MERN Ecommerce: A Seamless Shopping Experience Powered by the MERN Stack, Redux Toolkit, and Material UI

MERN Ecommerce is a full-stack application designed to transform your online shopping experience. Built with the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js), it leverages Redux Toolkit for efficient state management and Material UI for a sleek, user-friendly interface. This project offers a robust platform for both users and admins, packed with essential features for a seamless experience.

Features

User:

• Product Reviews:

  • Write, edit, and delete reviews.
  • Instant updates on ratings and star percentages.

• Wishlist:

  • Add, remove, and annotate products with personalized notes.

• Order Management:

  • Create new orders and view order history.

• Profile Management:

  • Manage email, username, and multiple addresses.

• Shopping Cart:

  • Add products, adjust quantities, and view subtotals.

Admin:

• Product Management:

  • Add, edit, delete, and soft-delete products.
  • Manage product attributes like name and stock.

• Order Management:

  • View and update order details and status.

Security & User Experience:

• Secure Authentication:

  • Login, signup, OTP verification, password reset, and logout.

• Intuitive Interface:

  • Powered by Material UI for a visually appealing and user-friendly experience.

Scalability:

• Built for Growth:
  • Scalable architecture to handle increasing user demands.

Project Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js ( version v21.1.0 or later )
• MongoDB installed and running locally

Clone the project

  git clone https://github.com/RishiBakshii/mern-ecommerce.git

Navigate to the project directory

  cd mern-ecommerce

Install dependencies for frontend and backend separately

Tip: To efficiently install dependencies for both frontend and backend simultaneously, use split terminals.

Install frontend dependencies

cd frontend
npm install

Install backend dependencies

cd backend
npm install

Environment Variables

Backend

• Create a .env file in the backend directory.
• Add the following variables with appropriate values

# Database connection string
MONGO_URI="mongodb://localhost:27017/your-database-name"

# Frontend URL (adjust if needed)
ORIGIN="http://localhost:3000"

# Email credentials for sending password resets and OTPs
EMAIL="your-email@example.com"
PASSWORD="your-email-password"

# Token and cookie expiration settings
LOGIN_TOKEN_EXPIRATION="30d"  # Days
OTP_EXPIRATION_TIME="120000"  # Milliseconds
PASSWORD_RESET_TOKEN_EXPIRATION="2m"  # Minutes
COOKIE_EXPIRATION_DAYS="30"    # Days

# Secret key for jwt security
SECRET_KEY="your-secret-key"

# Environment (production/development)
PRODUCTION="false" # Initially set to false for development

Frontend

• Create a .env file in the frontend directory
• Add the following variable:

# Backend URL (adjust if needed)
REACT_APP_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8000" 

Important

• Replace all placeholders (e.g., your_database_name, your_email) with your actual values.
• Exclude the .env file from version control to protect sensitive information.

Data seeding

• Get started quickly with pre-populated data: Populate your database with sample users, products, reviews, and carts, enabling you to test functionalities without manual data entry.

Steps:

• Open a new terminal window.
• Navigate to the backend directory: cd backend
• Run the seeding script: npm run seed ( This script executes the seed.js file within the seed subdirectory equivalent to running node seed/seed.js )

Running Development Servers

Important:

• Separate terminals: Run the commands in separate terminal windows or use split terminal to avoid conflicts.
• Nodemon required: Ensure you have nodemon installed globally to run the backend development servers using npm run dev. You can install it globally using npm install -g nodemon.

Start the backend server

• Navigate to the backend directory: cd backend
• Start the server: npm run dev (or npm start)
• You should see a message indicating the server is running, usually on port 8000.

Start the frontend server:

• Navigate to the frontend directory: cd frontend
• Start the server: npm start
• You should see a message indicating the server is running, usually on port 3000.

Login with demo account (Optional)

• After successfully seeding the database, you can now explore the application's functionalities using pre-populated sample data.
• here are the login credentials

  email: demo@gmail.com
  pass: helloWorld@123

• Please Note: While the demo account provides a convenient way to explore many features, it has some limitations:

  • Password Reset and OTP Verification: Due to security reasons, the demo account uses a non-real email address. Therefore, password reset and OTP verification functionalities are not available for this account.

  What this means:

  • You cannot request a password reset or receive verification codes on the demo email address.
  • To test password reset and OTP verification flows, you need to create a genuine account with a valid email address.

  What to do?

  • If you're primarily interested in exploring other functionalities like wishlist, cart, and order history, the demo account is sufficient.
  • To test password reset and OTP verification, create a personal account with a valid email address.

Accessing the Application

Once both servers are running, you can access them at the following URL's:

• Backend: http://localhost:8000
• Frontend: http://localhost:3000

Bonus

Don't forget to star the repository and share your feedback!✨

Authors

• @RishiBakshii