As some of you reading this will know, Magento is an open source and hugely flexible content management system for eCommerce. It allows developers and shop owners to create a fully functioning online web store that can be customised to suit their needs. Some of the biggest companies use Magento as their online shopping platform, including the likes of Nike and Dick Smith. In fact, Magento has a 42% of the online retailing market share in Australia.For these reasons, and the fact we believe SMS is, if not vital then, very important to retailing success, we decided to create a Magento extension, which is available right now from the Magento Connect store. We set out for the extension to be built in the same vein as all of our products; to be robust, reliable and the best out there. Not only that but we’re offering it for free. All you have to do is pay for the SMS you want to send.There are two main aspects to the extension: Customer communication and staff communication.
Customer communication
Within retail, there are many points at which you might want to alert your customers. Many of these alerts will be time sensitive and unique to each user’s experience. For example, when customers buy a product you may want to tell them their purchase was successful. When the product is ready to be shipped, you may want to let customers know such. And when the product is about to be delivered, it is often in your best interest to let them know that. Some of this you can do by email, and practically all of your competition already are. Therefore SMS can not only be a handy alternative, but also a point of differentiation. It’s more personal and will resonate with your customers, because you’ll be one of very few doing this. And with delivery, the reason I said it’s in your best interest to inform them by SMS, is that it will save you having to pay for re-deliveries. Those who receive an SMS will often read it within 30 seconds, meaning they will have plenty of time to make sure they are home to receive the delivery. Not only good for you, but good for them.
Staff communication
Unlike other SMS extensions, ours offers a unique functionality. With the Esendex SMS notifications+ extension you can schedule SMS sales reports to be sent to your sales teams, managers or any staff you want to keep informed, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This allows you to track the impact of campaigns or simply makes for an easy way to stay informed whilst on the move.
Open-source
Another approach we’ve made to releasing this extension, is to have it open-source. The code is available on GitHub for developers to take, adapt and use at their will. Just make sure you don’t change the SMS provider, it’s in the license. So what are you waiting for? If you have an online shop built on Magento, head over to the Magento Connect store, or GitHub, and get it up and running. Sign up for an Esendex account and you’ll be away in no time.
