Business Showcase: AB Commerce and Magico

Magico is the implementation team and sister company to the AB Commerce platform (Analytics-Based eCommerce) and have been delivering websites to Irish business since 1999. Headquartered in Ennis, Co. Clare, we spoke with company Founder and eCommerce expert CEO Paul Montwill to find out more about the company, the platform and what services they offer.

Hi Paul. Can you firstly tell us what AB Commerce is and then explain where Magico fits into this?

AB Commerce is an analytics-based eCommerce platform. We started building it in 2016 and launched in 2018.  Where other platforms like Shopify have over 2,500 plugins that can be chosen from, we decided to build a platform with what we felt were the top 100 plugins, so that all our clients have these 100 plugins already built-in when they go live.

Magico is our sister company and they supply all the services around AB Commerce.  Since 2018, they have put over 50 Irish retailers live on the AB Commerce platform.

How are you different?

We are different in that you don’t need a developer to help you plug in all the add-ons one at a time. Instead, you can just turn on and off the plugins as you need them. They are already integrated within your platform.

All our clients need to do is integrate their ePos or ERP into our platform so that their products and stock feed in automatically, which we have whittled down to just 2 weeks per average integration – the AB Commerce platform takes care of the rest.

This means our clients can go live fast and then grow fast.

Why will you do well?

All of our clients are guaranteed to go live quickly. They don’t run the risk of their eCommerce platform project turning into an I.T. project that overruns by 6 months and costs double their projected costs.

Each client’s requirements are delivered on time and on budget.

And once live, they then grow fast.  We have a team of experts to hand hold them for the next 5 years, ensuring they stay on the right path so that they can increase their business capabilities.

When was the company launched?

Our company was launched in 1999, so we have been doing eCommerce for over 20 years.  We started the AB Commerce platform 5 years ago in 2016.

What have been your biggest wins to date?

All our clients in the last 2 years, over 50 of them, were delivered on time and on budget.

And last year, the average increase in online sales was 316% on that of the previous year.

We also implemented 17 systems integrations with ePos/ERPs with an average implementation time of 2 weeks – where the industry average is generally 6-9 months.

Can you tell me about your B2B module and how it can help retailers?

The B2B module adds on extra functionality to our B2C platform so that wholesalers and distributors can now use the AB Commerce platform for their business.  This means that their clients, who are adept at using B2C websites, can utilize their website to make B2B orders.

The B2B module includes extra functionality that a wholesaler/distributor would need including contract pricing, list management, B2B2C, pay on account, taxation, private catalogues, sales rep login, back in stock alerts, fast order entry, offline and online order history, inner/outer pack sizes, sub-accounts, and many more.

Who are you trying to attract to this product?

Irish wholesalers and distributors.

What tips would you give to others looking to build their business?

Focus on what you do best and highlight this to make your clients successful. With the Irish business community being so small, decisions are often made on friend’s recommendations, which helps your business grow through word of mouth.

Tell us about your team?

We have a very experienced core team of 10 staff, with most team members having more than 15 years each in the eCommerce sphere. They have built hundreds of websites between them, so they have encountered and problem solved any issue that is likely to arise.

There’s also an extension of our team – approximately 20 contractors with specialist skills who work with our clients.

What are your plans for the future?

Continue to grow in Ireland – and post Covid-19, enter new international markets.

How do people get in touch with you and find out more?

They can contact us through either www.abcommerce.com or www.magico.com