Étude de cas - Fleuriste Karisma (en anglais seulement)

Florist Karisma, a startup flower shop in Beaconsfield, approached ToFlash for a custom web solution. They needed a multi-purpose web application that would help manage and track all bouquet deliveries. The solution required Ecommerce capabilities that would use a third-party credit card processor, such as Paypal, and help buyers track orders, save bouquet recipients’ information and set email reminders for birthdays or special events.

But that’s not all. The administrative section of the website required Content Management System capabilities (CMS) for the store owner to have full control over user accounts, mass email reminders, order flow, search capabilities and store settings (tax rate, shipping fees rate…).

The Solution

ToFlash set out to design a system by first planning information flow and identifying the variables required for the whole process to work fluently. The main sections were found to be the Ecommerce component (catalog, shopping cart, check out), the customers’ control panel and the administrative control panel. After this preliminary analysis, the team started out by building the interface and front-end of the websites’ pages, such as a sample catalog page and the other main sections. After design approval by the client and a minor revision of the design templates, the team began to work on the core driving part of the application – the back-end PHP engine.

The PHP engine was to be custom written since the application had unique characteristics, making the adaptation of existing products on the market excessively time-consuming. After 2 months, the application had all the features required, and then some. In order to enable the store owner to use the system even when orders are placed by phone or in person, the administrative section provides a delivery tracking code that can be given to the customer. The tracking code can then be entered on Florist Karisma’s website to obtain an order's delivery status, introducing the customer to the online system. By enticing customers to explore the website and opening an online account, future order processing is simplified which in turn reduces costs for the florist. The IT solution in this case not only accepts international delivery orders for the Montreal area, but also introduces local customers to the online store of FloristKarisma.com.

The team moved on to test the application thoroughly and correct all minor functional shortcomings. An online marketing campaign was launched by optimizing the website to appear on at least the first page of Google’s result pages for queries such as “Montreal Florist” and “Montreal flower baskets”. After 4 months this final aspect was deemed a success, and the project is still monitored today for further revisions and improvements.