BUYVERDE

BUILDING A TWO-SIDED MARKETPLACE AND CUSTOM SHOPIFY SALES CHANNEL APP

Client

buyVerde is a two-sided marketplace that makes it easy for ESG-focused consumers to buy from businesses working for positive global change. For merchants and small businesses, buyVerde provides a platform where consumers can shop and know that the merchants they are buying from have been vetted and meet high ESG standards.

Challenge

buyVerde came to us looking to finish their half-completed two-sided marketplace that was written in Node.js and had initially been started with another development team that wasn’t working out. After a disappointing experience with this other development team, Briana, the founder, needed a development partner that was fast, proactively used their expertise, excelled at communication, and wasn’t as expensive as her previous NYC software development agency. On top of needing technical expertise, they were also seeking a partner that was able to provide them with strategic business recommendations and expertise to help them build out their company based on what their target users were asking for.

Strategy

Our first step was to complete an quick audit of the existing marketplace software code. This helped to quickly identify areas of improvement, place priorities on those tasks, and outline a plan of action to get their marketplace released as soon as possible. Upon inspection, we immediately identified a number of unknown bugs, such as poor infrastructure settings and a complicated backend logic that was leading to a very unstable user experience and performance loading issues. After sharing these findings with the buyVerde team and confirming the roadmap, we worked closely with them to fix and finish the online marketplace software according within the agreed timeline and budget.

Along the way, our web developers suggested and implemented several project management, infrastructure, and backend improvements that made the work of the project in general much more professional and scalable as Briana added to her internal team. As part of our audit, we also suggested and developed from scratch a public Shopify sales channel app. The Shopify marketplace app now provides a way for thousands of ESG brands on Shopify to connect directly to buyVerde and have their products considered for listing on the buyVerde ESG marketplace.

/ buyVerde

Solutions

Technologies

Node.js
PostgreSQL
React.js
AWS
SQS
ElasticSearch
Python
AWS Lambda
Fargate
Shopify's API

Most of the technical direction for the project was made before we joined the project and we continued to successfully support their chosen technical stack. Our Shopify experts only introduced new technologies and tools along the way when we felt it would be helpful for the Shopify sales channel app and specifically chose not to rewrite parts of the software to help with Briana's budget.

Results

After several months of successful development and collaboration that culminated with on-budget project delivery, buyVerde now has a fully-functioning two-sided marketplace that hosts thousands of eco-friendly and socially-conscious products from vetted and certified brands around the world.

The buyVerde Shopify sales channel app that we built from scratch and got it approved is one of only 24 Shopify Sales Channel applications on the Shopify Marketplace in 2022 and is listed alongside brands such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart. This unique position now opens up buyVerde to a world of potential business partners who share similar values.

As buyVerde expands, we have remained a close technical and strategic partner, advising and assisting with the growth of the online marketplace as well as raising capital.

Review

“We have had nothing but extremely positive experiences with the team in the last week, and are extremely grateful for the professional, productive, and thoughtful leadership from every single team member.“