Building an e-commerce platform for distribution of publications and e-books globally

The client Forside.com is a Tokyo-based company, listed on Osaka Stock Exchange, focused on the distribution of e-books all over the world. It had forged partnerships with carriers to distribute books like comics, novels, non-fiction work, guidebooks, and handbooks. Their products included licensed material from other companies as well as its own publications and even books of lyrics by popular artists. They gathered more than 4 million e-book distribution rights in multiple languages.

Set against the backdrop of the huge traditional book market and the fast-growing mobile sector, For-side.com, specialising in the e-book market, aimed at distributing e-books globally by making the most out of their accumulated distribution and sales strategy know-how. They required upgradation of their global carrier service along with an expansion of their channels for smartphones. Application development for their material was another major area to be covered. With this business requirement, the Mobibook project was awarded to WS in 2010.

What we did

Microsoft .NET based responsive and multilingual (English, Japanese, and Chinese) e-commerce application for multiple countries (Japan, China, USA, Vietnam, and India) and carriers payment option (Cybersource, DoCoMo, Smart, LG, Vibo, Sun, Vcast, Iusacell, and Aircel)
Designated storefronts for the carriers with their respective payment operations and content distribution system.
Integrated with multiple book providers like Ingram, Gardener, Overdrive, World Public Library, Diamond Comics.
Extended campaign management facility integrated with third parties (such as Google Affiliate Network, Ad Parlor, MobPartner, etc.)

Solution Highlights

The storefronts were designed to seamlessly integrate with the Master System, which was a CMS-enabled central repository of the client that macro-managed the administration of all the individual book storefronts.
Scalable, robust, flexible architecture and specifically done to facilitate effortless addition of new features and expansion in scope and reach.