A Model Online Store

As it turned out, the Melbis Shop software platform is used by a number of online stores that have become leaders in their product segments. This is what makes Melbis Shop special: due to its extensive functionality, it is complex and excessive for entry-level stores, but at the same time super effective for those striving to become the best in their product niche.

One such example, clearly demonstrating the use of Melbis Shop, is the AstroScope online store, which we will use as a model. It is a popular astronomy supermarket where you can buy a telescope for observing the stars. It was founded in 2007 and from its very first day used Melbis Shop version 5, and today version 6. Of course, in addition to telescopes themselves, this online store also features other product categories such as astronomy binoculars and spotting scopes.

When developing the AstroScope store, a scalable approach was used, as if this project could transform tomorrow into a large supermarket with new product categories. In other words, the core of the project is the use of Melbis Shop multitasking, as well as the formalization and structuring of business processes that can easily be adapted for other niche stores too, for example, a sporting goods supermarket or a department store for children's toys, etc.

   


What can be said about the Melbis Shop capabilities used in the AstroScope store?

Using AstroScope as an example of a model online store built on Melbis Shop, we will look at the store from the inside, giving you the opportunity to evaluate the project’s business structure and its implementation with Melbis Shop 6. 

This is what the overall statistics of the AstroScope store database look like, characterizing how fully it is populated:

Of course, the AstroScope project uses all the basic capabilities that have already been declared in the Program Screenshots section. In general, these are standard functions for working with product descriptions, prices, and price lists, so they will not be listed here again. 

Of course, in addition to the standard capabilities of the Melbis Shop software, this project also has its own specific configurations and modules. These are exactly what we will focus on in more detail. 

Each employee has their own roles and responsibilities according to the originally defined regulations, for example:

Moderator
Manager
Promoter
Senior Logistician
Junior Logistician
Content Manager


Options and settings

Since Melbis Shop software is, above all, a tool for creating unique online storefronts and business processes, building the AstroScope store required creating and defining many different options and settings.

First of all, these are Custom settings, where the developers have defined certain store constants that can be changed by specific store employees without programmer involvement. There are so many settings that, for convenient and clear display, a tree structure was created (on the left in the screenshot), grouping the settings by sections:

In addition to user settings, special specific settings were also created for various reference directories. For example, this is what the extended options for Suppliers look like:

Also, to make it convenient and clear for employees to filter data when working with the database, the standard Melbis Shop query functionality was expanded with custom filters for selecting products and orders by various criteria:


Web modules

The next aspect that definitely deserves mention is additional web modules. With their help, the store combines, on the one hand, the full power of an engine designed for batch work with large numbers of products (thanks to the desktop Windows application), and on the other hand, makes the store extraordinarily flexible in terms of capabilities by extending its functionality with custom web modules. 

These modules come in two types: built-in modules that are displayed directly inside the Windows application (via an embedded web browser), and external modules that can work both inside Melbis Shop and independently on any device with any operating system. Let us first consider the external web modules. Their range is quite diverse and allows very different tasks to be solved.


Store: Bulletin Board

A bulletin board for employees where a calendar of holidays and working days is defined. In other words, the responsible employee can predefine working and non-working days based on management instructions. This is convenient not only for the company, but also helps coordinate operations with suppliers and, most importantly, with customers. Thanks to this calendar, there is an automatic calculation of delivery times, which are displayed next to each product on the AstroScope website, as well as inside the program during order calculation, which automates managers’ work when taking orders.


Store: Managers

A system for automatic bonus calculation for managers based on their sales. Every store manager can enter this section to see the calculation dynamics of their own and others’ bonuses. Everything is clear, prompt, and accurate.


Store: Suppliers

This is a special section convenient for the administrator and logisticians. It allows them to quickly and clearly assess the status of work with suppliers’ product price lists: how many new products there are, how many have completed descriptions, etc. Also, through this section a logistician can access a supplier’s personal section. More about this will be explained later.


Store: Partners

A system for working with partners (bonus accrual and write-off). The AstroScope store not only sells telescopes, but also helps beginners understand them, and for this purpose it uses a partner network of amateur astronomers. These partners can also take part in sales through the online store by focusing on selecting the right products for the customer while using a special promo code. With this code, the customer receives an additional discount, and the store records a partner order. The system automatically records the partner’s sales history and accrues bonuses to them, which they can then spend in the store on purchasing any products.

It should also be mentioned here that each partner (who is also registered as a customer) has their own special partner section in the customer account, where all information is provided on the movement of orders made using their promo code.


Business: Order Summary

An additional order summary that can be obtained using the web interface. This section is convenient for use by store employees on a smartphone or tablet. In addition, this module is useful for quick order analysis by various options: status, delivery, payment, etc.


Business: Financial Accounting

Internal financial accounting of interactions within the company. It cannot be said that this system can completely replace accounting, but it can easily automate financial accounting within the company, within individual offices, or within departments. After all, the store database contains all the source information on products and sales.

Notably, the options of this module, as well as access rights for specific operations, are easily defined and edited thanks to the standard Module Options extension in Melbis Shop. In other words, web modules are not static, and store employees can configure them as needed without resorting to the services of programmers.


Business: Inventory Accounting

A web module for separate inventory accounting in the store. AstroScope uses its suppliers’ main warehouses, but in addition to that it also has its own internal warehouse, purchasing specific product items when necessary. Integrating product inventory accounting with the sales website creates transparency and coordination across the entire business. Everything is located right here, and all calculation interrelations can be tracked instantly.


Business: Strategy

A system for defining strategies for working with suppliers. This is an intelligent system for identifying and controlling profit on supplier products. It is very convenient for store managers and analysts, allowing them to shape supplier cooperation policy, track supplier mistakes or maneuvers affecting dealer earnings, and set automatic tolerance and preference rules for products:

Also, here it is possible to assign a product rating, thereby adjusting product positions in the catalog for maximum sales efficiency:

Inside the main report, there is a built-in system of subreports for analyzing the dynamics of availability and sales of each product item. In other words, you can track and correlate product sales with actual product availability or the supplier’s pricing policy conditions:


Analytics: Sales Summary

A simple and clear report that allows you to quickly review and analyze product sections in terms of aggregate metrics: turnover, income, and discounts granted to the customer. Using nested reports, you can quickly drill down to the components of these indicators, all the way to the specific product items that generated sales in the selected month:


Analytics: Warehouse Analysis

Warehouse analysis is a useful web module for analytical work with the company’s warehouse. The main principle of warehouse efficiency is avoiding overstocking. Therefore, the store’s logisticians need to make complex decisions about which products should be purchased into their own warehouse and which are better bought directly from the supplier for a specific order. As a result, every product that enters the AstroScope warehouse has its own rationale, as well as a number of other indicators such as Potential and Efficiency, which help forecast the advisability of keeping that inventory item.

The system also contains a subreport that tracks sales and returns of a specific warehouse product. It can also display price fluctuations:

The next analytical report is needed for routine warehouse stock replenishment updates. A period and a coefficient are selected. As a result, based on sales statistics, the system calculates how many units of each item need to be purchased:

Other warehouse reports include Awaiting Supply, Wanted to Buy, and Being Viewed. They are useful for determining exactly which products interest store visitors but, for some reason, are not being sold by the store. The fact is that some supplier products may be “blocked,” meaning they are forcibly set as unavailable. There can be many reasons for this, the most common being a cheap product combined with a supplier warehouse located far away. In such a case, it is not profitable to fulfill individual orders for that product. However, thanks specifically to this report, the store logistician can analyze what is still in demand and then purchase that product into the store warehouse, thereby optimizing logistics.

And the final section of warehouse analysis is Price Analysis. Using this report, you can quickly identify pricing trends in the market for products purchased into your own warehouse. After all, once a product has been purchased, its recommended price may change on the supplier’s side, so prices need to be compared periodically to avoid losing competitiveness and overstocking the warehouse.


Analytics: Charts and Reports

The store’s own internal statistics for section traffic, as well as sales trend analysis. An extremely useful module for both the store administrator and its owners. It allows you to know the traffic dynamics of specific store sections precisely. This is the most accurate statistics and does not depend on third-party services. It shows both the aggregate situation for the store as a whole and the traffic dynamics of specific sections over time.

The sales dynamics report works in a similar way. By selecting different intervals—day, week, month, year—and optionally activating a filter for a particular supplier, you can track sales dynamics.


Tools: SMS Sending

A control system for automatically sent customer notifications. When placing an order, as well as when certain statuses are assigned, the system automatically informs customers using an SMS service. With this web module, you can check all sent messages and also send an individual message manually.


Tools: Updating Carrier Warehouses

Automatic updating of the database of transport company warehouses. A module for loading the list of transport company warehouses via API for integration with the online store storefront. It simplifies order placement for both users and managers.


Tools: Unused Files

A system for finding and deleting unused files to optimize disk space. During the formation of the store storefront, outdated image files appear and should be removed periodically. This web module compares all file registries with the files actually present and allows you to view/delete those that are not referenced anywhere.


Tools: Attribute Conversion

A module for converting attribute types. During the process of creating product descriptions, there are situations when managers initially choose an enumerated type for attribute values. Later, this may prove to be an inefficient storage method, and then the product attribute can be redefined as text.


Documentation: regulations and guidelines

Documentation of company business processes and employee interaction, presented as general regulations and methodological guides that are easily accessible to every employee.


Built-in web modules

In addition to the standalone web modules listed above, there are also additional built-in web modules. These modules are effectively integrated into the Melbis Shop program. When a user works with products or orders, information is exchanged with these modules, and they enhance the program’s functionality online. For example, in the personal section of the manager working with product descriptions or in the logisticians’ pricing section, the following modules are available:

Product Description

Quick preview of the product description as it will be displayed for customers on the website:


Product Linking

Control of product linking. The store defines two product states: Showcase and Warehouse. Thanks to this, supplier price lists can be loaded into the store as warehouse items, and then linked to showcase products. This is necessary so that the system can select the best offer from among many warehouse products from various suppliers and sell it as a single showcase product.


Inventory Accounting

Inventory accounting, a quick way to view product movement through the warehouse. The built-in module is convenient for logisticians in Pricing, allowing them to quickly review current reservations and product movements through the internal warehouse.



Sales Summary

Sales summary, sales dynamics, and discount amount for a specific product by month.


Demand Dynamics

A chart of demand dynamics for the selected product, as well as the earnings on it (bonus). Using the store catalog directly in Melbis Shop, managers and logisticians can quickly navigate through sections and, with the help of this web module, view sales dynamics, prices, bonus margin, as well as discounts for a specific product.


Cost Dynamics

Product cost dynamics, wholesale and retail prices, as well as its availability. Two charts with monthly and daily intervals.


Gift Assignment

A system for automatic gift assignment. It is based on analyzing earnings on a product and searching for available gift products that fit within a specified profit loss range.




In addition, there are other built-in web modules that are available in the Orders section, where online store orders are processed.

Customer

The customer module, which displays aggregate information about the customer, their order history, purchase balance, and number of returns. Quick contact functions, PBX integration, and sending/viewing previously sent SMS notifications are also available here.



Finance

The finance module, which allows additional tracking of transactions related to project revenue accounting.


Supplier Account

In addition to the standard customer account that most online stores have, the AstroScope project also includes a special supplier account. In this way, the entire online store is transformed into a kind of marketplace, where suppliers not only provide their products, but also interact with the project directly, influencing product sales.


For example, here they can quickly set their currency rate for the entire price list (which was previously uploaded by AstroScope logisticians):



In the reservation section, product availability is automatically confirmed, based on which the customer instantly receives order confirmation. Preliminary orders also arrive here, which can be accumulated for the next supply:



A separate Price List section displays the current quality settings of a specific Supplier. These settings encourage the supplier to provide better service, which affects the global ranking of products in the store sections.



Also below there is a table displaying all of the supplier’s product items. In other words, in addition to providing a price list that will be uploaded into the store by logisticians, each supplier has the ability to check that all of their products have been loaded into the system, have descriptions, and are not blocked because of some unforeseen errors.



The next Supplier section is product buyout. If the store sells certain items often enough, it makes sense to purchase them into its own intermediate warehouse, thereby creating a kind of product buffer for optimizing transportation costs.

Therefore, the AstroScope project system automatically analyzes product items in terms of profitability and informs the supplier that these product items may be purchased. This is called the general list of successfully selling products.



The supplier reviews it and selects the required item. Then they activate the automatic buyout offer. This window contains basic commercial information about the product and its sales, return, seasonality dynamics, etc. The supplier’s task is to offer such a low cost and such a quantity of the product that the deal is profitable for the store (the profitability criterion is set by the store administrator in the settings). The delivery lead time until the next supply is also set here; in this case, it is possible not to reduce the product cost, and the deal will still be profitable due to the exclusivity of temporary availability. The completed form is automatically sent to the logistician as an economically justified commercial offer.



And one more section for the supplier is Product Rating. By shaping the earnings on a product, the supplier can encourage the store to actively sell specific products, include them in promotions, create reviews for them, and simply recommend them. This section is designed to show the supplier that the store tracks pricing policy trends and takes them into account.