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SHOE X is a blog styled website categorizes shoes by brand and showcases some of the rarest shoes in the realm of custom shoes and sneakers. With the success of the site, the team realized there was a void in the market for buying and selling sneakers. Thus SHOE X was created; a lifestyle marketplace where people can buy and sell rare and exclusive sneakers and other urban apparel.
Users come in 3 forms, buyers, sellers, and/or admirers. Buyers search or browse through product categories from Air Jordans to Nike Air Foamposits, or newest shoes to most popular. Buyers can contact sellers directly, favorite a store, and even add products to their wishlist. Sellers have the ability to sell shoes individually or create a store with multiple items, similar to Ebay. Users are not subjected to setup or listing fees. The site’s income stems from the 8% commission from all sales.
- Ubercart – A module suite that allows a site to provide store; this site becomes a store.
- Views - Views were used throughout the site to show things like related content. Default Views were set up to allow for various Views within the Panels interface to fill out content on certain pages.
- Apache Solr - A third party system for their search functionality. Apache Solr provides for a site-wide search which can be customized to exclude nodes, node types, and even configure bias settings.
- Context – Allows the site to divide itself into sections/context. With minimal code, blocks can dynamically be displayed on sections.
- CCK - Used to create a multitude of content types.
- Facebook social – Allows users to sign in via Facebook.
- Twitter - Allows users to sign in via Twitter
- Flags – implemented to add node favorites. Enables users to add product to their wishlists.
- Location – Provides location content type for stores.
- MailChimp - Provides integration with the MailChimp email delivery service that provides support for an unlimited number of mailing lists. Mainly for their newletters.
- Rules – Integrates an automated response for member sign up.
- Features - Handles database changes
Custom Modules
Multiple custom modules were implemented. One for each component of the site since the out of the box functionality was not enough to fulfill site requirements
The main custom module was “become a seller/Store” which extended the core ubercart functionality to a multi-seller capable platform. Historically ubercart only allowed for one seller, which often is the site itself is the seller. This functionality implements the “register to become a seller” requirement while still leveraging all of the standard ubercart features ie checkout,paypal,shopping cart, shipping etc.
Specialized Technologies and advantages
- Installed on acquia dev cloud. has solr built in, so no need to set up server with instance of solr.
- Ubercart - ecommerce suite out of the box, didn’t have to code everything
- Paypal Website Payment Standards. Allow payments to be sent to 1 seller only. It comes out of the box with Ubercart but we have to customize it so that the right seller will get the payment upon successful checkout.
- Paypal Adaptive Payments. Allows payments to be split between sellers. You purchase from multiple sellers (up to 6 sellers) in one checkout.
- Beanstream integration. Allows the SHOE X to collect commission on a monthly basis. During the seller registration, a Beanstream token will be assigned to the seller which will be used by the system to bill the seller monthly (only if the seller made a sale).
SHOE X is a marketplace that houses user profiles that enable sellers to list products for sale under the Basic account, or have the ability to create a store with multiple items and a ‘storefront.’ Users also provide product details and a short description. Shipping, payment and refund policies are determined by the users as well. With some social integration, products can easily be shared on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Pinterest.
The site aims to create a network of ‘sneakerheads’ and shoe enthusiasts. This network will help people find rare shoes, and offer sellers an avenue to sell their prized possessions. While Nike and other shoe brands are rereleasing classic and innovative products from the past, these sneaker fiends can find originals and customs for sale.
- users can sign up with an account and create their own “store” to sell their merchandise. They can choose from two levels of sellers.
- Pro - where the seller may have a store
- Basic - individuals who wish to sell out of their private collection
- stores are uniform theme. All products in the store are searchable globally and can filter based on shoe-specific criteria
- the idea is that hard to find shoes be easy to find on this site, and sellers have a place to sell their shoes.
- Social media integration.
- Ecommerce enabled, recurring subscription payment, add to cart, checkout etc.
