StoreHub

Inspiration

As an African student, owning a small business is common, but running it alone can be challenging. Teaming up with friends to manage the store together could make the experience easier. Many start with tools like WhatsApp Business for its accessibility but quickly realize its limitations, like lack of a proper storefront, integrated payment systems, business insights, and collaboration features.

What it Does

StoreHub offers a solution. With just a single click, business owners can set up a fully functioning e-commerce store, leveraging blockchain for security and AI for better customization. StoreHub is also designed to break down barriers and provide a user-friendly solution for small businesses, enabling business owners to easily collaborate.

How we built it

We combined several technologies to create a seamless experience for users:

Frontend: Built with Next.js and TypeScript, the frontend is optimized for performance with lazy loading, caching, and image optimization. TailwindCSS was used for responsive design.
Backend: Using Go for the server, Postgres as the database, and Redis for caching and async task processing, the backend was deployed on Render.com for easy scalability and management.
Blockchain Integration: The NEAR blockchain powers our smart contracts, written in Rust. NEAR was chosen for its security, scalability, and eco-friendliness, supporting our mission to deliver a seamless, reliable e-commerce experience.
AI Features: We integrated AI to automatically generate store images and descriptions, allowing users to create a branded store effortlessly.

Challenges we ran into

User Authentication: We needed a way to authenticate users with both the NEAR Wallet and our backend, which required designing a synchronized signup and authentication process.
Next.js Bugs: Using the latest version of Next.js introduced new bugs that required troubleshooting to maintain compatibility with our stack.
AI Image Generation: We cached previous requests, which ensured we did not have to hit hugging face API on frequent requests.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud to have developed a fully functional platform in less than three days! From the blockchain-backed e-commerce setup to the AI features for automatic branding, we created a solution that’s both innovative and highly accessible for small business owners.

Additionally, tackling authentication with the NEAR Wallet and building a seamless single-click setup process were major achievements for our team. With all these accomplishments, users can now easily collaborate with other users to own a store and, make edits to product descriptions seamlessly using our AI feature.

What we learned

This project taught us about the NEAR protocol, how to build secure smart contracts in Rust, and the intricacies of integrating blockchain-based authentication flows with NEAR Wallet Selector.

We also learned valuable lessons in AI customization, which we applied to automate the store setup process and make the platform more user-friendly.

What's next for Store Hub

We're dedicated to making Store Hub a transformative e-commerce platform for small businesses. Here are some features on the roadmap:

Single-Click Store Launch: Enhancing the platform to ensure users can launch a store instantly, with all essential e-commerce features pre-configured.
Advanced Analytics and Insights: Expanding the analytics suite to provide in-depth insights on customer behavior, sales trends, and inventory management.
Guaranteed Uptime and Speed: Our NEAR-based infrastructure ensures near-perfect uptime, allowing store owners to reach customers 24/7 with fast, reliable performance.

Store Hub is more than just a platform, it’s a step forward for small businesses looking to harness the power of blockchain and AI to grow in the digital age.