CRM for the marketplace

Organizing the work of a marketplace is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance. Unlike ordinary online stores, they are not limited to the offers of one company, but unite hundreds of sellers with a wide variety of product categories on their platforms.

Accordingly, there are many more business processes in marketplaces that need control and maximum automation: working with companies and customers, receiving and processing orders, tracking each delivery and organizing returns. CRM-system will help to put routine tasks on the conveyor and increase the efficiency of the staff.

CRM is primarily an automation tool. It is developed based on the individual needs of the business and can include a wide variety of functionality. Consider the main modules that can be integrated into such a system:

• Sellers management. Since the marketplace is not engaged in direct retail trade, but only acts as an intermediary, sellers form its main income. CRM stores and organizes data about each of them, which greatly simplifies communication and allows you to offer partners more relevant paid services.
• Document flow. Using CRM, you will be able to convert the entire workflow into a digital format, which will greatly simplify the interaction with sellers and allow you to get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Processing orders and inquiries. Any requests from sellers, existing or potential, are automatically recorded in the digital infrastructure. Therefore, not a single customer request will be missed, which will increase the level of service.
• Integration with telephony and services. Individual CRM can be integrated with any external tools, such as instant messengers, payment systems or telephony, which will make doing business even easier and more convenient.
• Collection of analytics. Up-to-date analytics will help you monitor the success of your business online and respond to any changes in a timely manner.

A marketplace is a rather complex business with many internal processes, so in order to create an effective CRM, it is important for us, as developers, to build good communication with the client. To do this, we are building development according to the SCRUM methodology, which involves an iterative approach.

This means that all tasks are distributed among the team and completed in short sprints. Each such sprint has a specific goal and a limited time frame for implementation. Accordingly, our client always knows what the developers are doing right now and what the result will be. With this approach, the client and the team often have new ideas on how to make the system even better. Such proposals are discussed and then implemented in the project.

In addition to the methodology, there are also development stages – these are certain stages through which CRM goes through in the implementation process. Let’s consider the main ones.

Stage 1. Gathering information

At the initial stage, a study is carried out, during which specialists need to determine:

• client’s vision;

• experience of using similar solutions by the client;
• business processes;
• marketing cycles;
• existing IT infrastructure of the company.

To find answers to these and other questions, we organize meetings with customer representatives.

Stage 2. Design and preparation of technical documentation

When all the information is collected and systematized, the developers perform the CRM design and create a prototype. It should include mockups of individual pages and a navigation system between them, a description of the main functionality that will be implemented, and a technology stack.

Further, in order to synchronize our vision with the views of the client, we perform a presentation of the prototype and, if necessary, make the necessary changes to it.

Stage 3. Design development

CRM capabilities cover most of the business processes of the marketplace and can store data on hundreds and thousands of its customers. Therefore, it is extremely important that the visual environment of the system remains simple and comfortable for users.

To create the most convenient interface, CRM design is often developed individually. With this approach, all design elements are thought out and drawn from scratch, which allows you to take into account all the functional features of the project.

Stage 4. Programming

Programming is a fairly general concept. In practice, the technical development of CRM includes two components:

• Frontend. This is the external part of the project that users interact with. Different technologies can be used to implement it: for web applications – HTML / CSS / JavaScript or Vue.js / React.js, and for mobile applications – the Swift language for IOS and Java / Kotlin for Android, as well as Flutter / Dart for cross-platform solutions.
• Backend. The backend is understood as the server part of CRM, which is responsible for the operation of the functionality, storage and processing of data and interaction with external services. In web and mobile applications, Python/PHP/Node.js and Django/Flask/Yii2/Laravel frameworks can be used to implement it. On desktop versions, the C++ language may also be added to this stack.

Stage 5. Testing

After the development is completed, the functionality is thoroughly tested by QA engineers. They check the correct operation of each module and determine the readiness of CRM for release.

Stage 6. Technical support and development

Starting to use CRM in real conditions, users may encounter various unforeseen errors, and in this case, qualified technical assistance is indispensable.

Therefore, after deployment, the product moves to the technical support stage.

It is also important that after the release you can continue to develop CRM, adding new functionality to it or expanding the existing one. To solve such problems, new patches with updates are released, which are developed separately and then installed into an already working system.

Using the capabilities of an individual CRM, you will be able to establish closer relationships with sellers, get to know their needs better and automate most of the routine processes in the marketplace. This will increase your competitiveness and open up new prospects for business development.

AVADA MEDIA specializes in the development of high-load CRM systems for various business areas. At the same time, despite our experience, we are always open to dialogue with the client and are ready to discuss his vision and ideas. This allows us to think outside the box and find the best technical solutions for his business.