From Click to Confirmation: The Invisible Journey Behind Every Online Purchase

Let's imagine a typical customer journey through a modern e-commerce website — the kind that uses an external payment gateway like Maya, Stripe, or PayPal. Here's how it flows from the moment a user lands on the site to the moment they complete their purchase.

Step 1: Window Shopping Begins

Our user lands on the website. Maybe they saw it on Instagram, maybe a friend recommended it — either way, they're here and they're scrolling through the catalog.

They see something they like. It could be a bag, a pair of shoes, or something they didn't know they needed until now.

From here, they have three options:

• Add to Cart directly from the listing, or

• Buy Now to skip the cart and go straight to checkout, or

• Tap the product to view more details, where they can still add it to their cart or use the Buy Now option.

Step 2: Heading to Checkout

After browsing and adding a few items, they open their cart and hit that magical Checkout button.

Now it's time for the boring but necessary stuff — entering shipping and billing details. If they're not logged in, they fill this out manually. If they are logged in, we help them out by pre-filling their saved addresses.

Step 3: Choosing a Payment Method

Next, our user selects how they want to pay. Right now, we support Maya, and soon we'll support other trusted options like Stripe Checkout and PayPal — secure and widely-used external payment solutions.

Here's where the magic of integration comes in:

1. When the user confirms their checkout, our system creates the order and generates a checkout URL.

2. We redirect them to the provider's secure payment page — outside our app.

3. They pay. Or maybe they don't. Either way, we've got it covered.

Step 4: Payment Outcomes

There are two possible paths from here:

• ✅ If payment is successful: The user is redirected back to an Order Success Page showing all the details of their purchase. If it's their first time and they don't have an account yet, they'll be offered a quick, hassle-free way to create one — just by entering their email. No passwords or long forms. This gives them the ability to track their order and easily return to the site in the future.

• ❌ If payment is cancelled or fails: They're redirected to an Order Detail Page with an option to retry payment via a "Pay Now" button. We'll still offer the option to create an account using just their email, and to make things easier, we'll hold the item for a longer period, giving them more time to come back and complete the purchase. No pressure — just a smoother way to pick up where they left off.

Step 5: The Logged-In Advantage

For returning users, the experience is even smoother.

When they're logged in:

• They can see their profile, order history, and address book.

• During checkout, their default shipping and billing addresses are filled in automatically (but editable, of course).

• The same external checkout flow applies, just without the need to create a new account.

The Takeaway

This flow is designed to feel effortless — like a well-orchestrated shopping trip. From browsing to checkout, and from payment to post-purchase, every touchpoint is smooth, efficient, and built with both new and returning customers in mind.

And while Maya, Stripe, or PayPal handle the secure payment processing, we make sure the rest of the experience stays seamless, consistent, and connected to the user's journey.

This is a standard e-commerce flow that integrates external checkout — and it just works!