Role
Full-Stack Developer
Year
2026
Tech Stack
21 Technologies
Status
Completed
Overview
Shoppals is a Nigerian group-buying marketplace that turns messy WhatsApp deal coordination into a structured shopping flow. Shoppers can start or join deals to unlock bulk prices, vendors only ship once the minimum group size is met, and the platform centralizes checkout, escrow-style payment handling, vendor approvals, and order management for everyone involved.
The Problem
Group buying in Nigeria usually happens in WhatsApp chats where deal terms, payment confirmations, vendor approvals, and order updates get scattered across messages and bank transfers. Shoppals replaces that chaos with a structured marketplace for starting deals, joining deals, handling payments, and tracking fulfillment from one place.
Screenshots
Challenges
Coordinating shopper, vendor, and admin workflows in one marketplace while keeping deal progress and payment state transparent.
Designing a checkout and approval flow that only unlocks bulk pricing after the minimum group size is met, without turning the experience into manual back-and-forth.
Replacing fragile WhatsApp threads and bank-transfer proof with a system that can support moderation, reviews, and order tracking at launch.
Solutions
Built a deal lifecycle that lets shoppers create, join, and share group buys while the platform tracks progress, countdowns, and referral-driven sharing.
Centralized vendor onboarding, vendor approval, order management, and admin moderation so each role sees the right workflow instead of a generic storefront.
Integrated payments and messaging-friendly sharing flows so shoppers can complete purchases and vendors can manage fulfillment without leaving the platform.
Key Highlights
Group Deal Flow: Shoppers can start or join a deal and watch bulk pricing unlock once the minimum group size is reached.
Paystack Commerce: Checkout, refunds, and payout flows are built into the purchase lifecycle instead of being handled manually.
Vendor Onboarding: Vendors apply, get approved, and manage their own deals, orders, and shipping updates from a dedicated dashboard.
Admin Control: The admin panel moderates vendors, deals, categories, reviews, disputes, and payouts from one place.
Mobile-First Growth: WhatsApp sharing, referral links, reviews, and discussion rooms keep the marketplace easy to share and easy to trust.
Solo Buy Now: Shoppers can also purchase individually without waiting for a group deal to fill.
Scale & Scope
2 weeks (May 24 - June 7, 2026)
Build Time
9
MVP Areas
3 End-to-End Roles
Core Roles
5,000 users / 500 deals / 50 vendors
Scale Target
Solo
Team Size
Technology Stack
Outcome
Built into a launch-ready marketplace that centralizes the full group-buying workflow for shoppers, vendors, and admins, replacing manual WhatsApp coordination and trust-based payments with a structured platform.
