Schematic comparison of the New and Old systems

The old scheme by which the OT Platform received data from Commodity Providers:

The only active initiator of any action is marked in green — You (OT Agent, referred to as the Client in this scheme).

Each request, if it did not get into the cache, resulted in a request to the Commodity Provider, with the corresponding time costs.

The scheme was suitable until the Commodity Providers began to interfere with receiving data via the API: introducing blocking, tightening the rules for receiving information to the point that even as an ordinary user it was not always possible to view their main sites, browse products, and so on.

To improve the stability of the OT Box, a New System of work was invented, to which everyone is switching from December 21, 2020.

It can be immediately noted that there are now two active initiators: you and our data collectors working in the background.

Next, there is a central link, a data warehouse: information about products and other things is issued from it at your request, and the collectors add and update information to it. Thus, there is no direct connection between your request and the providers. The operation of your sites does not directly depend on the current state of the provider. Of course, nothing happens for free, everything has its price, so below we will describe in more detail the pros/cons and principles of the new system.

Plus and mines of the New System

Advantages of the new system:

• Any problems with providers do not slow down or stop your sites.
• Product search is performed exclusively in our database, its speed and functionality depend only on us. And they are the same for all providers. For example, sorting and filtering by sales volume have already been implemented, which, for example, is not available in the old search for 1688. Photo search has not yet been implemented for the new system, but work on it is already underway.
• Since the speed and functionality depend on us, we will try to implement them as much as possible. The current speed of the new system may not be ideal yet, but it is definitely faster than waiting for requests to the provider. And if, for example, the product is already in our database, it is issued almost instantly.
• We can solve performance problems faster if they arise, since the system's operation now depends only on us, and will not depend on providers.
• We can more easily connect new providers, regardless of their native functionality. Any new provider will receive exactly the same functionality that is generally available in our system.

Disadvantages of the new system:

• If the product has never been in our database, it may take longer to receive it than before. However, we have implemented the ability to display incomplete information about the product for this purpose, and made automatic retries of attempts to receive the product in the Box, this problem is maximally compensated for by us for the end visitor of the sites. We recommend updating to the latest versions of the Box, or implementing similar mechanisms in your sites, which will be explained separately.
• In case of problems with the provider, the speed of updating information in our database decreases. In the worst case, it stops updating altogether. But as described above, this will have practically no effect on the operation of your sites: the search will continue to work, all available products will continue to open. Which gives us time to look for ways to restore work with the provider.
• In case of long-term problems with providers, buyers can create orders based on outdated product data: changes in prices, configurations and other information necessary to place an order.

Despite the presence of disadvantages, we will try to compensate for them, since the old system will eventually be completely disabled.

Features of the New System

Some details about the inner workings of the new system:

• The search for products is performed using our database and our algorithms, so there is no point in comparing the product output with the original provider website. The output will be different in any case, you can only evaluate its relevance and timeliness.
• The new system has a queue of products to receive and update, with different priorities. The highest priority is given to newly opened products and products in carts.
• The process of checking carts waits for the product to be updated if its term has exceeded 8 hours. This guarantees the relevance of the data at the time of placing the order.

How does product search work?

• Search by text, category, seller is supported.
• Sorting (in addition to the basic one) by price and sales volume is supported.
• Filter by price, filter by discount availability, filter by sales volume are supported.
• Issuance of clarifying categories with the number of products in each is supported.
• Filters by characteristics are supported, but there is no issuance of possible characteristic options yet.
• Search by photo will continue to work in the old mode for now.