In efforts to increase its services for customers, Curinde decided to create a simple but effective e-commerce solution for local companies. www.ezshopcuracao.com offers companies the possibility to set up an e-commerce shop without all the hassle of having to create a website, design and take care of the related maintenance. With a few easy steps the merchant can open a shop on Curinde’s Virtual Marketplace and start selling, dispatching and receiving payments.
The idea to develop www.ezshopcuracao.com started in 2016 and the website was launched in 2018. At first, to serve only the customers of Curinde, but the organization realized that the local need surpassed their existing customer base and that the whole local business community could benefit from EZShop. The importance of online shopping possibilities became even more evident during the COVID-19 lock down.
The Virtual Marketplace has been developed by Harlee Oseana of the local ICT company Data Innovations which is also active in system integration and information security.
It helps companies analyze their processes and manage their data. Fiorina Hernandez, Curinde’s Investment Promotion Manager, explains that www.ezshopcuracao.com is not just another web shop. It provides a platform for companies to set up their online store or profile. It has specific features for the wholesaling business, is multi-lingual and comes with a reliable payment solution.
“Our customers rely on long-term B2B relationships with their clients. We have translated this in the design of our platform”. Instead of a website offering products that one can buy, without knowing the provider or producer, on www.ezshopcuracao.com each provider has their own space and shop on the platform. The merchant can manage this shop independently and determine what to promote. It’s an opportunity to establish an online shop, without having to invest in the development from scratch to be able to sell online, because www.ezshopcuracao.com provides all that. Its goal is that one can set up an e-commerce shop in one business day on the platform and start selling at once.
All the features are designed to offer the customer an optimal service. Most of Curinde’s existing customers are wholesale stores selling large quantities. The design of the features and the presentation of the stores take that into account. Some clients do not want to offer their products on a general consumer market such as the pharmaceutical companies. These companies normally promote their products through brochures and follow a specialized selling process based on the type of product. On www.ezshopcuracao.com, they now have the possibility to open a public- or a private store where the visitor first has to ask permission to access the shop. This is interesting for these companies as the buyer has to open an account first which gives the seller the opportunity to apply a vetting process before accepting a customer.
The store owner can decide to leave certain parts of the information out, such as prices. Each merchant has the flexibility to determine its content and presentation. www.ezshopcuracao.com has a search feature based on name, product/service or type of business category. It will not only display products but will show all the stores that sell the selected products.
Visitors and buyers of EZShop make a free account with basic information. The website is dynamic and is updated continually. The platform has been developed from scratch for Curinde with its own dedicated servers on a data center and therefore has no third-party limitations. The set-up of the platform is to continue building on trust and relationships.
The EZShop client can make use of several packages, ranging from a simple company profile listing, to a multiple store option. The stores can be presented together in one space or separate, depending on the selected package.
EZShop offers four packages:
• Basic profile listing, showcasing contact information and the services offered.
• E-Commerce package, includes a log in portal that serves as a dashboard, has profile information and 1 shop showcasing products/services that the customer can manage as he desires.
• Premium package, has log in option/dashboard, profile information and 2 shops that the customer can manage.
• Ultimate package, besides all the above, provides as many shops as the customer wants. It has a tool for import and export and an inventory management feature that showcases the number of products that are left when a client wants to make a purchase. It receives data, manage orders, serves as the back office and can link the EZShop store with possible other online systems and inventory management systems that the customer may have. This package gives the possibility to have a private shop next to the public shops..
Both Premium and Ultimate also post the company logo on the EZShop Homepage and offers cross selling options on the platform including on the Basic and E-Commerce package. In other words, when a visitor is viewing a Basic listing or E-Commerce shop, he will also see random pop ups of the Premium and Ultimate shops. As the platform will be attracting many buyers and sellers, each shop will get exposure by simply being on the platform.
With regards to the shipping system, each merchant can continue to use its existing system and providers, such as DHL, Cpost or Fedex.
www.ezshopcuracao.com offers buyers and sellers the possibility to pay with Credit Card, bankwire transfer (online banking) and a new reliable payment system that solves the fact that local online shops still cannot receive payment through the Maestro system. Data Innovation developed the Pagadera payment network for www.ezshopcuracao.com, that can now offer more payment options. Pagadera is fully integrated in the EZShop platform.
In Curaçao, it’s not possible to pay online with maestro.
The Pagadera app solves that. It’s secured and can be used both locally and Internationally. Contrary to existing payment systems, Pagadera sends the order information to the bank.
The bank receives the digital invoice and makes the payment for his client. The seller (merchant) will see in his statement that he has received the payment. In the payment processing process, there is no exchange of financial information between buyer and seller.
Pagadera is an e-wallet provider on the payment network. Any local bank can become a provider of Pagadera, the same as they provide Master Card and Visa. The local bank can offer Pagadera to their customers. As long as there is money on the account, the customer can pay through Pagadera. This can be done from their smart phone, making it very customer friendly. All the money that enters via Pagadera always goes through a bank. The bank knows the customer and the authorities can always trace the person making this system very secure.