From the bazaars and trade routes of antiquity to the digital global marketplaces of today, commerce has constantly reinvented itself over time to meet people's needs. In recent years, the field of e-commerce has evolved greatly, with more and more customers shopping online.

Let's start with the benefits...

As the operator of a brick-and-mortar store, you may wonder whether it makes sense to also operate a webshop. Here are five advantages:

Extended reach:

A webshop allows you to reach a larger target group, as customers can access your products regardless of location. The extended reach can increase turnover.

24/7 availability:

Unlike a brick-and-mortar store, customers can shop online at any time, even outside of your usual business hours. This flexibility can help customers to shop more often.

Improved customer loyalty:

Personalized offers and recommendations can increase customer loyalty and satisfaction, while customer feedback on your products can help improve them.

Assortment expansion:

The product range can be expanded without spatial restrictions. This allows you to offer a larger selection of products and thus potentially reach new target groups.

Saving on rental costs:

As no additional sales space needs to be rented, you can save on rental costs. This allows you to reduce fixed costs while still benefiting from the advantages of a brick-and-mortar store.

An online store offers you the opportunity to increase your income without having to forego the advantages of a brick-and-mortar store. But what requirements do customers place on webshop operators?

Why an appealing design is not enough

First impressions are often decisive. However, when visiting a webshop, customers not only expect an appealing design, but also user-friendly navigation so that they can find their way around quickly and easily. A clear presentation of products, prices and shipping options as well as simple purchase order and payment options are other important requirements. In addition, fast delivery is crucial to satisfy customers. A problem-free return or exchange option if required is also an important factor. To meet these requirements, a smooth purchase order and payment process as well as effective warehouse and inventory management are crucial. Uriel and Raquel from Maillardos have these processes perfectly under control and reveal how they achieve this.

The coffee journey began unexpectedly in Ethiopia

In 2012, Uriel and Raquel discovered their passion for coffee and the culture associated with it during a volunteer program in Addis-Ababa. They took their impressions and ideas back to Switzerland and opened a show roastery and café in Rheineck in 2016 - Maillardos! The name of the roastery is inspired by Louis Camille Maillard (1878-1936), the forefather of the "Maillard reaction", which is responsible for the diverse aromas in roasted coffee. Sustainable cultivation methods, traceability and recyclable packaging are just as important to Maillardos as fresh, gentle roasting. The specialty coffee is now also available in a leading wholesaler. We visited Uriel and Raquel and had a chat over a cup of coffee.

What inspires you when creating new coffee flavors and blends?

Our primary goal is to develop the unique character and full potential of the green coffee. Similar to wine, many factors influence the taste, from the terroir and variety to the farmers' processing methods. Our inspiration for the taste therefore comes directly from the bean.

Our job as roasters is then to develop a suitable roasting profile that does justice to the variety and the desired application and target group. We work exclusively with high-quality green coffees that are so good that we can offer them not only in blends, but also as single varieties.

What challenges have you overcome since founding your company?

At the beginning of our adventure, our focus was on turning our vision of a roastery-café into reality and seeing how it would be received by customers. We were less concerned about profitability and more focused on creating a great experience for our guests. However, as demand grew, it quickly became clear that we needed more space, both for seating and for production.

That's why we converted the adjacent room into a spacious café last year and opened in August. To further optimize our production processes, we decided to open a separate production facility just 5 minutes away from our café in early summer this year. The search for a suitable checkout solution was another challenge we had to face.

You opted for Arcavis. What tipped the scales and how does Arcavis make your day-to-day work easier?

We have been using various sales channels to sell our products since 2016. In addition to over-the-counter sales, we also offer a webshop with various payment methods and receive direct orders on invoice from business customers.

However, it was difficult to keep track of sales figures, stock, price changes and promotions as we were using separate programs for each sales channel. That's why we set out to find a comprehensive solution that had an API interface to WooCommerce, could work with different product variants and promotions and allowed us to generate customer orders and invoices from the same software. It was also particularly important to us that the software supports our mixed business structure of catering and retail. With Arcavis, we have found a solution that meets all these requirements. Another plus for us: the development and all supporters are based in Switzerland.

You rely on various sales channels, one of which is your web store. What advantages do you see in this?

With our online store, we have the opportunity to address not only customers in our immediate vicinity, but also those who live further away. The store is open 24/7, which allows our customers to shop with us at any time and from anywhere. This means more convenience and flexibility for our customers.

Thanks to the webshop, we can also plan and control our stock and production better. In short, the webshop offers us many advantages that benefit not only us, but also our customers.

Last but not least, what advice would you give to colleagues who run a brick-and-mortar branch and also want to sell their products online?

Familiarize yourself with the topic of e-commerce and, if necessary, get an expert on board. With the right software, you can optimize processes for order processing and warehouse management and ensure that your online and offline sales channels work together smoothly. And last but not least, continue to focus on personal customer loyalty and a good service experience in the branch.

Arcavis combines the best of both worlds

A web store offers many advantages for brick-and-mortar stores, such as extended reach or 24/7 availability. A central warehouse management system is a prerequisite for cross-channel retail. Arcavis is a POS system and warehouse management system in one. Basic information such as product availability, order history and promotions are always available in real time, both at the point of sale and in the back office. Thanks to automatic synchronization, you save valuable time and can concentrate fully on your customers and the business. With our powerful and extensive API, Arcavis can be connected to any webshop.

The perfect mix: Arcavis and webshop