Retool Dashboard Integration for Gifting Marketplace

About the project

Challenges

Build the Retail Partner Retool Dashboard (public) and Admin Retool Dashboard (internal). Each should have unique functionalities and user access levels.
Embedded Retool application into Shopify.
Seamless integration with different customer’s APIs to ensure smooth dataflow and consistency.
Retool Dashboards should handle a high volume of orders and deliveries, especially during peak times. They should also ensure the system remains responsive and scalable, particularly for complex queries and large datasets.

Requirements

Develop both Retool dashboards integrated with Shopify with the minimum set of features in 1 month.
Design flexible design in Retool that dynamically adapts based on user roles and permissions.
The internal dashboard should be integrated with the Afloat Backend API to manage admin-specific functionalities such as order management, delivery tracking, and retail partner management, while the Embedded dashboard should perform operations like viewing and updating store settings, managing orders, and processing payments.

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Key Deliverables

Develop comprehensive dashboards for retail partners and internal admin users in Retool, enabling efficient order management, store settings updates, account management, and advanced admin functionalities.
Implement robust integration with Afloat Backend and Retail Operations APIs for real-time data management, secure access control, and automated workflows across both dashboards.

Main tool

Retool

Additional tools

Shopify, PostgreSQL

Project Timeline

7 month

Akveo’s team, who was working on the project

Aleh Krauchanka

Retool Developer

Nikita Kravchenko

Low-code Developer

Solution

Retool was chosen as a better candidate among its alternatives during the project's discovery phase. Because of its flexibility, cost and built-in integrations with different applications and databases, this low-code tool should speed up the development process rather than the custom development of a stand-alone application. Akveo started by integrating Retool with the necessary APIs, such as the Retail Operations Dashboard API and Afloat Backend Admin API. After that, we integrated it with the Afloat PostgreSQL database to match all the necessary data. Due to the priority of Afloat tasks, we started with the Retail Partner Dashboard (Public) and then with the Admin Dashboard (Internal). After finishing with the dashboard mockups, we started to implement the business logic and create workflows in Retool to handle complex data operations and set up triggers for everyday actions, such as sending notifications upon order updates.

Retail Partner Operations Dashboard

This application was embedded into Shopify.

Analytics and Orders This Retool dashboard provides retail partners with key analytics to monitor business performance and a detailed view and management of customer orders. The main features are an order table, details, and a data source.
User Profile and Account On this part of the Partner Operations Dashboard Afloat admins can enable retail partners to manage their user profiles, accounts, shops, subscriptions, and billing information efficiently.
‍Store Settings Module: The form interface was developed to update store information (name, address, banner image, etc.). Use file upload components for banners and trigger API calls on form submission.

Admin Dashboard

Internal application in Retool, which only can be used by Retool users. Admin-specific modules have been created:

Orders Management A Dashboard with advanced filtering, sorting, and pagination. Allow order updates and status changes with restricted access for admin users.
Delivery Management Allows develop a comprehensive table for delivery tracking with detailed views and management options for each delivery.
Retail Partner Management A separate dashboard for updating partner information, shop settings, and managing payouts.
‍Implement Role-Based Access Control Use Retool's built-in user groups and permissions to restrict access to sensitive components based on user roles.

Technology Stack

Afloat Backend APIs:

Retail Operations Dashboard API: For managing orders, payments, and shop settings.
Afloat Admin Dashboard API: For admin-specific functionalities, such as managing deliveries and retail partners.
Afloat Backend Shops Admin API: For managing shop-related queries.

Frontend Development:

Retool: Main platform for building both the Retail Partner and Admin Dashboards. It provides a drag-and-drop interface for creating UI components, integrating APIs, and setting up workflows.

PostgreSQL Database: Used for storing and retrieving structured data such as user profiles, shop information, and analytics.

Authentication & Authorization: Retool User Groups & Permissions: For role-based access control within the dashboards.

Shopify API Integration: For integrating Shopify-specific data like orders and products.

Results

Revenue growth

The project was completed in June 2024 and went live in one month. Offering new features and functionality increases Afloat’s revenue.

Retention rate

Complex data visualization and management components have been developed using Retool and embedded into existing Afloat web applications, significantly increasing customer retention.