E-Commerce Platform

A modern, full-stack e-commerce platform built with Next.js, showcasing best practices for building production-ready applications.

Overview

This project demonstrates building a complete e-commerce solution with a focus on user experience, performance, and maintainability. The platform includes all essential features needed for an online store.

Key Features

Customer-Facing Features

Product Catalog: Browse products with filtering and search
Shopping Cart: Add, remove, and update quantities
Checkout Process: Secure checkout with Stripe integration
Order Tracking: View order history and status
User Authentication: Sign up, login, and profile management

Admin Features

Product Management: Create, update, and delete products
Order Management: View and process customer orders
Inventory Tracking: Monitor stock levels
Analytics Dashboard: Sales and customer insights

Technical Architecture

Frontend

// Product listing with Server Components
export default async function ProductsPage() {
  const products = await prisma.product.findMany({
    where: { published: true },
    include: { category: true }
  })

  return (
    <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-3 gap-6">
      {products.map(product => (
        <ProductCard key={product.id} product={product} />
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

Backend API

// API route for checkout
export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const { cartItems } = await request.json()
  
  const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
    line_items: cartItems.map(item => ({
      price_data: {
        currency: 'usd',
        product_data: { name: item.name },
        unit_amount: item.price * 100
      },
      quantity: item.quantity
    })),
    mode: 'payment',
    success_url: `${process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_URL}/success`,
    cancel_url: `${process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_URL}/cart`
  })

  return NextResponse.json({ url: session.url })
}

Database Schema

Using Prisma for type-safe database access:

model Product {
  id          String   @id @default(cuid())
  name        String
  description String
  price       Float
  image       String
  stock       Int
  categoryId  String
  category    Category @relation(fields: [categoryId], references: [id])
  createdAt   DateTime @default(now())
  updatedAt   DateTime @updatedAt
}

model Order {
  id         String      @id @default(cuid())
  userId     String
  user       User        @relation(fields: [userId], references: [id])
  total      Float
  status     OrderStatus
  items      OrderItem[]
  createdAt  DateTime    @default(now())
}

Performance Optimizations

Image Optimization: Next.js Image component for automatic optimization
Caching: ISR for product pages, API route caching
Database Indexing: Optimized queries with proper indexes
Code Splitting: Automatic code splitting with Next.js
CDN Delivery: Static assets served via CDN

Security Measures

Payment Security: PCI-compliant with Stripe
Authentication: JWT-based authentication with httpOnly cookies
Input Validation: Zod schemas for all user inputs
SQL Injection Prevention: Parameterized queries via Prisma
XSS Protection: Content Security Policy headers

Testing

import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test'

test('should add product to cart', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/products')
  await page.click('[data-testid="add-to-cart-1"]')
  await expect(page.locator('[data-testid="cart-count"]')).toHaveText('1')
})

Deployment

Deployed on Vercel with:

Database: PostgreSQL on Railway
File Storage: AWS S3 for product images
CI/CD: GitHub Actions for automated testing and deployment
Monitoring: Sentry for error tracking

Lessons Learned

Server Components: Leveraging React Server Components significantly improved performance
Payment Integration: Stripe webhooks require careful handling for reliability
State Management: Server state with React Query simplified data synchronization
Type Safety: TypeScript with Prisma caught many potential bugs early
Testing: E2E tests with Playwright provided confidence in critical user flows

Future Enhancements

Conclusion

This project demonstrates building a production-ready e-commerce platform with modern web technologies. The combination of Next.js, Stripe, and Prisma provides a solid foundation for scalable online stores.

E-Commerce Platform with Next.js and Stripe