PRINT ON DEMAND MARKETPLACE
Modwalla is an early stage startup that aims to build an open marketplace for print-on-demand providers and merchants. The POD industry is growing and evolving rapidly which made this project rather exciting. The dynamic nature of the industry required lean concept validation, smart scoping, and agile delivery. Apex started to work on the marketplace in May of 2022 and the first live transactions happened only 8 weeks later with a self-serve merchant portal.
MODWALLA
WEB
2022
NODE.JS
REACT
TYPESCRIPT
MICROSERVICES ARCHITECTURE
the problem
Merchants of print-on-demand products have limited choices of plug-and-play fulfillment solutions. They can select from a standard catalog of t-shirts, sweaters, mugs, tote bags, hats, etc. However, there are thousands of other items which can be made on demand. The first challenge is the ability to find fulfillment providers that carry these unique goods. Additional challenges include the creation of product mockups, routing of orders for fulfillment, and updating all systems with shipping and tracking data.
why the founders
chose us as their
partner
the solution
Modwalla connects providers and merchants with a 2-sided marketplace. Providers get a new sales channel while merchants can customize a wide variety of products and sell them through their online store.
On the merchant side of the marketplace the users can browse & customize the available products, connect their e-commerce stores, manage their orders or request items which are not listed in the catalog.
We chose Shopify as the first e-commerce integration, as their market penetration is very high among POD merchants. Now, Modwalla has a published application in Shopify’s app store which enables users to push the customized products to the store and also route orders into the merchant portal.
Providers can list any of their POD products on the marketplace, and have full control of terms like pricing, fulfillment times, returns, and reprint policies. They are also notified about orders automatically, which makes management more efficient for both sides. Shipping labels are generated using EasyPost and tracking is automatically transmitted back to the merchant’s store.
Payment processing and payouts are handled through Stripe Connect, automatically paying the provider after fulfillment is completed.
the outcome
The MVP has been deployed and the testing phase is underway. Registrations by both merchants and providers have occurred as have initial transactions. Regular communications continue to collect and synthesize customer feedback, desired features, or any bugs that may appear.
what our clients say about us
It was great having every person on the team thinking about the customer experience, and impact on the business, not just the software. And, no one was afraid to ask questions and challenge assumptions. An excellent partnership.
Are you interested in working with us?
