best option is a platform suitable for custom development or full custom.

Questions to Help You Choose a Right IT Solution

How confident are you in your business idea? Do you need to test the idea first and collect data on a cheap solution?
How much will the business change in the next year or two? Do you plan to increase turnover, expand goods and services, etc.?
How much are you willing to invest in an e-commerce solution today? How much per year?
When do you plan to launch the site?
How important is UX and store design to you?
What products/services will you sell/offer? Can you sell them online? Are they physical or digital?
How wide a range of products and services do you want to offer and how do they differ (for example, color, size, etc.) to determine the need for system flexibility?
Do you plan to offer product bundles, related products, or any other additional features?
How will goods/services be loaded: manually or automated? Do you need automation with accounting systems?
What is the expected volume of orders? Do you plan to process orders yourself? Are they manually controlled or do they need to be automated?
What payment solutions do you want to use (bank links, credit cards, commission, installments, PayPal, etc.)?
What delivery options are needed?
What marketing solutions need to be involved? (newsletter, social media support, promotions, coupons and discounts, various announcements and much more)
Will there be partners/vendors on the site? Is there a separate section for partners with specific pricing and features?
How will settlements with partners take place?

Bottom Line

The choice in favor of one or another solution depends on the tasks that need to be solved. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. At the same time, your development strategy for creating an e-commerce site can consist of several stages:

1. Quick start on a free online builder to test a hypothesis.
2. Creation of a full-fledged site on a ready-made solution.
3. Custom development works for individual tasks.

To make the right choice, our experts will help you figure out the most suitable solution and provide a free consultation. We will evaluate, determine the time and scope of work to create the perfect site.

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The post Custom Development vs Ready-Made Solution. How to Choose, Pros and Cons first appeared on Cart-Power.

Healthcare Marketplace: How to Start Selling Medical Supply & Equipment Online

Cart-Power Team — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 08:29:34 +0000

Launching an online medical supply marketplace is a savvy route for manufacturers, distributors and retailers of medical supplies and equipment to maximize their bottom line.
As the need for medical supplies and devices remains unwavering, the requirement of an online presence is greatly influenced by the overall shift to digital transactions across all industries – including healthcare.

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To save you time and get the gist of our guide, here are a few essential points to remember:

Business-to-Many (B2M) models offer manufacturers and distributors of medical products a high return on investment. To launch your B2M venture, you must develop a registration process as well as distinct user experiences for business buyers and individual consumers.
Selling medical equipment online is dominating the offline market. It’s more convenient for all parties making the equipment and consumers more accessible.
Legal considerations include: product certification, local and international laws, safe transactions and proper product labeling.
You need an ecommerce platform that is specifically tailored to your business processes and customer needs. This customized platform must include all the standard features of a successful digital store as well as unique functionalities for offering specialized services in your niche industry.
Critical integrations to get started with include a vendor portal, order management system, ERP and data analytics solution.
Relationship marketing is undoubtedly the most powerful and effective technique to gain loyal, long-term customers in an intensely competitive marketplace.
$1,250 is the starting cost of an ecommerce platform for a medical e-business.

The Medical Supplies And Equipment Market Is Rapidly Digitizing

The online medical supply and equipment market is all about providing essential medical items – from doctor’s attire to IV kits, diagnostic tools to durable medical instruments, surgical consumables and beyond – for hospitals, laboratories, nursing homes as well as individual customers who need these goods for home care.

In the last half a decade, we have seen an annual growth rate of 17% in the market. However, due to COVID-19 and its implications on medical supply demand from individual consumers as well as health care institutions around the world, that number has been skyrocketing lately.

Overcoming Obstacles When Selling Medical Supplies & Equipment Online

Challenge #1. Constructing a marketplace can be both costly and time consuming.

Solution: MVP approach

MVP will help to avoid unnecessary costs, as the project is launched with the minimum necessary capabilities. The functionality highlights the main thing for solving the client’s problem.

This approach to creating a product will help not only quickly develop and launch it, but also find out the needs of the audience, purchasing power, and check out ways to monetize it.

If you’ve already got a presence online for your medical supply business – with an educational resource or product catalog built using a content management system (CMS) – it’s time to make the switch from CMS to ecommerce platform in order to start selling items. The transition may seem daunting, as all of your existing pages will have to be re-created; yet this is essential in order for you to become competitive and offer customers the convenience of shopping directly on your website.

Challenge #2. Large corporations control the market

Solution: Harness the power of relationship marketing to exponentially expand your business reach.

Jumping into the highly competitive market of medical supplies and equipment can be intimidating; large manufacturers and suppliers have often developed relationships with clients for years. Many people may think that decreasing their prices is a great way to break this barrier, yet it could actually prove damaging – resulting in negative profit margins.

What Cart-Power recommends is relationship marketing.

Cultivate your product value and professional expertise. As a substitute of merely selling, inform customers how your products can upgrade their treatment outcomes and medical personnel’s day-to-day duties. Generally speaking, this necessitates substantial content competency on the website to share understanding through interviews, research studies, debates regarding healthcare trends and breakthroughs among other topics.
Ensure that your customer relationships remain solid by practicing proactive communication. There are several strategies to accomplish this goal without coming across as too sales-y, such as creating educational materials, hosting training and networking events for healthcare specialists (potential customers), announcing the latest news about your brand through social media platforms, and more.

Challenge #3. By embracing online retail, businesses no longer need the sales team

Solution: Refocus your sales team.

For medical equipment businesses, an ecommerce portal offers a convenient self-service approach for clients to effortlessly select products, place orders and carry out payment transactions – all of which previously necessitated regular interaction with salespeople through email, phone calls or chats.

Ecommerce does not make sales teams obsolete; instead, it allows them to focus on higher-level tasks and cultivating relationships with customers. Consequently, their roles could evolve into:

Examining sales information to recognize patterns and customer requirements, which can then be used to create more effective approaches of customer engagement.
Cultivating prospective customers through cold calling, emailing and in-person meetings.
Crafting and delivering customized educational resources to our clients is something you specialize in.
Advocating for customer requests during one-on-one conversations to drive website evolution and introduce new features.

The Benefits Of Selling Medical Equipment Online

Launching an online business that specializes in the sale of medical equipment has its rewards. From increasing your customer base to improving convenience and accessibility, taking advantage of this growing industry can yield a myriad of successes.

Increased accessibility, as customers from all over the world can buy medical equipment from you.
Cost savings in terms of lower overhead costs and fewer labor costs associated with running a physical store.
Greater reach, allowing customers to browse and purchase medical equipment from the comfort of their own homes or offices.
Easier tracking and monitoring of sales performance, as eCommerce platforms provide detailed analytics on customer behavior and more.

Legal Considerations When Selling Medical Equipment Online

When selling medical equipment online, you should keep in mind the following legal considerations:

All products should be certified by a national or international regulatory authority.
Adhere to all applicable laws, including those relating to consumer protection, data security, and intellectual property rights.
Ensure that any transactions are secure, and take steps to protect customer data.
Properly label all products with clear warnings and instructions.

How to Start a Medical Supply Business Online: 6 Essential Steps

Every medical business’s transition to digital sales will be unique, but there are six essential milestones that must form the foundation of your strategy.

Steps:

1. Investigate the licensing and regulatory requirements.

2. Develop a reliable supply chain system:

Narrow down your list of potential vendors for further consideration.
Gauge the approximate boost in supply that your business will experience due to online sales if it already operates in a physical space.

3. Identify a business model (B2C, B2B or B2M) and launch an ecommerce platform that will take your company to new heights.

4. Develop a streamlined ordering system to expedite the delivery of essential medical supplies.

5. Streamline the delivery of bulky medical apparatus.

6. Seize a competitive edge in the market by advertising your marketplace.

Business Models

Pricing approach for medical technology producers

Outcome guarantee model

When the manufacturer’s equipment does not deliver its promised clinical effect, they will reimburse you for the cost. This expected outcome is pre-established in an agreement before purchasing.

Gain sharing model

Medical institutions can save money on equipment by purchasing it from manufacturers who, in exchange for their discounted prices, benefit from a portion of the cost savings or revenue generated by using the equipment.

Device-as-a-service model

Medical institutions are able to acquire the hardware, software and networking solutions they need without owning them through leasing from manufacturers.

Management service model

Manufacturers are uniquely equipped to help labs and health care institutions optimize their operations, delivering complimentary tailored solutions.

Ecommerce models empowering medtech manufacturers and sellers

B2C model

By making medical equipment and supplies readily accessible, including to those living in rural areas with limited access to healthcare, individual consumers can quickly and easily take advantage of the much needed resources.

To ensure that customers make the most informed product choice possible, e-solutions must provide comprehensive product information and offer multi-channel customer support.

B2B model

By focusing on bulk sales, you can make product information more accessible while simultaneously minimizing transaction costs such as communication expenses.

E-solution must accommodate customers with self-service research and ordering options, as well as support for custom deals and bulk pricing.

B2M (business-to-many) model

To acquire a more reliable income stream, the focus should be shifted to B2B customers. Consequently, numerous marketing strategies must be employed in order to captivate and persuade this varied target audience.

To effectively serve business and individual users alike, your marketplace should offer distinct registration roles (individual or business) and webstore views.

Features of a Medical Supply & Equipment Marketplace

When it comes to electronic solutions for healthcare suppliers, Cart-Power takes a two-pronged approach and provides both customer-facing ecommerce features as well as crucial integrations that are integral to the back office operations. Our team strives to outline website functions while also mapping out technology integration setups required for successful business workflows.

Basic marketplace functionality

Catalog management

Configurable navigation, faceted product search.
Bulk import, download products.
Bulk edit product parameters for hundreds of products.
Export product feeds to shopping directories like Google Product Search, Shopzilla, Shopping.com, etc.
Price list for generating and publishing product information in the PDF and XLS formats.
Product templates with flexible product filters.
Product variations demonstrate product range and help to pick the right product from a range of similar products.
Stock control, low stock notifications.
360-degree product images for sophisticated medical devices.

Marketplace structure

Homepage: page builder, storefront customization and on-site content editing.
Catalog pages: online merchandising tools.
Customizations for vendors: vendor panel, payments, plans, moderation settings, locations, categories, separate micro-store, promotions, etc.
Detailed product pages.
Multiple images per SKU.
Video format of product description.
Product rating and reviews.
Product reviews moderation.
Shopping cart: automated tax and shipping calculation.
Checkout: out-of-the-box and custom payment methods.

Order management

Order management dashboard to view, edit and fulfill orders.
Invoices, order barcode, and shipping labels available for printing.
Return merchandise authorization.
Manual order creation for accepting an order by a phone call.
Automatic email order notifications.

Marketplace setup and layout

HIPAA compliance.
Template-based or custom website design.
Multi-store setup to different countries or represent different brands.

Functionality specific to B2C model

Purchasing process

High-value additional product information: product descriptions, downloadable product specifications, text or video guides, etc.
Price comparison for similar products.
Flexible filter customizations for prices (e.g. based on a customer group).

Sales processing

Prescription validation.
Health insurance submission.
Clear indication of non-refundable items.
Limitation of item quantity per user.

Shipment tracking

Estimated delivery date.
Order tracking number available in a customer’s profile.
Personal account with updates and notifications on order status.

Functionality specific to B2B model

Multi-role account management

Multiple roles reflecting a company’s procurement hierarchy.
Different user groups and admin level (split different rights for users).
Bulk order approval/rejection.
Shopping cart export for management approval.

Flexible price formation

Automated quantity-based discounts.
Customer segmentation.
Shared catalogs with segment-specific and individual pricing.
Negotiable price quotes.

Bulk and complex orders

Lists of frequently bought items for quick repeat orders.
Order by SKU and product files importing.
Requests for items out-of-stock or with insufficient stock availability.

Payment and order shipment

Payments in installments for big purchases displaying the current outstanding balance, available credit, and the credit limit.
Split order shipment to multiple locations.

Key Functionality Illustrated

Supply Chain Structure and Required Integrations

By adopting an integrated approach, businesses selling medical equipment online have the opportunity to make informed procurement decisions with real-time sales data while simultaneously eliminating arduous manual labor in regards to multi-warehouse management.

The supply chain includes following assets (integrations):

Vendor administration system

A different vendor moderation and plans consolidated in one database.
A system for split vendors by rating.
An onboarding guide for vendors with instruction and documentation.
A separate page or micro-store for every vendor.
Balance, report and statistics per each vendor.
Convenient system of vendors settlements.

Product information system

Integration with warehouses and inventory product systems.
Stock control and low stock notification.
Inventory control, management automation, and easy exchange product data.
Warehouse configurations by geolocation for better display products.

Order management system

Routing orders to an optimal warehouse based on geographical location and stock levels.
Customizable workflows to fulfill orders different in order value, quantity, and more.
Customer notification system with automated emails.

Data analytics and marketing solutions

Sales forecasting for different regions, types of medical equipment and supplies, buyers, etc.
Warehouse space optimization by preventing stale stock.
Customer loyalty retention.

What Are the Financial Costs of Starting an Online Medical Supply Marketplace?

When determining the cost of a project, there are numerous variables to consider including your product catalog size, web design needs, target audience scope and maturity level of automated business workflow.

Which is included in the pricing of medical supply & equipment marketplace:

CS-Cart Multi-Vendor license.
Set up hosting, domain.
Responsive design theme and mobile version.
Add-ons and custom improvements.

Cart-Power has a successful example in developing an online medical marketplace. One of the large projects is Elit. It’s not only a medical supply marketplace, but also a unique online platform which engages medical organizations, doctors, and sellers.

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Conclusion

Starting an online marketplace for medical supplies requires careful planning and research. It is important to be aware of all applicable laws and regulations, and to obtain necessary legal documents to protect yourself from potential liabilities or lawsuits.

Creating an online marketplace also requires choosing the right technology platform, setting up user-friendly payment processes, and marketing your business so that it stands out from competitors.

With the right amount of preparation and research, entrepreneurs can create a successful marketplace that provides value for customers, vendors and rewarding experiences for owners.

Find out more about Vertical Marketplaces in “Comprehensive Overview of Vertical Marketplaces: How to Create”

The post Healthcare Marketplace: How to Start Selling Medical Supply & Equipment Online first appeared on Cart-Power.

How To Launch A Successful MVP. Step By Step Plan

Cart-Power Team — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 06:25:53 +0000

In the previous article, we talked about the main benefits of creating a Minimum Viable Product. This approach to creating a product will help not only quickly develop and launch it, but also find out the needs of the audience, purchasing power, and check out ways to monetize it.

MVP will help to avoid unnecessary costs, as the project is launched with the minimum necessary capabilities. The functionality highlights the main thing for solving the client’s problem. In other words, if you want to create a website for rental housing, then it will be vital:

Possibility to place ads;
Leave a request, make a reservation for a specific date;
Pay;
Contact administrator.

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Some statistics

Approximately 40% of startups become profitable. And in the first half of 2022, investors around the world have invested about $250 billion in startups.

In Russia, in the first half of 2022, the volume of attracted investments fell sharply. But despite this, this period became a stage of transformation both in the strategy of start-ups and in investing in projects. Import substitution is actively developing, suppliers and delivery channels are changing. Private investors become drivers, Business Software, ECommerce, Transport & Logistics become priority investment segments, preference is given to young projects at early stages.

And yet statistics say that about 90% of startups fail. One of the main reasons is the inconsistency of the idea with the requirements of the market, the second is the lack of funds for financing.
How not to end up in the startup graveyard and launch a really successful MVP?

PoC, RAT, MLP, MVP?

It is not uncommon for Minimum Viable Product to be confused with other hypotheses testing approaches. Let’s separate the flies from the cutlets.

PoC or Proof of Concept serves to prove an idea, a concept. For this, it is not necessary to develop a product. To check that the future project is interesting to the market, you can use surveys, make a small landing page and collect lead applications from the announcement. PoC serves as a preparatory stage and a small guarantee that the future product will be of interest to the audience. The MVP is already offering the product and testing it.

RAT or Riskiest Assumption Test checks the most risky assumption, a product can also be created for this, but they follow the cheapest path. The main tasks in the RAT approach:

Make your wildest guess.
Check it out in the cheapest way.
Get feedback, make a conclusion to include the hypothesis in the MVP or not.

How to use RAT? See below

MLP or Minimum Loveable Product is a bit broader than MVP, it serves to win the loyalty of the first buyers. You create a product in order to stand out from the competition and find advocates for your brand. This is still a minimal version of the product, but in this version you will pay more attention to the interface or shopping experience.

Below we have compared all approaches, with an example:

Stages of creating an MVP

So, the main stages in the development of MVP can be identified as follows:

1. Determine the goal
Your service, product or service should be a solution to some problem or close some task. Ideally, it should also be interesting to the buyer. Figure out how your product should help customers.

2. Research the audience
To better understand who you are creating a product for, segment customers into groups and describe their portrait:

age;
income level;
marital status;
habits and hobbies;
interests;
ways to search for information;
how customers make a buying decision?

Segmentation will help you better understand what motives and incentives will encourage your audience to convert on the site, what drives them when making decisions. Having found out this, you will understand what functionality is worth working on, and what can be postponed for now.
For example, the target audience that buys equipment for yachts lives in private houses, they have their own berths and, when making purchase decisions, they are guided by the reviews of acquaintances and YouTube videos. Therefore, the ability to watch videos, reviews will be an important advantage.

3. Analyze competitors
Find out if there are similar solutions on the market. Who are your competitors, what functionality do they offer, what are their main features. Serpstat, Popsters, search by key queries, industry ratings, analytical reports on the venture market will help you here.

4. SWOT analysis
Once you have a specific audience, competitor offers and the main goal of your product, make a list of your:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

Strengths and weaknesses reflect the internal characteristics of the product itself. Based on them, as well as external factors, it turns out what opportunities your product has, what potential it has, what threats or risks the product may face.
Make a map of risks and rank each of them, depending on the likelihood of the event occurring and the consequences that the event will entail. Prepare a strategy to prevent these threats, plan for weaknesses, and use opportunities to the maximum.

5. Describe the Customer Journey Map
Look at the product from the customer’s point of view. The customer journey is the course of action on the site that the user must complete in order to purchase a product or use a service. CJM shows how the client will interact with the site.
It should be not only short, but also convenient. There can be several user path scenarios and they can describe not only actions, but also the way of thinking and emotions.
To get more than just a sales funnel, describe the actions that relate to both visiting the site and the stage after the sale. CJM will help you find out at what stages you need basic functionality, at what additional ones, what page prototypes will be required.

6. Highlight the main thing in the functionality
This will help to prioritize and divide the work into stages. To create a minimal product, you need to highlight the functionality, without which the product cannot cope with the solution of the client’s problem. For example, buy a product, find and select a hotel for booking. Developing additional functionality may turn out to be an unnecessary investment, since after the launch you will receive feedback and will know exactly what exactly needs to be added and where.

7. Approach to development
Depending on the detailed terms of reference, budgets and the degree of involvement in the development, choose the appropriate way to work with the development team. This could be Scrum, Kanban, or a mix of approaches to improve the product as feedback comes in.

8. Testing
MVP should be tested regularly. Testing internally will help to release the product without errors. Testing on real users will help to collect the first feedback to find out how the current functions work adequately.
After the launch of the MVP, it is also necessary to constantly test in order to technically improve the product.

What mistakes should be avoided when creating an MVP

1. Excessive idealization.

The main task of an MVP is to launch a product quickly in order to test hypotheses. When working on the minimum functionality, do not forget that it should perform the main task. This means that if you need a buy function, then there should be a button, a shopping cart, a checkout, and payment methods. Functions such as compare products, offer analogues, collections and accessories are aimed at upselling. You can work on them after you are convinced that the market is interested in the idea.

2. Minimal does not mean unfinished.

MVP saves your budget by limiting the development of quantity, but not the quality of functionality. To get reliable test results, your minimum functionality must work well. Otherwise, buyers will refuse the product not because of its uselessness, but because of the difficulty of acquiring it.

3. Ignoring feedback.

Respond to feedback in a timely manner to avoid shortcomings. To do this, use quantitative metrics:

dynamics of the number of users;
average time spent on the site;
conversion rate or number of paid users.

And also conduct qualitative research to get emotional and detailed feedback. We wrote more about metrics in a previous article.

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The post How To Launch A Successful MVP. Step By Step Plan first appeared on Cart-Power.

Fast Online Launch. Everything You Need To Know About MVP

Cart-Power Team — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:55:52 +0000

The MVP approach has revolutionized how startups are built. Developing a minimum viable version of a product has become a key step in launching and validating business ideas.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a product with enough necessary features to test it and get an audience’s view of the product. The right approach to creating an MVP will help to further scale the project and lead to success. A good example is Uber. In 2010 they had an app that bore little resemblance to the current version. The application was extremely limited in functionality, it only worked in San Francisco, and in order to access the service, you had to write to the founder. Now the application is distributed in more than 70 countries of the world, and more than 118 million people use it. At the MVP stage, Uber was able to better understand their target audience, the attitude of competitors, and also clarify legal issues.

What is included in the MVP. Creation approaches

What is included in the minimum number of features? Which of them are necessary and sufficient? In this sense, “minimum” should not be misleading, since the product must work according to a scenario for which a real client is willing to pay money.
There are several approaches to launching an MVP version: soft and hard. The main difference is that with a soft launch, you create a product for a limited audience, while with a hard launch, you attract as many customers as possible.

With a soft start, the risks are much less. The main tasks of this version:

Collect feedback from users. Based on it, you can figure out which features to work on first, second, and so on.
Find out purchasing power. To develop a competent pricing policy.
Check monetization methods.

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You can limit the audience by geographic location, a narrow niche, and use this approach to test any idea. So, Starbucks plans to abandon disposable cups. At the same time, they follow a soft concept of launching their idea, starting in selected countries. In South Korea, they gave up 200,000 disposable cups in 3 months.

A hard start is more costly. You are releasing a product to a wide audience with marketing costs to reach as many customers as possible. This approach is not recommended for innovative, untested products, or if the infrastructure is unreliable. But it is justified when:

You are confident in the product and need to quickly take a place in a new niche.
Consumer reaction will be expected.
The product is partially familiar and you only need to expand the audience.

How can an MVP help?

The most important thing that MVP development will help with is to find out whether the audience really needs the product and whether they are ready to buy it. The sooner this becomes clear, the less risk there is to fail in the market and end up wasting the budget.

Test hypotheses

According to statistics, almost half of startups fail for one simple reason – “there is no need for the market.” Before wasting time on developing a unique product, test it in test mode, but will it be of interest to anyone?
If the assumptions are not justified, then at this stage there is an opportunity to change the situation at a low cost, based on facts, not assumptions.
Agile approach goes well with MVP. After each iteration, you will be able to improve the product with facts, not assumptions. Ultimately, the product or service will reach the stage of market fit, i.e. it will fully cover the needs of the client.

Save time and money

The second big problem for startups is “run out of money”. And most often it occurs due to early scaling. Creating and adding features that are not yet needed wastes not only budget, but also time. MVP iterations will help you collect real data and start developing additional features at the right time.

Take a place in the market

MVP helps to enter the market faster, get ahead of competitors, and attract the first audience. If the product is innovative for the customer, an MVP is a great way to build interest around it, communicate value, and build trust. Then, in the subsequent phase of expansion, the first clients will act as brand advocates.

Reduce the risk of errors

The market is quite condescending towards a start-up business. The price of a mistake in this case is not so high, and if something went wrong, then an apology should be made to a small audience. But as large startups grow or launch at once, product or people management becomes more complex, and the consequences of doing the wrong thing can be greater.

Attract investments

Startups do not always attract large investors. But even small investments will help to focus and focus on the essentials, gradually improving the product. You know exactly what you need to spend money on, without being distracted by the creation of secondary improvements or administrative costs.

There is the concept of a Minimum Viable Investment Framework (MVIF), based on which too much funding in the early stages will not help, but will exacerbate the situation. MVIF determines how much investment will be sufficient at each stage of a startup.

On the other hand, a lack of funding can keep the best idea from coming to fruition. Investors receive a huge number of applications for consideration, but in order to interest them, you need to prove its viability and show market interest.

What does an MVP look like? Examples

FeetUp

A mobile application that offers yoga, fitness and meditation classes to subscribers.

The app helps you do your favorite exercises without leaving your home and without hiring a personal trainer. Livestream with your teacher and interact with the community.

What features were created for MVP:

Possibility to log in
Database of audio and video content
Lesson progress tracking
Built-in related products store
Support service

The app has been downloaded over 10,000 times in a year and received a lot of positive feedback.

Skillswap

Platform for the exchange of knowledge and skills. Users list their knowledge on the site, look for suitable ones, agree on training and exchange of skills.
Necessary functionality for the platform to work:

Profile Management
List of skills and search function
Appointment management and calendar automation
Payment system
Skill promotion

At the moment, the platform works as a white label.

Voya

European platform for business travel. This is a web and mobile service that helps to quickly and efficiently organize business trips for travelers and companies.

What functionality is implemented:

Registration and authorization
Booking and ticketing system
Chat with a personal manager
Personal Area
Reporting system and admin tools

Since the first launch, the app has been downloaded over 1,000,000 times. In 2020, Volkswagen Financial Services acquired Voya.

Performance Tracking Metrics

Qualitative and quantitative metrics exist for data collection and performance research.

Quantitative indicators are based on actual data. To evaluate the effectiveness of the project, you can use:

Number of registrations: shows how interested customers are in your product.
Number of users who pay: if you have a free version of the product, this indicator will help you find out if people are really willing to pay for your idea.
Conversion rate: shows the percentage of potential customers converted into real ones.
Retention and churn rate: the percentage of users who returned and the percentage of users who left.
Most and least used features: Helps you figure out what works great and what needs more work or more instructions.
Daily vs. Monthly Users: How many people are using your product and what are the trends.

Quantitative data based on analysis and metrics go well with qualitative indicators. For this purpose, various surveys and interviews with real users are conducted. So you can find out how accessible and understandable the functionality is, find out the wishes and disappointments of the audience.

The Sean Ellis quiz will help you figure out if you are moving in the direction of product-market fit. It consists of one question: “How would you feel if you could no longer use the product/service?”. The responses are built as follows:

I will be very disappointed;
A bit disappointed;
Not disappointed (rarely use);
I no longer use the product/service.

You can read more about performance metrics in our article “Marketplace Analytics. How to measure performance?”

Some Important Tips

In conclusion, we’d like to add obvious tips, but which for some reason are often forgotten:

Don’t be afraid to try. Develop, test, release, repeat – the main rule if you are working on an MVP strategy.
Don’t make a complex MVP. Remember that you need to implement the functionality to test the idea and the reaction of customers.
Don’t waste time on long development of functions. Cut out everything that is not vital to your product.

The following article covered how to launch a successful MVP with a step by step plan. They also told how the MVP approach differs from PoC, RAT and MLP.

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The post Fast Online Launch. Everything You Need To Know About MVP first appeared on Cart-Power.

All You Need To Know To Quickly Start A Car Rental Website

Cart-Power Team — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 07:41:00 +0000

The opportunity to rent not only apartments, but also cars, is becoming an urgent request not only among residents of large cities. In the current economic situation, renting a car is more profitable than buying, especially if the car is rarely used. Let’s find out how the car rental site works and what kind of audience you should count on.

Car sharing or rental

The main difference between a car sharing service and a car rental is that the rental implies use for a long period, sometimes even for months. While carsharing is a short-term rental. This is the per-minute use of the car, usually for short trips within the same city.

Car rental assumes that there are certain offices that you need to contact in order to issue a car. And you can leave the car not in any place for parking, but at the rental office.
The car sharing infrastructure is wider, the car can be picked up or left at any place allowed for parking.
Car sharing involves making a trip entirely through a mobile application. You just download the application, select an available car on the map and fill in the required fields in the order form.
Not all rental services can offer mobile design.

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As a result, we can conclude that carsharing is an independent project that has grown out of a car rental service. We have reflected the main differences in the table.

Who uses car rental services?

The volume of the Russian carsharing market has increased and by the end of 2021 is 68 billion rubles. The largest projects are still concentrated in the central cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, but the popularity and coverage of cities is gradually growing.

What motivates people to use car rental services?

Cheaper than your car. Undoubtedly, the main incentive is the price. If buying your own car is expensive, then renting a car for short trips is an alternative to public transport. In addition, many companies use carsharing services to serve their customers.
Development of domestic tourism. Until the time of Covid, it was common for many to rent a car and explore a foreign country. Such an active way of traveling made it possible to independently plan a trip and visit the most interesting places that could not be reached by public transport.
An opportunity to try something new. The car fleet can be very diverse, and this is an occasion to test a certain brand before buying, use the services of a “smart” car, or find special vehicles for special occasions: weddings, photo shoots, etc.

According to the Russian Academy of Transport, car rental services are most often used by men aged 25-34, residents of megacities, with driving experience. Most have their own car. Every tenth driver uses carsharing services once a week. Most activity of trips on carsharing falls on the weekend.

If we segment the target audience in detail, we will get several groups of potential customers:

middle-class residents use cars for short trips as an alternative to taxis or their own transport;
tourists, for independent travel planning – rent for several days and the ability to take and leave a car in different places;
corporate clients, companies, taxi services that need their own fleet of vehicles for employees;
young people from 25 to 35 who are looking for an exclusive for a short time, diversity and uniqueness are important to them.

Pros and cons of car rental service

The undoubted advantages of a car rental business are:

The demand for services continues to grow. In small towns there is no competition at all. And even in megacities, each operator has its drawbacks, which can become your competitive advantage.
Affiliate network instead of buying cars. To start a business, it is not necessary to purchase a fleet of cars in order to provide a service. You can follow the path of foreign companies by developing a partner network, and thereby expand the geography of coverage.
Investments from the state. According to statistics, one car sharing car can replace 10 personal cars, which means less traffic and traffic jams. Therefore, the authorities are interested and develop programs of benefits, subsidies, etc.
Taxi competition. As the users of carsharing cars themselves note, during peak hours it is much faster to use car rental services, moreover, you always know the exact price.

Among the shortcomings can be noted:

Volume investments in case of purchase of cars. If you buy cars for service, then do not forget about the cost of repairs, maintenance, washing.
Low awareness of the service. This is especially true for small towns. The lack of awareness is followed by the risks of a weak consumer culture, and these are: vandalism, accidents, hijacking, hacking of work applications.

Examples of car booking sites

Consider what popular services for booking and car rental offer.

Rentalcars

Aggregator Rentalcars, which brings together large car rental companies. A wide coverage network includes about 6,000 cities around the world, with various rental points: airports, railway stations, city centers.
For customers, there is technical support in 40 languages. For partner companies – the ability to independently set rental rules. For example, one vendor may offer rental without a deposit, another may require additional documents, and a third may establish mandatory conditions for insurance.

EconomyBookings

It also unites rental vendors. The site has been operating since 2008 and offers services in 130 countries around the world. Due to the fact that they work with local and small companies, the client can find a suitable price for his request.
To make a reservation, you must specify: dates, make of car and place of booking.

The site has some features:

if you rent a car in one place and rent it in another, the price will be more expensive;
if the age of the driver is less than 25 years, not all companies can rent a car;
the terms of the contract may include: a mandatory type of card (debit or credit) with which you can receive the service;
the amount of gasoline with which you need to return the car.

Economycarrentals

Popular broker with 15 years of experience. The company has more than 1500 partners and is constantly expanding its network around the world.

With a customer focus, Economycarrentals provides:

zero deductible insurance. This means that in case of an accident for any amount, this is an insured event;
if plans have changed, cancellation of the reservation will cost 2 euros;
in many cases, the “co-driver” option is provided free of charge.

Delimobil

Large Russian car sharing, has more than 17,000 cars in 10 cities of Russia. All order management is carried out through a mobile application, and you can find an available car on an interactive map.
The service provides per-minute rental payments, which is very convenient in big cities for short trips when a car is not needed for the whole day.
Different tariffs are available for customers, depending on the day and time of day. And how on public transport you can buy a “Travel Card” for several hours or days. In this case, the cost of one minute is fixed.
The company plans to expand the network of partners and provide cargo car sharing services.

Citydrive

The service is very similar to Delimobil – services are also provided through a mobile application, with an interactive map and per-minute billing.

Main differences:

carsharing operates in the cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi;
customer loyalty program includes: discounts for the first trip, cashbacks and payment with bonuses, multi-level status for regular customers;
affiliate program with VK, Halva.

Website structure on the example of ComfortCar rental service

The ComfortCar car rental service has grown into a business in 12 years with a fleet of more than 500 cars in 8 cities in Poland. In order to provide a full-fledged rental service, we have worked out the structure of the site, main sections and features. We united all cities on one CS-Cart Multi-Vendor site, developed the booking functionality from scratch, and as a result received a full-fledged online rental service.

The main blocks of the rental service:

Selecting a branch for rent. Here are the cities where you can rent a car. One of the important advantages is that ComfortCar does not limit the route to one city. You can rent a car in one place and rent it in another, or even go abroad.
The choice of cars by category. Depending on the segment of the target audience, 8 categories of cars are available for selection from economy options to luxury brands.
Useful information. It contains all the necessary information about the rental conditions, promotions and discounts, useful tips and, of course, information about the company.

Catalog and product card

In the catalog, the view of all machines can be configured by a list or a tile. In all cases, the necessary filters by price and gearbox will be available.
The most necessary fields for selection have been created in the car card: the place and date of receipt and return, whether a foreign trip is planned. Anything that affects the final cost.

Moreover, to promote the service, we added reviews and ratings about the car. But as you can see from experience, many customers leave feedback on the service itself.

User Account

In the users account, you can check the information about the booking, if necessary, cancel the booking. The client can use the service of delivering the car to the desired location. For example, you arrive at a certain airport, and a rental car will be waiting for you at a certain time, in the right place.

Manager's Account

Cities act as vendors for ComfortCar. That is, each city has its own manager-administrator, for whom we have developed a wide administrative panel. It is a complete internal CRM system for the entire project.

The functionality of the admin area allows you to: manage orders, track cars, monitor the loading of cars, check payments, assign drivers for car delivery, add available cars, pay salaries to drivers, and much more.

Booking information is interactively generated in the availability calendar.

Checkout

ComfortCar works not only with individuals, but also with legal entities. As we said above, corporate clients can act as the target audience of carsharing services. It is logical for them to provide a different checkout so that the client fills in only the required fields.

What's under the hood?

What was included in the solution for the development of a car rental website:

CS-Cart Multi-Vendor license;
Add ons: Frequently Asked Questions — customers have the same rental questions, the answers to which are conveniently grouped in one place. Power blog to create a variety of content and get additional traffic;
Set up hosting, domain;
Responsive mobile version. Most customers are looking for rental services through a mobile application, a simple and understandable way to place an order will help increase sales;
Custom improvements. For ComfortCar we have developed:
1. Functional rental and booking unit;
2. A full-fledged internal CRM system: from tracking a car (its location, technical characteristics, etc.) to paying employees;
3. Integration with GPS system to track mileage.

We can modify and adapt any ecommerce project on CS-Cart to the required functionality. The project form of work may include both a FixedPrice payment, if the customer clearly understands the needs. So is the work on Time & Materials, when in the process of customization additional needs may arise that cannot be foreseen in advance.

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The post All You Need To Know To Quickly Start A Car Rental Website first appeared on Cart-Power.

Quick start - Cart-Power

Custom Development vs Ready-Made Solution. How to Choose, Pros and Cons

What is a CMS

Website Builders

Price

What is suitable for

Fully Managed Solution

Price

What is suitable for

What is Custom Development

Fully Custom CMS

Price

What is suitable for

Custom Development on a Ready-Made CMS Platform

Price

What is suitable for

Pros and Cons of Ready-Made Solutions and Custom Developments

How Do You Decide Which is Right for You?

Questions to Help You Choose a Right IT Solution

Bottom Line

Healthcare Marketplace: How to Start Selling Medical Supply & Equipment Online

The Medical Supplies And Equipment Market Is Rapidly Digitizing

Overcoming Obstacles When Selling Medical Supplies & Equipment Online

Challenge #1. Constructing a marketplace can be both costly and time consuming.

Challenge #2. Large corporations control the market

Challenge #3. By embracing online retail, businesses no longer need the sales team

The Benefits Of Selling Medical Equipment Online

Legal Considerations When Selling Medical Equipment Online

How to Start a Medical Supply Business Online: 6 Essential Steps

Business Models

Pricing approach for medical technology producers

Ecommerce models empowering medtech manufacturers and sellers

Features of a Medical Supply & Equipment Marketplace

Basic marketplace functionality

Functionality specific to B2C model

Functionality specific to B2B model

Key Functionality Illustrated

Supply Chain Structure and Required Integrations

What Are the Financial Costs of Starting an Online Medical Supply Marketplace?

Conclusion

How To Launch A Successful MVP. Step By Step Plan

Some statistics

PoC, RAT, MLP, MVP?

Below we have compared all approaches, with an example:

Stages of creating an MVP

What mistakes should be avoided when creating an MVP

Fast Online Launch. Everything You Need To Know About MVP

What is included in the MVP. Creation approaches

How can an MVP help?

Test hypotheses

Save time and money

Take a place in the market

Reduce the risk of errors

Attract investments

What does an MVP look like? Examples

FeetUp

Skillswap

Voya

Performance Tracking Metrics

Some Important Tips

All You Need To Know To Quickly Start A Car Rental Website

Car sharing or rental

Who uses car rental services?

Pros and cons of car rental service

Examples of car booking sites

Rentalcars

EconomyBookings

Economycarrentals

Delimobil

Citydrive

Website structure on the example of ComfortCar rental service

Navigation menu

Catalog and product card

User Account

Manager's Account

Checkout

What's under the hood?