The Institute for Learning sells physical and digital products online at ShopIFl.com; from classroom workbooks and to teacher training guides, to kits including counting and sorting items for young children.
The outdated features of their had ceased to serve the organization and they sought an upgrade. I led the migration of the online store to a self-serve platform that is easy to configure and run in-house, giving the IFL control over inventory, customer and vendor communication, and financial reporting. These goals were shaped by discussions with stakeholders including IFL executive leadership and production staff; university financial and technical support; and the production partner who prints and ships the products.
Because the university has lengthy approval processes for new financial processes, our ideal solution would utilize existing financial infrastructure and product fulfillment services. I engaged university financial and IT departments to get high-level approval for key components of the solution; namely the off-the-shelf Saas solution and the payment gateway. I worked with the IFL’s business unity and third-party print partner to test the transaction and fulfillment process and refine the custom communication generated by the new system.
I facilitated updates to product descriptions and organized them to better serve customers. I worked alongside our content experts to refine page layouts and site navigation accurately reflected instructional sequencing and product relationships. I implemented all content in the new platform, including page layouts, customer communication, and customized fulfillment emails for the print vendor.
The e-commerce store was completed to align with the launch of a new product series, giving us the chance to soft launch and test the configuration using limited inventory. New technical opportunities available in the platform meant that teams were constantly generating ideas; we addressed relevant changes through change requests and began tracking future updates in a backlog so this project was able to stay in scope.