Client

The customer was a Russian-based startup that operates in the e-commerce industry. The company had already developed a cashback service, allowing users to save up to 40% of each purchase. With this digital solution, the founders raised funds and created a network of 1,200 partner stores.

Project goal

The client aimed to build an online marketplace and showcase it to investors. A web platform was intended to comprise multiple stores, selling smartphones and tablets. The company wanted to tie it with a cashback service acting as a browser extension, so that users would be able to save money while receiving an engaging shopping experience.
Another important task was to enable the fast creation of device comparison pages that would have high Google rankings.
Also, the customer needed to connect an e-commerce marketplace with a global affiliate network that serves as an intermediary between advertisers and publishers. Charging e-shops for desired actions, the system helps them increase revenues while webmasters monetize website traffic.

Project summary

Our team created a marketplace, which includes 25 large stores such as MTC, Samsung RU, AppleAvenue, Cstore, and re:Store.

Project duration

3 months for MVP development

Team

a backend developer, frontend developer, UI/UX designer, project manager

Technologies

Python, Django, Beautiful Soup, Selenium, Celery, jQuery, Vanilla JS, RabbitMQ, PostgreSQL

Solution

Our specialists started with analyzing the project goals and requirements. Since the customer aimed to create an online marketplace and pitch the end solution to investors, we decided to make an MVP—a minimum viable product —that would include only the key functionality and showcase the value.
case study, features of an e-commerce marketplace
Following Agile methodology, our engineers divided the scope of work into short sprints to boost efficiency and deliver new features every 2-3 weeks. With everyday 15-minute meetings with the team and close cooperation with the client, everyone knew what had been already done and what was left.

Learn how to control software development with Agile and get the highest quality.

The customer was able to monitor all activities via Jira, a time tracking application, and AraIS, our internal information system. At Arateg, we built this platform to enable our customers to view reports, communicate with specialists, and control the development process.

During the project, our software engineers encountered the following challenges:

  1. An e-commerce platform had to process hundreds of gigabytes of data per day collected from 25 online stores—while continuing to provide a seamless user experience. As companies connected to the system had their own goods, prices, etc., it was important to provide automatic tracking of all updates.
    Employing Python, Beautiful Soup, Celery, and Selenium, our software developers enabled data parsing, parallelizing the process of data collection and analysis. It is worth noting that Python and its tools perfectly suit for parsing data and developing single-page applications.
    With an incorporated parser, an e-commerce platform can handle massive arrays of data aggregated from 25 websites while maintaining high performance even during heavy loads. Using Python and Django, our engineers also worked out a complex logic for the backend.
    case study, features of a custom e-commerce marketplace
  2. It was crucial to ensure the system’s high availability despite heavy loads on servers that could have an adverse effect on performance.
    To achieve high availability, our web developers used RabbitMQ to enable parsing making it possible to process data faster by 10 times. Employing RabbitMQ, we also enabled data caching, which was vital to server load optimization. With the view of providing efficient data management, our team integrated a PostgreSQL database. For the frontend, we used jQuery and VanillaJS.
    Aiming to make an e-commerce website with a high page load speed, our software engineers used Memcached and Redis to enable cashing and database indexing.

The key features

  1. User registration and authorization
  2. User account
  3. Convenient search with multiple filters
  4. Catalog
  5. Reviews and ratings
  6. Product comparison
  7. Price comparison of different online stores
  8. Cashback from each purchase
  9. The ability to withdraw money via PayPal, QIWI, WebMoney, Visa, Mastercard, etc.
  10. The ability to add goods to Favorites
  11. Group purchases (if a group of customers make purchases, they are given a discount)

Result

We created an e-commerce website that comprises 25 large online stores and connects with a global affiliate network. Serving as an intermediary between advertisers and webmasters, this network allows e-shops to increase their revenues, helping them generate more website traffic.
With the delivered product, the company was included in the list of “TOP 5 startups in Russia”, having been recognized out of nearly 100 participants.
A unique platform feature is that it offers a cashback service from the same provider, so that users don’t have to look for third-party solutions. This service automatically suggests where to find the best deals, ensuring a pleasant shopping experience.

Are you wondering how much does it cost to build an online marketplace? Read our article “How to make an e-commerce site and what is the cost in 2020?”.

If you need to create something similar, our custom web development company is ready to help. At Arateg, we provide the following services:
  1. project consulting
  2. business analysis, including time and budget estimations
  3. UI and UX design
  4. online marketplace development (mobile, web)
  5. quality assurance
  6. post-launch system maintenance
When building a software project, we also assist our customers in marketing activities: analyze your competitors, prepare empathy maps, impact maps, user stories, etc. You are welcome to contact us and receive a free project consultation right now!

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