From Slow Template-Based to Custom High-Performant: Upgrading a Firearm Marketplace with Ruby & Next.js

Creating a firearm marketplace is not a piece of cake, especially for an established business. However, thanks to close and agile cooperation with the client, the professional team, and transparent communication, we managed to give the Detroit Ammo marketplace a new life.

Serving civilians, law enforcement, and government agencies, the owner aimed to provide their users with a reliable and optimized platform that operates under strict law requirements. Thanks to Codica, the client managed to streamline and enhance vendor management, Subscriptions, admin and marketing tools, and more. Over 90% of orders now show accurate shipping cost reconciliation with automatic overage deductions. Also, vendor label creation time was reduced by 40% through automation, and out-of-stock errors dropped by 70% due to real-time syncing and auto-hiding unavailable items.

Now this prominent multi-vendor platform serves a significant number of customers and complies with current firearm sale regulations and laws at all levels. It delights customers and vendors with a robust feature set, making purchases and sales convenient, easy, and compliant.

Read on to learn more about building an online marketplace for firearms with the Codica team.

Project background

This project started as a small template-based platform and evolved into a versatile firearm and ammunition store with an abundance of custom features.

The client’s challenge was migrating their store from WordPress to a custom platform. Initially, WordPress was the go-to solution for the client, but as the store grew bigger and the customer base increased, more features were needed. The client used WordPress plugins to solve the problem, but the solution was not feasible. The plugins held the platform back, slowing down its speed and hindering performance.

That was the time when the decision was made to move the platform from WordPress and make it a custom-built solution. And that was not easy. As the platform gained a significant customer base, needed to gain custom features for different operations and meet the current diverse US legislation of firearm sales, our team faced quite a challenge.

So, here is the story of how we helped our client to transform their firearm marketplace, from discovery and outlining the necessary features to current monitoring and support.

Key features delivered

The feature set of the Detroit Ammo Co. marketplace is defined by its business needs, including compliance with current US legislation, robust operations, and a substantial customer base. Thus, the solution features are centered around these core aspects. Here is how we approached them to help the client maintain what was already accumulated and improve other aspects regarding custom development.

Enhanced user experience

Custom software development services allowed us to deliver the performance that was impossible with a ready-made approach. Hence, we reached the following results:

• Built a dynamic marketplace;
• Improved page loading speed and site navigation;
• Developed an attribute system to refine product search and filtering;
• Enhanced the product catalog's structure to improve navigation on the website.

Wholesale subscription purchases

Wholesalers are a special type of buyer. They must provide the W9 form and gain the right to buy products on the platform at favorable prices and conditions. We provided the following advancements for wholesalers:

• Implemented a robust logic for subscriptions to enable wholesalers to use their subscriptions and free shipping;
• Ensured that the platform’s subscriptions for wholesalers work smoothly to preserve the value of the platform for wholesale buyers, which also ensures a steady income from the platform;
• Developed the logic for verification according to federal and state regulations that give the right to make bulk firearm purchases, which are the Federal Firearms License (FFL), Business License, and Tax Exemption Certificate.

Vendor empowerment

For vendors, we created features that help them with smooth registration, convenient storefront creation, streamlined stock management, and more. As a result, vendors on the Detroit Ammo marketplace get the following features:

• Automated process of registering and verifying Business License and FFL;
• Empowerment with enhanced storefront creation capabilities, including customization, providing company details and social media links;
• Automated stock management and booking of products, a system of backorders for popular ammunition;
• Integration with a shipping aggregator that enables automatic generation of shipping labels, speeding up order processing.

Seamless shopping following local restrictions

Firearms and ammunition sales are subject to strict compliance regulations, including buyer and vendor checks, as well as diverse local and federal laws. Indeed, the marketplace must include the relevant logic, and our team implemented robust features to ensure that the platform follows the diversity of regulations and laws. The result is the following:

• Robust checkout processes to verify customer information and comply with state-specific regulations;
• Streamlined shopping cart to parcel process that ensures compliance with local legislation and delivery regulations;
• A versatile payment solution supporting various payment types and adhering to industry regulations.

Streamlined deliveries with subscription management

Subscriptions for repeat purchases are a unique feature of the Detroit Ammo marketplace. They help buyers purchase the same items at discounted prices, which prevents customers from forgetting to reorder. Thus, customers get the following convenience:

• Streamlined ordering process and enjoyment from exclusive benefits;
• Implemented calculations of Subscriptions and discounts for recurring purchases;
• Simplified shopping journey with smooth and easy buying.

Product discovery sessions

This is an essential step in custom product development, and we conduct thorough product discovery to ensure that a project gets off to the right start. Here is an overview of how we approached the project discovery phase with the Detroit Ammo marketplace to ensure the correctness of its transition to a custom solution.

Business logic and specification

The first and foremost task of the project was to transfer the marketplace from a pre-built to a custom-built solution. Given that the store already had a significant customer base, the essential thing was to make the transition smooth. Our team not only moved the platform using modern technologies but also added the necessary features to improve operations in the marketplace.

The primary objective of the platform is to provide a user-friendly space for buyers and vendors for firearms and ammunition sales. Thus, the platform works for customers (buyers), vendors, and wholesalers. Additionally, there is another user role, admins, who manage accounts and oversee the platform's entire operation.

In this regard, during product discovery sessions, our team outlined the following:

• How can the platform’s architecture be redesigned to make it more user-friendly?
• How can we use Ruby and Next.js to redesign the platform and develop the whole set of features, preserving the current functionality and improving where necessary?
• How can we support the platform, protecting it against common and specific vulnerabilities?

Based on the discussed answers to these questions, we outlined the basic feature set in prototypes, selected a modern and proven tech stack and architecture, and chose the necessary team composition to achieve the best results.

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Prototype development

Prototypes look simple, but they tell you all about your solution. That is why at Codica, we highlight for our clients how the solution will look with simple or clickable prototypes. This is an essential part of the project discovery phase, and it starts with discussions with the client and deep research.

Our designers outline the primary functionality based on your requirements and recommendations from developers. Hence, you can see how the solution looks and works before going all-in with development. Thanks to prototypes for the Detroit Ammo marketplace, our team:

• Validated assumptions about workflows, such as listing, checkout, and order management;
• Aligned on features like reviews and Subscriptions;
• Tested user journeys for friction points, such as cart abandonment, buyer and seller verification bottlenecks;
• Reduced miscommunication and supported agile planning.

Below are prototypes for the Detroit Ammo marketplace. The first one presents the homepage and a listing page.

The second prototype outlines the search by categories and the shopping cart.

Tech stack selection

Technologies

• Next.js is a React-based framework, providing efficiency, performance, and an excellent developer experience. Trusted by companies of all sizes.
• Material UI is a React component library that helps build custom interfaces with beauty, consistency, and efficiency.
• Ruby is a programming language that has elegant syntax and helps developers build the backend logic fast.
• Ruby on Rails is a Ruby-based web application framework known for its developer-friendly nature, effectiveness, and scalability.
• Puma is a Ruby web server designed for speed and concurrent operations, perfect for a marketplace with strict regulations and high loads.
• PostgreSQL is the database that helps handle data with precision and speed.
• Docker is a containerization tool that helps deploy solutions rapidly, with flexibility and scalability.
• Elasticsearch is a search and analytics engine used for even the most demanding solutions in terms of search and security.
• AWS provides a safe and robust infrastructure for solution development and deployment.
• Amazon S3 provides a scalable, robust, and cost-effective environment even for mission-critical data.
• Amazon RDS automates administrative tasks performed with data, helping developers to focus on building apps, which leads to lower development costs.

Integrations

• Authorize.net is a firearm-friendly payment service capable of handling complex calculations for different types of subscriptions and payment processes.
• Mailgun is a mailing service with the fastest delivery rates in the industry, which is crucial when planning marketing campaigns, transactional emails, and notifications for compliant niches.
• Easypost is a shipping service covering over 100 carriers, which is essential when shipping firearms to different states with various regulations on firearms and ammunition delivery.

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Codica’s development process

In online marketplace development, we follow the best standards and practices to ensure that the solution meets clients’ requirements, business needs, and becomes a convenient and enjoyable space for clients’ customers.

Step 1: Infrastructure setup & DevOps practices

The right approach to development from the start ensures efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness. Through automation and containerization, we ensure that the process is managed with a robust infrastructure and DevOps best practices. Thanks to this approach, our team:

• Shortens the time from development to deployment;
• Decreases the costs thanks to modular approach;
• Ensures easy scalability and supports high accessibility;
• Makes control of development and deployment precise and easy.

Step 2: Detroit Ammo design

In terms of design, a firearm marketplace is created for buyers and vendors who purchase and sell highly-regulated products. Hence, we aimed at clarity and precision through a minimalistic design. It goes through every element in the marketplace: sign-in/sign-up, search, catalog organization, suggested options for vendors and wholesalers with discounts, and more.

For example, the design includes a well-thought-out system for customers to shop by caliber, brand, most popular ammunition, or by categories. If preferred, customers visit a comprehensive catalog, which outlines the full list of products. Our team refined the catalog organization for effortless product discovery.

For vendors and wholesalers, the flow highlights streamlined sale processes, including collecting and fulfilling orders, inventory management, and deliveries. Considering the diversity of state and federal laws, we ensured that the flow of these processes is intuitive and streamlined.

Admins get an all-embracing dashboard, where the marketplace operations can be checked and controlled in full view.

Regarding the users’ goals and Detroit Ammo brand colors, our team also decided to choose Night Black and White as primary colors and Cornell Red as an accent color when providing UI/UX design services. Those hues appear in the brand’s logo and were used in the marketplace before. So, during the transition, we preserved the palette to keep the brand recognizable.

Thus, the marketplace has Cornell Red for essential highlights, like icons, buttons, and engaging or important text. Night Black outlines titles and common information, thereby enhancing the readability of the marketplace website. White is used for contrast and balance to support the idea of the marketplace’s clarity, precision, and reliability.

Step 3: Transition from low to high performance thanks to a custom approach

The main objective was to move the marketplace with regard to existing features and those to be improved with our custom software development services. Considering the client’s aim to deliver an excellent user experience, our developers prioritized the following flow instances:

• For customers: smooth registration, comprehensive search by different parameters, transparent and easy-to-search catalog, options of Subscriptions for repeat and regular purchases;
• For vendors: straightforward storefront creation, managing product listings, handling orders, managing inventory and shipping;
• For wholesalers: trouble-free submission of the W9 form for wholesalers and making bulk purchases at advantageous rates;
• For admins: simple logic for complex operations, including managing users and supervising items, categories, and sales.

Thanks to the migration from a pre-built to a custom solution, our team delivered the following results:

• Provided efficient search and filtering capabilities to the catalog for simple product search and navigation through the marketplace;
• Ensured authentic and legal operations for vendors and wholesalers in compliance with regulations;
• Integrated shipping aggregator to support the online firearm sale efficiency;
• Created a versatile marketplace that supports various payment methods and complies with different local requirements;
• Streamlined the logic for different Subscriptions, which helps users save costs on regular purchases and sales.

Step 4: Testing and quality assurance

Regarding strict requirements for a firearm marketplace, testing and quality assurance services go beyond the needs of an ordinary marketplace. Hence, for Detroit Ammo, we checked the essential aspects to ensure its stability and efficiency in operations, including the following:

• Legal testing for proper background checks integration and legal requirement restriction to specific areas, considering the sale and delivery;
• Security testing for the correct work of SSL/TLS protocols, data privacy protections, and admin role permissions;
• Functional testing of key features, including product search and filters, customer and vendor support, inventory management, and order flow;
• User experience testing of purchase flows and legal documents upload;
• Performance and stress testing to ensure proper work under traffic spikes.

Step 5: Maintenance and support

Currently, we support the platform to ensure its performance and security, enhancing spam attack protection, adding automation for admins, and improving processes for users. Thanks to our team, the marketplace receives the necessary support and patches regarding current technologies, security standards, and relevant business needs.

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Building your user-friendly and compliant marketplace with Codica

Over the decade of experience with building custom marketplaces of different sizes and niches, we have developed a thorough and all-sided approach. Thanks to our agile method, we combine following the client’s requirements, industry best standards, and business needs to deliver the best features and experience for users.

We treat every marketplace development individually in terms of features and business needs, yet at the same level of high quality and prompt and transparent communication. Hence, from product discovery to maintenance, be sure we will guide you through the process, implement your corrections and additional features, and ultimately build a solution your customers enjoy.

“What stood out most about Codica was their ability to quickly grasp the ins and outs of our multivendor ammunition platform and deliver custom solutions without overcomplicating the process. Their combination of technical skill, transparent communication, and willingness to adapt made them feel more like a long-term partner than an ordinary development agency.” Ezio F., Owner of Detroit Ammunition Company

Bottom line

Transitioning from a pre-built solution to a custom platform can be a viable idea if you know you’ve reached a ceiling with an off-the-shelf platform. Our team has vast experience in building and transferring solutions for different sizes of businesses and niches, even the most regulated ones. Check out our portfolio for more successful projects.

If you have a project on mind, you are just a click away from the solution. Contact us, and our specialists will guide you through our processes and provide a free quote. We’ve helped many businesses and would be eager to help you, too. Let’s get in touch.