SheetKala started as a simple question: could we build a modern e-commerce platform that handles the complexities of home textile products while keeping the shopping experience delightfully simple?
After months of development, the platform is live at sheetkala.com. Here’s what we learned along the way.
The Challenge
Home textiles, particularly bedsheets, present unique e-commerce challenges:
Complex Product Variants: A single bedsheet design might come in 5 sizes, each with different pricing and inventory levels. Multiply that across hundreds of products.
Visual Merchandising: Customers need to see how products look in real settings. Product photography and presentation matter enormously.
Seasonal Inventory: Demand fluctuates with seasons and festivals. The platform needs to handle sales surges without breaking.
Trust Building: For premium products, customers need reassurance about quality. Reviews, detailed descriptions, and responsive support are essential.
Technical Decisions
We built SheetKala with a modern stack:
- Frontend: Angular with SSR for SEO and performance
- Backend: Node.js with Express
- Database: MongoDB for flexible product schemas
- Payments: Razorpay for seamless Indian payment processing
- Hosting: AWS with CloudFront CDN
Product Data Modeling
The trickiest part was modeling product variants. We settled on a nested structure:
{
product: "Royal Cotton Bedsheet",
basePrice: 1499,
variants: [
{ size: "Single", sku: "RC-SGL", price: 1499, stock: 45 },
{ size: "Double", sku: "RC-DBL", price: 1999, stock: 32 },
{ size: "King", sku: "RC-KNG", price: 2499, stock: 28 }
],
images: [...],
attributes: { material: "Cotton", threadCount: 300 }
}This keeps related data together while allowing efficient inventory queries.
Image Optimization
Product images are critical for e-commerce. We implemented:
- Automatic WebP conversion
- Responsive image sets
- Lazy loading with blur placeholders
- CDN caching for fast delivery
Page load times dropped significantly after these optimizations.
What We Learned
Start with mobile: Over 70% of traffic comes from mobile devices. We designed mobile-first and it paid off.
Inventory sync is hard: Real-time inventory across multiple channels (website, warehouse, marketplaces) requires careful design. We built a central inventory service that all channels consume.
Customer service integration matters: The fastest way to build trust is responsive support. We integrated WhatsApp business for quick customer queries.
Current Status
SheetKala is live and processing orders daily. The platform handles everything from product discovery to order fulfillment, with an admin dashboard for inventory and order management.
If you’re building an e-commerce platform and want to discuss approaches, we’d love to chat. Reach out anytime.