The online store in Telegram from Avivi is a new level of your sales

Usually, in the blog, we write about the development and support of sites and online stores, talk about the achievements of Avivi developers in implemented projects, and in every possible way encourage customers to develop the web component of their own business. But now there will be a special case, since we will be talking about the organization of an online store in the communication service. Over the past 5 years, the volume of trade in various messengers (this is the general name for all communication platforms, so it should not be confused with the similar product (Facebook) Messenger from Meta) has increased by more than 700%. And if at first the services were purely auxiliary sales channels and tools for marketers, today they are completely independent platforms that sell no worse than traditional online stores. And sometimes even better. One of the leaders in this IT segment is the Telegram service, the advantages of which we have repeatedly mentioned in previous articles. But why does sales move to messengers in general and what exactly can Avivi offer you? Let's analyze in detail.

Communicate, have fun, buy

How often do you use messengers? In fact, more often than you think: where is the correspondence with an acquaintance, how do you exchange photos, videos, or funny jokes? After all, where do you get the latest news or important operational information? We are sure that mostly NOT from websites, but from media channels in WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Weechat, Tick-Tock and other services. According to experts' estimates, about 60% of the screen time of smartphone users is spent on various messengers, and for computer screens, this indicator is from 25% to 40%. The explanation of this phenomenon is simple:

• Messengers enable communication and quick (instant) exchange of multimedia information;

• In messengers, the user can freely choose access to the most relevant content and receive it, practically in unlimited quantities, from various sources;

• Messengers allow users to simultaneously be content authors and monetize their activities;

• Using any messenger is extremely simple (at least it strives for it in every way), so it does not require human effort.

As a result, messengers give users positive emotions, which means they attract people's attention. That is why the idea of making it possible to conveniently buy goods in the same place where it is pleasant to spend time is very simple, but ingenious at the same time. The conversion of such an event, provided competent organization, is simply doomed to success, as it gravitates to the basic needs of human nature.

Online store in Telegram

The Telegram is actively conquering the world market thanks to the comprehensive development of the platform. According to Wikipedia, the annual growth of the audience is 50%-70% and by the middle of 2022 it amounted to more than 700 million users. This raised Telegram to the 5th place in the world chart of mobile applications according to a study by Sensor Tower among the most popular and gives every chance to move higher.

For developers, this platform is interesting primarily because of the developed APIs that allow you to implement almost any project using Telegram as a service for interaction with end customers. The creators of the service also paid great attention to the possibility of deploying online stores. But in April 2022, the service introduced revolutionary updates that actually take Telegram sales to a qualitatively new level.

The main point is the software for developing bots in Telegram. Now developers can build into them full-fledged web applications on JavaScript, in which it is easy to create responsive online storefronts. By the way, the possibility of organizing an online store using custom buttons and the Telegram interface also remains, but it does not look as convenient and beautiful as a full-fledged online store. For clarity, you can view an example of a web application for the Durger King bot.

As you can see, everything you need for an online store is here: a catalog of products, the possibility of ordering and payment. In the commercial application, there is also a "Delivery" item, which works by analogy with payment. Much improved convenience for users, because in the previous version of the online store, products from the catalog "fell out" in the messenger feed and mostly did not fit on one smartphone screen or even a desktop application. Therefore, users were forced to scroll through the feed, which caused frustration and dissatisfaction.

To develop an online store in Telegram, knowledge of JavaScript, Telegram Bot API and HTML5 frontend is required. It takes 2 to 4 weeks to develop an MVP for a new online store. It is worth noting that development for Telegram has its own subtleties, but the Avivi team has been developing bots for this platform for a long time, so they know everything listed above.

Integration with an existing online store

It is clear that for the majority of readers of our blog, the issue of organizing, so to speak, a mirror of an already ready online store in Telegram, as an additional sales tool, is more relevant than the development of a bot for a completely new project. And there is great news for you: it is quite possible to transfer the content of your existing store to Telegram. In this case, in addition to developing the functionality of the bot, it is necessary to create an API for the interaction of the platform with the software part of your online store. For new Avivi customers who order a modern online store based on Magento 2, this offer is already included in the list of additional services, as it is promising and popular.

The integration of the online store with Telegram involves:

• The bot forms a store catalog based on the data received from the site. This excludes inaccuracies regarding the availability of the product, its characteristics, etc. All changes in the database of the online store are transmitted to the Telegram bot almost instantly;

• Orders from users of the bot come to company managers in almost the same way as any other orders from the site. If you use a CRM system, we will create an API for this interaction as well;

• The Telegram bot is able to accept payment directly in the messenger thanks to the Telegram payment API. In this case, our APIs are needed to specify the destination of payment results. Otherwise, it is possible to integrate the bot with the payment system you need. With Telegram, it is possible to accept payments in cryptocurrency more easily.

Finally, we remind you that the bot works 7/24/365 with an almost unlimited number of clients at the same time and the entire interaction process is automated. Therefore, you should not deprive your customers of the opportunity to buy goods from your online store where they spend most of their free time. That is, in messengers. Order a consultation with Aviva managers now and develop your business using advanced methods of electronic sales!