Hummingbird ECO is a design-led business located in Ningbo, China, specializing in the export of uniquely designed hair accessories. Dedicated to ethical manufacturing and environmental sustainability, the company provides a wide range of production techniques, acting as a one-stop solution for diverse hair accessory needs.

Challenges

Hummingbird Eco came to nopStation, a Gold partner of nopCommerce, with the task of creating their online storefront. Their previous website was unfinished and lacked several functionalities that were crucial for their business operations. These are the key development challenges identified before project implementation:

• Unresponsive user interface: The previous third-party theme was not intuitive and failed to highlight the company's brand identity.
• Streamlining catalog management: The catalog needed improvements to align with backend categorization for tracking, while showcasing products properly.
• Need for enhanced product discovery and filtering: A better filtering process was needed, allowing users to freely switch between filters across the catalog.
• Lack of a proper quotation solution: A quote cart functionality was required to streamline quotation processes.
• Lack of rich product tags: Enhancements to the product tagging feature were needed to improve product discovery.
• Challenges with image processing: Accurate color representation of images was essential for customer satisfaction, especially in clothing/accessories.
• IP-based geo-restriction: The client needed to restrict traffic from certain IPs to enhance security.
• Lack of design and brand identity: The previous theme did not reflect the brand’s identity properly.

Solution

To achieve these development objectives, plugin-driven development was utilized to implement custom features, along with extensive UX enhancements.

Developing a customized AJAX filter plugin for streamlined product discovery and browsing

The team developed a customized AJAX filter plugin to improve filtering based on storefront categories, manufacturers, and tags. This allowed users to easily find products and merge multiple backend catalogs into one cohesive storefront filter, improving both user experience and backend management.

Customized AJAX Filter on Catalog pages

Developing a quote cart plugin to streamline quotation management

A quote cart plugin was created to enable customers to add items to their quote cart and initiate a request. The plugin allows admins to manage quote forms, respond to customer inquiries, and convert quotations into orders directly from the backend.

Quote cart on storefront

Implemented UX enhancements and customizations

The theme was refined with several UX improvements, including an improved homepage, better product tag functionality, and intuitive filtering on catalog pages. Product text localization features were added to support diverse customer bases.

Customizations in Product Box

Enhanced product tag functionality

A custom tags plugin was developed, enabling the addition of images to product tags, making the product tag page more visually engaging and improving product discovery.

Product tags page with images

Developed an Image Sharp plugin to preserve accurate color profiles for images

An Image Sharp plugin was created to preserve accurate color profiles of images, ensuring they are displayed correctly on the site for optimal customer satisfaction.

Image processing improvements through the Image Sharp plugin

Developed IP Filter plugin for enhanced security and geo restriction

An IP Filter plugin was developed to block certain IPs and limit access, improving the security of the storefront and controlling its visibility based on geographic regions.

Results

• Revamped storefront with seamless navigation and filtering.
• Streamlined catalog management and quotation processes, improving operational workflows.
• Advanced tagging and filtering features to enhance product visibility and customer engagement.
• Enhanced image processing for accurate color representation, critical for customer satisfaction.
• Improved security through IP filtering and geo-restriction.