Project Description
This project involves building a comprehensive e-commerce platform where users can browse products, make purchases, manage their accounts, and interact with customer support. The platform aims to provide a seamless shopping experience with robust customer and administrator features.
The "Build Your Own E-commerce Platform" project aims to develop a scalable and efficient API that allows users to explore products, add them to the cart, complete transactions, and manage their orders. This API will support various front-end applications, including web and mobile interfaces.
In today's digital age, e-commerce has become essential for businesses and consumers. This project will create an API that empowers users to shop online easily and allows administrators to manage product listings and orders effectively. Here's a more detailed look at how users will interact with the platform:
User Registration and Authentication:
Sign Up: New users can create an account by providing a username, email, and password. Once registered, they will receive a confirmation email to verify their account.
Login: Registered users can log in using their email and password. For enhanced security, the API will support multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Profile Management:
View and Edit Profile: Users can view and edit their profile details, including their name, address, payment information, and preferences. This helps users personalize their accounts and streamline the checkout process.
Browsing and Searching for Products:
Product Catalog: Users can browse a catalog of products with details such as name, description, price, and images.
Search and Filter: Users can search for products by keywords and apply category, price range, and rating filters to find specific items.
Managing the Shopping Cart:
Add to Cart: Users can add products to their shopping cart, with options to specify quantity and variations (e.g., size, color).
View and Edit Cart: Users can view their cart, update quantities, remove items, and see the total cost.
Save for Later: Users can save items for future purchases.
Checkout and Payments:
Checkout Process: Users can proceed to checkout, where they provide shipping details, select payment methods, and review their order.
Payment Gateway Integration: The API will integrate with payment gateways to securely process transactions.
Order Confirmation: Users receive an order confirmation with their purchase details and an estimated delivery date.
Order Management:
Order History: Users can view past orders, including order status, shipping information, and order details.
Track Order: Users can track the status of their orders in real time.
Customer Support:
Contact Support: Users can contact customer support via chat or email for assistance with their orders.
FAQs and Help Center: A section with frequently asked questions and guides to help users with common issues.
Administrator Features:
Product Management: Administrators can add, update, and delete product listings, including managing inventory and pricing.
Order Management: Administrators can view and manage orders, including updating order status and handling returns and refunds.
User Management: Administrators can manage user accounts, reset passwords, and handle user queries.
Objectives
Allow users to sign up, log in, and manage their accounts.
Enable users to browse, search, and filter products.
Facilitate the addition of products to the cart and manage the checkout process.
Ensure secure payment processing and order management.
Provide robust customer support features.
Enable administrators to manage products, orders, and users effectively.
Functional Requirements
User Management
Sign Up: Users can create an account by providing a username, email, and password.
Login: Users can log in using their email and password.
Profile Management: Users can update their profile information and payment details.
Product Management
Add Product: Administrators can add new products with details such as name, description, price, and images.
Update Product: Administrators can update product details.
Delete Product: Administrators can remove products from the catalog.
View Products: Users can view product listings and details.
Shopping Cart
Add to Cart: Users can add products to their shopping cart.
View Cart: Users can view items in their cart.
Update Cart: Users can update quantities and remove items from the cart.
Checkout: Users can proceed to checkout and complete their purchase.
Order Management
Place Order: Users can place an order and receive a confirmation.
View Order History: Users can view their order history and track orders.
Manage Orders: Administrators can update order statuses and handle returns/refunds.
Customer Support
Contact Support: Users can reach out to customer support for assistance.
FAQs: A section with frequently asked questions to help users.
Non-Functional Requirements
Scalability: The API should handle a growing number of users and interactions.
Performance: The API should have a fast response time and handle concurrent requests efficiently.
Security: Implement authentication and authorization mechanisms to protect user data.
Reliability: The API should be highly available and handle failures gracefully.
Usability: The API should be easy to use and well-documented.
Use Cases
User Sign Up and Login: New users sign up, and existing users log in.
Browse and Search Products: Users browse and search for products.
Manage Cart and Checkout: Users manage their shopping cart and proceed to checkout.
View and Track Orders: Users view their order history and track orders.
Administrator Product Management: Administrators manage product listings and orders.
User Stories
As a user, I want to sign up for an account to make purchases.
As a user, I want to log in to my account to manage my profile and orders.
As a user, I want to browse and search for products so that I can find items to purchase.
As a user, I want to add products to my cart and proceed to checkout so that I can complete my purchase.
As a user, I want to track my orders to know when they will be delivered.
As an administrator, I want to manage product listings to keep the catalog up-to-date.
Technical Requirements
Programming Language: Choose an appropriate backend language (e.g., Node.js, Python, Ruby).
Database: Use a database to store user, product, and order data (e.g., PostgreSQL, MongoDB).
Authentication: Implement JWT for secure user authentication.
Payment Gateway: Integrate with payment gateways (e.g., Stripe, PayPal) for secure transactions.
API Documentation: Use Swagger or similar tools for API documentation.
API Endpoints
User Management
POST /signup: Register a new user.
POST /login: Authenticate a user.
GET /profile: Get user profile details.
PUT /profile: Update user profile.
Product Management
POST /products: Add a new product (admin only).
GET /products: Retrieve a list of products.
GET /products/{id}: Retrieve a single product by ID.
PUT /products/{id}: Update a product by ID (admin only).
DELETE /products/{id}: Delete a product by ID (admin only).
Shopping Cart
POST /cart: Add a product to the cart.
GET /cart: Retrieve the current cart.
PUT /cart: Update the cart.
DELETE /cart: Remove a product from the cart.
Order Management
POST /orders: Place an order.
GET /orders: Retrieve a list of orders (user-specific).
GET /orders/{id}: Retrieve a single order by ID.
Customer Support
POST /support: Contact customer support.
GET /support/faqs: Retrieve frequently asked questions.
Security
Use HTTPS to encrypt data in transit.
Implement input validation and sanitization to prevent SQL injection and XSS attacks.
Use strong password hashing algorithms like bcrypt.
Performance
Implement caching strategies to improve response times.
Optimize database queries to handle large datasets efficiently.
Use load balancing to distribute traffic evenly across servers.
Documentation
Provide comprehensive API documentation using tools like Swagger.
Create user guides and developer documentation to assist with integration and usage.
Glossary
API: Application Programming Interface.
JWT: JSON Web Token.
CRUD: Create, Read, Update, Delete.
Appendix
Include any relevant diagrams, data models, and additional references.
