Molecular Biology Products
The Gold Standard of Lab Products and Customer Service.
PLATFORM
ECOMMERCE SERVICES
Design & Development (UI/UX)
WEBSITE
UI/UX Mobile & Website Design
INTEGRATIONS
DCKAP Commerce
ABOUT MBP
Founded in 2004, MBP began with a mission to make laboratory consumables and reagents more accessible to scientists in underserved regions, starting with Pakistan and expanding to Bangladesh and South Africa. The company quickly became a trusted supplier to research and healthcare institutions across these regions.
In 2019, MBP expanded its operations to North America to address the growing demand for more personalized service in the lab supply industry. In a space often dominated by large corporations with slow response times, MBP focused on delivering responsive, relationship-driven support. This approach has earned the company preferred vendor status with world-renowned institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Public Health Ontario, and the World Health Organization.
MBP operates under the slogan “Committed to Serve Life Science,” a value reflected in its dedication to customer satisfaction, high-quality products, and continuous innovation. With a focus on integrity, reliability, and long-term client relationships, MBP continues to support the life sciences community by providing tailored solutions that meet the evolving needs of researchers across the globe.
The Challenge
As MBP expanded into multiple regions, there was a growing need to deliver localized, scalable, and compliant e-commerce experiences. To support this growth, several key capabilities were identified as essential:
Multi-Currency Support
International customers needed the ability to view product prices in their local currency for clarity and confidence while shopping. Relying solely on the store’s base currency risked confusion and reduced trust. The platform required a way to detect and display the appropriate currency automatically, while still maintaining consistency in backend processing.
Region-Based Product Availability
Product offerings varied across regions, and showing unavailable products to customers in certain locations led to confusion and operational inefficiencies. The challenge was to dynamically manage product visibility based on a shopper’s location without fragmenting the storefront experience.
Flexible Tax Calculation
Accurately calculating taxes based on regional rules was critical to ensure compliance at checkout. The platform needed a system that could apply the correct tax rates depending on the customer’s location and product classification, while keeping configuration and maintenance straightforward for the admin team.
These capabilities were not just feature requests—they were foundational requirements for enabling a smooth, compliant, and customer-friendly shopping experience across borders.
The Solution
To support MBP’s regional expansion and deliver a localized, compliant, and scalable e-commerce experience, a set of robust features was implemented to handle multi-currency pricing, region-specific product visibility, and accurate tax calculation.
Multi-Currency Support
A flexible multi-currency system was implemented to enhance pricing clarity and localization for international customers. Real-time exchange rates are periodically fetched and stored in the system, ensuring that displayed prices reflect up-to-date exchange values. Admins can configure a base currency along with additional supported currencies available for storefront display. Currency detection is handled automatically based on the user’s IP address for guest users, and based on either the IP address or billing address for logged-in users, depending on the configured setting. Manual currency switching is also supported. This setup ensures customers see prices in their local currency, leading to a more seamless and regionally tailored shopping experience.
Product Zones
A zone-based product visibility system was implemented to manage region-specific product availability across the storefront. Admins can set up zones based on the selection of countries, states, or zip codes, and associate each zone with specific product groups, which can be configured to either be included in or excluded from that zone. Zone detection is handled automatically using IP address for guest users, and either the shipping address or IP address for logged-in users, depending on the configured setting. This ensures that customers see only the products available in their region, improving catalog accuracy, reducing confusion, and delivering a more relevant shopping experience.
Basic Tax Configuration
A flexible tax configuration system was implemented to handle region-specific tax calculation during checkout. Admins can create tax zones based on the selection of countries, states, or zip codes, and configure tax rates for each available tax class within those zones. Each product is assigned a tax class in the admin panel. During checkout, the system calculates the applicable tax based on the customer’s shipping address and the tax class of each product in the cart. This setup ensures accurate and compliant tax handling across regions, without adding complexity to the customer experience or backend operations.
The Results
The rollout of these features resulted in measurable improvements in both customer experience and internal operations:
- Increased conversion rates driven by localized currency display and reduced friction during checkout.
- Improved catalog relevance by showing customers only the products available in their region, leading to higher engagement and fewer support requests.
- Streamlined operations through centralized control of currency settings, tax rules, and product availability, reducing manual overhead.
- Greater tax compliance by applying the correct tax rates automatically based on location and product type, supporting MBP’s regulatory needs across regions.
These enhancements not only addressed MBP’s immediate regional expansion goals but also laid a scalable foundation for future international growth.