Building a New Home for OneTwoCups

Project Overview

Role: WooCommerce Developer
Timeline: 2 months
Key Results:

• Reduced transaction fees from 20%+ to 2.9% (payment gateway only)
• Integrated 300+ SKUs across 5 platforms
• Implemented centralized stock management system
• Full payment gateway integration with legal compliance

Core Expertise Applied:

• Web Development (WooCommerce & WordPress)
• Payment Gateway Integration
• Omnichannel Integration & Synchronization
• Custom API Development

The Starting Point That Made Them Rethink

OneTwoCups had been selling on marketplaces for quite a while. At first, it was pretty sweet, just upload products, people buy, money comes in. Simple. But over time, things started to feel off.

Marketplace admin fees kept going up. What used to be a small percentage cut kept getting bigger and bigger. And if they wanted to run ads on the platform? The numbers made your head hurt. And the most frustrating part? Revenue from ads on Shopee was calculated from checkout, not from paid orders. So the numbers looked big, but the actual payments… way smaller.

Then there was another problem that started bugging them: customer data was getting more and more locked down. They were selling, but couldn’t really get to know their buyers. Want to follow up with customers? Hard. Want to create more personalized strategies? The data wasn’t accessible. It felt like selling in someone else’s store but never being told who actually bought from you.

What really got them thinking: relying on just one channel was risky. If the marketplace went down, or the algorithm changed, they could only sit and take it. They needed another channel, needed more control over their own business.

Solution: Building Their Own Home with WooCommerce

After evaluating different options, they landed on WooCommerce. And it wasn’t just a random pick.

Why WooCommerce?

More cost-effective. Compared to paying marketplace admin fees that kept rising, having their own website made more financial sense for the long term. Sure, there were setup and maintenance costs upfront, but when you do the math for the long haul, it’s way better.

Fully customizable. Since WooCommerce is open source, they could tweak everything to fit their needs. How it looks, how the checkout flows, everything could be adjusted. No being tied to rigid marketplace templates or rules.

Build their own plugins. This was the fun part, if they needed a specific feature that didn’t exist, they could just build it themselves. Want integration with internal systems? Done. Want more detailed tracking? Go for it.

Manage their own resources. Full control was in their hands. From servers, databases, to how they managed products and customer data, they were calling the shots.

Development Approach

The project was built with three core principles: effective, efficient, and fast execution. With a 2-month timeline, there was no room for over-engineering or unnecessary complexity.

Phase 1: Foundation & Setup (Week 1-2)
Set up WooCommerce infrastructure, configured hosting environment, and established the development workflow. The focus was on creating a solid, scalable foundation that could handle multiple integrations down the line.

Phase 2: Payment Gateway Integration (Week 3-4)
Integrated payment gateway with full compliance requirements. Worked closely with OneTwoCups’ internal team to ensure all legal documentation was in order, making the approval process smooth and fast.

Phase 3: Omnichannel Integration (Week 5-7)
This was the heavy lifting, integrating 300+ SKUs across 5 different platforms. Used Ginee API for marketplace synchronization and built custom endpoints using the company’s internal API to ensure everything communicated properly.

Phase 4: Testing & Launch (Week 8)
Rigorous testing of stock sync, order flow, and payment processing. Made sure edge cases were covered, especially around inventory updates and order conflicts across platforms.

Benefits They Really Felt

Once things got rolling, there were several things that immediately stood out:

• Customer data was fully theirs. They could build a proper customer database, follow-ups became easier, marketing strategies more targeted.
• No per-transaction cuts. Once set up, costs were fixed. Whether sales were high or low, nobody was taking a cut anymore.
• Full control over branding. From colors, layout, to communication style, everything was 100% aligned with their brand identity.
• More flexibility in promotions. Want to create special discounts, loyalty programs, or unique campaigns? Just execute, no need to ask the platform for permission.

Technical Implementation: Stock Sync from One Master Source

One of the game-changers in this project was implementing a centralized stock management system. Instead of manually updating inventory across multiple platforms (which, let’s be real, was a nightmare), OneTwoCups now had everything synced from one master source.

The Integration Stack

Ginee API for Marketplace Sync
Ginee served as the middleware for connecting to major marketplaces (Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada, etc.). This handled the bulk of marketplace-specific quirks and authentication requirements, letting us focus on the business logic rather than dealing with each marketplace’s unique API specifications.

Internal Company API
Built custom endpoints to connect WooCommerce with OneTwoCups’ internal systems. This ensured that their existing operational tools and databases could communicate seamlessly with the new website.

The Technical Challenge

Field mapping was the real puzzle. Each platform had its own way of organizing product data:

• Shopee uses different variation structures than Tokopedia
• Some marketplaces require specific category IDs that don’t exist on others
• SKU naming conventions varied across platforms
• Image requirements (size, format, quantity) differed

The solution? Created a normalization layer that translated OneTwoCups’ master product data into platform-specific formats. Think of it as a translator that speaks 5 different marketplace languages fluently.

How It Works Now

Update stock in WooCommerce (the master source), and the system automatically:

1. Normalizes the data into a standard format
2. Transforms it into platform-specific requirements via Ginee API
3. Pushes updates to all 5 marketplaces simultaneously
4. Handles order syncing back from marketplaces to the central system

No more juggling between tabs, no more “oops, oversold on Shopee because I forgot to update after a Tokopedia sale.” Everything flows through one system, with full visibility and control.

Payment Gateway Integration

Getting the payment gateway integrated went surprisingly smooth. A big reason? OneTwoCups had their legal documentation in order, proper business registration, all the compliance stuff that payment providers want to see.

Their internal team was also really on top of it, handling the technical integration on their end and coordinating with the payment gateway’s support. When you have proper legality backing you up and a team that knows what they’re doing, the whole process just flows better.

Downsides, Had to Face it

But yeah, it’s a big decision, so there were definitely trade-offs:

• Traffic wasn’t instant. Unlike marketplaces that already have millions of daily visitors, their own website needed more effort to drive traffic. SEO, ads, social media, everything had to be worked on.
• Required technical skills. Website maintenance, troubleshooting, plugin updates, all needed technical understanding or at least a team that knew their stuff.
• Upfront and maintenance costs. Setting up hosting, domain, themes, premium plugins, there were costs at the start. Plus ongoing budget for servers and maintenance.
• Had to build trust from scratch. On marketplaces, buyers already trusted the platform. On their own site, they had to build that trust from zero, through reviews, testimonials, credible design, etc.
• Handle customer service themselves. No marketplace dispute system to protect them. They had to handle all complaints and issues on their own.

Results & Impact

The shift from marketplace-dependent to omnichannel strategy delivered tangible results:

Cost Savings

From 20%+ to 2.9%. That’s the difference in transaction fees. Marketplace admin fees plus ad costs used to eat up over 20% of revenue. Now, with their own website handling a significant portion of sales, they only pay 2.9% payment gateway fees on those transactions.

Operational Efficiency

300+ SKUs, 5 platforms, 1 system. What used to take hours of manual updates now happens automatically. Stock levels sync in real-time, orders flow into one dashboard, and the team can focus on growth instead of admin work.

Business Control

Full ownership of customer data, no algorithm dependency, and the ability to run promotions without platform restrictions. OneTwoCups now has the infrastructure to scale on their own terms.

FInal Results

OneTwoCups’ decision to move to WooCommerce didn’t mean completely abandoning marketplaces. It was more about diversifying channels and having greater control over their own business.

Marketplaces still run for awareness and reach, but their own website became the home base, where they could get closer to customers, have complete data, and not worry about building a business on “someone else’s land.”

The technical challenge wasn’t just building a website, it was creating an ecosystem where multiple sales channels work together seamlessly. With the right approach (effective, efficient, fast), even complex omnichannel integration can be delivered in a reasonable timeline.

Need Similar Integration for Your Business?

If you’re facing similar challenges with marketplace fees, data limitations, or managing inventory across multiple platforms, let’s talk.

I specialize in:

• WooCommerce development & customization
• Payment gateway integration
• Omnichannel synchronization (marketplaces + your own site)
• Custom API development & third-party integrations

Whether you’re just starting to think about having your own e-commerce site or ready to implement a full omnichannel strategy, I can help you build a solution that’s effective, efficient, and gets you running fast.

Let’s discuss your project → Contact Me