Case Study: Racing Hub
Using Sylius/Symfony, we were able to meet the client's expectations by creating a store that sells digital video games and physical merchandise through a custom Amazon fulfillment connection.
PAVING THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
A couple of months ago, Leo, an Argentine entrepreneur now living abroad, wanted to meet us to see if we were the right crew for his new endeavor.
This brand new creation would have to be tailored to the finest detail, as he wouldn’t accept otherwise. Challenge accepted indeed. There was still another exciting aspect of it, and it was that this brand new marketplace would be entirely focused on the Motorsport Industry. Games, figures, merchandise, you name it,and…oh, I’m getting ahead of myself. You can imagine how great all this sounded to us, not only because F1 Sundays are sacred, but also because we’ve been gamers our whole lives.
Start your engines
After the first contact, the client introduced us to Walter, the one that would be his eyes and voice during development, serving as Project Lead. It was a perfect match from the beginning due to sharing the same principles as Odiseo in terms of trust, commitment and honest feedback. The requirements were complex and many, so good and swift communication played an important role to reduce the gap between expectations and reality.
Screenshots
Features
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Search page using Vue combined with Elasticsearch and dynamic facets:
Made to ensure just the most appropriate information appears on screen, depending on what the potential customer intends to find. The less time spent looking for something, the more time you spend enjoying it.
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Custom import for games titles using external api:
We made custom importer so by using just a game name, we could get all the required information, such as covers, screenshots, PEGI age ratings, genres, etc.
The admin user may provide a not so precise searching input, getting many different matches. In this case, we give the possibility to manually select among the list of products, the correct ones to upload. -
Zendesk integration:
Thanks to Zendesk implementation, customers can contact Support in case of any problems during the buying process by simply filling a form. This generates a ticket that can then be managed from Zendesk’s panel.
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Amazon Fulfillment:
At the time the decision of including physical products was made, we chose Amazon Fulfillment to sync stock. So, when RacingHub’s system detects an order including physical products, it automatically calculates the shipping rates so the customer can choose between the available options. We used our Sylius Amazon FBA Plugin.
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Xero integration:
To make things easier for the accounting department, Odiseo Team developed the Sylius Xero Plugin, which synchronizes all relevant data between the website and the Xero account.
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Returns system:
The custom made Refunds system allows the administrator to return the whole amount of the order to the same credit card. Pretty straightforward.
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One Page Checkout :
This is known to be a much better, improved aspect in UX, as it has everything you need to complete the purchase process, right there on that same screen, without having to go back and forth in a confusing and annoying way. Just one click and you’re all set.
In addition, here we use Stripe, saving the Stripe Customer for the next time you come back to buy more good stuff.
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At the design desk
A dedicated team of designers went hands-on with the idea Leo had in mind. Of course there was some back and forth between the parties involved, all in favor of the outcome. Creative minds tend to be enthusiastic…
The look and feel of the general presentation had to be distinctive, yet familiar. Strong contrasts and allusive backgrounds combined with a dark theme was the way to go. With focus on the smooth UX everyone desired, many customizations took part so that the goal could be achieved.
From the navigation menu to the footer, every corner of the website was
built for you to have quick and easy access to each section, any given time
while browsing through the large, exciting catalog.
Custom Product Importer
A major aspect of what is displayed on RacingHub is that the data is taken from an external API dedicated to gaming with a growing community and stored data of more than 500k games. This, of course, needed another custom importer so by using just a name, we could get all the required information, such as full product name, covers, screenshots, PEGI age ratings, genres, etc.
This connection presented a couple of obstacles along the way that the Team successfully sorted. Picking up an example, the admin may provide a not so precise searching input, getting many different matches. In this case, we give the possibility to manually select among the list of products, the correct ones to upload.
