Customer Journey

This guide covers the complete experience of shopping on a Siyahfy-powered store — from your first visit all the way through delivery and beyond. Whether the store sells clothing, electronics, groceries, or digital products, the shopping flow follows the same pattern.

Overview Flow

Step 1: Visit the Store

Every Siyahfy store has its own web address — either a subdomain like yourstore.siyahfy.site or a custom domain like www.yourstore.com. Simply open the URL in any web browser on your phone, tablet, or computer.

The storefront loads the vendor’s chosen theme, displaying their branding, layout, and products. The page is fully responsive, so it looks great on any screen size.

What happens: The storefront app fetches the store’s theme configuration and renders it with live product data. The system loads the active theme from theme_configs and retrieves products, collections, and store settings from the database.

Related: Storefront

Step 2: Browse Products

The homepage typically shows featured products, collections, banners, and promotional sections — all customized by the store owner. You can explore by:

• Clicking on collections (e.g., “Men’s Clothing”, “Electronics”, “Sale Items”)
• Scrolling through featured products on the homepage
• Navigating via the store menu (header navigation)

Collection pages show all products in a category with options to sort by price, date, popularity, or name.

What happens: Browsing calls the storefront product APIs to fetch product listings, collection data, and page configurations. Products are loaded with pagination for fast performance.

Related: Products | Storefront

Step 3: Search and Filter

Use the search bar to find products by name, description, or tags. Search results appear instantly as you type.

On collection pages, you can narrow down results using filters:

What happens: Search queries hit the storefront search API, which performs text matching against product names, descriptions, and tags. Filters are applied as query parameters and the API returns matching products with pagination.

Related: Storefront

Step 4: View Product Details

Click on any product to see its full detail page. Here you will find:

• Product images — browse through multiple photos (zoom in on desktop)
• Price — including any active discounts or sale pricing
• Description — detailed product information
• Variant selectors — choose size, color, material, or other options
• Stock status — whether the item is in stock
• Quantity selector — choose how many to buy
• Add to Cart button
• Add to Wishlist button (if you are logged in)
• Customer reviews and star ratings

What happens: The product detail page calls the storefront product API with the product slug to fetch full product data including variants, images, reviews, and inventory status.

Related: Products

Step 5: Add to Cart

Click “Add to Cart” to place the item (with your selected variant and quantity) into your shopping cart. A cart icon in the header updates to show your item count.

You can continue shopping and add more items. To view your cart at any time, click the cart icon. From the cart page you can:

• Update item quantities
• Remove items
• See the subtotal
• Apply a discount code (if you have one)
• Proceed to checkout

What happens: Cart data is stored locally in the browser (for guest users) or synced to the server (for logged-in users). Adding an item checks inventory availability in real time. Discount codes are validated against the store’s configured rules (minimum purchase, product restrictions, expiry date, usage limits).

Related: Discounts & Offers

Step 6: Create an Account (Optional)

You can shop as a guest or create an account. Having an account lets you:

• Save your shipping address for faster checkout next time
• Track order history
• Manage your wishlist
• Leave product reviews
• Receive order status updates by email

Registration with OTP

1. Enter your email address (or phone number)
2. The system sends a one-time password (OTP) to your email
3. Enter the OTP to verify your identity
4. Your account is created — no password needed

You can also log in again later using the same OTP process. This is simpler and more secure than traditional passwords.

What happens: Registration creates a customer record in the store’s customers table. OTP verification uses a time-limited code sent via email. Once verified, the system issues a customer authentication token for the session.

Related: Customers

Step 7: Checkout

When you are ready to buy, proceed to checkout. The checkout flow collects:

1. Shipping address — where the order should be delivered
2. Shipping method — choose from available options (standard, express, free shipping if eligible)
3. Payment method — select how you want to pay
4. Order review — final summary of items, shipping, taxes, and total

If you have a discount code, it is already applied from the cart. The checkout page shows the itemized breakdown:

What happens: The checkout process validates inventory one final time (to prevent overselling), calculates shipping based on the delivery address and cart weight, applies tax rules, and prepares the order for payment.

Related: Shipping | Orders

Step 8: Payment

Siyahfy stores support multiple payment methods:

All online payments are processed through secure, PCI-compliant payment gateways. Your card details are never stored by the Siyahfy store.

What happens: For online payments, the system creates a payment order with the configured gateway (Razorpay or Cashfree), opens the secure payment interface, and verifies the transaction via a server-side callback. On success, the order is confirmed. On failure, you can retry or choose a different method.

Related: Payments

Step 9: Order Confirmation

After successful payment (or placing a COD order), you see an order confirmation page with:

• Order number — your unique reference
• Order summary — items, quantities, prices
• Estimated delivery date
• Shipping address

You also receive a confirmation email with all these details. If you have an account, the order appears in your order history immediately.

What happens: The system creates an order record with status “Unfulfilled”, deducts inventory for the ordered items, and triggers a confirmation email to the customer. The order appears in the vendor’s dashboard for fulfillment.

Related: Orders

Step 10: Track Your Order

Once the vendor ships your order, you receive a shipping notification email with:

• Carrier name (e.g., Delhivery)
• Tracking number
• Link to track your package

If you have an account, you can also check order status from your account page. Order statuses progress through:

For stores using Delhivery integration, tracking updates happen automatically. The system periodically fetches the latest status from the carrier.

What happens: When the vendor marks an order as fulfilled and adds tracking information, the system sends a notification email. For Delhivery shipments, the tracking webhook provides real-time status updates.

Related: Shipping | Orders

Step 11: Returns and Refunds

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can request a return (if the store’s return policy allows it).

Return Process

1. Go to your account page and find the order
2. Click “Request Return” and select the items to return
3. Provide a reason (wrong item, damaged, not as described, etc.)
4. The vendor reviews your request and approves or denies it
5. If approved, you ship the items back
6. Once the vendor receives the returned items, they process your refund

Refund Methods

Refunds are processed back to your original payment method:

• Online payments — refunded to your card, UPI, or wallet
• COD orders — refunded via bank transfer (you provide your bank details)

Refund processing typically takes 5—7 business days depending on your bank.

What happens: The return request creates a return record linked to the order. When the vendor approves and processes the refund, the system initiates a refund through the payment gateway. Inventory is optionally restocked based on the vendor’s choice.

Related: Orders | Payments

Step 12: Leave a Review

After receiving your order, you can leave a review to help other shoppers. Go to the product page or your order history and:

1. Select a star rating (1 to 5 stars)
2. Write a review describing your experience
3. Submit — your review appears on the product page

Reviews help other customers make informed decisions and help vendors improve their products and service.

What happens: Reviews are stored in the database and associated with both the product and your customer account. The product’s average rating is recalculated. Reviews appear on the storefront product detail page.

Related: Storefront

Step 13: Wishlist

If you find a product you like but are not ready to buy, add it to your wishlist. You need an account to use this feature.

• Click the heart icon on any product to save it
• View your wishlist from your account page
• Move items from your wishlist to your cart when you are ready to purchase

The wishlist persists across sessions, so your saved items are always there when you come back.

What happens: Wishlist entries are stored in the database linked to your customer account. The storefront loads your wishlist items via the customer API.

Related: Customers

Step 14: Account Management

From your account page, you can manage:

Your account works across all visits to the same store. If you shop at multiple Siyahfy stores, each store has its own separate customer account.

What happens: Account management operations call the customer API endpoints to update profile data, manage addresses, and retrieve order history. All data is scoped to the specific store.

Related: Customers