The customer
Veranda Mall is a shopping centre located in the eastern part of Bucharest in a well-known commercial area, opened in 2016. It has an area of 30,000 square meters where it brings together commercial spaces, restaurants, coffee shops, and has a green area of 15,000 square meters. Those who choose to visit this mall have at their disposal a wide range of products from various fields, such as fashion, beauty, sports, health, decorations, etc.
Some retailers present in Veranda Mall are Altex, Animax, C&A, Carrefour, Carturesti, Decathlon, Deichmann, Diverta, Farmacia Catena, Gerovital, H&M, Inmedio, Meli Melo, Noriel, OPTIblu, Orange, Pepco, Sephora and many others.
The challenge
Accelerated by the context of the current crisis, which created the need to explore new business directions, the idea of an online marketplace was in plans for a long time, and this became a reality in a very short time, only two months when the customer needs they have changed radically.
The solution
The development of the Veranda marketplace on the VTEX platform was a perfect fit as it is a native marketplace. It allows to easily integrate into the marketplace the brands that are part of Veranda Mall in its physical form, and thus, the products are quickly added in the virtual space.
This project was developed by CustomSoft together with VTEX Romania, within the partnership built at the beginning of 2020. CustomSoft was responsible for the development of the front-end. Although it was our first implementation on the VTEX platform, we mobilized very quickly and implemented it in the agreed time, as we use to.
CustomSoft has proven to be the ideal partner for the development of the front end of our platform. The services offered were characterized by professionalism, solutions implemented quickly, attention to detail, and customer needs. Through the partnership with CustomSoft and VTEX, we managed to make the platform operational in a very short time, which perfectly fits our needs.
Veranda Obor
Benefits
Veranda Mall is the first Romanian mall that has expanded its activity online. This transition is essential for the future, being the first step in the stage of digitization of malls in Romania. Also, this step demonstrates how important is the ability to adapt quickly to new situations.
Through the marketplace it offers, Veranda Mall brings a real benefit for both partner retailers and customers. With the help of this expansion from offline to online, Veranda offered partner retailers a platform through which they can continue to operate safely. Geographical barriers are also removed, and partners can have a much larger number of customers across the country.
The major benefit offered to customers is given by the fact that they can make online orders from the comfort of their own home, without having to travel to the mall. Anyone can safely buy from their favorite stores, and the products are delivered by courier. Also, this is an advantage for those who are not in the vicinity of the mall as deliveries are made anywhere in the country, thus providing access to the offer in the mall and people who cannot get there physically.
Going online is a long-term action, not just for the time being, which was also underlined by Veranda Mall representatives: “In the current context, going online is not a complete change in the business model, but an evolution. In this way, we adapt to both the present and the future, as the return to so-called normality may come later than we would expect. It is good to be aware of this and to say that we are at a turning point for retail”.