Square Cart

Buy products directly from social media posts without switching platforms or "clicking the link in bio" with Square Cart

Comment

Inspiration

The inspiration behind Square Cart stemmed from the increasing intersection of social media and e-commerce, coupled with a desire to support local businesses and enhance the shopping experience for users. As social media platforms become influential channels for product discovery, we saw an opportunity to create a solution that seamlessly integrates shopping into the social media experience. By facilitating direct sales from social media posts, Square Cart aims to foster local businesses' visibility and drive customer loyalty by reducing drop-offs that occur when users have to switch platforms to make purchases.

Vision

Square Cart aims to achieve several key objectives:

  • Local Visibility to Sellers: By allowing sellers to showcase their products directly within social media posts, Square Cart enhances local visibility, increasing exposure and facilitating direct sales without users having to navigate away from the platform.
  • Solution for Fostering Local Business: Square Cart serves as a solution for fostering local business growth by providing a platform for sellers to reach a wider audience and drive sales through social media channels.
  • Experience that Drives Customer Loyalty: By streamlining the purchasing process and reducing friction for users, Square Cart aims to create an experience that drives customer loyalty. By eliminating the need to switch platforms to make a purchase, Square Cart reduces drop-offs and enhances the overall shopping experience.

What it does

Square Cart is a Chrome extension and admin panel designed to revolutionize social media shopping. The Chrome extension enables users to purchase products directly from social media posts without leaving the platform. Sellers and influencers can upload products and activate them within their social media posts or live streams. When users encounter a tagged product while browsing, they can instantly view product details and make purchases without navigating away, thanks to the extension's integrated purchase functionality. Additionally, Square's APIs handle secure payment processing, ensuring a smooth transaction experience for both buyers and sellers. The admin panel, built with React.js, enables sellers and influencers to connect their accounts, upload products, and manage inventory and sales.

How we built it

We built Square Cart using a combination of frontend and backend technologies. The frontend interface of the Chrome extension and admin panel was developed using React.js, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to provide a seamless and intuitive user experience. On the backend, we utilized Node.js with Express.js to handle server-side logic and facilitate communication with Square's APIs for payment processing. Despite facing challenges related to card charging issues with Square's APIs and unreliable electricity supply, we persevered to develop a robust solution that meets the needs of users and sellers alike.

Challenges we ran into

During development, we encountered challenges with integrating Square's APIs for payment processing. One major issue was related to charging cards multiple times, as the Square APIs initially processed charges only once. It took significant time and effort to troubleshoot and resolve this issue, impacting the functionality of our payment system. Additionally, we faced challenges related to the unreliable electricity supply in our region, which affected our development progress.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the challenges, we successfully developed Square Cart, a robust solution for social media shopping withing a short period if time. We're proud of the seamless integration with Square's APIs, enabling secure payment processing within the extension. Additionally, we're proud of the user-friendly interface and admin panel we've created using React.js, which simplifies the process for sellers to manage their products and for users to make purchases directly from social media posts.

What we learned

Throughout the development process, we gained valuable insights into integrating third-party APIs, troubleshooting payment processing issues, and optimizing user experience within a Chrome extension and React-based admin panel. We also learned to adapt and overcome challenges associated with building projects in resource-constrained environments, such as unreliable electricity supply.

What's next for Square Cart

In the future, we plan to expand Square Cart's integration to other social media platforms beyond TikTok, YouTube, Kick and Twitch. We aim to make social media shopping accessible across a wide range of platforms like Instagram, SnapChat, X, etc., catering to the preferences of users and sellers. Additionally, we will continue to enhance the functionality of Square Cart, including adding new features and improving user experience based on feedback and market demand. Our ultimate goal is to transform the way people shop on social media, making it more convenient and seamless than ever before.

Github Repo

Admin panel for sellers

Chrome extension for buyers/users

Share this project:

Updates