GLS Germany offers you reliable and 100% climate-neutral 2B and 2C shipping. GLS regularly achieves transit times of less than 24 hours within Germany and 24-96 hours abroad. Europe has been GLS' core market from the very beginning. Through targeted geographical expansion into the North American continent, GLS connects the world's most important economic regions.
In e-commerce, logistics has become a key criterion for purchasing decisions. The right shipping partner is therefore of central importance.
With the shipping extension for Magento 2, we as GLS B2C shippers offer a modern, direct connection of your online shop to our extensive services.
Thanks to the partnership with Netresearch, we were able to optimally implement our initial requirements for the extension and can continue to drive future topics forward.
Jascha Waffender
Director Marketing & Communications,
Online Channels & ParcelShops
GLS Germany GmbH & Co. OHG
In 2020, Netresearch received an enquiry from GLS Germany for a long-term partnership and collaboration. The tender was for the creation and support of an extension for Magento 2. The extension should enable shop operators to conveniently and flexibly offer their customers additional shipping methods in the checkout and efficiently carry out parcel shipping from Magento.
The company was therefore looking for a service provider with experience in logistics and a specialisation in Magento.
In addition to a detailed questionnaire about Netresearch as a potential partner, Netresearch received a very well-structured requirement and concept with the detailed technical specifications of the relevant GLS interfaces and APIs.
The first operational work in the joint project began in September 2020.
Together with Netresearch, GLS Germany designed a corresponding MVP (Minimum Viable Product) as a target for the initial release of an operational GLS Shipping module by the end of the year. The focus was on the core functions of the shop system relating to shipping processing and the integration of shipping methods into the checkout process.
Functions that already exist in Magento itself were not to be additionally mapped in the module. Instead, GLS Shipping was to utilise these standard functions.
Important accompanying points were required for the success of such a project:
- Quality assurance
- Ease of use for retailers and their customers
- Flexibility / options for the merchants
- Compatibility with the latest Magento versions
- Maintainability / changeability of the software
- Use of standard technology
- Application of programming standards
- Meaningful logging
- Provision of a user manual
The Netresearch Magento Extension team has made progress in agile implementation and has approached the common goal over several small sprints and iteration stages and with the close involvement of the specialist contacts at GLS Germany.
In doing so, we were able to make rapid progress and steadily achieve important interim results. In consultation and open dialogue with the customer, the team incorporated important changes, necessary additions and details into the course of the project at short notice. Both sides occasionally allowed changes to the originally planned scope, sensible additions and corrections, but also a temporary step backwards, as this was and still is ultimately expedient for the joint product.
At the beginning of December 2020, all project participants were able to complete the functional acceptance of GLS Shipping as planned. As a result, the necessary work for the final creation of the required application documentation and the immediate preparations for the initial release in the Magento Marketplace were still pending.
| High-quality Magento 2 integration | ||
| Shipping methods such as NextDay or e-mail announcements with desired options are "ready-to-use" for the checkout | ||
| Efficient parcel shipping from Magento 2 | ||
| Return parcel labels to place in the parcel | ||
| Letter delivery & cash on delivery | ||
| Implementation, further development & support powered by Netresearch |
The official extension GLS Shipping for Magento 2 extends Magento in the area of shipping methods and thus fundamentally enables access to the products and services of GLS Germany.
The extension was initially released with version number 1.0.0 on the Adobe Magento Marketplace in the first week of January 2021 and is also available as a module gls-shipping-m2 alternatively via the Netresearch GitHub.
Possible improvements and relevant further developments as well as the integration of additional services and features have been the subject of constructive discussions with GLS Germany since the beginning of the year.
GLS and Netresearch welcome any constructive feedback and initial findings from the market. The familiar channels of direct contact via the responsible GLS business customer support, the technical Netresearch support for the extension or the review functionality of the Adobe Magento Marketplace can be used for this purpose.
