A Real Product Model, Then A Storefront On Top Of It
We modelled products and variants properly first: one product, many size and colour combinations, each with its own stock, price override and image set. That single decision is what made merchandising possible — a collection page, a bundle, a size-specific promotion and an accurate stock count all fall out of the same structure.
On top of it sits a storefront with filtered category browsing, a variant picker that disables combinations already sold out, and a three-step checkout with saved addresses. The admin panel covers products, stock, orders, discount codes and homepage banners, with role-based access so a merchandiser can run a campaign without touching order data.