Foodiepages is a marketplace that brings together lovers of artisan food across Canada and its producers. On the website you can find custom made products from small local producers across Canada such as honey, cookies, bread, meat and other goods of your choice. Our team has worked with the client from the concept stage, designing and developing it from the very scratch.
Before we’ve proceeded with the production process, there was a significant initial stage during which we have discussed project details with the client from different perspectives, identifying functionality challenges, possible solutions, and desired approaches. We’ve identified project stages and milestones, deployment objectives, summary of required content, and each participating party’s responsibilities.
The initial stage of our production was a website layout prototyping also called wire framing. It’s a key process in which the site’s architecture, navigation, and layouts are defined. We’ve setup frames for the product page, the user account sections, and the checkout process. Once we have all agreed on the results, we have proceeded to the graphic design stage.
While we were working on the graphic design, we have tried different color schemes, various backgrounds and plans of specific components to achieve the look and the feel of a custom, quality product that reflects the nature of the marketplace and its participants. We’ve designed the key internal pages and the account pages, changing and adjusting components along the way, to make sure that the new website looks as it was envisioned once completed. We have spent quite some time on adjusting, modifying, and refining the producers’ store pages as well as the product page with all applicable options. Our client was satisfied with the results. Then, when all the details were taken care of, and the final designs were converted into HTML and CSS, we have continued to the web development stage.
While this marketplace is fairly conventional to an end user, it does include several very unique functionalities that were successfully implemented by our team. We’ve started with the database design to ensure that the website will perform well once deployed. We’ve implemented a large scale catalogue solution and the multi user accounts that cover both the shoppers as well as the merchants who want to sell their products through the site. We have paid special attention to the merchant account registration process and worked together with the client on it’s proper, meaningful, and streamlined implementation. To maintain a good look and an optimum performance of the site, it was crucial to implement required account validation options, including products’ submission and order placement.
One of the key functionality of this website is the producer’s account. Each producer once registered and approved can create his or her own store front and link it to his or her website. Using their convenient account options, producers can add as many products as they want with multiple product parameters that cover most commonly used product aspects such as general description, ingredients, nutrition facts, special packaging for perishable goods, and many more.
The unique features of this marketplace include highly sophisticated payment scheme implementation and Canada Post shipping integration. The payment flow consists of the integration of a 3D secure verification module and a conventional payment processor, the API. Both were successfully completed. Especially challenging was the Canada Post integration. The standard of the online shipping solution is designed so that one company is able to ship products to different clients from one warehouse. In our case, there are many companies that are shipping to different clients from different locations. Canada Post didn’t have an open box solution for that business logic (strategy), therefore it took a great deal of communication between all parties: the client, CP, and BusinessMedia to figure out and implement such a solution. In fact, we utilized several tools from CanadaPost and put them together with certain customization as per project requirements along the way. So, after several months of development, shipping was set as required along with accurate billing, order tracking, limits, and other associated parameters. It was quite a challenge, according to Canada Post guys, as it has been never done by anyone else before. Now, our development team can be proudly referred to as the Canada Post integration experts.
Next, after a through testing, we’ve beta-launched the website to introduce it to a limited number of users. We truly appreciate the patience of all who used the website during that period and who helped us improve and perfect it in many aspects and details.
Food Day Canada, August 4th, 2012 is the birthday of FoodiePages.ca, the date on which it officially went live for the broader audience. This beautiful website allows customers put items from different producers across the country into their shopping carts and treat each as a single order, although, in fact, it is an aggregated order and each producer does its own shipping directly to the customer. It is similar to the way the big sites such as Amazon offer to its clients at a fraction of the cost. The FoodiePages website is quick, convenient, and yet scalable for further growth. Most importantly, thanks to FoodiePages .ca, food that was once available only to locals of those small producers is now accessible to everyone across Canada. This brilliant idea that our team helped to implement will benefit many keen fine food lovers in our Country.
