Appel d’offre-(ACEA) Project  Retour vers les opportunités

Service Provider Solicitation 

E-Commerce Development Services 

COLLABORATIVE ACTION FOR THE EXPORT OF HANDICRAFT PRODUCTS  

(ACEA) Project 

Period of Performance: July– December 2022 

Place of Performance: Tunis and Remote 

Context :

 ACEA Tunisia (Action Collaborative for Artisanal Exports) is a five-year project implemented by FHI  360 and funded by the US (United States) Department of State. Its goal is to assist artisans,  particularly those who are socially or geographically marginalized, in improving the quality of their  products, marketing them using the best branding techniques, and, more broadly, adding value and  thus promoting greater social and economic equity. The Project focuses on export assistance. 

 By guiding and advising artisans and local communities through a clustering approach, this project  contributes to their empowerment. Cluster members (beneficiaries) gather in workshops and work in  groups to learn and share various skills, with the help of relevant support entities and technical  experts. ACEA has so far initiated cluster development activities in two Tunisian sectors: essential oils  and related natural products (Northwest Tunisia) and olive wood kitchen and tableware (in Sfax and  Sidi Bouzid). In addition, the project has launched two new programs, one to assist weaving artisans  in Dekhilet, Toujen, Gabes, and the other to assist pottery artisans in Barama. 

Project presentation: 

ACEA has so far initiated cluster development activities in four handicraft Tunisian sectors: 

 Wiki PAM (www.wikipam.org) was the first cluster formed around the Aromatic and Medicinal  Plants (MAP) value chain of Northwest Tunisia, with the help of the ACEA project, to promote the  production and commercialization of artisanal essential oils and related products from the Northwest  and center-west of Tunisia.  

 Oleart (www.oleart.org) is a cluster formed in November 2020 around olive wood products in Sidi  Bouzid and Sfax. The key objective of the cluster is to train artisans and assist them to achieve  excellence in the quality, design, and marketing of their olive wood items, and raise their income by  gaining access to worldwide markets. 

 The traditional weaving cluster in Toujen was launched in September 2021. The choice of this sector  stems from the need to help these artisans preserve and promote this ancestral knowledge with a  particular know-how and a rich symbolic dimension that reflects the lifestyle and the history of the  weavers and their hometowns. 

 The traditional pottery in El Barrama (Siliana) is the fifth sector to receive the support of the ACEA  program. The main beneficiaries are women who make the workforce of the sector. The cluster  activities are shortly to be launched with a focus on product development and market access.

 The ACEA project is looking for an e-commerce services developing company to create an E commerce website for WikiPam, Oleart , weaving, and pottery products. The website will serve both  local and international clients and provide different selling options for detail and wholesales,  depending on the nature of the products and the production capacity of artisans. 

 To ensure effective delivery of the previous tasks, the client will be accompanied throughout the  entire customer experience, while serving the business objectives of the clusters. The support service  will cover this process from the marketing stage, where efforts will be directed toward raising the  buyer’s awareness of the website and ACEA products, moving on to monitoring the client’s  navigation of the website and detecting interest to particular products, to finally targeting customers  who show a buying predisposition to finally convincing them make the final purchase decision. 

Covering all legal steps for the creation of the e-commerce website 

The service provider will be responsible of all the legal and administrative procedures necessary for  the creation and functioning of the website and its features/services, including:  

• Acquisition of an electronic certificate from the National Agency for Electronic Certification  (ANCE) 

o Server Electronic Certificate 

o VPN Certificate (Virtual Private Network) 

o Signature certificate 

▪ Personal Signature Certificate 

▪ Company Authorized Certificate of Signature 

• Negotiation and signature of payment solutions contracts with the bank and/or the Tunisian  Post 
• Integration of the payment kit in the merchant site 
• Ensuring compliance with all Tunisian and international e-commerce laws • Providing clear counseling for any legal responsibilities of Artisans or FHI360 and including  legal directives in the website manuals destined for each involved party 

Sourcing and reaching customers 

• Enhancing the search results to boost website visibility to our target audience:  

1. Paid advertisement (Google ads, Facebook ads…) to boost the e-commerce website’s rank  in search engines. 
2. Organic search results (SEO) emphasize key words sought by our target audience (both  

 nationally and globally), as well as SEO-optimized content and descriptions. This can also be  achieved through building links and on-page optimization. 

• Creating marketing and pay per click (PPC) campaigns and strategies to promote the  products and the website. 
• Allowing online ratings and reviews to increase the website’s credibility. 

Onsite navigation and engagement 

• Creating a customer friendly platform that is visually and aesthetically appealing with  cohesive, engaging, varied and dynamic content 
• Content must be of high quality, timely, useful and relevant to the visitor, with regular new  information and timely “front page” information. Photography, diagrams, maps and  illustrations presented must be appealing to the target audience.  
• Offering Customized Solutions (The option to accept cookies/ Algorithm/ Add themes and  features on the website (Aid/ Christmas/ Mother’s Day …)  
• Improved listing: Products are listed in an enhanced manner and divided into different  categories, with multiple subcategories to make it easier for the customer to find and access  the needed products and then add them to the Wishlist and/or the cart.  
• Thorough product information and description: Detailed product information, which includes  how the product is manufactured, what ingredients were used to make it, the added value  and positive effect gained behind its purchase and usage. This description can include the  major optimized keywords to improve the product listings and rankings in search results. 
• Remaining stock tracker (number and quantity of the remaining product in stock): For each  product, the information of the remaining articles in stock needs to be available for clients.  When out of stock, the information of next availability date must be provided. Furthermore,  artisans must be notified when stock reaches a certain pre-fixed minimum to be able to  refurnish stock in time with little to no disruption in product availability. 
• A clear vision of the products: For each product, a 360-degree view from all angles must be  available with a zoom in and out option. 
• Photography of the products: For each product, two to three pictures at least should be  available in addition to a photo or diagram showing size scale and dimensions. Photos must  meet a certain high-quality standard and the product set in an aesthetically pleasing setting. For the skin-care products, the consistency, color and thickness of the product should be  shown in a demonstration: exposition of the product in real-life context: a gif, short video or  well-lighted and designed picture showing the products on human skin. 
• Overseeing the design, shades, themes, front and back-end development and UX experience  of the website to match those of the products. Elements of the site and other supporting  media are visually connected and balanced. – Integrated newsletter, blog, image gallery,  

social media, and email, with a common look and feel across the platform/ tools are ideally  on one integrated platform. 

• Animating the website with blog posts, online virtual guides (to using the website, checking  ways to shop, pay, contact information and presentation of the website, project, artisans, …)

catalogues, newsletters, and/or videos across various channels and through outreach  campaigns. Organize and build partnerships and collaborations with influencers, companies  and other platforms. 

• Offer discounts and promotion codes. 

Details on the delivery process 

• Clear presentation and explanation of the whole delivery process: A thorough description of  the delivery steps, its full duration and key milestones, expected delivery date (day and time)  and any potential risks of delay. 
• A whole heading in a website can be dedicated to clearly explaining the delivery and payment  procedures and once users select their home country, a small message (banner) can be  shown revealing the estimated duration of delivery with one or two sentences explaining the  reasons behind the period of delivery (the fact that artisans are based in rural areas and they  are the ones who would be providing the supply chain stock), with a Read/Learn more option  which would be linked to the whole delivery and payment page, where customers are invited  to discover and learn more. 

==> To ensure the highest quality of service, the entire process must be personalized (user-oriented),  simplified and straightforward as our services are available to all customers, regardless of their  location or the nature of their purchase (detail or wholesale). 

Website administration strategy: 

Provide different levels of administrative authorizations to the different users/admin profiles with a  personalized dashboard for each: 

• Web administrator: full access to web development component, restricted access to clients  and artisans’ personal data 

Artisan dashboard: allow access to all artisan’s products and personal settings, statistics and reports  relative to his/her own products; no access to clients or other artisans’ private data. 

Payment methods 

• After the verification and validation of their accounts and invoices, users must be able to  securely use local online payment methods (VISA, Master card, CIB, e-dinar). 
• Detail buyers are allowed the “pay cash on delivery” option 
• Provide international customers with the possibility to use international online payment  methods (PayPal, Visa Checkout, Stripe, etc.)

Note: This option must be integrated but its activation will depend on the evolution of the  Tunisian law on international electronic payments. 

Follow-up with customers 

Develop engagement and follow-up strategies for different stages of the customer experience to  capitalize on each level of interest through tailored email targeting That includes: 

• Promotional emails: to reduce cart abandonment occurring as a visitor adds a product to  their shopping cart but leaves without completing their purchase. 
• Follow-up emails: to bring shoppers back to the site and entice them to complete their  purchase and keep track on their delivery and status of their products. Email templates need  to be created/ set up to facilitate this task and create outreach campaigns. 
• Newsletter: A monthly newsletter that summarizes the latest news of the website, discounts,  new products, events, and other communication content such as informative articles  (example: “the benefits of essential oils” or “the history of olive wood craftsmanship in  Tunisia”), interviews with artisans, etc.
  

Tasks and Deliverables: 

Target audience 

• International buyers 
• Local buyers 

Remuneration 

The agency will be paid based on a payment schedule incorporated into the service contract. Please send financial offers as separate packages desegregated by deliverable. 

Location 

The agency will be required to carry out the missions described above in the following governorates:  Tunis, Beja, Jendouba, Siliana, Kef, Sidibouzid, and Sfax 

Criteria/Qualification for Evaluation  

candidates will be evaluated and ranked by an evaluation committee according to the conditions  described in the evaluation criteria below, with a total overall maximum point value of 100. The  contract shall be issued to the agency with the highest combined technical and cost score. 

Submission Instructions 

Interested candidates should send the following application materials to  

tunisprocurement@fhi360.org with the subject line “LC- Prestataire de Services pour le développement de l’activité commerce digital” by Monday October 17th, 2022. 

1. Registration RNE or Patente 
2. Three (3) references of similar work (Portfolio).  
3. CV(s) of assigned team  
4. Financial offer  
5. Detailed technical offer 

Candidates are responsible for reviewing the terms and conditions provided below and on the  Candidates Solicitations page of the FHI 360 website. Candidates must provide full, accurate and  complete information as required by this solicitation and its attachments. 

Please DO NOT begin work until a contract has been signed between FHI 360 and the candidate.

Disclaimers and FHI 360 Protection Clauses

• FHI 360 may cancel the solicitation and not award. 
• FHI 360 may reject any or all responses received. 
• Issuance of the solicitation does not constitute an award commitment by FHI 360. • FHI 360 reserves the right to disqualify any offer based on offeror failure to follow solicitation  instructions. 
• FHI 360 will not compensate offers in response to solicitation. 
• FHI 360 reserves the right to issue an award based on initial evaluation of offers without  further discussion. 
• FHI 360 may choose to award only part of the activities in the solicitation, or issue multiple  awards based on the solicitation activities. 
• FHI 360 reserves the right to waive minor proposal deficiencies that can be corrected prior to  award determination to promote competition. 
• FHI 360 will be contacting offers to confirm contact person, address and that bid was  submitted for this solicitation.

LC- E- Commerce SOW extended (1)