Client
Industry
Project size
Centers of expertise
Context
The Shared Environment™ is a multi-vendor marketplace founded by Staci Hedlund and Alexander Hedlund to unite Montessori makers, retailers, and guides in a single platform dedicated to Montessori-approved products. Born from Staci’s own experience during Montessori training, where sourcing and crafting classroom materials proved time-consuming for practicing guides, the company set out to ease that burden through a digital solution designed specifically for the Montessori community.
To bring this vision to life, The Shared Environment needed a streamlined, scalable, and fully integrated e-commerce infrastructure capable of supporting every stage of the marketplace: vendor onboarding, product listing, customer purchasing, order fulfillment, and accounting. With growing demand for Montessori-approved products and no existing platform serving this niche, the founders engaged NSI Solution to architect and implement a Shopify and Zoho-based ecosystem enabling efficient vendor management, accurate financial tracking, and an optimized customer experience, positioning the company for long-term growth.
Solutions PROPOSED
Process design: Mapped and documented core workflows for vendor onboarding, product approval, order management, and multi-vendor accounting to ensure operational clarity from day one.
Shopify marketplace development: Built a multi-vendor Shopify storefront tailored to the Montessori community, enabling seamless product discovery and a unified customer experience across sellers.
Custom product approval flow in Zoho CRM (Patent pending): Implemented a structured vetting process allowing readers to review, approve, and onboard Montessori-aligned products before publication.
Multi-vendor accounting with Zoho Books & Inventory: Configured a full accounting and inventory architecture supporting vendor payouts, commission tracking, tax compliance, and stock synchronization.
Zoho Marketing Automation × Shopify integration: Connected customer and transactional data to Zoho Marketing Automation to power targeted campaigns, lifecycle communications, and vendor engagement.
Gains
- First-mover advantage in the Montessori-approved marketplace niche
- Centralized product approval workflow ensuring consistent Montessori alignment
- Reduced manual administrative workload for the marketplace team
- Simplified vendor payouts and reconciliation
Satisfaction and achievement of objectives
Satisfaction with interventions