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NopCommerce is not a well-known e-commerce software provider. Still, the company has clients such as Volvo, BMW, and even unrivaled singer Celine Dion. Ecommerce News Europe interviewed Alexandra Lykova, the marketing manager for this Russian e-commerce software solution.
NopCommerce is a popular open source e-commerce software solution. In Europe, customers include Volvo Accessories (Volvo Car Lifestyle Collection), Casio UK, Turkish Airlines (Shop and Miles) and BMW Netherlands. But since it is not well known in the ecommerce industry in general, it is time to get to know this company better.
What does NopCommerce offer to its customers?
“NopCommerce offers a free, scalable and flexible e-commerce platform designed to be able to handle both enterprise and SME projects. “
To be fair, NopCommerce isn’t exactly a big name in the ecommerce software industry, but you’ve still managed to attract Volvo, BMW, and Elton John as customers. How did it happen?
“We have succeeded in getting these companies to use NopCommerce thanks to the technical capabilities of the platform. Usually, we are chosen by the lead developers and CTOs who review the effectiveness of the solution. NopCommerce was a perfect fit for their project in terms of performance and price.
Who are your biggest competitors and why are you different from them?
“In our technology stack (ASP.NET), we are undisputed leaders in terms of functionality and number of installations. Regarding the PHP world, we have the same flexibility and the same power as Magento but use less resources. We are really getting closer to the territory of enterprise platforms like Demandware, but we are still a 100% free solution offering all of our features to users without any discounts. NopCommerce also regularly releases new versions, while most other carts rarely update their free open source versions.
Your software is used by over 27,000 store owners. But you only have a team of 7 people? How do you deal with this?
We do not interact directly with all users. The solution is free and available for download to any new user. We are mainly concerned with the continuous improvement of the platform.
Store owners need help though, and for that we are fortunate to have a great community on our forums that helps us answer various NopCommerce related questions. We also have premium support, for large projects and solution partners.
Can you tell us more about your activities in Europe?
“The majority of our European store owners are from the UK. There are two main reasons for this. First of all, the UK market itself is the largest in the European e-commerce space. The second reason is that our solution is in English by default. There are many language packs available, however, the development of local communities is indeed necessary and is now one of our priorities. “
“In Europe, the UK is followed by the Netherlands (where we organized two NopCommerce conferences) and Italy by the number of stores. We have launched a major campaign to translate the documentation into all European languages. All local markets are equal to us and we support active community members from all countries equally. “
What features can your customers expect for the coming months / year?
“We just released a new version (3.90), in which we made NopCommerce PCI DSS 3.2 compliant and reworked discounts and reward points for greater flexibility, among other improvements. The full list of upgrades can of course be found in our release notes.
“In the next version, we foresee a big change in terms of technology. We are moving to Microsoft’s latest framework for building apps – ASP.NET Core. Feature enhancements will include store credits, support for phone orders, and more. Our customers can always suggest features for future releases because we care about their needs: 80-90% of all features are suggested by our community, vendors, and customers. “
What do you think of the European e-commerce software industry?
“Europe is very diverse in terms of languages ​​and cultural specificities, which is why there are many local e-commerce platforms for local markets or internal platforms that gain their audience through information about their markets and a good marketing in a native language. We also admire the initiatives of EU states to boost e-commerce in the Union. “
Can you tell us the biggest differences between e-commerce in Russia and e-commerce in the rest of Europe?
“We would say there are several distinct characteristics. First of all, the Russian e-commerce market is more monopolized: while in Europe there are more small and medium-sized companies, in Russia we have giant companies that do most of the sales. Second, geography. The cities are more remote in Russia, so the logistics are more difficult, the delivery is more expensive, so people prefer to shop offline in many cases. Another difference is that in Europe businesses and technologies are distributed more evenly across all countries, while in Russia they are more concentrated around larger cities, which also affects the spread of e-commerce.
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