The Challenge
As Better That expanded, its ambitious business model was threatened by significant technical and operational bottlenecks:
The “Million-Product” Backlog: By December 2022, a manual data-cleansing process had created a massive backlog of more than one million products, making it impossible to scale the platform’s inventory efficiently.
Infrastructure Instability: The existing real-time data synchronization webhooks were failing frequently, leading to price discrepancies, inventory mismatches, and random changes in product information.
Integration Complexity: Onboarding complex retailers like Magento was proving “complex, error-prone, and time-consuming”. Early tests revealed critical pricing bugs where a 10% markup was being applied twice. Once at the backend and again at the front-endturning a $499 product into a $603.79 listing.
Strategy or approach of Vista Systech Limited
Vista SysTech approached these challenges through a rigorous Research and Development (R&D) framework. The strategy focused on proving a key hypothesis: that a custom-built, scalable database could handle massive datasets from complex platforms like Magento without compromising performance.
The team pivoted from standard web development to advanced serverless engineering, focusing on two core areas: replacing failing synchronization protocols with an event-driven architecture and developing proprietary algorithms to automate data quality control.
The “Million-Product” Backlog: By December 2022, a manual data-cleansing process had created a massive backlog of more than one million products, making it impossible to scale the platform’s inventory efficiently.
Infrastructure Instability: The existing real-time data synchronization webhooks were failing frequently, leading to price discrepancies, inventory mismatches, and random changes in product information.
Integration Complexity: Onboarding complex retailers like Magento was proving “complex, error-prone, and time-consuming”. Early tests revealed critical pricing bugs where a 10% markup was being applied twice. Once at the backend and again at the front-endturning a $499 product into a $603.79 listing.
Strategy or approach of Vista Systech Limited
Vista SysTech approached these challenges through a rigorous Research and Development (R&D) framework. The strategy focused on proving a key hypothesis: that a custom-built, scalable database could handle massive datasets from complex platforms like Magento without compromising performance.
The team pivoted from standard web development to advanced serverless engineering, focusing on two core areas: replacing failing synchronization protocols with an event-driven architecture and developing proprietary algorithms to automate data quality control.
Our Solution
Vista SysTech implemented a multi-layered technical solution to stabilize and scale the platform:
Event-Driven Architecture (Amazon EventBridge): To resolve the failing webhooks, the team leveraged Amazon EventBridge to create a central hub for receiving and forwarding data events. This serverless system ensured that inventory and price updates remained accurate across all distribution channels.
Automated “Auto-Approval” System: To clear the massive inventory backlog, Vista SysTech engineered an Auto-approval system. This system used predefined algorithms to automatically validate product attributes (pricing, categorization, and compliance) in batches, flagging only exceptions for manual review.
Adobe Extension Marketplace Integration: The team developed and published a dedicated Betterthat extension for Magento, providing a secure, standardized framework that streamlined the onboarding process for high-volume retailers.
Automated Financial Logic: The backend was enhanced with an automated disbursement system, ensuring retailers receive net payments and commissions within two business days, while also automating complex return and reimbursement workflows.
Event-Driven Architecture (Amazon EventBridge): To resolve the failing webhooks, the team leveraged Amazon EventBridge to create a central hub for receiving and forwarding data events. This serverless system ensured that inventory and price updates remained accurate across all distribution channels.
Automated “Auto-Approval” System: To clear the massive inventory backlog, Vista SysTech engineered an Auto-approval system. This system used predefined algorithms to automatically validate product attributes (pricing, categorization, and compliance) in batches, flagging only exceptions for manual review.
Adobe Extension Marketplace Integration: The team developed and published a dedicated Betterthat extension for Magento, providing a secure, standardized framework that streamlined the onboarding process for high-volume retailers.
Automated Financial Logic: The backend was enhanced with an automated disbursement system, ensuring retailers receive net payments and commissions within two business days, while also automating complex return and reimbursement workflows.
Results & Impact
The strategic intervention by Vista SysTech transformed Better That’s operational capacity:
• Successful Scalability: The Auto-approval system successfully processed the backlog of over one million products, significantly reducing the time and resources required for data cleansing.
• System Integrity: The implementation of EventBridge successfully resolved the webhook failures, eliminating the discrepancies that previously threatened user trust.
• Market Readiness: With the Betterthat extension now published on the Adobe Extension Marketplace, the platform is positioned to attract a wider range of retailers, increasing its competitive edge.
• Financial Automation: The platform now manages complex financial transactions and shipping tracking updates with minimal manual intervention, allowing the business to focus on growth rather than troubleshooting.
Client Reflection
By shifting the focus from manual management to automated, event-driven systems, Better That has successfully transitioned from a startup with a complex AI concept to a high-performance marketplace. The project demonstrates a unique ability to balance sophisticated R&D with practical retail functionality, establishing a strong online presence capable of handling millions of products in a competitive retail landscape.
Analogy for Understanding: The technical transformation was like moving from a congested city intersection where every car (data update) had to be manually waved through by a traffic guard, to a high-speed automated transit system. By replacing the "guards" with Amazon EventBridge and Auto-approval algorithms, Vista SysTech ensured that millions of data "passengers" could reach their destinations simultaneously without a single collision or delay.
• Successful Scalability: The Auto-approval system successfully processed the backlog of over one million products, significantly reducing the time and resources required for data cleansing.
• System Integrity: The implementation of EventBridge successfully resolved the webhook failures, eliminating the discrepancies that previously threatened user trust.
• Market Readiness: With the Betterthat extension now published on the Adobe Extension Marketplace, the platform is positioned to attract a wider range of retailers, increasing its competitive edge.
• Financial Automation: The platform now manages complex financial transactions and shipping tracking updates with minimal manual intervention, allowing the business to focus on growth rather than troubleshooting.
Client Reflection
By shifting the focus from manual management to automated, event-driven systems, Better That has successfully transitioned from a startup with a complex AI concept to a high-performance marketplace. The project demonstrates a unique ability to balance sophisticated R&D with practical retail functionality, establishing a strong online presence capable of handling millions of products in a competitive retail landscape.
Analogy for Understanding: The technical transformation was like moving from a congested city intersection where every car (data update) had to be manually waved through by a traffic guard, to a high-speed automated transit system. By replacing the "guards" with Amazon EventBridge and Auto-approval algorithms, Vista SysTech ensured that millions of data "passengers" could reach their destinations simultaneously without a single collision or delay.
