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THE BLACK ART OF ECOMMERCE
(Why we built our own platform)
Philip Pantelides Operations & Process Lead
@blubolt
THE BLACK blu ART OF ECOMMERCE
(Why we built our own platform)
Philip Pantelides Operations & Process Lead
@blubolt
Born In a Barn
Max LambCo-founder & Technical Director
@blubolt
Chris MattinglyCo-founder & Creative Director
• Max and Chris meet at school
• Coincidentally both attend Durham University
• Chris opens a successful eCommerce store selling health products
• Max leaves corporate London to move to Bath to help out
• blubolt is born in a tiny barn office in 2006
Born In a Barn
@blubolt
bluCommerce Users
@blubolt
Bootstrapping
@blubolt
• Years 1-2 making eCommerce sites and web apps (First web 2.0 fitness web app - Traineo)
• Stand alone sites, separate codebases, eCommerce templates
A Growing Concern
@blubolt
• 2 years - dozens of sites (2006-8)
• Stand alone sites, separate codebase, eCommerce templates
• 3rd party platforms hacked together and heavily modded
@blubolt
• Divergence
• Patching issues
• Technical debt
• Unhappy company
• Unhappy clients
• Falling behind
Maintenance Nightmare!
What is the solution?
@blubolt
• Single codebase = easy maintenance
• Extensible
• Flexible
• Scalable
• Fast
@blubolt
• Didn’t Exist • Hard to maintain • OMGWTFISHBBQ pricing!
• Expensive • Little flexibility
• Basic, not built for large retailers
“Someone must have done this already”
Can’t Find It? Build It!
@blubolt
• bluCommerce is born!
• MVP Shipped as extensive modification of ECT platform
Growing Up
@blubolt
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
v1Load Speed
(memcached)
Vaguely maintainable
v2Faceting
(in memory)
New Admin
v3Faster Search
(Solr)
More speed! (more
mechached)
Scalable Web Workers / Hosting
v4New admin -
Flex/AIR
No more ECT
Completely new internals
v5Move to AWS
Build out of admin features
Time to innovate…
v6Code Refactor
More Functionality
Data-driven Marketing (More2)
The Future is Bright
@blubolt
• Personalisation - Site Modifiers - VIP Program - Personal Shopping Experience
• Open up the platform - SAAS
Deceptively Complicated
@blubolt
• eCommerce is not as simple as adding a ‘Buy It Now’ button
• Some of the most complex websites and apps
• So what is the secret?
The Full House
Infrastructure The Back Office
Secret Sauce
IntegrationsFront End
Logistics
@blubolt
Infrastructure
@blubolt
Big Data
@blubolt
• 1000s of products
• Multiple variants (diff. sites diff. types of products)
• Multiple Assets
• Search
• Association
• Database Schema
• Faceted
Speed
@blubolt
• Memcaching
• View caching
• Code Optimisation
• CDN Content Delivery network
Traffic!
@blubolt
• Mailshots, Flash Sales, Cyber Monday
• Spikes (Record =1.56K requests per second across v6, 0.84K for one client)
“We carry on sitting in a pub, and maybe order another drink” - blubolt Head of Systems
How do we handle this?
Stability
@blubolt
• bluCommerce processes £250/min, last month avg. £1700/min
• If the site goes down lots of money can be lost!
Front End
@blubolt
eCommerce Funnel
@blubolt
Discovery
Consideration
Advocacy
Conversion
Loyalty
Word of Mouth
Discovery
@blubolt
• SEO
• Shopping Feeds
• Affiliate Feeds
• Mobile & Tablet
• Powerful Search
• Cross Sale / Upsale
Consideration
@blubolt
• Lifestyle imagery
• Product adverts
• Video
• Measurements
• Product details
• “Get the look”
• Abandon Basket (high conversions)
Consideration
@blubolt
High Res Imagery
Product Stickers
Structured Data
Consideration
@blubolt
Lifestyle Imagery
Size Guide“Get The Look” (Cross Sale)
Consideration
@blubolt
Product Details
Imagery For Fit
Real Time Stock
Messaging
Consideration
@blubolt
Video
Reviews
Consideration
@blubolt
Conversion
@blubolt
• Promotions and Discounts
• Mobile & Tablet
• Visual Merchandising
• Social Media Login
• Multiple Payment Methods
• “Buy It Now” Prompts
Loyalty
@blubolt
• Subscriptions
• Loyalty Points
• VIP Promotions
• Wishlists
Advocacy
@blubolt
• Gift Vouchers
• Gift Wrap
• Reviews
• Social Sharing
The Back Office
@blubolt
The Back Office
@blubolt
Pick, Pack and Dispatch
Call centre ordering / support
Returns / Refunds
Content Management
Data Export, Import & Analysis
Logistics
@blubolt
Logistics
@blubolt
• Packing slips
• Shipping Methods (Different requirement - Location, Product Size, Weight & Cost, Courier Vol. Requirements)
• Click & Collect
• Collect +
Integrations
@blubolt
Integrations
@blubolt
• Warehouse integrations
• Third Party Mailing Providers / Segmentation
• Third Party Data
• Multiple payment methods
• Accounting
“I never thought of that!”
@blubolt
The Secret Sauce
Discounts Decoded
@blubolt
• Choose a free product when you spend over £50 (on a Tuesday and your email begins with Q)
• Buy a gym bag and fill it with free products
• Buy 500g of any coffee (any combination) and get your choice of 125g free
Globalisation
@blubolt
• Reach a global market
• Multiple Currencies
• Multiple Languages (What about the Warehouse!?)
The other side - B2B
@blubolt
• B2B
• Back Orders
• Order templates
• Purchase orders
• Seasonal Drops
• High Volume / Large Orders - UX? Speed?
Shameless Plug
@blubolt
• php Developers
• Front End Developers
• Project Managers
• Account Managers
blubolt.com/jobs
THANKS!Q&A