Abstract
Australia’s small businesses are doing it tough – between rising rents, online competition, and supply chain headaches, many local shops struggle to reach customers beyond their postcode. Additionally, limited digital presence and high marketing costs make it difficult for small businesses to compete with larger retailers. Without broader visibility and streamlined distribution, the majority of good local products remain unseen.
The Neighbourhood Box is a subscription-based service aggravater that coordinates and delivers a selection of products from small businesses every two weeks. This platform bridges the gap between local shops and consumers, offering unique, premium goods. The core quality attributes ensuring success are Scalability, Reliability, and Extensibility.
Author
Name: Gaurika Diwan
Student number: 48240983
Functionality
Features
- Website includes local businesses to register, product listing, and stock management.
- Passwordless login option for customers to fill in addresses/area codes - important for listing nearest stores.
- AI-powered recommendation engine to customise product selections based on customer preferences, purchases and browsing history.
- Logistics and order processing system to oversee deliveries, product tracking through notifications.
- Subscription management with multiple pricing platforms, giving flexibility to customers based on preferences.
- Customer portal for managing subscriptions, preferences, feedback, and viewing past purchases.
- Payment integration with multiple providers (e.g., PayPal, credit cards) to ensure flexibility and ease.
- Marketing tools that help businesses bring in and retain customers via discounts and promotions.
- Secure checkout process for better conversion rates.
Scope (Minimum Viable Product - MVP)
- Basic website with business and customer registration.
- Role-based access control for vendors/customers.
- Vendor Dashboard for businesses to handle products, orders and track sales performance.
- Customer Dashboard for customers to see subscriptions and preferences.
- Manual curation of products for delivery to ensure high-quality selections.
- Payment gateway integration to handle subscriptions securely.
- Basic analytics and insights on customer patterns.
- Chat-Based customer support integration.
Quality Attributes
1. Scalability
Why Crucial: The platform must accommodate rapid growth in users (vendors/subscribers) and traffic spikes (e.g., holiday seasons).
Implementation:
- Cloud Architecture (AWS): Auto-scaling for compute resources.
- Load Balancing & CDN: Ensure performance under high traffic.
- Database Optimization: NoSQL (MongoDB) for flexible product and vendor data.
Evaluation:
- Load Testing: Simulate 10k concurrent users.
- Metrics: Response time (1,000 requests/sec).
2. Reliability
Why Crucial: Downtime or payment failures erode trust.
Implementation:
- Microservices: Isolate critical functions (payments, orders).
- Redundancy: Failover mechanisms for key services.
- Backups: Daily database snapshots.
Evaluation:
- Uptime Monitoring: AWS CloudWatch monitors uptime and performance.
- Automated Tests: CI/CD pipeline with unit/integration tests.
3. Extensibility
Why Crucial: Future features (e.g., AI recommendations) must integrate without overhaul.
Implementation:
- Modular Design: Plug-in architecture for third-party tools.
- API-First Approach: RESTful APIs for easy feature additions.
Evaluation:
- Feature Integration Time: Track hours to add new modules (e.g., review system).
- Third-Party Compatibility: Test integrations (e.g., Shopify, Mailchimp).
Evaluation Plan
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Scalability will be validated by simulating realistic growth, scaling concurrent users while monitoring the system’s auto-scaling capabilities. Database performance will be assessed under high loads, along with checkout stability, particularly during peak periods such as holiday sales. Success will be measured by the seamless onboarding of new local sellers and consistent system performance as the platform expands across different Australian regions.
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Reliability testing will involve automated monitoring and controlled failure testing to verify system robustness. Key focus areas include payment processing stability, data protection procedures, and recovery speed from any outages. The platform will be considered reliable when it demonstrates zero lost orders, instant automated recovery from disruptions, and accurate processing of all subscription renewals.
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Extensibility will be assessed through trials of new feature integration and connectivity with local services. The system’s ability to support the addition of plugins and API enhancements without disrupting existing functionality will be evaluated. The platform will demonstrate extensibility when business owners can easily add new features through simple interfaces, and third-party integrations can be implemented within short time frames.
Technical Stack
1. Frontend
- React.js with TypeScript
- Bootstrap (Easy styling)
2. Backend
- Node.js + Express (JavaScript fullstack)
- Python (Flask for AI features)
3. Infrastructure
- AWS Cloud (Managing infrastructure)
- GitHub (Version control)
- Postman (API testing)
4. Databases
- MongoDB (Product catalog)
- PostgreSQL (Payment processing)
5. Monitoring
- AWS CloudWatch (Monitoring)
- Google Analytics (Basic Error tracking)