This Kooomo review takes a look at all the critical features that principally set it apart from the rest, the pricing structure for different types of users, and finally, overall suitability
Commercial transactions conducted electronically over the web. That’s the basic definition of ecommerce today. And so it has been for close to three decades.
Fair enough. But here’s the thing. Despite this static principal description, ecommerce has changed substantially over the years. And I’m not talking about its face only. But rather, the whole thing. An exceedingly dynamic change, to say the least.
Well, you’re probably wondering what this has got to do with Kooomo. But, before we get to the point of all this, allow me to walk you through a short, interesting history.
Online shopping was invented in 1979 over a rather primitive system. A certain Michael based in the UK simply used a telephone line to connect a multi-user transaction processor computer to his television and boom!
But, it was not until 1994 that the first commercial transaction over the internet actually took place. And that marked the beginning of an online shopping era that is seemingly changing way faster than we can keep up.
By 2014, for instance, 55% of businesses on the web had already optimized their sites for mobile. And barely three years later, before we could even learn all the tricks on mobile ecommerce, the trend shifted yet again. 19% of online shoppers in the US were already conducting voice-based transactions with their digital home assistants.
Now, that barely scratches the surface here. But, it should be enough to pick out an outstanding pattern.
Fact is, whether you like it or not, ecommerce is progressively becoming more sophisticated on every possible front. And so are the challenges.
The bottom line?
Although we currently have a wide array of ecommerce platforms to support businesses, the show belongs to flexible services. Gone are the days when all we needed was a framework for product listing, transaction management, and website hosting.
Businesses seeking to expand systematically to keep up with the dynamic trends are now going for next-generation ecommerce platforms.
Make no mistake about it. I’m not referring to platforms that essentially just support third-party integrations. I admit that would pretty much be sufficient today, but the future is much bigger than that.
To cope effectively with the forthcoming currents, an ecommerce platform has to extend past standard integrations. That means adapting the underlying framework to the entire ecommerce ecosystem. Not just transactions and product listing.
Unfortunately, not many services fit such a profile. That’s why I was pretty excited to try out one of the seemingly exceptional ones.
Meet Kooomo.
Kooomo Review: Overview
Not exactly a name you’d expect for an ecommerce platform, I admit. But it explains a lot about it.
Quite simply, Kooomo means omnichannel. A system that essentially merges multiple sales channels on one platform, allowing users to centrally manage every aspect of their online businesses.
Well, you’ve not heard about it until recently because it hasn’t been around for as long as its dominant competitors like Magento and Shopify. Kooomo was rather launched in 2015 to cater to all levels of online business- small, medium and large, plus both B2C and B2B.
But, don’t get me wrong. It might be new, but the journey started way earlier. As early as 2000, barely 9 years after the web went live.
The ecommerce ecosystem, by then, had already started getting quite complicated for the bulk of its users. And it wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. As a matter of fact, everything pointed towards the opposite.
So, the team started off as ZeroGrey, aimed at simplifying everything for businesses through managed services. They went ahead to help renowned brands like Lamborghini, Bacardi, and Diadora launch their first ever online stores.
Somewhere along the way, they started working on a system that would take this concept to the next level. They were seeking to facilitate ecommerce in a way that no one has seen before. And in 2015, Kooomo was born, packed with notable cloud technology advancements.
Today, Kooomo boasts of providing the best-in-class ecommerce features, combined with agility, and competitive pricing. It’s basically an end-to-end cloud solution that facilitates holistic online business management, connects and streamlines multiple sales channels, plus powers reporting, promotions, marketing, content management, customer service, and warehouse management. All under one roof.
This approach subsequently saw Kooomo recognized by Gartner in the 2017 Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, just two years after launch. Certainly a remarkable achievement that further solidified its position as one of the most powerful ecommerce solutions, hardly a year after bagging yet another Gartner recognition as a “Cool Vendor in Digital Commerce 2016”.
It’s also soaking up quite a number of users on a regular basis, including notable global brands like Burtlers Chocolates, Avoca, Morrison’s Nutmeg, Blauer, La Sportiva, Havaianas, among others.
Good for them. But, what does this mean for your online store? Is the solution actually any good?
I’ll help you figure that out. This Kooomo review takes a look at all the critical features that principally set it apart from the rest, the pricing structure for different types of users, and finally, overall suitability.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in…
Kooomo Review: Features
Go Live Within 90 Days
Right off the bat, you’ll notice Kooomo prides itself in, among other things, the ability to set up your online store considerably fast.
To be more specific, Kooomo will have your online business live within 90 days.
Now hang on a minute. Did I just overhear a sigh?
Well, I admit 90 days might sound like an eternity at first. But let’s face it. That’s only if you’re running a relatively small business with relatively few needs. The entire 90-day period applies to the largest enterprises with extensive needs on possibly all ecommerce components. A smaller business, therefore, should take much shorter.
That said, it’s worth noting that the setup process is not just about registering a domain, building a site, attaching the product catalog, plus a payment solution, then leaving it at that. That’s apparently what the bulk of entrepreneurs are getting from other typical platforms.
Since businesses are consistently working within a fast-pasted ecommerce environment, Kooomo’s support team goes all out in the setup process. They do not only develop a site that meets the minimum brand requirements. You basically get a globally-connected site with pretty much all the functionalities for running a comprehensive enterprise ecommerce.
Wait, what does this mean?
In layman’s terms, you get a double stack burger with extra everything. The store, third-party marketplaces, PIM, CRM, OMS, CMS, WMS, plus a synchronized multichannel system, you name it. All within three months.
Now, that’s what you call fast.
End-to-End Technology
A typical online store on a standard ecommerce platform is pretty much set up almost like a system of multiple distinctive cogwheels. The platform fundamentally acts as the base skeleton, providing a framework for integrating multiple third-party wheels in line with varying business needs.
Well, this makes sense to a certain extent. It helps ecommerce platforms support a wide array of enterprises with varying structures and technological needs.
Plus, it helps enterprises sample the best out there. Third-party services that are specially optimized for their respective channels.
Fair enough, but let’s face it. When you come to think about this approach critically, several downsides start showing. First, you are forced to purchase a license for each third-party solution you integrate with your business. That makes the whole setup quite costly.
Secondly, while the ecommerce platform is built to work well with the integrations, third-party services do not necessarily come attached to each other. The final result is a system of cogwheels that share the same support skeleton but end up spinning individually.
Kooomo, on the other hand, employs end-to-end technology that effectively addresses this problem. Instead of multiple licenses for different solutions, it provides a full stack platform with basically everything you need to power your online enterprise.
In addition to a content management system, Kooomo offers you campaign management, web content management, SEO, multi-channel management, catalog management, product information management, customer relationship management, warehouse management system, plus order management.
The end result is a streamlined system of cogwheels that spin in tandem. That’s how you achieve a well-structured online enterprise.
Network of Integrations
Ok, we’ve established that end-to-end full stack technology beats regular third-party service integrations hands down.
But, let’s be honest here. The latter, undeniably, still has its set of benefits.
So, guess what?
Kooomo isn’t going to just sit around and ignore this. It turns out the platform also supports a wide range of notable integrations for personalization, development, payments, marketing, data analytics, warehousing, logistics, and global supply chain. So your store gets to benefit from both worlds.
To top it off, Kooomo will also help you extend your store to over 60 online marketplaces, including Amazon and eBay. And still get to manage everything from the central dashboard.
Sell Globally
And speaking of extensions, you might need to expand your enterprise beyond the border to other global markets.
After all, that’s the whole point of selling over the internet, right?
Well, Kooomo has gone further than simply providing access from anywhere in the world. The platform is now geolocalized in 15 different languages, and it supports a wide range of international currencies, plus their corresponding tax rates.
Selling globally, therefore, becomes a less complicated affair. All you need to do is handle the groundwork and voila! Kooomo facilitates the rest.
Regular Updates
All things considered, technological advancements in ecommerce are great. Because they ultimately help us sell faster and manage our businesses more conveniently.
But, don’t you just hate the fact that you’re forced to keep up with the fast-changing trends? Change is good, but the subsequent possible disruption is nothing to smile about.
Thankfully, Kooomo shields users from all this. The platform is automatically updated every 21 days to future-proof its users, without disrupting standard business operations.
You don’t even need additional backend development or infrastructural changes. Your enterprise is kept up-to-date without you even noticing.
And the best thing is? It’s completely free of charge.
Overall Features
All in all, Kooomo provides:
- Omnichannel synchronized stock
- Customer relationship management
- Digital marketing and SEO
- Promotions management
- Analytics and reporting
- Warehouse management
- One-click integrations
- Frictionless checkout
- Connection to over 60 online marketplaces
- Product information management
- Content management
- Order management
- Value added services
- Multiple currency support
- Multiple language support
- End-to-end full stack technology
- Regular system updates
Kooomo Review: Pricing
Kooomo Enterprise setup and configuration can range from €20 to €50k. When you need integrations, they are scoped out separately, and the work is done by Kooomo's in-house development team. They operate a shared success model, where revenue share starts at 3% and can be adjusted based on turnover and sales channel.
When it comes to pricing for ecommerce platforms, it falls into the “how long is a piece of string” bucket, as solutions come in many shapes and sizes. For this reason, Kooomo provides a guide to pricing and this can be fine-tuned to fit your specific needs. They will review your business needs, advice you accordingly, then agree on a revenue share which is billed on a monthly basis.
You get to pay for precisely what your online store adopts. Nothing more, nothing less. Compare that to typical pricing schedules which often contain plans with offerings that are pretty much rounded off based on popular preferences.
The Kooomo Commerce Enterprise platform is also upgraded every 3 weeks free of charge.
Who Should Consider Using Kooomo?
Considering its status as a new market entrant, you might feel a bit skeptical about Kooomo’s ability to match up to current market needs. But, after reviewing its features, it’s now pretty obvious why the solution is increasingly winning accolades.
Quite simply, Kooomo was built for tomorrow’s businesses. It’s perfectly ideal for small, mid-size, and large ecommerce enterprises across all industries. Principally because of its optimized full-stack system, and the fact that its team of developers continues to set up needs-based systems.
This interesting approach Kooomo has taken, I predict, could shake up the industry in the near future. Needless to say, it’ll be exciting to see how competitors respond.
A storm could be on the way. Better buckle up!
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