Hadiya Marketplace Development

Lukmon Abdulsalam

Completed work

Backend Engineer

Shopify Developer

Fullstack Engineer

GraphQL

Shopify

Vite

E-Commerce

Stacks/Tools Used

MedusaJS , Shopify , ViteJs, GraphQL

Problem Statement

Hadiya is a trusted e-commerce brand dedicated to offering high-quality Islamic products. To meet the growing demand and better serve our expanding customer base, we are transitioning into a full marketplace. This evolution builds on the strength of the Hadiya brand and its established systems while opening doors for vendors to reach a wider audience. Our priority is to provide vendors with a seamless onboarding process and customers with a smooth, enriching shopping experience.

Approach

The first step was to collate all details about the existing Shopify-powered system and propose the best way to integrate a marketplace on top of it. Our goal is a marketplace that syncs seamlessly with the current storefront, preserves the Hadiya brand, and adds vendor-facing flows without disrupting existing customers. The recommended approach minimizes change to the live store while introducing a vendor portal, automated product and inventory sync, order routing, and secure payout processing.

Implementation details

The implementation consists of three core components:

an Admin application,

a Vendor application,

and a Shopify State Connector.

The Admin application is built on MedusaJS and extended to meet Hadiya’s marketplace requirements. The Vendor application is a Vite + React app using TanStack Query for client-side state and data fetching. The Shopify State Connector is a module inside the Admin app that leverages the official Shopify API npm package and the Shopify GraphQL Admin API (with GraphiQL / playground for development) to keep product, inventory, and order state synchronized between Shopify and the marketplace.

Success Criteria

The primary measure of success was the reduction in processing time for key workflows:

Product creation: Initially, creating and syncing products between Shopify and the Medusa app took ~45 minutes. With the new setup, this process was optimized to near real-time, averaging ~30 seconds.

Data synchronization: Objects such as Orders, Categories, Tags, Collections, and Products are now synchronized between Shopify and the Medusa app in near real-time, ensuring vendors and customers always see the latest information.

Challenges & Solutions

Extending Medusa core flows

Issue: MedusaJS ships with predefined flows for most actions, but the project required more streamlined and custom workflows.

Solution: Developed a custom workflow layer that reused selected Medusa flows where possible while extending them to meet marketplace-specific requirements.

Shopify plugin limitations

Issue: The official Medusa Shopify plugin was incompatible with the MedusaJS version used in the project.

Solution: Built a custom Shopify module within the Admin app and connected it to a custom Shopify app, ensuring stable product, order, and inventory synchronization.

Security threats in user flow

Issue: The simplified vendor onboarding process led to an influx of substandard products and malicious vendor attempts.

Solution: Implemented a vendor approval workflow that included product quality checks and manual/automated vetting before vendors could go live.

Malicious UI component dependencies

Issue: During end-to-end testing with Playwright, some Shadcn UI components had dependencies that were compromised (malicious backdoors added after package maintainers were hacked).

Solution: Migrated critical marketplace components to Medusa UI, which is actively maintained and vetted by the MedusaJS team, ensuring greater trust and security.

Ultimate Result

Version 1 of the Hadiya marketplace was successfully deployed, with the first group of sellers onboarded to the platform. This milestone validated the system architecture, integration approach, and marketplace workflows, setting the foundation for future scaling across Africa.

Conclusion

Bringing an idea to life requires more than just technical expertise—it also demands grit, adaptability, and a clear path to profitability. The Hadiya marketplace demonstrates that with the right foundation, both vendors and customers can benefit from a seamless, secure, and scalable e-commerce ecosystem.

🚀 Are you a seller in Africa looking to grow your sales and hit your 2025 targets? Join Hadiya Souq today! Click on “Become a Seller”—it takes less than 2 minutes to get started.

Project

Vendor App (V1): Url