Project

Gateway College, a leading educational institution in Sri Lanka, sought to enhance its operational efficiency and provide added convenience to parents and students. Konekt was tasked with developing a comprehensive e-commerce solution to streamline the process of purchasing school books. This case study delves into how Konekt’s expertise in web development and digital transformation successfully delivered a user-friendly online bookstore that seamlessly integrates with Gateway College’s existing systems.

Requirement

Challenges

Gateway College faced the challenge of managing the traditional process of
purchasing school books, which often involved manual processes and
logistical complexities. To address these challenges and better serve
their community, they identified the need for a robust online platform
that would:

• Simplify the book ordering process for parents.
• Streamline internal operations for school staff.
• Integrate with the existing Point of Sale (POS) system for efficient
  inventory and order management.

Objectives

The primary objectives of the project were to:

• Develop a user-friendly e-commerce website for purchasing school books.
• Integrate the online bookstore with Gateway College’s MyPOS system.
• Provide a secure and personalized shopping experience for parents.
• Ensure efficient order processing and inventory management.

Solution

Konekt developed a customized online bookstore solution using WooCommerce,
a flexible and scalable e-commerce platform built on WordPress. The key
features of the solution included:

• WooCommerce-Based E-commerce Platform: Leveraging WooCommerce’s
  versatility and ease of use to create a user-friendly interface for
  parents and an easy-to-manage admin interface for school staff.
• MyPOS System Integration: Integrating the website with Gateway
  College’s existing MyPOS system via API to enable real-time inventory
  management, order processing, and student ID verification.
• Parent Login via Student Registration ID: Implementing a secure
  login system for parents using their child’s student registration ID,
  validated against the MyPOS system.
• Multi-Child Account Support: Allowing parents with multiple
  children to create separate accounts for each child, ensuring accurate
  order tracking and management.
• Mandatory Book Purchase Validation: Enforcing mandatory book
  purchases for specific grades to ensure compliance with the school’s
  curriculum requirements.
• Order Notifications via Email: Providing parents with real-time
  email notifications throughout the ordering process to keep them
  informed of their order status.

The post Gateway College Online Bookstore – Streamlining Education with E-commerce Excellence appeared first on Konekt.

Project

Konekt partnered with Thilakawardhana to deliver a full Shopify e-commerce solution. The primary goals were to improve the user experience, enhance conversion rates, and optimize operational efficiency with delivery and loyalty management integrations. Leveraging Shopify, Konekt built a scalable, high-performance platform that met Thilakawardhana’s growing e-commerce needs, while reducing maintenance costs and increasing reliability.

Requirement

Thilakawardhana faced significant challenges with their previous e-commerce platform. The website struggled to scale with growing demand, leading to low conversion rates and frequent site crashes during traffic spikes. Additionally, the shipping module was cumbersome, affecting customer satisfaction. The server and maintenance costs were high, and the site’s overall performance was poor. Thilakawardhana required an e-commerce solution that could handle higher traffic, streamline operations, and improve the customer experience. They also sought to integrate a more user-friendly shipping module and a customer loyalty program to drive repeat business.

Solution

Konekt delivered an end-to-end solution using Shopify as the e-commerce platform. The new solution included the integration of Karts DeliveryHub for efficient delivery management and LoyaltyHub to enhance customer retention. The Webxpay payment gateway was integrated to support seamless online transactions. Konekt focused on improving the UI/UX design to create a smooth and intuitive shopping experience. The platform was optimized for scalability, ensuring the site would perform well even during high traffic periods. This transition reduced server costs, improved website uptime, and significantly enhanced the overall performance of the online store. The delivery management and customer loyalty systems worked seamlessly with the new platform, offering a frictionless experience for customers and improved backend efficiency for Thilakawardhana.

Technologies Used

Shopify, DeliveryHub, LoyaltyHub, Webxpay

The post Scalable E-commerce Solution for Thilakawardhana Boosts Conversions and Sales appeared first on Konekt.

Project

The Soul Alchemist is the personal website of Sharon Tal, who is a spiritual healer helping her clients achieve love, abundance and joy in their lives.

Requirement

When the client reached out to us, she had two websites for her brand. One was her personal website, and the other was her e-commerce shop, where she offered a range of spiritual healing products. The client needed a web solution that combines the two enabling her and her team to manage the two aspects of their brand. Her team was looking for an easy to manage website to maintain the website in-house while delivering her customers an experience that reflects the essence of her brand. 

Solution

Understanding our client’s requirements, our team put together a web development plan based on the web design provided by the client. We made sure the exact design provided by the client was turned into functional web features while capturing the essence of her brand. The entire website was built on WordPress using Elementor Tool as the client requested, while WooCommerce was used for the eCommerce platform.

The development team closely worked with the clients design team who provided the website layout designs. Ensuring that the design aligns with the technology architecture, the development team optimized the designs provided without deviating the focus and essence the clients design team was driving for.

To deliver an optimized user experience, our team worked on website loading speed along with core system updates and added contact forms to all service pages to ensure an optimized lead generation process. Security updates, performance updates, content changes were also managed by our team, ensuring our clients the finest web performance with utmost security.

As the client’s service is backed with strong recommendations, the client was very keen on getting her testimonials portrayed for each service rendered. Further the request easily managing and updating the testimonials was a major task our development team had to look into.

Newsletter archive and service-specific testimonial sections were added to the website as per the client request while giving her online store a new look to enable attractive product listings and easy checkouts with clear navigation. Our team made sure to maintain the cohesiveness of the online store and the website and made the client’s eCommerce store part of her website. The offer management solution we incorporated into the website with necessary plugins is another feature we added to ensure our client easy promotion management.
Regardless of the time zone difference, we were able to seamlessly collaborate with the client’s teams and deliver the project on time exceeding their expectatio

Technologies Used

WordPress Woocommerce Elementor tool

The post Website and E commerce Combined Solution for The Soul Alchemist appeared first on Konekt.

Project

As the coronavirus crisis continues, it has created a major setback in almost every aspect of life. This has resulted in many organizations to shift their operations in a way that they could deal with the current health guidelines offered by the Government.

And Konekt, being a software engineering service provider that has implemented the work from home culture from the inception, is working tirelessly in providing business continuity at a time of high uncertainty, the team Konekt is making impactful contributions to the efforts of some of its clients battling this pandemic.

Requirement

Looking at the education industry, many universities across the country have been forced to close campuses and shift to online learning platforms.

In the virus-contained scenario, the main impact will be on persistence, as students and education institutes are struggling to adapt to online coursework. Institutions with limited records of creating a compelling online experience could be hurt if their current students are dissatisfied with their digital offerings and decide to go elsewhere.

These unprecedented conditions are inspiring higher education institutions to innovate and adapt to new ways of learning and new enrollments at an accelerated pace. One of the many areas being new admissions for subjects and courses.

Our client has an online platform with impressive online coursework that had to adapt to the current situation in enrolling new students in their available courses. With the Government implementing a lockdown to the whole country, the institute’s registration drive planned within the institute premises was highly unlikely to take place.

Solution

The challenge was to develop a registration solution within a week as the enrollment was scheduled and communicated to all the potential students. Postponing the enrollment would have a severe impact on the numbers they expect and this was not a risk which the institute was willing to take on.

The registration process at this institute had been labor-intensive and was prone to errors. Everything was accomplished on paper, from manually taking registration information to canceling registrations. Once the students submit their application they are directed to another person to process the payment. The information recorded on the form is later put into the system by two different people at two different times making it a cumbersome process.

The institution wanted a solution that would allow students to self-register and ensure the process is completely automated.

System Overview Diagram

An agile approach was taken to this extensive student registration requirement by initially delivering the Most Viable Product (MVP) within the 7 days, allowing the institution to plan out the remaining intakes accordingly.

A big shoutout should be given to Commercial Bank’s IT Team. Right after the integration was completed and the communication was initiated with them, they conducted the necessary testing. The team communicated with us the necessary adjustments and parameters that needed to be implemented to the integration. The live integration of the payment gateway was commissioned within a couple of hours.

And since the system is hosted in the cloud, much of the burden and stress of maintaining the solution have been eliminated, making it easier for the Institute’s IT staff.

Technologies Used

Yii2, AWS, MySQL

Scope

UI/UX Design, Process Audit, Technology Consulting, Back-end Development, Infra Structure Management

Delivery Period

3 months

The post Fighting Covid 19 by providing Business Continuity- Wisdom Business Academy appeared first on Konekt.

Project

Abra Wholesales is a multi award-winning wholesaler established in 2003 serving Retailers, Caterers, On Trade, and other Wholesalers in the Food & Drink industry. Over the years they have successfully established their position as a major player in wholesale distribution channels in the whole United Kingdom, through their focus on delivering excellent value and the best service to every customer. Their thriving Export division distributes branded British products worldwide including Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. They take pride in being the first choice UK supplier for their overseas customers and their reputation is based on the principles of providing Choice, Service, and Value and entering into mutually beneficial long-term relationships with their valued customers.

With the time being ripe, Abra was having the thought of having their own online territory in the digital space and was actively looking for a technology partner to connect with who has the capability to gratify the complex functionalities they wanted to get onboard their digital space.

Requirement

With this in mind, Abra Wholesales reached out to Konekt with the hope of fabricating their digital space expectation into a fruitful reality. After a series of intriguing discussions, a scope was set, along with a timeline and an allocated resource pool. 

In order to fast track the project, it was recommended by Konekt to move forward with a Shopify theme that can cater to the requirements of the client. Moreover, Konekt was able to suggest a set of themes fully capable of serving the scoped requirements, upon which the client gave their consent based on their preference. Thereby, the journey of bringing forth the UK’s biggest wholesaler’s digital space was thus begun.

Solution

The foundation of the project was laid by designing the user interfaces by maximizing the user experience, giving thorough attention to the elements of the selected theme. Konekt’s expertise on UX & UI came in handy in the process to identify the ideal layout structuring. Each and every layout was taken forward for the development, with the approval of Abra, after doing the amendments requested upon the designs. Moreover, being responsive, the mobile site was further tweaked in terms of the layout to provide a differentiated experience to their loyalties. 

An agile approach was taken as for the development, wherewith each layout design being approved, it was directed towards the development in terms of both frontend and backend. This ensured that the projected timeline was kept on track. With the coordination of both parties, Konekt was able to get the content updates pushed right after the relative pages were sorted in terms of the development. 

Then came the most challenging part of the development process, where Konekt’s team had to create a set of custom developments to cater to some requirements from Abra. Considering the magnitude of the project, the amount of work involved seems infinite from developing elements to getting the content in. But with the mutual collaboration and coordination of both teams, the project reached the final stages in a hasty and fruitful manner, succeeding QA and testing phases in a charming way. 

Technologies Used

Shopify

Scope

Wireframes, UI/UX Design, Development

Delivery Period

3 months

The post A customized Shopify e-commerce for the World’s largest online wholesaler based in UK appeared first on Konekt.

Project

With the global pandemic, people have come to terms with it and have shifted their lifestyle online—and that includes shopping. Which is why there’s never been a better time to be in eCommerce.

Having an eCommerce site offers you the opportunity to build your brand, connect with more customers or distinguish your target audience, and sell more products, this all can be accomplished only if you’ve got the right eCommerce website design.

A good eCommerce website is all about using the right colors aligning to the brand, fonts, images, and text that convinces and influences the visitor to purchase from your website.

Requirement

The client’s existing website was not bringing in the expected sales through the existing website which had a high bounce rate. This was due to not having a responsive web design making the website not accessible through mobile. Due to the static nature of the website, the client was unable to initiate promotions as and when they wanted to. To enable certain back-office operations, the previous developers had installed a number of plugins that resulted in the site to perform very slow.

Solution

Through the initial discussions, the brief was attained by understanding the pain points the client was facing. WooCommerce was considered to be the platform as the client was familiar with using.

As an eCommerce store should be dynamic the website was totally developed in a manner where the client is able to make the updates as and when they want without any technical assistance. User experience was given the utmost importance based on the preliminary analysis on Google Analytics suggested that the majority of the visitors visit the site through mobile devices. Hence, a mobile-first approach was taken in the design phase to ensure that the majority of the traffic experience is not hindered.

As an eCommerce website, we understand that many of the visitors get interrupted during the checkout stage. Taking this into consideration, marketing automation tools such as Mailchimp were implemented to the site with automation workflows for visitors to receive emails on visitors micro-moments on the website. Beeketing was implemented for the client to get more out of the site by upselling and cross-selling. Analytics and FB pixel were embedded to the site to execute remarketing campaigns.

Technologies Used

WordPress, Woocommerce, Mailchimp, hotjar

Scope

Wireframes, UI/UX Design, Development, Infrastructure Services

Delivery Period

2 weeks

The post Optimizing the User Experience of Sterling Nutrition appeared first on Konekt.

Project

Softlogic Capital which heads the finance companies of the group brought forward a concept with a single goal in mind. The concept by Softlogic Capital was to combine the financial companies from their group and to have a single site, where people can get all their financial needs fulfilled within a matter of a few clicks.

As a result of this thinking, Softlogic Capital Online was born. A fully-fledged multi-site that modernizes the customer experience and far-reaching customer satisfaction through convenience. Furthermore, the long term vision behind this idea was to compile the set of unique financial operations of each site to the platform of Capital Online, so that a customer can pay his annual fee or order his research package by a matter of a few clicks.

Requirement

This is where Konekt came into the picture. Softlogic had the concept mind mapped, logically visualized, but was in need of a partner to make this imagined creativity a meaningful reality. After a series of intriguing discussions, Konekt was authorized to build the site which could fulfill the modern financial needs, aligned with the ‘Age of Information’ of the twenty first century.

Solution

Beginning the work by laying the foundation for the website, the set of layouts depicting the user interface, and how the user experience would be at each element was created. In order to get the possible outcome for the layouts, both sides invested in a joint venture to brainstorm the components and elements. Konekt’s expertise on UX & UI came in handy in the process to identify the ideal layout structuring. 

WordPress was identified and pitched by Konekt as the perfect staging for the multi-site, given the ease of use and management of WordPress, and also the cost-effectiveness it privileged the concept given that one site can be created and duplicated in order to save resources. 

Starting from simple tools such as Google Analytics, the website was planned to become a data science platform also through the deployment of tools such as SEMRush, MailChimp, etc. By enabling such tools, Softlogic hopes to serve their loyalties better by identifying the ongoing trends and behaviors. 

Considering the magnitude of the project, the amount of work involved seems infinite from developing elements to getting the content in. But with the mutual collaboration and coordination of both teams, the project reached the final stages in a hasty and fruitful manner, succeeding QA and testing.

Technologies Used

WordPress Multisite, Bootstrap

Scope

Wireframes, UI/UX Design, Development, Infrastructure Services

Delivery Period

3 months

The post Award winning WordPress Multi-Site developed for Softlogic Finance cluster appeared first on Konekt.

Project

Arthur’s Pizzeria is a locally originated brand established in 2014. Although being new to the pizza scene, they have been growing steadily over the years, becoming a trending topic in the town every now and then.

The marketing and promotions were primarily executed on their social media platforms which are having a steady addition of followers by the day. However, the political turmoil that took place last year to block social media platforms in order to stop the circulation of information, their operations felt the impact immediately where they couldn’t have consistent engagement with their followers nor execute their promotions. As a result of this political situation, their sales were affected by a significant margin.

Requirement

This was where Konekt identified the potential of having their own digital platform for Arthur’s Pizzeria. Konekt was able to identify three main reasons as to which Arthur’s can benefit from,

• Ability to resolve the dependency of social media platforms
• Ability to reap the potential of digital marketing & advertising (Remarketing campaigns)
• Ability to collect data & trends in real-time in order to facilitate superior user experience

Moreover, Arthur’s had the opportunity to tap the ever-growing market segment of Ecommerce as well, if they were to have their own digital presence. Thereby, Konekt concluded coming months would be the most ideal for Arthur’s to start having their own Ecommerce store.

With this in mind, Arthur’s Pizzeria was reached and pitched the idea of having their own digital presence. Even by then, they had bought a domain and were thinking about building a site for them but were not sure whether it was the right investment. Thereby, at the earliest, they were reluctant to consider the proposition given them not seeing the right benefits in both the short and long term.

After some hasty over the phone discussions, a meeting was arranged. Konekt utilizing the opportunity to act as the consultant for the matter was able to make Arthur’s realize that they are able to grow their business in a massive way using Ecommerce. It was at this point the management of Arthur’s understood the potential they can reach and the benefits they can reap by having their own digital presence rather than depending on social media platforms. Thus, the negotiations started with Arthur’s exploring the functionalities they would want to have in order to enable the best possible user experience for their customers.

Solution

A concept idea was designed and pitched to give a visualization of the solution which helped Arthur’s to give the green light for the project as the final response.

Starting off the work, careful crafting of the layouts with a story for each and every element as to how they would affect both the user experience and user interface took place. Konekt’s expertise on user experience & user interface came in handy in the process to identify the ideal layout structuring.

WordPress was identified and pitched by Konekt as the perfect staging for the site, given the ease of use and content management system of WordPress, and also, the cost-effectiveness it privileged the users. As it was initially identified and pointed, Integrations for analytics and marketing tools were also implemented into the Ecommerce store which would help at identifying the ongoing trends and behaviors for a better service to their customers. In a steady manner, with the collaboration of both sides, the project progressed to the final stages in a hasty and fruitful manner, succeeding QA and testing phases in quick fashion. As the final outcome, Arthur’s Pizzeria has gone alive.

Technologies Used

WordPress

Scope

Wireframes, UI/UX Design, Development, Infrastructure Services

Delivery Period

2 Months

The post Arthur’s Pizzeria extends it’s Digital Footprint with Ecommerce appeared first on Konekt.

Project

Businesses around the world are constantly battling out competition through innovation. The evolution of technology not only adds to this pressure, but levels the playing field by creating more and more direct access to valuable data, on-demand talent, and innovation platforms like eDoc.

When the efficiency of your technology affects not only your business’ success but also the level of care provided to your patients, the impulse to innovate and advance becomes that much more critical.

Healthcare technology is rapidly advancing, and it is worthwhile to pay attention to new developments that could revolutionize the way offices function.

Requirement

A couple of months ago, none of us could have predicted the extent of the coronavirus effect on society. Many countries including Sri Lanka are under lockdown in a bid to limit the spread of the virus through human to human transmission.

Digital health fares as an adequate solution in these circumstances. Robots help in monitoring infected patients to limit contact with medical personnel, deliver medical supplies, and disinfect wards.

Companies and Schools embracing technology to adopt a work from home solution has made remote consultations more enticing to the public, this has resulted in bringing telemedicine into a new light.

Our client identifying this rise in demand approached us to come up with a solution to cater to this rising need.

Solution

Developing eDoc

The objectives to creating eDoc are designed in three core features for eDoc app for the consumer as an initial release, they are:

•     Find/book a doctor
•     Update health-related documents
•     Voice/video call consultation

There is also an app and dashboard for the professional with core features:

•     Appointments
•     Appointment Schedules
•     Prescription upload

The mobile application was planned to release only for Android at the initial stage and would later branch out to iOS devices in the near future.

Designing eDoc

When it comes to wireframe for eDoc app, the design team did a lot of exploration about a telemedicine UI, how it should look, and ensure that the user experience is optimized to the solutions available in the market. The whole design system must support a combination of buttons and card interface elements.

In developing visual design systems in Material Design, we implemented the basic color theory of blue as the primary color.

Blue is highly used to represent calmness and responsibility. Light blue here should appear more refreshing and also friendly as we use a conversational approach to the interaction. As much as blue is often associated with hospital and surgery that have a little bit of tense aura, instead we want to make it more relaxing and approachable, also more sophisticated.

Technologies Used

NodeJs, React Native

Scope

UI/UX Design, App Development, Technology Consulting, Back-end Development, Infra Structure Management

Delivery Period

2 Months

The post Making Telemedicine go Mainstream during the Covid 19 Pandemic appeared first on Konekt.

Project

Dilfer Clothing, an upcoming fashion brand that was dominating the social media stepped up to branch their online sales from social media to an e-commerce store. But, they faced technical and usability issues that were limiting the brand’s prospects in converting through the e-commerce store. The e-commerce website encountered traffic and payment gateway issues that were tarnishing the credibility and brand identity. Void technology with limited functionality for the back office was holding back Dilfer from accelerating their sales and growth as predicted.

An online brand purely drives its sales through a loyal fan/customer base. Therefore focusing only at the sales point will only result in a one-off sale with the spread of bad word of mouth. An E-commerce website should be designed with a view of the business process and not only to the conversion point (A sale). The after sales process (From order management to Order deliver) is essential to have a positive user experience in an online store compared with the experience in a brick and mortar store.

Konekt was hired to give the website a complete overhaul and rebuild its brand identity by transforming into an incredibly user-centric E-commerce website. The team had several discussions with their management and staff to understand their requirements and objectives for the e-commerce store and the back office operations to later be infused in the backend of the e-commerce store.

Requirement

Dilfer Clothing is a startup fashion designing company which strives to provide women with the perfect outfits which pieces of your wardrobe. As a women’s fashion brand that has always believed that their love for fashion and their love to the women who wear their fashion, is the principle around which their entire brand philosophy should pivot. As a brand with a strong grasp of who they are and what they stand for, we at Konekt had the challenge to simplify and create a flagship store experience, one that helps them express themselves in the right way.

• Improve overall user experience and site aesthetic in order to create a more engaging experience
• Create a useable, highly searchable and browsable product catalog with social sharing options and quick conversion points.
• Implement a fully responsive solution backend with Dilfer Clothing’s back office process.
• Efficient checkout process to save time and allow for easy purchase of products for the customer

Solution

Digital is the primary connection point between Dilfer Clothing’s brand and its customers, we used the e-commerce experience as the foundation to define the brand identity framework.

The E-commerce store was designed with a minimalistic, but elegant design, significant bold typography, and images that speak for themselves. With simplicity at the core of the user experience, we brought the site to life with rich content and delightful micro-interactions that inspire customers to browse through the store as well as purchase.

The E-commerce store is designed to bring a rich experience to users, and this was achieved by implementing utility to the product listing pages that allows the user to search by occasion as well as the traditional search. Allowing the user to browse products for a particular occasion/situation.

Technologies Used

Magento 2

Scope

UI/UX Design, Development

Delivery Period

2 Months

The post Dilfer Clothing’s Ecommerce Store Revival by Konekt appeared first on Konekt.