The brief
New jeweller, quality product, no web presence. Brief: clean, not corporate. Functional, not overbuilt. The store needed to reflect the product quality without looking like every other Woo theme on the market.
Added requirement: the owner wanted to manage stock from her phone, not a desktop admin panel.
The approach
We ran a five-way Astro design bake-off before any production code was written. Five distinct visual directions, each a working browser site the client could click through, navigate, and feel. Not wireframes. Not Figma comps. Real pages.
We ran a five-way design comparison so the client picked from real, working options, not pitch decks. Direction locked in one meeting.
Then: full WordPress and WooCommerce build on the chosen direction. Branded transactional emails using WooCommerce SMTP hooks so order confirmations, shipping notices, and receipts all looked on-brand. Coming-soon gate during build using a lightweight mu-plugin, not a bloated plugin. AutoSSL via the hosting control panel.
The Telegram bot
Built with python-telegram-bot, running against the WooCommerce REST API. Owner uses simple commands to list low-stock items, update quantities, add products, and check recent orders. No desktop admin panel required.
Gemini Vision handles automatic alt-text generation when new product images are uploaded via the bot. Owner photographs the piece, sends it, bot uploads to WooCommerce and generates the alt text in one step.
Outcome
- Live store with full WooCommerce checkout.
- Owner manages inventory from her phone via Telegram.
- Auto-generated alt text via Gemini Vision on every product image.
- 45-point technical audit passed at launch.
- Branded transactional emails at every order stage.