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Gradmarc Adtech LLP

Case studyIllustrative write-up · no real client

A storefront rebuilt for speed and search

A catalogue, cart and checkout rebuilt on a faster foundation, with orders flowing into fulfilment.

Client
None: illustrative
Industry
Retail and e-commerce
Screens from
Veinline Surfaces (concept)

01Challenge

The problem, as it was found

The existing store was slow on phones, hard for staff to update and difficult for search engines to read, and orders were copied into fulfilment by hand.

  • Product pages were heavy and slow to load on mobile
  • Adding or editing a product needed developer help
  • Page structure and metadata worked against search visibility
  • Orders were re-entered into the fulfilment system manually

Context

The store had real traffic and real order history, so the rebuild had to protect existing URLs and avoid a drop in search visibility.

Staff wanted to manage products and content themselves, without a developer in the loop for routine changes.

02System

How it was put together

A server-rendered Next.js storefront in front of an API for catalogue and orders, with a content workflow for staff.

L1 · Server-rendered

Storefront

  • Catalogue
  • Product pages
  • Cart
  • Checkout

L2 · Catalogue and orders

API

  • Products
  • Orders
  • Content

L3 · Relational store

Data

  • Products
  • Orders
  • Customers

L4 · Repeatable releases

Delivery

  • CI/CD
  • Docker
  • Nginx

Path through the system

  1. 1Product published
  2. 2Page rendered
  3. 3Cart
  4. 4Checkout
  5. 5Order passed to fulfilment

03What was built

The parts, in the order they shipped

  1. 01

    Catalogue and product pages

    Server-rendered pages with clean markup, structured data and compressed, sized images.

  2. 02

    Cart and checkout

    A short, accessible checkout that works well on a phone.

  3. 03

    Content workflow

    A way for staff to add products and update pages without code changes.

  4. 04

    Order handoff

    Orders passed to fulfilment through an API instead of being re-keyed.

  5. 05

    Redirect plan

    Old URLs mapped to new ones so existing links and search visibility were protected.

Veinline home page: a serif headline reading 'Stone with a story in every vein', a large marble slab image and featured stone collections below.
The home page leads with one material and one action. Concept screen.
The Veinline home page on a phone: a green marble image, the headline and an 'Explore collections' button.
On a phone the page becomes a single, thumb-friendly column. Concept screen.

04Decisions

The choices that shaped it

  1. Decision 1

    Server-rendered pages

    Why

    Fast first loads and complete HTML help both shoppers on phones and search engines.

    Trade-off

    More attention to caching and rendering strategy.

  2. Decision 2

    Redirects planned before launch

    Why

    The old URLs carried the store's existing search visibility.

    Trade-off

    A careful mapping exercise before a single page was built.

  3. Decision 3

    Keep checkout short

    Why

    Every extra step is another chance for a shopper to leave.

    Trade-off

    Some optional fields moved to after the order.

05Technology

What it was built with

Drawn from our confirmed capability stack. Illustrative for this demo.
Frontend
Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwind CSS
Backend
Node.jsREST APIs
Database
PostgreSQL
Cloud and DevOps
DockerNginxGitHub Actions

06Outcome

Replaced a slow, hard-to-maintain storefront with a fast one the team can update themselves.

  • Pages are built to be fast on phones and readable by search engines
  • Staff manage products and content without developer help
  • Orders reach fulfilment without manual re-entry

Demo case study. Outcomes are qualitative. No metrics, savings, revenue or user figures are claimed.

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