Complete webshop setup from Vinyl Digital

Programming an OXID eShop for vinyl and digital distribution

The founder of Vinyl Digital GmbH planned to implement a new business model that would offer the online distribution of vinyl recordings paired with a digitization service: This is how the evocative name "Vinyl Digital" was born!

In addition to the physical vinyl sound carriers, store customers can book the service of digitization to MP3. Delivery takes place as a download, CD or via USB stick. It was also important to the company founder not to focus on a single music genre, but to offer a broad mix of categories.

The new online store enables the sale of used and new items. At the same time, pure vinyl items, vinyl items with download and pure download items can be purchased. A typical number of 30,000 items was planned for the implementation from the outset.

In close consultation with the client, eWorks was able to develop the overall online store concept based on OXID eShop Community Editon 4. Building on the standard OXID eShop software, various modules for product presentation and administration were integrated. In the store backend, eWorks programmed the necessary functions to provide the music articles with the required additional data such as author, label, number of sound carriers and individual track information. An upload function was also implemented for this purpose, which can reliably handle the large number of MP3 music files for download purchases and audio samples and at the same time only allows store customers to access the purchased files. Thanks to the modular OXID eShop technology, the OXID eShop core was not modified so that the update capability is maintained.

In addition to the programming, eWorks was also responsible for the design and implementation of the web design. The logos provided by the client were used as the basis for the design work and a modern design for web stores was developed from them. Usability and browser compatibility were taken into account throughout the development process. In addition to the classic eWorks services, print designs for flyers and advertisements were also created in the design of the online store.

In an expansion project, an eBay connection integrated into the online store was realized. This uses the eBay API, which enables the fast and high-volume exchange of product data and orders. The listings of buy-it-now items and auctions can be initiated and monitored by the store operator using a control center. Completed orders are imported back into the web store and the inventory data is updated. There is also an automatic re-listing function for expired auctions for ease of use.

For the Vinyl Digital webshop, eWorks implemented the following tasks in detail

  • Installation and customizing of OXID eShop Community Edition 4
  • Extensive definition of shipping rules with worldwide shipping based on quantities and weight
  • Complete multilingualism in German and English
  • Facebook integration and Twitter connection
  • Extension of the list views with new genre filters and A-Z navigation
  • Integration of a top 20 sales list
  • Visual enhancement of the customer account and integration of the download option for MP3s
  • Implementation of an OXID eShop module for the management of extended music data and album tracks
  • File management for MP3 downloads and audio samples incl. upload tool
  • Consistent consideration of new and used items (keyword re-commerce)
  • In addition to cash on delivery and prepayment, the online store also offers instant bank transfer and PayPal as payment methods.
  • Free Vinyls bonus point system as a separate store currency for purchases and for redeeming special Free Vinyls items
  • eBay connection with comprehensive control center for listing auctions and buy-it-now items, category mapping, eBay product detail page design, import of eBay orders into the OXID eShop internal inventory management system and complete stock reconciliation

The Vinyl Digital online store was launched in the fall of 2011 and has since enjoyed increasing popularity among customers from Germany and many other countries. The implementation took 6 months. eWorks has been supporting the online store with operation, maintenance and further development ever since.

Used technologies

HTML / CSS
JavaScript / jQuery
PHP

Related references

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