Case Study3 weeksCustom e-commerce instead of Shopify — 80% lower operating costs
MessyPlay.cz sells art supplies and runs creative courses for children. Their off-the-shelf Shopify setup was costly and full of compromises. We built a fully custom platform and reduced operating costs from ~240 EUR to just 48 EUR per month.
48 EUR
monthly operating costs
server only
−80%
reduction in operating costs
vs. Shopify setup
3 weeks
time to production
from zero to live
€0
transaction fees
no hidden costs
Shopify: expensive compromises instead of a tailored solution
The client ran their shop on Shopify with a stack of paid plugins. Every additional feature meant another monthly fee — yet the system still didn't fully cover their business needs. Managing courses, reservations, and membership passes required manual workarounds and constant friction.
Shopify plan (e-shop)
~96 EUR/mo
Zásilkovna plugin
29 EUR/mo
Fakturoid plugin
16 EUR/mo
Payment gateway module
29 EUR/mo
Course & reservation module
69 EUR/mo
Transaction fees
variable
Total operating costs
+ transaction fees and the constraints of a boxed solution
~240 EUR/mo
A tailor-made system: two frontends, one powerful backend
We designed and built the entire platform from scratch. A .NET backend handles all business logic, while two separate frontend applications serve customers and administrators.
.NET Backend API
A robust REST API covering the entire e-commerce operation — orders, products, courses, reservations, membership passes, and invoices. Deployed in Docker on Azure.
Customer-facing web
A performant frontend for customers: product and digital content purchases, course sign-ups, reservation and membership management, full checkout with shipping and payment selection.
Admin application
An internal tool to manage all operations: orders, inventory, courses, participants, membership passes, exports — all in one place without any third-party dependency.
iOS app
A native iOS mobile app enabling customers to conveniently shop, manage courses, and handle reservations directly from their phone.
App Store →COMGATE payment gateway
Direct integration with the COMGATE payment gateway — no monthly plugin fee. Card payments, bank transfers, and more.
Zásilkovna + PPL with label printing
Full integration of both carriers — pickup point search, shipping cost calculation, and automatic shipping label printing directly from the admin.
Money S3 accounting integration
Automated data exports for the Money S3 accounting system and custom invoice generation eliminate all manual data entry.
Solution Architecture
The entire solution runs in the Azure cloud, protected by Cloudflare. Both the backend and frontend applications are containerized with Docker. PostgreSQL provides reliable and scalable data storage. A CI/CD pipeline automates deployments from the Git repository.
Cloudflare
CDN · protection · cache
↕
Azure Cloud
Customer web
Docker container
.NET Backend API
Docker container
Admin app
Docker container
PostgreSQL
Database
↕
Integrations
Results
Physical & digital product sales
A full e-shop with support for physical goods and digital content.
Course & reservation management
Course sign-ups, capacity management, participant overview, and automated notifications.
Sample lessons & membership passes
Purchase of sample lessons and a membership pass system with balance tracking and expiry.
Email notifications
Automated emails on order, reservation, payment confirmation, and course reminders.
Invoice generation
A custom invoicing engine — no dependency on an external invoicing system or plugin.
Money S3 exports
Automated accounting exports eliminate all manual data transcription.
Technologies
- .NET
- PostgreSQL
- Docker
- Azure
- Azure DevOps
- CI/CD Pipelines
- Cloudflare
- COMGATE
- Zásilkovna API
- PPL API
- Money S3
Want a similar solution?
Send us a message — we respond within one business day and schedule an intro call.