Rethinking ecom frontends: Sell a product directly via a URL-link
COMPANY BEHIND IT: https://www.medusajs.com/
What if we could buy and sell products via a URL link that sends you directly to a check-out flow?
We tried experimenting with this idea for a client and we are currently turning it into an open-source frontend that people can use as an alternative way of selling products than a traditional website.
Would love to hear your feedback on the concept - and on the design of it as well 🙌 Sharing above a product demo of the full check-out flow. You can also sign-up for the beta release here: https://ky5eo2x1u81.typeform.com/Medusa-Express
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How this is different from shareable link of product which is already present on most of the ecommerce sites?
Good question. Two things are very different:
You do not separate the whole check-out flow from the webshop which is the case for 80% of webshops already out there. This reduces numbers of steps to complete the purchase which in the end increases conversion
In some instances, this can ensure you do not even need to build a full webshop; instead you can let your products live on individual links and pages which save you the other hassles of operating a full ecom store
Looks nice. Is this similar to https://www.whymwallet.com/ ?
What are the differences you see with this and Stripe Payment Links?
It’s a great idea and there’s room for lots of players.
Actually, we got a lot of inspiration from Stripe Payments, but wanted to make something more on-brand + make it open-source :-)
In terms of product, this is just a side functionality; our main product is our open-source commerce platform, Medusa: https://www.medusajs.com/
The design is pretty neat. I love it. I don't really understand the concept though - is the idea not to have a "store" with many products and only have a product page?
This may work for certain circumstances, but you need to test consumer behavior to understand if this is a viable solution. Here are a few things I know about getting people to buy on an e-commerce store:
Small Change: Money Mishaps and How to Avoid Them).
Good points and very much agree!
Most merchants using Medusa (which the frontend is built on top of) are also using a normal type of webshop frontend, but as our engine is headless it allows for some experimentation in terms of different setups. Some examples where we have seen this type of check-out being useful:
AI-enabled app to scan spare parts; allowing customers to quick and easy order a new spare part when something was broken without going through a tedious webshop flow
Normal webshops that use this check-out flow specifically for re-targeting adds where the customer then move directly to the checkout flow after clicking a campaign banner (to reduce steps to purchase)
Bookstores or bloggers that do not want to build an entire webshop to sell a few books or a t-shirt - but instead just want a payment flow that they can link to
Interesting concept.
This is useful for use case of buying a single product, e.g. buying digital asset from gumroad. The reason is usually you would buy only one particular thing at a time on gumroad.
As a e-commerce replacement --> not preferable because as a shop owner I would prefer the clients to buy multiple things.
As a pricing + payment page for B2B SaaS product --> a little bit doubtful for B2B ones coz usually those have lots of FAQ and multiple price plans which is quite complicated for this page .
But if it is B2C ones like Spotify then it shd be more suitable!
You are spot on! This is for the niche cases (see examples in the comment above) rather than a solution that fits all. Nevertheless, many of the niche cases have not had any good support up until now
Cool concept, sleek design. I think the use case is to be able to sell stuff without going through a website, like you have the link on a QR code (sitting on the product) or maybe you have a site but you're blogging or tweeting about a specific product you sell and BAM you just add a link at the end to seal the deal. What other use cases do you have in mind?
Thoughts :
Possible problem : products like shopify already let you host a store with no extra website needed. And I think you can share links of your product pages... It would be interesting to see how you differentiate from a shopify.
Really like your observations and in fact; the two use-cases you mention are pretty similar to the people we have talked to that will use the solution: Bloggers, bookstore sellers, and people using this for app re-direct purchases (on top of an AI product scanner). Another example is for normal retailers to use it for retargeting when doing add campaigns where they already know what product the customer is interested in :-)
On Shopify differentiation:
Our main focus is to build an open-source alternative to Shopify. Our main focus is on our headless commerce engine. Here we provide most of the same standard features that Shopify's backend gives out of the box (e.g. E2E order handling, easy-to-use admin interface etc.) but with unlimited customization and extensibility options. In addition, we have aimed to fix some of the regular backend hurdles we know from Shopify like full multi-regional support (local currency, shipment, and payment options) and fully automated exchange + claim handling
You had me convinced at "open-source" 👍🏻🚀
The link doesn 't work
Ahh, sorry; fixed!
This comment was deleted a year ago.
Normally, an ecom experience takes you through a complete webshop from product pages, to storefront and much of other jiggles. We have reduced it all to a combined check-out flow and product page; really trying to shorten the purchasing journey
This comment was deleted a year ago.
Under the hood, this is a regular cart function. So if you want people to combine this with a webshop with multiple other products - then it should be possible :-)