Big-Scale E-Commerce Web Development

Build High-Performance E-Commerce Website — 40,000+ Products & 3rd-Party Marketplace Integrations
Project Overview

We are looking for an experienced e-commerce development team or senior full-stack developer to design, develop and launch a fast, scalable and reliable online store with approximately 40,000 products, with the ability to scale significantly beyond this number.

The website will need to integrate with multiple 3rd-party selling platforms/marketplaces and synchronise products, pricing, inventory and orders through APIs or other appropriate integration methods.

This is a serious e-commerce project. We are looking for someone with proven experience building large product catalogues and high-performance online stores, not just standard brochure websites or small online shops.

Key Requirements
Product Catalogue

Import and manage approximately 40,000 products

Architecture must be capable of scaling to 100,000+ products

Product categories and subcategories

Brands/manufacturers

Product variations/options

SKU and product identifiers

Product attributes/specifications

Multiple product images

Pricing and sale pricing

Stock/inventory levels

Product availability

Related/recommended products

Bulk product import/export

Bulk price and inventory updates

Ability to efficiently update large numbers of products without slowing down the website

Advanced Product Search

The website must have a very fast product search and filtering system.

Customers should be able to search by:

Product name

SKU

Brand

Category

Product attributes

Keywords

Price

Availability

Other relevant product options

Search should support:

Autocomplete

Search suggestions

Fast results

Filtering

Sorting

Multiple attribute filters

Relevant search results

Mobile-friendly search

Handling a catalogue of 40,000+ products without performance problems

The developer should recommend the best search technology/architecture for this requirement.

3rd-Party Selling Platform Integrations

The website must integrate with external selling platforms/marketplaces.

The system should be designed so additional platforms can be added in the future.

Where supported by the third-party APIs, integrations should allow:

Product synchronisation

Product creation/update

Price synchronisation

Inventory synchronisation

Order synchronisation

Order status updates

Tracking information

Product availability

Error reporting/logging

Automatic scheduled synchronisation

Protection against duplicate orders/products

Handling API failures and retries

We will provide the specific third-party platforms and API documentation during the project.

Important: Please explain your experience integrating e-commerce websites with marketplaces and external APIs.

Website Performance

Performance is a major requirement.

The website must remain fast with a catalogue of 40,000+ products.

The developer should implement appropriate:

Database optimisation

Caching

CDN

Image optimisation

Lazy loading

Code optimisation

API optimisation

Search optimisation

Server optimisation

Browser caching

Compression

Scalable hosting architecture

The website should be tested using appropriate performance tools, including Google PageSpeed Insights/Lighthouse or equivalent.

Please provide proposed performance targets and explain how you will achieve them.

Responsive Design

The website must work correctly and look professional on:

Desktop/PC

Laptop

Tablet

Mobile phone

All major functions must be tested across modern browsers and devices.

E-Commerce Functionality

The website should include all standard e-commerce functionality required for a professional online store, including:

Product browsing

Product search

Product filters

Product options/variations

Shopping cart

Checkout

Customer accounts

Guest checkout if appropriate

Payment gateway integration

Shipping options

Tax configuration

Order management

Order notifications

Stock management

Discount/promotional functionality

Product reviews if required

Wishlist if required

The exact requirements can be finalised with the successful developer.

SEO

The website should be built with SEO in mind.

Requirements include:

SEO-friendly URLs

Product structured data/schema

Category structured data where appropriate

Meta titles and descriptions

XML sitemap

Canonical URLs

Robots.txt

Proper heading structure

Search-engine-friendly product pages

Fast page loading

Google Search Console compatibility

Google Analytics/Tag Manager integration where required

Administration

We require an easy-to-use administration system for managing:

Products

Categories

Brands

Pricing

Inventory

Orders

Customers

Product images

Product attributes

Marketplace integrations

Website content

Promotions/discounts

The system should support bulk operations wherever practical.

Technology / Architecture

We are open to recommendations regarding the technology stack.

Do not simply recommend a technology because it is what you normally use.

Please explain:

Which platform/framework you recommend

Why it is suitable for 40,000+ products

How product search will work

How the database will be structured

How marketplace/API integrations will be handled

How the website will remain fast as the catalogue grows

How the system can scale in the future

Recommended hosting/server architecture

We are particularly interested in developers who have experience with large-scale e-commerce systems.

Testing & Quality Assurance

Before launch, the complete website must be tested for:

Functionality

Product search

Product filters

Checkout

Payments

Product imports

Inventory updates

Marketplace synchronisation

Order synchronisation

API failures

Mobile compatibility

Tablet compatibility

Desktop compatibility

Browser compatibility

Performance

Security

Broken links

Database issues

The successful developer will be expected to fix bugs identified during testing before final delivery.

Security

The website must follow good security practices, including:

Secure authentication

Secure payment processing

Protection of customer information

API credential security

Input validation

Protection against common web vulnerabilities

Secure server configuration

Regular backups

Error and activity logging

Hosting & Deployment

Please provide your recommended hosting architecture.

We are looking for a solution that can handle the current catalogue and scale as traffic and product numbers increase.

The project should include:

Development/staging environment

Production environment

Deployment process

Backup strategy

Monitoring recommendations

Documentation

Developer Requirements

Please apply only if you have substantial experience with large e-commerce websites.

Your application must include:

Examples of at least 3 e-commerce websites you have built

Examples involving large product catalogues

Approximate number of products handled by those websites

Examples of marketplace/API integrations

Your recommended technology stack for this project

Your recommended search technology

How you would handle 40,000+ products without performance problems

Your estimated development timeframe

Your estimated project cost

The team members who would work on the project

Your approach to testing and quality assurance

What information you need from us before development starts

Generic applications without relevant examples will not be considered.

Project Deliverables

The successful developer/team will be responsible for delivering:

Complete responsive e-commerce website

40,000+ product catalogue implementation

Product import system

Advanced product search and filtering

Shopping cart and checkout

Payment integration

Customer/account functionality

Admin system

3rd-party marketplace/API integrations

Inventory and order synchronisation

SEO foundations

Performance optimisation

Security implementation

Mobile/tablet/desktop compatibility

Testing and bug fixing

Deployment to production

Technical documentation

Handover of the completed system

Important

We are looking for a long-term development partner, not simply someone to build the initial website.

The architecture should allow us to add:

More products

More suppliers

More marketplaces

More payment/shipping options

More customers

More website functionality

without having to rebuild the entire platform.

When applying, please start your proposal with:

"40K CATALOGUE"

This confirms that you have read the requirements.

We look forward to receiving proposals from experienced e-commerce developers/teams who can demonstrate that they have successfully built and optimised systems of similar scale.