Retail and ecommerce: AI-enabled storefronts, marketplaces and order operations
Netbase helps retailers and online merchants modernize storefronts, marketplaces and order operations, and adds AI where it pays: search, recommendations, catalog enrichment and order exceptions, with your team approving what shoppers see. Results are published: Geo-Tek IT Solutions grew revenue 36% in the first quarter after its new ecommerce platform launched, and an EU fashion marketplace grew GMV 47%.
Review your retail ecommerce transformation roadmap View relevant workReviewed by David (CEO) · Updated 17 Sep 2026
Revenue +36% in the first quarter after the new ecommerce platform launched
GMV +47% for an anonymous EU fashion-tech marketplace
Vendor onboarding time -60% on the same marketplace
Netztech moved to Magento 2 Commerce in 35 working days, including 11 extension modules
The retail operating picture
The question is no longer whether to sell online but whether the platform keeps up: stores launched years ago now run more channels, products and fulfilment routes than they were built for, and shoppers expect search that understands what they mean. Three pressures recur:
-
Platform age
Older versions slow down, miss security updates and grow expensive to change.
-
New business models
Wholesale, a marketplace or custom products change the data model, not only the storefront.
-
Operations that do not scale
Orders, stock and payments copied by hand multiply with growth.
Retail ecommerce digital transformation means fixing all three in the right order: the platform, the model and the operations behind the checkout.
Key workflows and where they change
-
Storefront and catalog
- Typical current state
- Slow pages on an ageing platform version
- Transformation opportunity
- A current or headless commerce core with a faster storefront
-
Search and merchandising
- Typical current state
- Shoppers cannot find products
- Transformation opportunity
- Structured catalog data and AI search that understands intent
-
Checkout and payments
- Typical current state
- Few payment options and high abandonment
- Transformation opportunity
- Secure, multi-option checkout
-
Marketplace operations
- Typical current state
- Vendors onboarded by email and spreadsheet
- Transformation opportunity
- Self-service vendor onboarding, catalogs and payouts
-
Order processing
- Typical current state
- Orders re-keyed into ERP and warehouse tools
- Transformation opportunity
- API integrations that pass orders, stock and status automatically
-
Payment reconciliation
- Typical current state
- Payment emails matched to orders by hand
- Transformation opportunity
- Automated matching with human approval
-
Replatforming
- Typical current state
- Data and extensions trapped in an old version
- Transformation opportunity
- Planned migration of data, extensions and design
Challenges, constraints and regulatory context
Customers, orders, URLs and extensions move without breaking rankings or trading; plan migrations in passes, with a rollback path.
ERP, PIM, warehouse and payment systems each hold part of the truth; an integration layer needs data ownership settled in solution architecture.
PCI DSS is the standard for organizations that store, process or transmit cardholder data (global).
The European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882, covers e-commerce (EU), with national laws due by June 2022.
GDPR Article 28 requires a contract whenever a supplier processes personal data for you (EU). The CCPA gives California consumers rights over their data (California, USA). Shopper data used by AI features falls in the same scope.
These references frame what a platform has to support. They are not legal advice.
Where AI fits in retail and ecommerce
Automate first where results are measurable and easy to check: search and recommendations, then catalog enrichment and order questions. Prices, refunds, promotions and published content stay with your team, shopper data stays within the GDPR and CCPA scope above, and the model is chosen per project.
-
In delivered work
Product recommendation engine
Built for 4over4's online store from browsing and purchase history.
-
Available capability
AI search, catalog enrichment and order assistants
Intent-aware search, draft attributes for merchandisers to approve, stock forecasts as advice and order answers with a hand-over to staff; not yet tied to a published retail case.
Solution paths by buyer role
Decide what to change first
Strategy and consulting or digital transformation consulting
Strategy and consultingOpen the store to other sellers
Ecommerce and marketplace platforms
Ecommerce and marketplace platformsStop copying orders, stock and payments between systems
Systems and API integrationServices and technologies that fit
Netbase has delivered commerce on WooCommerce, Magento 2, Laravel and headless architectures, and works across a wider stack from PrestaShop and Shopware to Shopify, Salesforce, Akeneo and Odoo.
- Enterprise platforms covers the ERP, CRM and data side.
- Talent and delivery, dedicated development teams and an offshore development center add long-running capacity; staff augmentation adds specific skills to your team.
- Mobile app development and the mobile product accelerator add a shopping app on the same catalog.
- AI strategy and readiness picks the first use case; data engineering, predictive analytics, MLOps and customer service AI take it live.
- Commerce and enterprise platforms compares commerce cores and when headless is worth its cost.
AI-enabled ecommerce development for merchants who outgrew templates
Netbase provides custom ecommerce development for merchants that have outgrown templates, to turn existing traffic into orders and run operations with less manual work, using AI for search, recommendations and catalog work where it pays. We build on WooCommerce, Magento 2, Laravel and headless stacks; 4over4, whose store gained an AI recommendation engine, reported 82% more revenue within six months.
Learn More
API integration services that keep your systems in agreement and ready for AI
Netbase provides API integration services for commerce and operations teams to connect e-commerce, ERP, CRM, shipping and payment systems so data moves once and stays correct, and AI services can act on it. We build integrations on APIs and webhooks with retries, monitoring and reconciliation, so a failed call becomes a logged, recoverable event instead of a missing order.
Learn More
Multi-vendor marketplace development: vendors, catalog, payouts and AI search on one platform
A multi-vendor marketplace is a commerce platform where many independent sellers list, sell and get paid through one storefront. Netbase's marketplace solution covers vendor onboarding, a shared catalog, split payments and payouts, with AI for search, listing enrichment and fraud checks. For an EU fashion-tech marketplace, Netbase's work grew gross merchandise value (GMV) 47% and cut vendor onboarding time 60%.
Learn More
Technologies we build with
Work evidence from retail and ecommerce
-
- Intervention
- Responsive ecommerce platform integrated with existing systems
- Reported result
- Revenue +36% in the first quarter after launch; engagement +35%; repeat transactions +24%; order processing -30%
-
- Intervention
- Move from a single-seller store to a multi-vendor marketplace
- Reported result
- GMV +47%; vendor onboarding time -60%
-
- Intervention
- Magento 1 to Magento 2 Commerce migration
- Reported result
- Delivered in 35 working days, including 11 migrated extension modules; no performance metric is published
-
- Intervention
- Bilingual classifieds marketplace with AI content moderation
- Reported result
- Scope record; no result published
Figures are as reported in each published case study; the marketplace and classifieds clients stay anonymous. More cases are in our work.
Geo-Tek IT Solutions, a printing and design-services company in Cyprus, needed an online design platform that worked on every device and fitted its existing systems.
Keep Reading
Netztech Handels AG, a Swiss supplier of labeling, fastening and shrink technology, moved its busy online store from Magento 1 Community Edition to Magento 2 Commerce with Netbase JSC.
Keep Reading
An EU fashion-tech marketplace grew gross merchandise value (GMV) 47% and cut vendor onboarding time 60% after Netbase rebuilt its vendor onboarding and catalog flows.
Keep ReadingDelivery considerations by region and engagement model
Most Netbase clients are outside Vietnam, mainly in the United States and Europe; the team works remote-first from Hanoi (UTC+7), in English, with weekly reviews. Plan four things early:
-
Regional scope
EU stores plan for accessibility and GDPR, US stores for state privacy law, card-taking stores for PCI DSS.
-
Mobile-first shoppers
Across Vietnam and much of Asia-Pacific, app and chat channels lead, and multilingual catalogs are common; Netbase has consulted on and customized Odoo for Vietnamese retail store chains.
-
Trading calendar
Major releases avoid peak seasons, with rehearsed cut-overs.
-
Engagement model
Most projects run on fixed-price contracts agreed after discovery; dedicated teams and managed delivery are also offered.
Owner and further reading
Owned and reviewed by David (CEO), written by the Netbase Editorial Team. Before a replatform, read the custom ecommerce platform guide; before connecting ERP and warehouse tools, the enterprise systems integration guide; for an ageing estate, the modernization guide; for an app, the mobile product development guide. On AI: AI automation for business operations, AI agents vs workflow automation and the enterprise AI readiness assessment. Choosing a partner? Read outsourcing in Vietnam and dedicated team vs fixed price. Other sectors are on the industries page.
Replatform when only the version is old; rebuild or go headless when the model changed, for example to a marketplace.
Yes. As part of legacy modernization, Netbase delivered a Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration for Netztech.
A store if you own all the stock; a marketplace if other sellers list products and you take a share.
Conversion and repeat transactions, then order processing time.
Not without your agreement. Model, hosting region and retention are agreed in discovery and written into your DPA.
Related insights
Off-the-shelf e-commerce stops fitting when workarounds cost more than the platform saves: manual order handling, integrations held together by exports, and features the platform cannot express. Plan a custom build or replatform by choosing the architecture, mapping integrations, controlling migration risk and costing the drivers, and check that the new platform exposes the clean catalog and order data AI search and recommendations need.
Next step
Send us your platform, channels and the three tasks that cost most time, and we will review your retail ecommerce transformation roadmap. Or view relevant work first.
Discuss a project
Netbase JSC helps organizations design, build, modernize, and operate digital products and AI-enabled business systems.+84 937 869 689
91 Nguyen Chi Thanh, Dong Da, Hanoi, Vietnam
Get in touch
Tell us what you want to build, modernize, or operate.