The future is bright for online business in Bulgaria. As a member of the EU, Bulgaria is on a track to digitalisation, perhaps doing it with shorter leaps than trend leaders but yet at an unseen for the country pace.

Pulse of the market

According to Statista, e-Commerce in Bulgaria is valued at $766 million — a figure expected to reach $1,176 billion by 2024. Yet, there are reasons to feel even more optimistic about the forecasts.

A few things need to done first, however. The latest studies show that only 65% of Bulgaria’s population has regular access to the Internet and 34% have made at least one online purchase in the last year. Perhaps a good explanation is that people are still coming to terms with online shopping as a viable alternative to retail.

Removing the roadblocks

Trust in online shopping is one side of the cube that needs to be put together. Worries about the security of transactions, unfamiliarity with electronic methods of payment and trust in the quality of online merchandise seem to be the main hurdles on the path to speedier growth. Once again drawing from Statista, 95% of online purchases were paid in cash in 2017. This dropped to 58% in favour of payment via cards and e-wallets for 2019. This shows that trust in online exchanges is increasing. However, more can be done to speed up the process. The question is who is responsible for what?

Internet providers, for one, can do their share by increasing efforts to improve internet access nationwide. Success in this will virtually guarantee bigger engagement in the sector. Second, developers will also have to play a role. Perhaps, their role will be dedicated to educating the public about payment systems, payment protection methods, data protection, and evaluation mechanisms that encourage fair transactions; and to building easy to use, modern e-commerce platforms that nurture further trust.

Speedflow’s role

Speedflow’s mission is to raise the trust and quality of e-commerce in Bulgaria through the provision of online trading platforms, which provide stellar user experience, transparency and guaranteed security. We do this by leveraging our coding mastery and understanding of business. Our solutions reflect the latest e-commerce requirements by the European Union.

Speedflow has over 15 years of experience in the web development sector and possesses a team of highly qualified professionals that can help your business grow.

Contact Speedflow at info@speedflow.bg to inquire about our online shop development service.

WooCommerce has been downloaded almost 50,000,000 times, which makes it the most widely used e-commerce plugin in the world. According to research done by Biultwith, 22% of all e-shops in the top 1 million are built on it. What makes the platform the NUMBER ONE choice among e-merchants? You want to create your own online shop, but are not quite sure if WooCommerce is the right one for your business? We are going to give an answer to this question today.

 

Technical Support

WooCommerce is an e-commerce plug-in developed for WordPress CMS. It serves the interests not only of small to medium businesses but also of big market players. Keeping in mind that WordPress is the most popular website platform with a CMS market share of 60%, it comes as no surprise that WooCommerce offers a secure environment for eCommerce website development and top-level technical support.
Anyone who has an online shop wants it to function perfectly without any bugs. Impeccable User Experience (UX) is extremely important so that visitors can quickly and easily finalize their orders. With WooCommerce you can be sure that the website system will be working properly and will be updated simultaneously and according to the latest internet changes. There is a team of developers and specialists, a cooperative community that contributes to the improvement of its functions.

 

Professional results (for free!)

This is another big advantage of the plugin – anyone can download and install it absolutely free of charge. However, being free does not make it of poor quality. WooCommerce will make the looks of your online shop quite professional, as well as its user experience, functions, and features. Client browsing and check-out processes are facilitated and your workflow is optimized. The plugin offers options such as:

• Order tracking;
• Purchase history;
• Delivery status updates;
• Tax/Fee calculations;
• Promo codes, discounts;
• Stock Control;
• Delivery options;
• And more.

 

Overall, you can get anything you need. That’s the perfect choice for anyone looking to start their own online business without a big initial investment in web development. Keeping in mind how many other expenses an online shop has, it is always nice to save up some money whenever you can. And in this case, there is nothing better than a reliable, cheap and functional platform plugin like WooCommerce.

 

Open source

WooCommerce is an open source platform when integrated with WordPress, which allows software developers from all over the world to create an extension for it, increasing its capabilities even more. It is very much likely that whatever gadget, plug-in or extension you need for it to have already been developed. People around the world actively contribute to perfecting the plugin and WordPress. This makes it even more attractive, flexible and full of endless possibilities.

 

Personalization

The fact that WooCommerce is the most widely used e-commerce plugin in the world does not mean that your online shop will look like all the rest on the internet. On the contrary, there are plenty of themes you can choose from, you can also play with colors and style, as well as personalize different options. If later on, you decide to switch from one theme to another, it can be done rather quickly and smoothly. WooCommerce will make your e-shop look like a professional and integral website. You can even add a blog section if you want.

 

Stats and Analytics

If you have an online shop then it will be quite beneficial for you to use some analytics tools to keep track of everything happening on the website. Of course, when you have just started your online business, this technical part may seem a little bit overwhelming and confusing (at first). The good thing about WooCommerce is that it comes with integrated analytics system that is easy to use and understand. It provides information about:

• Orders sorted by data for example;
• Individual client purchase stats;
• Total number of completed orders;
• And more.

Generate graphs and pie-charts to get valuable information about how things are going with your online shop. These stats will help you see the big picture and what you need to do to improve it. If you decide that you need more complex and detailed data, you might go ahead and easily integrate Google Analytics for example.

 

Payment and Security

Online payment security is crucial for both end-users and business owners. WooCommerce performance ranks pretty high on this matter. The plugin is secure and accepts any type of payment methods –credit, debit cards, PayPal and more. Whatever payment system you might need, it can be easily integrated without the need to have it specifically developed.

 

Conclusion…

From all said so far, we can definitely see why WooCommerce is such a successful product around the world. It provides quick, easy, cost-saving and professional integration of many useful e-shop elements. With little investment, you get great results!

Ok, now let’s say you have decided to use WooCommerce as your e-commerce platform. What’s the next step? Our blog article “8 key elements for a successful online store” will shed some extra light on additional questions you might have. In case you need professional advice, we will be happy to help you out. Just contact us at info@speedflow.bg.

Online success inevitably goes through digitalizing your business and most people are already aware of that. Every year, online sales are growing, and this trend seems to be here to stay. This is why today we want to talk about e-commerce and how you can also be a proud owner of an online shop.

Business Plan

 

Above all, you should know that creating a successful website is not an easy task especially if we are talking about an eCommerce website. The first step, as with any other business venture, is to create a business plan. It should include the following questions:

• What will I sell? – Researching the markets, selecting niche and products;
• How will I sell? – Matching the product to the specific market;
• Where will I get products from? – Building a distribution network and determining the regularity of shipments;
• Who are my competitors and how do they sell? – Learning about the competition, their advantages, disadvantages, and means of selling;
• What are the costs? – Identifying all possible start-up costs, investment in a base, equipment, and staff;
• What if I fail? – Defining backup options for unexpected situations.  Always be prepared for failure.

 

Domain Name and Web Hosting

 

A frequently underestimated step is choosing a name for your online shop, the so-called domain name.
There are several criteria that you should adhere to:

 

• The name should be as short as possible, accurate and clear, making it easier to remember it;
• It must be easy to write and pronounce;
• Choose the appropriate domain extension – the most popular .com .net is your first choice, but if your site will only operate on a local level, you can also go for a country extension – .bg, .ru, .de, or .co.uk

 

The next step is finding a web hosting provider. Choose carefully, search for additional information and reviews. Contact several companies and check how fast and effective is the help they provide. Avoid trusting sites like “Top 10 Hosting Providers” because they are mostly paid by the companies themselves. Keep in mind that it is a huge niche with thousands of providers so it’s pretty easy to get overwhelmed.

 

Choosing a Platform

 

Choosing the right platform for your online store is always a controversial moment. Everyone has different impressions and opinions about their favorite online solution, but there are a few that you can safely start with. WooCommerce, OpenCart, and PrestaShop are easy and intuitive for people with less experience, and for larger stores, you can also try options like Magento.

We recommend using WooCommerce for your online shop.

Of course, you can always bet on a platform developed specifically for you, but this is usually associated with higher costs.

 

Quality Content & SEO

 

Just because you have an online store doesn’t mean you shouldn’t rely on quality content to wow your users. Detailed and well-explained product descriptions, beautifully processed photos, video content, a dedicated blog with themed articles – the possibilities are endless.

 

Write for your visitors and not for the search engines, but keep in mind the factors for better ranking. They are the foundation of the good SEO optimization and they will help your text reach more people online. Create content that would be useful and interesting to YOU, things YOU would be looking for. This is the way to make content reachable from a larger audience and satisfying their needs.

Assuming your website is optimized in terms of structure, content, code, and load speed, the final step of that part it the link building and creating a good link profile.

 

Marketing and Advertising Plan

 

Your online shop is ready, you tested it, checked every page for spelling mistakes and functionality issues, filled it with your unique content and added the products/services. What now?

 

You should compile a marketing plan to advertise and promote your brand, helping it become more noticeable. After all your online store would not be successful if no one knew about it, right?

Some basic approaches are:

• Digital marketing
• Social media
• Permanent creation of valuable content
• Google AdWords & Facebook Ads – paid ads
• Email marketing
• Video marketing

 

Now what?

 

Congratulations! Your online store is ready for visitors, with a clear vision and purpose, neatly organized and ready for a revolution in online markets. There are many different factors that are directly responsible for its performance, but if you follow this plan, success is likely to come earlier than you think.

If you need help for anything, contact us at info@speedflow.bg and we will help by providing you with professional web services.

Are you ready to meet the requirements of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

The article we have prepared today gives the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the GDPR. Maybe you own a company, maybe you are just an end-user. Whatever the case, don’t stop reading, because the answers you are looking for might be given below.

 

What is GDPR?

GDPR is the new General Data Protection Regulation. It was adopted on April 27, 2016, by the European Union to control the processing, storage, and usage of individual personal data by other individuals, companies, and organizations.

 

When does GDPR come into force?

The new Regulation comes into force on May 25, 2018. Anyone who processes personal data is required to comply with the applicable laws. If not, the penalties may reach up to 20 million euro or 4% of the annual company turnover for the previous year (the bigger amount of both should be paid).

 

How much is the minimum fine in Bulgaria regarding GDPR?

It is not yet 100% sure, but the Bulgarian legislation foresees a minimum fine of 10,000 BGN if you do not cover the new GDPR regulations. This is disputed in a public discussion.

Whom does the new General Data Protection Regulation apply to?

The new General Data Protection Regulation applies to any company/organization that is registered in the European Union and processes personal data. Or monitors individuals, regardless of where exactly the data is being processed and whether or not this is the main business activity of the company or of any of its branches.

 

Does GDPR apply to non-EU companies?

Yes! Every company that offers products and services to EU citizens and processes their personal data, irrespective of its location, is obliged to follow the rules and regulations laid down in the new General Data Protection Regulation.

 

What does personal data mean?

According to the Regulation personal data means any type of information about an individual, which is identified or could be identified, for example:

• first name;
• family name;
• ID number;
• national identification numbers;
• location;
• telephone number
• personal address; 
• IP address; 
• and more; 

More information can be found here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/what-personal-data_en

What is meant by personal data processing under GDPR?

The definition of personal data processing is quite broad. It includes many activities such as collecting, storing, changing, sharing, exchanging, etc.

 

What are my rights as an individual under GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation gives the following rights to subjects, whose personal data is being processed:

• The right to be informed in a completely transparent manner about the ways in which companies and organizations are processing personal data.
• The right of access to their personal data at any given moment
• The right to rectify, update, change personal data when it is incomplete or incorrect
• The right to erase their personal data, widely known as “the right to be forgotten”
• The right to restrict the processing of personal data
• The right to data portability, which means that every individual is entitled to use their own personal data in a way they deem suitable as well as to share it with other data processors and controllers.
• The right to object to the ways in which their personal data is being processed and used. This is also valid in the case where personal data is being used for marketing and advertising purposes, research, etc.
• Right not to become the subject of automated decision making and profiling stemming from the processing of personal data. This way subjects are protected against bearing the consequences and responsibilities of an automated decision made without the involvement of another human being.

 

What are my legal obligations as a company/organization/personal data processor under GDPR?

The new General Data Protection Regulation introduces new rules and obligation for everybody who processes and stores personal data. Here are some of them:

• GAP analysis – an analysis that aims to determine does a specific company/organization (which is a personal data administrator/processor) meets the GDPR requirements. The analysis can be done internally – in the company or externally – with the assistance of a consultant or a consulting company;
• Processing and reporting – All personal data must be processed according to the principles laid down in GDPR and this must be proved at all times.
• Protection – Individual personal data must be protected against violation at every stage of its processing and use.
• Data Protection Officer (DPO) – Each company/organization/personal data processor must appoint a Data Protection Officer if:
  – its main business activities are related to the processing of personal data on a large scale or to the regular and large-scale monitoring of individuals. This includes tracking and profiling of individuals on the Internet (even for advertising purposes). Including banks and financial institutions, telecommunication operators, GPS service providers, video surveillance (CCTV services), behavioral ads;
  – if the administrator has more than 250 recruited employees.
  – if the administrator processes personal data of more than 10 000 individuals
  – if the administrator processes special or so-called “Sensitive” personal data on a large scale – such as all hospitals, health establishments, pension, and insurance companies
  – when it comes to public authorities except courts in performing their judicial functions. The official data protection officer (DPO) should have had the relevant training and the organization itself will tell how much he/she meets the new regulations. It is advisable to have a good knowledge in the field in which he/she works. As well as good practices for the protection of personal data.
  -This obligation can be “outsourced” and an external DPO appointed;
• Impact assessment – An impact assessment on the protection of personal data and consumers has to be done once every two years;
• Risk assessment – an assessment is made to show the potential risk of loss of personal data or breakthrough/hacking in the protection of the organization and the potential damage;
• Notification – Data processors are required to notify Data Protection Authorities if any breach to the processing of personal data has been identified.
• Assessment – An assessment of the impact on personal data protection is mandatory.
• Consultation – If the assessment shows that the risk is high and the data processor does not take the necessary precautions to reduce it, the data processor is obliged to have a consultation with the Data Protection Authority before processing any personal data.
• Security – Personal data security must be ensured at all times and, if necessary, the appropriate technical and organizational measures should be implemented. For this purpose, each company must have updated internal rules and policies compatible with GDPR;
• Documentation – Each company must keep strict documentation (or register) and document the listed obligations above. This task is a responsibility of the Data Protection Officer (DPO). Also, logs about what’s happening on a particular website need to be kept.
• And more.

 

What information must I provide to the subjects whose personal data is being processed?

No matter what business activity you do, be it online or offline, you must inform the subject whose personal data is being processed about the following:

• Who are you and does your company/organization do
• Contact details of your company, as well as the contact details of your Data Protection Officer (if you have appointed one)
• Why you collect and process personal data and what exactly it will be used for
• What categories of personal data you collect
• On what legal grounds you process personal data
• For how long their personal data will be stored
• Are you going to share their data with third parties
• Will their data be transmitted outside the EU
• Explicitly state their rights with regard to personal data processing (right of access, information, etc. mentioned above in our article)
• And more

This information can be included in your “Privacy policy”. Another idea is to create a separate “Cookie Policy” page and describe all of this along with types of cookies and tracking technologies you are using for collecting personal data.

 

How will GDPR affect your online business?

The new General Data Protection Regulation was enacted for the purpose of protecting the rights of the sides participating in the exchange of personal data online. In other words, under GDPR the interactions and relationships between any business and its customers are facilitated and the flow of information between the parties is secured.

Thus, personal data protection is guaranteed, data abuse and Spam (unsolicited or undesired electronic messages) are reduced considerably.

 

What changes should I make if I have a website that collects personal data?

After doing a GAP analysis to determine the extent to which you meet the new requirements (mentioned above in the article), they should also be included on your website. Every website user/visitor must explicitly agree to have their personal data processed.

You must also:

• Renew your “Privacy Policy“, including a “Cookie Policy“, and describe everything that we mentioned above.
• Update your “Terms of Service“. * We advise you to consult a lawyer regarding this topic!
• Enable users to disable cookies, tools and other technology which collect their personal data
• Ensure that users are able to have their personal data deleted from the database of your eCommerce website or another type of website. As already mentioned, provide them “the Right to be forgotten”.

 

Who will monitor the compliance with GDPR?

The full list of Data Protection Authorities per country can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm

Where can I get more detailed information?

You can find more information about the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en

You can download the entire regulation here:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2016.119.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ%3AL%3A2016%3A119%3ATOC

Speedflow Bulgaria advise you to consult with a lawyer about creating your new company texts, rules, and policies. As for the technical implementation on your website, we are at your services.

Do not hesitate to contact our team if you have any questions. We guarantee that our customers’ personal data is fully protected and processed in compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).