Amazon Smbhav Hackathon 2024

Task

Develop a user-friendly tool or plug-in that seamlessly integrates online stores with Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment service. This would allow businesses to easily leverage Amazon's robust logistics network to store inventory and fulfill orders across their various sales channels, with minimal to no additional coding effort required from the business owners.

Use Case 

EcoGoods is a small online company selling eco-friendly home products. They are driven by a strong commitment to environmental sustainability. However, they struggle to manage their business operations efficiently.

EcoGoods sells their products through their own Shopify-based online store, and utilizes Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) service for inventory storage and order shipping. MCF allows businesses like EcoGoods to leverage Amazon's extensive network of warehouses and logistics capabilities, providing essential resources for managing inventory and fulfilling customer orders across multiple sales channels.

Unfortunately, EcoGoods has faced challenges with the integration between their Shopify store and Amazon's MCF, leading to common e-commerce issues such as inventory discrepancies, order errors, and difficulties in processing returns. These challenges are making it difficult for EcoGoods to streamline operations and expand globally.

Recognizing the need for a better solution, EcoGoods plans to create a dedicated plugin or system that seamlessly connects any online store with Amazon's MCF. This tool would serve as a central hub, benefiting not just EcoGoods but also other small businesses facing similar issues. With this integrated system, EcoGoods can solve their operational hurdles and focus on their core mission: delivering eco-friendly products to customers worldwide while contributing to environmental protection. Can you help them achieve this vision?

Hints

• Enable real-time syncing of product listings, inventory, and orders between the online store and Amazon’s MCF.
• Streamline end-to-end order management within the online store - including order creation, tracking and invoicing, using Amazon’s APIs.
• Enable businesses to check if orders can be fulfilled, how fast they can be delivered, and if they meet service level agreements (SLAs) before accepting orders, ensuring a positive customer experience.

Tech Stack

The tech stack outlined below is not the only viable option to solve the given problem statement. These are merely proposed suggestions based on common industry practices and popular technologies.

• AWS Services, Docker
• Git, CI/CD Tools
• Frontend Development (ReactJS, Angular)
• Backend Development (Node.js with Express)

Resources

• Fulfillment Center: An Amazon Fulfillment Center is a warehouse that stores products and manages logistics for order processing, enabling quick delivery to customers.
• Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF): Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) with respect to Amazon refers to a service offered by Amazon's logistics This service allows businesses to use Amazon's fulfillment centers to store, pack, and ship products for sales on both Amazon's marketplace and also other e-commerce platforms (e.g., eBay, Shopify, a seller's own website, etc.). Sellers can fulfill orders from multiple sales channels (Amazon and non-Amazon) using the same inventory stored in Amazon's fulfillment centers. Orders from external platforms are treated similarly to Amazon orders, but without the Amazon branding on packaging if desired. For more information, see What is Multi Channel Fulfillment (MCF).
• Integrating with Multi-Channel Fulfillment API
• SP API - Fulfilment outbound code samples which allows you to construct applications aiding sellers in fulfilling Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) orders using their inventory within Amazon's fulfillment network. You can also access information regarding both potential and existing fulfillment orders.

Guidelines

Here’s what you need to keep in mind as you build your solutions: