Online sales project

Last summer, I started developing an online ordering website for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks with home delivery.

Why this project?

This project came from a simple observation: the websites already in place were often just basic web pages, rarely adapted to mobile devices and not always designed for fast ordering. My idea was that a responsive, user-friendly website capable of letting customers order in just a few clicks could really stand out from the competition.

It was also a particularly motivating project for me. It gave me the opportunity to build my first real online store, to have a concrete project to present to a future client, and even to consider selling the website once completed to an entrepreneur looking to get started or to an existing business that was not well equipped online.

Finally, it was a great opportunity to improve on several technical aspects: developing an online payment system, managing a customer cart, optimizing my development time and, in the long run, being better able to estimate this type of project realistically.

About the business

This type of business has the advantage of being able to launch fairly quickly, at least in theory, with a relatively limited initial investment: a vehicle, visual branding, a website, a phone line and an initial stock can be enough to get started.

On the other hand, once the business is up and running, the constraints are very real. You need to be available, manage inventory, meet the announced delivery times and provide a reliable service. This is probably one of the most important conditions for making the business viable over time. You also need to consider more delicate situations, such as dealing with customers who may already be intoxicated.

Beyond the technical side, this project also made me want to look more closely at the administrative, financial and legal dimensions of this type of business: market research, pricing strategy, choice of legal status, licenses required to sell alcohol, and competitor analysis. For now, I have mainly progressed on the technical side, while the regulatory aspects still need to be explored further.

Progress

At this stage, it is already possible to browse the catalog, add products to the cart, create an account or sign in, and place an order. Once the order is confirmed, the delivery person receives an SMS, while the customer also receives a confirmation with the estimated delivery time as well as a summary email. On the admin side, the site already allows orders to be viewed and stock to be managed directly online. The whole system is responsive and is gradually moving toward better SEO optimization.

See the result

Aperofun, livraison alcool et soft

The website was developed using HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery and Ajax, with an integrated payment system powered by Stripe.

The next step

This website will serve as a foundation for other future projects. I plan to improve its design and usability further, then build a mobile application and a push notification system based on this foundation. More broadly, this project represents a solid working base for me to design manageable, adaptable and ready-to-deploy online stores in the future.