The Problem We Were Actually Solving
Our main goal was to create a platform that would allow us to sell digital products without incurring hefty transaction fees or dealing with regional restrictions. We also wanted a platform that would integrate seamlessly with our existing systems and allow for flexible payment options. But, at first glance, it seemed like a daunting task.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
My initial approach was to use a combination of PayPal and Stripe to bypass regional restrictions, but it quickly became apparent that both services had their own set of limitations and fees. PayPal's fees were higher than we were comfortable with, while Stripe's fees were inconsistent and hard to predict. We also encountered issues with currency conversions and support for local payment methods, which made it difficult to implement a seamless checkout experience for our customers.
The Architecture Decision
After weeks of research, we decided to build our own e-commerce platform using Unchained Commerce, a headless commerce engine that allowed us to decouple the front-end and back-end of our application. We used GraphQL to create a flexible API that could handle complex queries and mutations, and a containerized architecture to ensure scalability and reliability. This setup gave us the flexibility to choose our own payment gateways and implement a custom checkout experience that suited our needs.
But the real magic happened when we started integrating Unchained Commerce with our existing system, using APIs and webhooks to synchronize orders, customers, and payments. We also implemented a custom payment gateway using Stripe's Elements and a local payment processor to ensure seamless checkout experiences for our customers. The result was a scalable and flexible e-commerce platform that met our needs without incurring excessive fees or transaction costs.
What The Numbers Said After
The new platform resulted in a significant decrease in transaction fees, from 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to 1.4% + $0.25 per transaction. We also saw a 30% decrease in support requests related to payment issues and a 25% increase in conversion rates due to our custom checkout experience. Our pipeline latency decreased from 200ms to 50ms, and our query cost went from $0.50 to $0.15 per 1000 queries.
What I Would Do Differently
In hindsight, I would have started with a more agile approach, taking smaller chunks of time to build and iterate on our platform rather than taking a big-bang approach that left us with a lot of trial and error. I would also have explored more options for integrating with local payment gateways and explored other commerce engines like commercetools or Shopify Plus before settling on Unchained Commerce. By doing so, we would have saved time, reduced costs, and achieved our goals more efficiently.
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