BuyByeSupply

Great and successful businesses are those who find solutions that help people or certain niches solve a problem they are facing. It’s even greater when they also try to solve environmental issues, as they are more actual nowadays than ever. An example of such a business is the BuyByeSupply platform.

Initially, the client addressed his ideas and expectations and we started shaping the idea of a B2B online marketplace. Since we always put the emphasis on detailed planning, we worked together to establish the scope of our work and to create the project strategy roadmap.

Taking into consideration that the platform is a new product, together we decided that the best way of launching it was through the Minimum Viable Product model. This way, using WordPress, WooCommerce, and the WC Vendors Pro plugin we created the core of the MVP. Since it’s a niched platform, it required some industry-specific custom fields upon user registration and for adding the products. We’ve implemented them using the Advanced Custom Fields plugin as a base.

Another important functionality for this type of platform is the payment gateway. We figured the best choice for BuyByeSupply would be escrow.com. We’ve integrated the Escrow API for payments and also developed a custom flow that allowed vendors and buyers to notify each other when the order is shipped, received and completed.

One of the most complex functionalities that we have developed within the project is the bidding system. We’ve added the option for the buyers to be able to place bids on any of the listed products and also specify their custom quantity. Then, we’ve also integrated the option for the vendors to receive bidding notifications and approve or reject the offers. Therefore, if the order is accepted, we implemented the necessary workflow so that it would be added to the buyer’s cart and trigger the checkout process via Escrow.

In order to facilitate the communication between the vendors and customers, we’ve integrated a chat feature using the TalkJS framework. This way, the platform users can easily establish any pre- and post-sale matters.

Even if the platform was recently launched and is in its early stages of operating,  it had 12 products listed in the first 2 weeks with no marketing efforts. This looks promising and shows that the marketplace is demanded and necessary.

“Despite our early state, we have very high hopes based on the feedback we’ve received. Each of our customers is excited to begin using the site and most of them have offered to provide their expertise and even invest in our business pre-revenue”, mentioned Christian Grattan, Founder and CEO of BuyByeSupply.com