🛒 Vendoz – Multi-Vendor E-Commerce Platform

Vendoz is a production-ready Multi-Vendor E-Commerce Platform built using the MERN Stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js). It enables multiple independent sellers to create and manage online stores while providing customers with a unified shopping experience through a centralized marketplace.

The platform integrates secure authentication, multiple payment gateways, real-time messaging, order management, coupon systems, email notifications, and a comprehensive admin dashboard. Designed with modular architecture and scalable APIs, Vendoz demonstrates real-world marketplace development and enterprise-grade backend practices.

🌍 Problem Statement

Most traditional e-commerce platforms are designed for a single seller, requiring every merchant to build and maintain an independent website, payment infrastructure, customer database, and inventory system. This significantly increases development costs while making it difficult for small businesses to reach customers.

Customers also experience fragmented shopping because they need to visit multiple websites, create separate accounts, manage different orders, and communicate with sellers through external platforms.

Marketplace owners face additional challenges in onboarding vendors, monitoring products, handling payments, processing withdrawals, and maintaining security as the platform grows.

💡 Solution

Vendoz provides a centralized marketplace where Customers, Sellers, and Administrators operate on a single platform.

Customers can browse products from multiple vendors, compare prices, place orders, make secure payments, chat with sellers, and track deliveries.

Sellers can independently manage stores, products, inventory, discounts, customer conversations, and earnings without maintaining separate e-commerce websites.

Administrators receive a centralized dashboard for monitoring users, vendors, products, orders, coupons, withdrawals, and overall marketplace activity.

✨ Key Features

🛍 Multi-Vendor Marketplace
👥 Customer, Seller & Admin Roles
🔐 JWT Authentication & Email Verification
🏪 Independent Seller Stores
❤️ Wishlist & Shopping Cart
🎟 Coupon & Discount Management
📦 Complete Order Management
💳 Stripe, PayPal & Cash-on-Delivery Integration
💬 Real-Time Buyer–Seller Chat (Socket.IO)
⭐ Product Reviews & Ratings
📧 Automated Email Notifications
📊 Seller Dashboard
🛡 Admin Management Panel
📱 Fully Responsive UI

🏗 System Architecture

                                  VENDOZ
                    Multi-Vendor E-Commerce Platform

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           USER ROLES                              │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

👤 Customer              🏪 Seller               👨‍💼 Admin
      │                      │                      │
      └──────────────┬───────┴──────────────┬──────┘
                     │
                     ▼

          React.js + Redux Toolkit Frontend
      (Tailwind CSS • Axios • Socket.IO Client)
                     │
                     │ REST APIs
                     ▼

             Node.js + Express.js Backend

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

      Authentication Service
      User Service
      Shop Service
      Product Service
      Cart & Wishlist Service
      Coupon Service
      Order Service
      Payment Service
      Conversation Service
      Message Service
      Withdraw Service
      Admin Service

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

                 MongoDB Database (Mongoose)

Collections

• Users
• Shops
• Products
• Orders
• Carts
• Wishlists
• Coupons
• Conversations
• Messages
• Events
• Payments
• Withdrawals

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

External Services

• Stripe
• PayPal
• Nodemailer
• Socket.IO

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Deployment

Frontend → Vercel

Backend → Node.js Server

Database → MongoDB Atlas

🔄 End-to-End Workflow

Customer
     │
Browse Products
     │
Search & Filter
     │
View Product
     │
Add to Cart / Wishlist
     │
Apply Coupon
     │
Checkout
     │
Stripe / PayPal / COD
     │
Order Created
     │
Seller Receives Order
     │
Processes Order
     │
Order Shipped
     │
Customer Tracks Order
     │
Order Delivered
     │
Review Product

🚀 Problems Solved

🏪 Multi-Vendor Marketplace

Provides a shared marketplace where multiple sellers can independently manage stores, products, inventory, and customers without building separate websites.

🛒 Unified Shopping Experience

Customers can discover products from multiple vendors, compare prices, place orders, and manage purchases from a single account.

🔐 Secure Authentication

Implements JWT authentication, email verification, and role-based authorization to secure access for Customers, Sellers, and Administrators.

💳 Multiple Payment Options

Supports Stripe, PayPal, and Cash-on-Delivery, giving customers flexibility while ensuring secure payment verification.

📦 Order Lifecycle Management

Automates order placement, payment verification, inventory updates, shipping status, and delivery tracking.

💬 Real-Time Communication

Socket.IO enables instant messaging between customers and sellers for product inquiries, support, and order discussions.

🎟 Promotional Campaigns

Allows sellers to create coupons and promotional discounts without requiring administrator involvement.

📊 Marketplace Administration

Provides centralized management of vendors, users, products, coupons, withdrawals, and platform operations.

📈 Scalable Architecture

Uses a modular backend where business logic is separated into controllers, models, middleware, utilities, and Socket.IO services for maintainability and future expansion.

⚙ Tech Stack

Frontend

React.js
Redux Toolkit
Tailwind CSS
Axios
Socket.IO Client

Backend

Node.js
Express.js
JWT Authentication
Express Middleware
Nodemailer

Database

MongoDB
Mongoose

Payments

Stripe
PayPal
Cash on Delivery

Real-Time Communication

Socket.IO

Deployment

Vercel
Node.js Server

📂 Project Structure

Vendoz
│
├── frontend
│   ├── React.js
│   ├── Redux Toolkit
│   ├── Tailwind CSS
│   ├── Public
│   └── Build
│
├── backend
│   ├── controller
│   │   ├── admin.js
│   │   ├── user.js
│   │   ├── shop.js
│   │   ├── product.js
│   │   ├── order.js
│   │   ├── payment.js
│   │   ├── couponCode.js
│   │   ├── conversation.js
│   │   ├── message.js
│   │   ├── event.js
│   │   └── withdraw.js
│   │
│   ├── model
│   ├── middleware
│   ├── db
│   ├── utils
│   ├── scripts
│   └── seed
│
└── socket
    ├── index.js
    └── Socket.IO Server

🚀 Core Modules

Authentication Module

Handles user registration, login, email verification, JWT authentication, password security, and role-based authorization.

Shop Management

Allows sellers to create stores, manage profiles, upload products, maintain inventory, and customize shop information.

Product Management

Supports product creation, updates, categories, search, filtering, reviews, pricing, and promotional events.

Shopping Experience

Customers can browse products, manage wishlists, add items to the cart, apply coupons, and complete secure purchases.

Order Management

Processes customer orders, verifies payments, updates delivery status, maintains order history, and supports seller-specific order handling.

Payment Module

Integrates Stripe, PayPal, and Cash-on-Delivery with secure transaction verification.

Messaging System

Uses Socket.IO to provide real-time communication between buyers and sellers.

Admin Dashboard

Provides centralized management of users, sellers, products, orders, withdrawals, reports, and marketplace analytics.

🔒 Security Features

JWT Authentication
Role-Based Access Control
Email Verification
Protected REST APIs
Password Encryption
Payment Verification
Global Error Handling
Input Validation

🌟 Real-World Applications

Amazon-style Marketplace

Etsy-like Marketplace

Fashion Marketplace

Grocery Marketplace

Electronics Marketplace

Local Business Marketplace

B2B Wholesale Marketplace

Community Shopping Platform

📌 Conclusion

Vendoz is a scalable and production-ready multi-vendor marketplace that demonstrates modern full-stack engineering practices. By combining modular backend architecture, secure authentication, real-time communication, integrated payment gateways, and efficient marketplace management, the platform delivers a complete e-commerce solution capable of supporting customers, sellers, and administrators in a unified ecosystem. It showcases practical experience in designing secure, scalable, and maintainable applications suitable for real-world deployment.