In this meeting, the main participant, David, consulted with other attendees on the process of developing his customer-oriented art platform. The discussion revolved around the best tools to use for e-commerce, using Webflow as the main website building platform. One of the key insights drawn from the meeting was the necessity of integrating financial transaction capabilities into the platform. The main participant mentioned his plans to use Stripe for this purpose. Webflow's e-commerce site functionality is suggested to be ideal for his project, considering David's limited experience with Xano and his intention to have an assortment of prices for different art pieces controlled by the artists themselves.
David also expounded on his strategy to authenticate artists and nonprofits by carrying out small credit card transactions. He is considering setting up small subscription fees to kickstart their engagement on the platform. Product management through SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) was also a crucial point of discussion; each art piece would be considered a product with its own SKU. Managing the e-commerce side through Webflow, including everything from inventory to fulfillment, would involve critical manual operations initially, which will later evolve into automated processes. The attendees argued on automations where Xavier could come in handy. Triggering webhooks once someone makes a purchase that fires into Xano, leading to an email to the artist linked to that image, was one such automation suggested. However, they advised keeping the process of paying out to artists manual at the early stages of operations to effectively manage any leak of funds due to wrongly applied technology. Webflow's e-commerce function and associated APIs would play a significant role in handling the database part of the process, particularly storing SKUs or product details. Initial manual operations and subsequently automated tasks through APIs will drive the synchronization of the main participant's source of truth with the e-commerce system's truth. For subscription management, an external tool, Outseta, was recommended due to its good handling of subscriptions. The main objective of the discussion was to outline how David could optimize Webflow's, Xano's and Stripe's functions to help him develop an efficient and seamless art platform that empowers artists and attracts customers.
(Source: Office Hours 8/1 )
