I am trying to launch a new business as a purchasing agent in Hong Kong. As a student with limited budget, I wanted to first validate the market demand. Therefore, I built a simple prototype to understand the market potential. I proposed using AWS Serverless architecture to minimize development and operational costs.I noticed many Instagram stores in Hong Kong lack their own webpages for product showcases. Instagram's grid layout isn't user-friendly for displaying products, especially older posts. These businesses, being startups, may not have the budget for expensive e-commerce platforms like Shopline or Shopify. This opens an opportunity to potentially pivot my business to help them build their own pages if my purchasing agent business doesn't gain traction.
Phase 1
I built a prototype static website that fetches product data asynchronously, though without checkout functionality. The index page serves as a linktree, redirecting to product pages or social media links. The URL updates when users add products to their cart.For Example:
/app Next.js 12 App
/infra Infrastructure As Code (IaC) using AWS CDK
Phase 2
Development of a simple Admin Portal for CRUD operations on products. When users build the infrastructure using the /infra code, it will generate two keys for accessing the Admin Portal. The Lambda Function (backend) will decrypt these keys when performing CRUD operations in the Admin portal. Additionally, sellers will be able to send payment links to users.