A seamless, Laravel-powered platform offers a credit-based shopping system where local store owners can get a credit plan, shop for inventory up to their credit limit, and pay it back in small, manageable installments.
Duration: 1 year 2 months | Industry: • eCommerce • Fintech
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Our client, a fintech startup dedicated to helping small, local retailers. They operate through a hybrid collection strategy using both digital payments and field agents and are focused on building trust, transparency, and accessibility for local retailers without access to traditional bank loans.
A seamless platform that helps small business owners get the inventory they need while providing the option to make payments over time through a bnpl service. It offers a credit-based shopping system where local store owners can get a credit plan, shop for inventory up to their credit limit, and pay it back in small, manageable daily installments, ensuring they can meet their business goals. The entire process is managed by admins and local agents, making it easy and transparent for everyone involved in managing payment methods and ensuring responsible spending.
No Centralized System: This posed challenges in implementing a unified payment system for late fees and interest-free options.: There was no single platform for issuing and managing credit purchases for small retailers, which could include options for splitit works and installment payments.
Complicated Repayment Tracking: Tracking daily payments was a nightmare, as they came in through both online gateways and field agents, complicating responsible spending practices.
Manual and Inefficient Workflows hinder the integration of pay later providers, affecting the ability to split your purchase seamlessly.: Assigning agents to locations was a manual process, order approvals were slow, and transaction records were scattered and hard to track.
Lack of Real-Time Visibility for transactions, including installment payments and their statuses.:Admins, agents, and buyers didn't have a clear, real-time view of orders, balances, and repayment statuses.
Role-Based Access: The platform has distinct roles to manage access to sensitive information like credit scores and to facilitate online shopping securely. Admins can manage products, credit plans, users, orders, and agents, ensuring that all payment options are available to customers. Agents are responsible for collecting and reporting daily repayments, especially for transactions that involve buy now pay later agreements and flexible payment plans, ensuring users can manage their full purchase amount effectively. Buyers can apply for credit plans, shop within their limits, and view their balances while considering their credit score.
Credit Plan Engine: This engine will calculate the APR based on the purchase amount and offer various pay later options to users. This feature automatically calculates the required deposit percentage, sets up repayment schedules (like daily or weekly), and ensures buyers don't exceed their credit limit.
Automated Workflows: We automated several key processes, including credit checks for different payment plans, to improve efficiency.
Secure login and registration with OTP verification via email and SMS for online shopping.
An admin approval queue for new orders and payments reported by agents, especially those involving buy now pay later transactions and flexible payment plans, to ensure transparency and manage additional fees.
Automatic email and SMS notifications for critical actions, such as an order placed, payment due, and repayment collected, were enhanced to include reminders for users opting for pay monthly options.
Dynamic Dashboards: These will provide insights into average order value and repayment behaviors, helping us optimize our offerings.Each user role gets a personalized dashboard with real-time charts showing important metrics like outstanding balances, pending collections, revenue, and performance data related to their BNPL usage and ensuring they have enough credit.
Wallet & Transaction Ledger: The platform includes a live wallet that shows outstanding credit, a full transaction history, and the ability to pay later without incurring late fees, making it easier for users to manage their pay later payment options. Buyers can also download PDF invoices directly from their ledger, detailing the full purchase amount.
Here's a breakdown of the steps we took to bring this project to life, from the initial idea to the final launch.
Week 1-2
We started by sitting down with all the key players to understand their needs, particularly regarding payment options and preferred pay later providers, ensuring we cover all aspects of the purchase amount. We held interviews to define the roles of Admins, Buyers, and Agents and mapped out the entire business process, including how installment payments would be managed. This helped us identify all the major components we needed to build, such as Credit Plans, a Product Catalog, and User Wallets, to streamline the online shopping experience. We also figured out which third-party services we'd need, like Flutterwave and Twilio, and created a detailed list of features to build, including support for pay later payment integrations and bnpl service options.
Week 3-5 with a focus on how payment may be required for certain transactions.
With a clear plan in place, we moved on to design. We created simple wireframes for each dashboard and a map of how users would navigate the platform, highlighting the checkout process for different payment plans, including shop pay installments and any additional fees. We built interactive prototypes so everyone could see how the order and repayment flows would work before we wrote any code, including features for buy now and pay later options. We used client feedback to refine the designs, focusing on a clean, intuitive look with Tailwind CSS, especially for the buy now pay later options that allow users to spread the cost.
Week 6-10
For the user-facing part of the platform, we used Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js to create a responsive and interactive user interface that highlights interest-free payment options, including the ability to make payments in 4 interest-free payments. We leveraged Laravel Livewire to build dynamic features like the shopping cart and repayment calculator, allowing users to pay over time and making the experience feel fast and seamless. We made sure all components were reusable and worked well on any device, allowing users to access features like Apple Pay seamlessly
Week 11-14: During this period, we focused on integrating the pay later feature into the platform, allowing users to pay in 4 installments without incurring additional fees.
The core of our platform was built using Laravel, which supports various payment options for a better user experience, including splitit works and flexible payment plans. We defined all the essential components like Users, Orders, Plans, and the various pay later options available to enhance user experience, including buy now and pay later features that support responsible spending. Created a secure system with role-based authentication. We integrated payment gateways like Paystack and Flutterwave for transactions, and used Twilio and Mailgun to handle all notifications and alerts, ensuring smooth communication for our BNPL platforms. We also coded the complex logic for credit limits, order approvals, and repayment schedules, and set up a system to generate PDF invoices automatically.
Week 15-20
Before going live, we put the platform through rigorous testing to catch any bugs, ensuring that all payment options functioned correctly. We simulated a variety of scenarios, including failed payments and agent reporting errors, to make sure the system was robust enough to handle various pay in installments situations, including missing payments. After getting final approval from the client, we launched the production version, complete with initial data and support for onboarding admins and agents to achieve their business goals.
Build a Unified Platform: Our goal is to create a cohesive experience that integrates various payment options, including afterpay, equal payments, and existing credit assessments, while avoiding hidden fees.We aimed to create a single, Laravel-based system to manage everything from credit plans to orders and repayments, and automatically enforce credit limits for buyers, including options for pay later in 30 days.
Automate Repayments: Ensure that repayments are processed automatically every 2 weeks, allowing users to pay on time without the hassle of manual input, especially for those using afterpay services.We wanted to build a system that could automatically calculate and schedule repayments, integrating with payment gateways like Flutterwave and Paystack, as well as pay later providers like Affirm and Klarna for online collections. We also needed a process for agents to report cash collections, with admin approval for transactions involving BNPL options, ensuring compliance with credit bureaus and responsible spending.
Provide Real-Time Visibility: Provide Real-Time Visibility of payment methods, including the ability to make payments online in equal payments.Our goal was to give admins, agents, and buyers their own dashboards with real-time data on balances, due dates, and performance, including options for finance purchases and installment payments. We also planned to implement a notification system with OTPs for secure logins and SMS/email alerts for important events related to payment methods, including reminders for missing payments.
Make Agents More Efficient: We wanted to use geolocation to automatically assign the nearest agent to each buyer, facilitating in-store pickups and transactions for those who prefer to pay the full amount. We also planned to give agents a mobile-friendly dashboard to manage their assignments and record payments on the go, ensuring they can assist customers with BNPL platforms effectively.
Ensure Scalability and Security: Ensure Scalability and Security for all payment methods, including flexible payment plans for customers.We decided to use the Laravel TALL stack and Horizon to build a system that could grow with the business and handle increased average order values. We also implemented robust role-based access control and two-factor authentication to keep all financial data safe.
The new platform dramatically improved the client's operations and merchant experience, particularly by offering flexible payment options.
Faster Order Approvals: We reduced the time it takes to approve an order by 60% with our new automated workflows, including streamlined checks for monthly payment eligibility and existing credit reviews.
Increased Repayment Rates: On-time repayments increased by 35% thanks to agent-assigned daily collections and automated reminders, which also included soft credit checks for better assessment of the customer’s credit score.
Improved Efficiency: Admins now save approximately 20 hours per month that were previously spent on manual assignments and reconciling payments, particularly with the new system for interest-free payments.
Scalable Architecture: Built on the robust Laravel TALL stack (Tailwind, Alpine.js, Livewire, Laravel), the platform is ready to scale and can easily onboard thousands of merchants without any performance issues..
The Buyer Portal is a mobile-friendly dashboard where small business owners discover plans, make the required deposit, and shop up to their approved credit limit. The portal presents a clear breakdown of any selected plan total amount, upfront deposit (e.g., 10%), repayment schedule (daily/weekly/etc.), and the per-period repayment amount so buyers understand obligations before they confirm. Cart logic enforces the plan limit in real time and prevents checkout if the cumulative product total would exceed the credit line.
Buyers can manage orders, view transaction history, and download PDF invoices. The portal also shows a live wallet balance (outstanding vs paid), upcoming due dates, and a simple chart of repayment progress. OTP-backed login and step-up authentication protect accounts and reduce fraud, while in-app messaging informs buyers of approvals, denials, and agent visits.
Agents get a streamlined workplace with assigned buyers, collection schedules, and quick payment recording. Each buyer card shows outstanding balance, next due date, and custom notes (e.g., preferred visit time). Agents can add new buyers on behalf of merchants in the field, assign initial plans, and capture KYC/profile details for admins to verify accelerating onboarding and acquisition.
When agents collect cash or bank transfers, they log transactions in the system as pending; admins then review and approve to prevent fraud and reconcile cash flows. The dashboard includes daily/weekly collection summaries, sortable transaction lists, and simple filters so agents focus on high-priority overdue accounts.
The Admin Console centralizes everything: create/edit/delete products and categories; manage credit plans (amount, days, deposit % and repayment schedule); onboard and suspend buyers and agents; and audit orders and transactions. Admins can assign agents automatically using location data or manually for special cases, and they control approval pipelines for orders and agent-reported collections.
Admin dashboards surface business metrics total active loans, outstanding receivables, agent performance, and revenue with quick actions for refunds, cancellations, or dispute resolution. Role-based access (Laravel Policies/Gates) secures sensitive operations, while queued jobs and Horizon handle heavy tasks like bulk PDF invoice generation or nightly reconciliation.
The Plans Engine enables admins to configure plans with name, total amount, duration (number of days), deposit percentage, and a repayment rhythm (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually). When a buyer selects a plan, the engine computes the upfront deposit and breaks down the remaining payment into equal installments according to the schedule, producing a repayment calendar that both the buyer and system use for collection logic.
A scheduler (Laravel Scheduler + queued jobs) triggers payment reminders, attempts auto-debits via integrated payment gateways, and flags failed charges for agent follow-up. This engine also enforces cart limits (sum of cart items ≤ plan amount) and supports early payoff calculations so buyers can repay in full ahead of schedule.
Each buyer has a wallet that reflects credit issued, deposit paid, amounts repaid, and outstanding balance. Every payment whether auto-debited, gateway-processed, or collected by an agent is stored as a transaction with metadata (method, agent ID if applicable, timestamp, and admin approval status). Transactions are immutable once approved to ensure a reliable audit trail.
Users and admins can filter transactions by date, type, or agent, export CSVs, and download PDF invoices (dompdf/laravel-dompdf) for bookkeeping. The ledger supports partial payments and shows running balances so reconciliation and accounting remain straightforward.
Orders placed by buyers enter a controlled lifecycle: pending → under review → approved → completed. Admins review pending orders for eligibility, stock, and fraud indicators before approving shipment. If a buyer requests cancellation, a cancellation request queue is created and the admin can accept or deny; refunds or wallet adjustments are processed only after admin confirmation.
The workflow integrates with stock availability and agent assignment (so fulfilment is routed correctly). Status changes trigger automated notifications to buyers and agents, and order views provide full line-item detail plus attached proofs (images, payment receipts) to reduce disputes.
Products support both unit and carton sales with configurable units, images, categories, descriptions, and quantity tracking. When buyers add items to the cart, the system checks inventory and ensures the final order value stays within the buyer’s approved credit limit. Admins can update quantities, set reorder thresholds, and flag items for promotion or special bundles.
Inventory events (low stock, out of stock) raise alerts for admins and can be configured to prevent purchases when inventory is insufficient. This keeps fulfilment realistic and reduces order cancellations due to stock outs. Variant handling (size/pack) and SKU support make supplier integration and reconciliation simpler.
A reporting hub aggregates key metrics: outstanding receivables, on-time repayment rate, agent collection performance, order conversion, and revenue over time. Custom date ranges and exportable reports enable finance and operations teams to reconcile accounts and make data-driven decisions. Visual charts on role dashboards highlight trends and anomalies for quick action.
Notifications (email + SMS) cover OTPs, order updates, payment reminders, agent assignments, and admin confirmations. Notification rules are configurable per plan and event so the right stakeholder receives timely alerts. Combined, analytics and notifications close the loop between operations and users increasing transparency, reducing missed payments, and improving overall trust in the system.
Zenoitech transformed our business completely. The new e-commerce platform not only looks stunning but performs exceptionally well. Our sales have tripled, and our customers love the seamless shopping experience. The team's expertise and dedication exceeded our expectations.
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