An Online Store Built for Expansion into Foreign Markets - Maluchy w Podróży

project type: Online store | technology: Shopify

How do you build a store that can serve Poland while also being ready for foreign markets, and that meets consumer expectations while communicating gentleness and care through its visual identity? Meet Maluchy w Podróży and read how we built a distinctive store designed to sell in both the Polish and international markets.

About the company

Easy-Commerce joined our client roster after deciding to open an external sales channel alongside its existing Allegro business, launching the Maluchy w Podróży online store, which offers products that make traveling with a child easier - bags, changing mats, organizers, and bath accessories.

Client goals

Launching an online store ready to serve foreign markets

From the very start of our work together, the client placed a lot of importance on the future possibility of expanding into international markets and selling products outside Poland.

We chose Shopify, since this e-commerce platform has operated in international markets for many years and offers a range of solutions that are easy to set up and use for selling abroad - multi-language support, which makes it easier to reach and serve customers of other nationalities; the ability to accept payment in foreign currencies; and support for international logistics.

Implementation - step by step

Creating the site design

We started our work with a detailed questionnaire with the client. The main goal of this questionnaire was to gain a deep understanding of their needs, the expectations the site had to meet, and the precise goals they wanted to achieve. This let us better tailor our approach and strategy to the client's requirements.

The information we gathered helped us put together and present a site outline, which was then refined through an iterative collaboration process.

Building the site

Once the outline was approved, we could move on to building the site. We wanted its look to stay as close as possible to the outline we'd presented to the client, so a key part of the process was finding the right balance between that outline and what the Shopify platform's styling options actually allow for.

We used a clear layout for the homepage and product pages, built around header banners. Wanting to reflect the emotions tied to a child's first years of life and the first steps taken by young parents, we tried to give Maluchy w Podróży a human touch. We achieved this by using preview graphics and photos featuring parents and children on the pages and in product cards, alongside photos of the products themselves.

Connecting the site to the BaseLinker platform

Our client uses BaseLinker software to run their sales operations - it lets them manage their product catalog, descriptions, and photos, and offers a way to check stock levels and product status in one place, among a range of other benefits for selling on marketplace platforms.

Since we were building a website with its own external sales channel, we were able to use the BaseLinker platform and the product data it held to move the client's products quickly and directly from the catalog into products visible on the site - complete with descriptions and preview photos. This integration works both ways - by connecting the site to BaseLinker, the client can view and process all orders coming from the Shopify store in the same panel they use to run and manage sales on their other channels.

Optimizing the site and Shopify store, plus additional elements

Once the site design had been turned into an actual product, the next stage was refining the site and the Shopify software behind it.

Responsiveness is a key factor in building a positive user experience, which in turn helps increase engagement and interaction with the site. We focused on making sure the site looked attractive and worked smoothly on both large computer screens and smaller mobile screens. We also worked on refining and improving how customers navigate through the pages and products, manually fine-tuning the responsive behavior that Shopify offers by default.

We also ran into a challenge that needed special attention. Shadows were appearing under the images on the site, automatically added by the editing tool, and they couldn't be removed using standard methods. Since this disrupted the site's look, we built a dedicated development fix using blocks that strip the box-shadow attribute from those elements.

Beyond these fixes, we also took care of SEO - standardizing the site's internal linking into consistent URL paths - as well as legal matters, adding the store's terms and conditions, privacy policy, and the payment, delivery, and returns policies provided by the client.

At this stage we moved on to planning the content layout and the number of subpages, then started working with the materials we received from the client.

You can see the results of our work in our portfolio and on maluchywpodrozy.pl.

Like what we've built? Get in touch with us by filling out the form below to learn more or start working together!