The Destra Marketing Agency’s Experience

When a client approaches us with a request, the work begins by defining the goals and expected results. Understanding what the client wants, we choose between a multi-page website, landing page, business card website, or online store. We then select the most effective ways to implement the project and develop a promotion strategy.

We most often build online stores using website builders. They already include many technical features that would otherwise have to be implemented during development. This allows us to allocate more resources to promotion and increasing sales.

We have already covered the topic of website builders in our blog. At that time, we looked at working with these platforms independently and the specifics of ordering a website from an agency. In this article, we will explore the key features of two similar platforms that we work with: Horoshop and InSales.


We have used both platforms to solve various tasks based on our clients' needs. We evaluate the capabilities of each from the perspective of our professional experience. It is important to note that everything written in this article is strictly our own opinion, based on our experience working with these two companies.

Horoshop is a Ukrainian company founded in 2014. The team has been working in the market since 2007.


InSales is a company founded in 2008. It operates throughout the CIS. Since 2017, it has had an official office in Ukraine, so Ukrainian users receive support from Kyiv.

One of the advantages of these online store builders is the ability to connect third-party services for more convenient operation. Product exports and notifications, online payment setup, and many other features are already built in. In other words, all you need to do is connect and configure them — and you have a ready-to-use solution that works seamlessly on the web service.

Horoshop currently works primarily with Ukrainian applications. Therefore, before getting started, take a look at the available integrations. For some businesses, the selection may not be sufficient for full-scale operations. Overall, the list of integrations includes 25 services.
More details: https://horoshop.ua/integration/

InSales has all the integrations a business may need, including those that help work with customers from other countries. The list of applications compatible with InSales is approximately five times larger than that of Horoshop. There are 144 services available for integration.
More details:
https://www.insales.com/ua/collection/apps

Both platforms work well with Excel for importing and exporting data. However, they offer different approaches. For example, InSales allows you to choose an import strategy, so there is no need to export and check the entire database.


You can update only those products for which specific data has changed. Horoshop, on the other hand, offers more convenient category sorting based on specific table data, making it easier to review information and make changes.

If you are unsure whether to invest resources in creating an online store yourself or hire professionals, whether promoting a product this way will pay off, or whether the website will be competitive, Horoshop is an excellent platform to “give it a try.”


Both platforms are relatively inexpensive from a professional perspective. However, unlike InSales, Horoshop offers a free plan. The Ukrainian platform also has a simpler interface for beginners. One working day can be enough to get your online store up and running.


That said, InSales cannot be described as having a complicated interface. My colleagues and I had different opinions on this, so different aspects may feel more convenient depending on the user.

We also want to highlight the availability of guides and answers to frequently asked questions. Both platforms have sections with helpful tips. The only issue is that Horoshop mixes different types of content together, including update announcements, which can make it less convenient to find a specific solution.


The Bottom LineThe best approach is to try both. In this case, getting familiar with the platform largely comes down to personal preference, experience, and willingness to learn.

Destra has never been tasked with simply “creating a store.” The goal is always to create a convenient and effective platform for selling products and services — and, most importantly, for increasing sales. The website needs to be convenient for both the client and their customers. And, importantly, search engines should also respond positively to the resource.

In this section, we will describe the process without evaluating either platform, since this is largely a matter of convenience and how your workflow is organized.
InSales: you can add one or several redirects. There is also a function to “remove the entire chain” if, for example, a redirect was previously set from one page to another and then another redirect was added from the second page to a third. A dedicated setting allows you to transfer the redirect from the first page to the second or set it directly from the first page to the third.

Horoshop: redirects can only be added via a file, even if you need to add just one. Redirect chains are supported here as well.


An advantage of both platforms is the ability to set up a redirect immediately when a page URL is changed. The system offers to redirect the old page URL to the new one with a single click.

Next, let's talk about an SEO tool such as SEO filters. Horoshop has gathered all filters on a single page, where you can choose different display options. There is also a filtering function by sections.

In InSales, filters are located within the sections and subsections they belong to. In addition, there is a function to “view all SEO filters” available directly within each section.

Both platforms allow you to automatically generate Title and Description meta tags. This makes website management and SEO much easier, especially since an online store can contain a huge number of products, images, and categories.

Both platforms also allow you to create a formula for meta tags using variables. But... yes, there is one small “but” worth mentioning.

Neither platform provides a built-in option for generating meta tags for SEO filters. While InSales technical support can implement this functionality on an individual basis, Horoshop does not provide additional customizations. On the other hand, Horoshop offers more flexibility for automatically generating meta tags for images, including alt descriptions. InSales does not have this functionality.

The specialists behind both platforms have made sure that websites can include a blog and that users can publish articles with meta tags and images. For this purpose, both platforms provide a fairly functional text editor. However, things are not quite as good and straightforward as we might like.

I think you've already guessed which platform comes out ahead. Yes, InSales has gone a little further. It allows you not only to publish an article in the blog but also to turn it into a sales-oriented page thanks to the “Products in Article” feature.

Thanks to access to the code, InSales also allows you to add a contact form to an article.
A Horoshop blog, by comparison, is essentially just an article without additional functionality.

In this section, we won't go into all the capabilities of the two platforms. We'll simply say one thing: when it comes to setting up and tracking Enhanced Ecommerce, the Ukrainian platform Horoshop leaves much to be desired. There is no option to track product categories and brands.

There is also no way to configure this functionality additionally. Technical support responded that they would consider implementing it. However, it is unclear whether this functionality will actually become available in the future.

Our Experience. Online stores often add new products and categories, and it is important to evaluate their performance not only in terms of traffic but also in terms of sales and profitability.
This is exactly where Enhanced Ecommerce becomes useful. Unfortunately, Horoshop does not currently provide the ability to track it to its full potential.

Horoshop Meta Tags

Insales Meta Tags

If having content available in Russian, Ukrainian, and English used to be a luxury, today it has become a necessity. On July 16, 2019, the Ukrainian law «On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language» came into force.

After that, the media and business sectors began actively figuring out what needed to be changed and how to implement it. As a result, having Ukrainian-language content on a website became a mandatory standard, and Ukrainian should be the primary version of the site.

Both platforms provide this functionality. InSales implements multilingual versions through templates: pages are linked to one another, with the ?lang=ru parameter added to the URL. From a visual perspective, this solution has both advantages and disadvantages, but it does not affect indexing. To edit the same page in different languages, you need to switch between the corresponding language versions.

https://site.com.ua/collection/seofiltr?lang=ua

On the other platform we are considering, this feature is implemented more simply and conveniently. The page contains fields for each parameter in two languages (in our case, Russian and Ukrainian), and no additional parameter is added to the URL other than /ua/ (in our case, the second language version).

https://site.com.ua/ua/seofitr

Interesting fact: if you set up a redirect from one page to another in the primary language version, Horoshop automatically adds a redirect for the second language version as well. In InSales, you need to set up a separate redirect for each language version.

Technical support is an important factor, regardless of whether the website is being built by a beginner with no programming experience or by a team of professionals. The process is usually the same: you need some additional functionality → you try to implement it yourself → it doesn't work → you pay a developer to do it.

Of course, things don't always go smoothly: sometimes there are issues when communicating with technical support. A task can take around a month if it is complex and non-standard. The time required for additional development can increase when several specialists work on the same task one after another. This can make it more difficult to complete the task quickly and, most importantly, correctly, because each specialist may interpret the requirements differently.

We had a task to implement a formula for automatically generating meta tags in two language versions for SEO filters. The first specialist joined the project and we discussed everything in detail. They implemented the solution, but not quite correctly. After we pointed out the issue, another specialist took over and said that this was a complex customization and would be expensive.

When working with Horoshop, you may encounter certain difficulties. The advantage of having a support chat, where responses are provided quickly, is somewhat offset by the standardized nature of those responses.

Most often, users are simply given links to articles where they have to find the answer themselves. If they don't find what they need in the first article, they receive another one.Custom development requests are generally declined, and there is no access to the source code.

This means that an external programmer cannot help with such modifications. Neither additional payment nor well-reasoned explanations from professionals make a difference.

The platform used to provide such services, but later decided to discontinue them.

This was surprising because the first specialist had already implemented the functionality, but had simply entered the formula incorrectly. They had not mentioned the need for additional development or any extra cost. We had to insist on finding a solution.

A third specialist then joined the project and made further changes to the formula, which were again incorrect because they had interpreted the task differently. We had to explain the requirements again and rewrite the formula.Ultimately, the task was successfully resolved.

Why does customizing a template become necessary? There are many website builders, and almost all of them offer a free version. This means there are even more websites built from the same templates.

And since visual design is what catches attention first, you naturally want to add a wow effect to the template that highlights your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Recently, companies have even started trademarking the color combinations they use, and, of course, online stores need to reflect these brand requirements in their design.

With InSales, communication is slow and handled through a ticketing system, but they do address the actual issue. If something cannot be implemented, the administrator explains why and suggests alternatives. You also have access to the source code of pages, API, and other tools. These elements can be modified yourself, with the help of a programmer, or you can order paid custom development.

The task was to customize the contact form on the blog page. Even for an additional fee, the support team refused to add extra fields. Their reasoning was: “We believe the client doesn't need this.” A programmer can't help because there is no access to the source code.

At iForum 2021, our specialists visited the booths of both companies. We tried to discuss possible customizations with representatives of Horoshop, hoping for a productive offline conversation. We talked about modifications. The response was: “Perhaps it would be better for you to use another platform.”

Let us emphasize once again that we do not divide the platforms we analyzed into “good” and “bad.” Both companies have created products that can help businesses increase sales and operate effectively in the market. We are sharing our own opinion and analysis based exclusively on our experience working with these platforms.

If you are creating an online store with a large number of products and plan to continuously implement useful new features, choose InSales. If you are just getting started and want to test whether this approach will work for your business, Horoshop is a good option.

The free version is the most convenient way to test the platform. But keep in mind that as your product range and turnover grow, your platform will need to adapt accordingly. Horoshop does not support such customizations even on a paid plan. Therefore, for stable and serious businesses that are ready to grow, we recommend skipping the testing stage and building your online store with InSales!

And our main recommendation: if you want maximum results in the shortest possible time, turn to the Destra specialists! Our experience will help turn your ideas into a high-quality product and allocate your resources toward effective promotion. The goal of Destra is to increase your profits!

P.S. The InSales platform is developing more actively compared to Horoshop: new tools, plugins, and features are constantly being introduced. We hope that someone from InSales management will come across this article, listen to us as people who work with the platform firsthand, and address its shortcomings to make cooperation with the company even more convenient.

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