Enterprise Marketplace Solution for a Leading Retail Brand

Project Description:

Casa Cuesta CCN is a leading Home Department Store in the Dominican Republic. Along with its well established brick and mortar presence, the brand wanted to launch a powerful and scalable digital Marketplace platform to serve customers across the nation.

The objective was to build a modern, high performance Marketplace solution from scratch that could support multiple sellers, seamless integrations, advanced product management, and a smooth customer experience.

The platform was architected using AWS infrastructure including AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB for a highly scalable serverless backend. The frontend was developed using React.JS to deliver a fast, responsive, and user friendly interface.

One of the key highlights of the platform is the Gift Registry feature, allowing customers to create, manage, and share personalized gift lists for weddings, birthdays, and special occasions.

CCN required a reliable and experienced eCommerce development partner to design and implement this enterprise grade Marketplace solution while addressing complex business requirements and integrations.

The Challenges We Faced:

Marketplace Architecture

The entire Marketplace ecosystem had to be designed from scratch. This included multi vendor management, seller onboarding workflows, commission management, catalog synchronization, and order lifecycle management within a scalable cloud architecture.

SAP Data Integration

All product master data was maintained in a SAP system hosted on a remote server. Integrating SAP with the new Marketplace platform required developing secure APIs and custom data processing layers to fetch, transform, and sync product data across multiple SAP layers into DynamoDB.

Gift Registry Module

The Gift Registry feature required custom development to allow users to create registries, add products, manage guest contributions, track purchases, and handle real time inventory updates. Ensuring accurate stock management and seamless checkout integration was a critical challenge.

KIOSK and POS Synchronization

CCN had existing KIOSK and POS systems in physical stores. Synchronizing these systems with the new Marketplace platform required secure API integrations and real time data exchange to maintain consistency in pricing, inventory, and order information.

Custom Development

Since the solution was built entirely from scratch, multiple custom modules were developed to support advanced business logic, seller management, reporting dashboards, promotional rules, and performance optimization.

Training and Ongoing Support

Considering the scale and complexity of the Marketplace, in person support and structured training sessions were provided. Comprehensive technical documentation and guidance videos were shared to ensure smooth adoption and operational efficiency.

Project Scope

The marketing team at Perception System, San Jose responded to the client quickly and arranged online meetings using the latest communication technologies, as well as visited personally to gather the project requirements.

Gathering Requirements Online

We allocated highly experienced and technically sound BA (Business Analysts) to amass the project requirements online.

The BA team prepared business requirement documents.

They prepared workflow diagrams for the most significant features including Product Purchase Flow, Order Fulfilment Process, Gift Registry System Flow, and many others.

The BA team then tested each primary function and primed the GAP Analysis Matrix, which depicts EXPECTANCY Vs. REALITY for each function

Fortunately, GAP analysis revealed the status of each feature under the test. The BA team described what is working smoothly and where the issues were persistent.

Gathering Requirements In-person

After realizing the risk factors thoroughly, CCN invited the BA team to visit their premises. Client-side team revealed the hidden anomalies in the system as well as presented their concerns well before the beginning of the development.

The in-person meeting ensured our BA team saw what they missed during online inspections.

How business-side team at client’s premise manage products in the back-end.

How the prices of products changing dynamically.

How stock inventory being managed.

How the execution of product import scripts takes place daily.

How customers can buy Gift Registry from KIOSK machine.

The team had pinpointed two significant features at the heart of the system, & Gift Registry System.

Order Fulfilment Process

Search order – Backend user/admin can see incoming orders and search proper orders for further process.

Order Verification – Admin user verifies the order

Order Processing – Admin user marks the verified order as under the process order.

Prepare order for shipping – packing and labeling

Ship the order to the shipping providers.

Print invoice for the paid orders.

Print warranty documents for paid orders.

Track the order that completes the delivery.

Modify order for non-availability or refund

Gift Registry System

Creation of new registry for various occasions including birthday, marriage, parties, events, and anniversaries.

Attach shipping & contact details with the registry.

Find registry using attributes like ID, event date, the name of registrants, and so on.

Search products from the registry product list.

Paging in search results.

Find product details in the registry.

The user can see multimedia content on product detail page in the registry.

The client perceived Perception System as its Marketplace Solution partner and signed up for updates and optimization of the Marketplace Solution platform. Now, the BA team at Perception System prepared the pre required project documents to hand over to the client along with post handover policies for the entire project process in the following manner.

Pre-required Project Documents

The Component Versions

Scope Discrepancy Matrix

User Guide for Custom Module

Wire-Frame/Mock-ups

API Implementation Matrix

Test Cases

User Stories

Post-Handover Policies

Design & Development Policies

Maintenance & Support Policies

Security Policies

Deployment Policies

Wireframe & Prototypes

Based on the findings and documents prepared, we setup wireframe design options. After the selection of appropriate models, we proceeded towards prototyping using our interactive and the latest tools.

Designing & Programming

We came up with an intuitively designed solutions by meeting all expectations and addressing client’s concerns. Since we had to do coding for a large scale eCommerce store, our entire team of eCommerce developers including full stack developers paid attention to details and followed the best coding practices.

Testing & Deployment

We frequently tested the system on each new significant module development and section completion. After approval from the client-side team for adequate testing, our DevOps uploaded the system gradually on hosting server.

Project Management

We took help of the latest project management methodologies, software, communication channels, and trained resources like project managers and team leaders to deliver excellent software development experiences.

Our latest PMS enabled us to provide real-time updates to the client-side team using visuals on the dashboard. We provided access to all team members and the freedom to express their feedback, concerns, and valuable suggestions during the process.

Solution

Our Journey towards the eCommerce Storefront Development was highly fascinating & inspiring. The following are a few stages and steps worth mentioning from the entire journey.

KANBAN

We used to take Agile Development approaches for big scale projects. So, we applied KANBAN software development methodology to manage and execute the entire online & offline goods and delivery system. We listed all features as product backlogs and followed the continuous delivery model.

Behavior-driven Development

BDD is an excellent approach to create a collaborative development environment and bridge the communication gap between client and development teams.

WBS Segregation

We applied WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) methodologies to create appropriate sprints as per concessions among all stakeholders.

Development & Deployment

We selected the best technology and employed the best tools the industry had to provide. After rigorous testing and upon satisfaction of the client-side team, we deployed the system on hosting server.

Support & Maintenance

As per project terms, we offered the required support services for a set period.

Technologies
We Used

AWS
LAMBDA
API GATEWAY
DYNAMODB
REACT

Results

Milestones

The web front was supposed to be made in just 60 days and we finished it on time.

Achievements

The website has achieved quick adoption among the regional and international users and touched the 20K+ number of users within a short span.

Satisfaction

We delivered the social networking site successfully to the customer and provided a satisfactory level of maintenance & support.

Striking Features

Primary Navigation

It was the main menu with a header on the top of each web page providing category and sub-category level of navigation structure.

Search Filter

Filtered search through layered navigation provides excellent search experiences.

15 Minutes Timer

It was a unique concept that once the shopper hits the button for proceeding to checkout, a 15-minute timer starts automatically and lets the user to accomplish checkout with that time limit only.

Secondary Navigation

A search bar on the top loaded with the latest advanced search features.

Product Details Page

Almost all possible product attributes and multimedia content have room to display with advanced designs.

Payment Process

Shopper can track the payment process visually and know the present step.

Collection of Products

All collection categories have to be the first option (if it exists) right under each department tab in the menu.

Configure Product

Myriads of options available to configure products. Configuration UI has cool and comprehensive styles to go easily.

BIN Discount

CCN offers BIN discount (1%) on a range of BIN number. BIN is a credit card number and expressed in six digits.

Search Products

Shopper can track the payment process visually and know the present step.

Smoother Checkout Process

We made the checkout process smoother by applying the latest practices and tools used in the eCommerce industry.

Coupon Code Discount

The discount can be applied automatically as soon as the customer enters a valid coupon code.

Special Price

The Special Price (Sale Price) will strikeout the Master Price/Original Price. It is used for personalized incentives.

Time Bracket Rule

Time bracket rules can be created in the backend. These rules are like “Any order received before and until 6:00 P.M. will be available for pick up the next day after 12:00 P.M.”.

Registry

This feature facilitates the creation of events (such as “Wedding,” “Bachelor Party”, etc) in the backend. Each event will have its own set of products.