Custom Node.js Apps Optimizing and Automating a Shopify-based E-commerce
Goals
From the very beginning, we eagerly supported Vitamins Direct to drive the surge in online shopping after the pandemic.
01
Automate e-commerce processes
Vitamins Direct needed to automate processes like adding products, updating inventory, and comparing prices with competitors to save operational time and resources.
02
Increase competitiveness and conversions
The changes aimed to make Vitamins Direct more competitive, drive more traffic from Google Shopping, attract new customers, and boost conversions.
03
Enhance user experience with the new stack
Leveraging modern JS frameworks and design systems to create a highly performant, user-friendly e-commerce platform.
Challenge
Vitamins Direct faced the challenge of automating their manual e-commerce processes and improving their Shopify-based store’s efficiency and performance.
Vitamins Direct, a leading supplier of health and wellness products, faced significant challenges with their Shopify-based online store. The primary issues were:
Time-Consuming Manual Operations
The reliance on manual processes for inventory updates and price comparisons was inefficient and prone to human errors.
Limited Scalability
The existing setup was not scalable, limiting the company’s ability to handle increasing online traffic and orders.
Outdated User Experience
The website’s user interface needed modernization to provide a better shopping experience: quicker, more responsive, and navigational.
Low Performance
The website's loading times and overall performance started to bring frustration and impatience, affecting user engagement and retention.
Approach
There were no specific guidelines in terms of technology so we could choose the stack based on our knowledge and experience. We simply knew that it had to be future-proof.
Development Process
Detailed Planning: We began with thorough planning and task assignments to handle the project’s complexity effectively.
Prototyping and Design: Using Material Design for its adaptability, we created a functional and visually appealing UX/UI.
Implementation: Developed multiple solutions, including the Product Feed SyncApp and VD Portal for automating and managing e-commerce processes.
Technology Stack Choices
React.js and Next.js: These frameworks provided a performant and scalable frontend, enhancing the user interface and overall user experience.
Fastify: Chosen for its speed and lightweight nature, Fastify ensured fast backend processing.
Sequelize and Postgres: These were selected for efficient database management and seamless integration with TypeScript.
Google Cloud: Implemented for its serverless capabilities, ensuring scalability and reliability.
Results
We were excited to have seen our collaboration with Vitamins Direct result in a highly efficient and competitive e‑commerce platform!
We’ve implemented several custom features that significantly enhanced Vitamins Direct’s e-commerce functionality and user experience. Their Shopify store is now more tailor-made and serves better for their specific requirements.
Streamlined Internal E-Commerce Processes
The client can now easily check the latest updates, as well as the types and number of orders that customers have made. Adding the lists of products/keywords that should be removed from the online store or Google Merchant Center is also a breeze.
Material Design Integration
Implementing Material Design ensured a highly functional and visually appealing user interface, enhancing user experience and reducing design time.
Outcome
We transformed Vitamins Direct’s Shopify e-commerce to let them drive a competitive edge in their niche
Before
Manual processes and an outdated interface limited Vitamins Direct’s efficiency and competitiveness. This made it challenging to keep up with market demands.
After
The new automated, scalable platform empowers Vitamins Direct to manage their Shopify store extremely more effectively.
Improvements
Our work resulted in:
Automated E-Commerce Processes
Automated product addition, inventory updates, and price comparisons significantly boosted operational efficiency.
Enhanced Inventory Management
The streamlined process for managing inventory ensured timely updates and reduced errors.
Reduced Operational Costs
Automation of manual tasks resulted in significant cost savings and resource optimization.
Boosted Customer Acquisition
Enhanced SEO and performance metrics attracted more traffic and conversions from Google Shopping.
Increased Scalability
The serverless architecture provided by Google Cloud allowed the platform to handle increased traffic and orders seamlessly.
Improved User Experience
The modernized design and improved performance led to higher customer satisfaction and engagement.
Most interesting features
Efficient management
VD Portal
A dedicated admin panel that allows the client to manage products, check order updates, and handle inventory with ease.
Streamlined e-commerce processes
Product Feed SyncApp
This application handles orders, synchronizes inventory and product’s content, and adjusts product prices based on competitor data in real-time.
Full scalability
Serverless Architecture
Utilizing Google Cloud for a serverless setup provided scalability and reliability, ensuring the platform could handle growing demands efficiently.
These great professionals worked on this project for our client:
Michał Gajek
Fullstack Developer
Tomasz KordyÅ›
Head of Delivery
About the client
Founded in 1994 and with over 26 years of experience, Vitamins Direct are experts in the benefits of healthy living.
Project
E-Commerce Development
Industry
Health and Wellness
Web
VitaminsVitamins Direct is a leading supplier of health and wellness products, such as functional foods, sports nutrition, multivitamins, high-dose therapeutic vitamins, herbal remedies, and many more.
The company specializes in delivering premium products supporting heart health and weight reduction, helping customers stay fit and abled as long as possible. Vitamins Direct’s offer covers over 100,000 products. All of them are available in the company's online store, which we helped to optimize and improve.
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