Kenstar Plastics
Building a scalable full-stack product management platform for one of the leading Kenyan manufacturers.
Project Overview
Kenstar Plastics required a digital system to manage their growing catalog of plastic products. The platform needed to handle hundreds of SKUs, category hierarchies, and image uploads while maintaining performance and ease of management.
The Problem
The company needed a structured way to manage hundreds of products across multiple categories. Their existing workflow relied on manual updates, which created inefficiencies and limited scalability.
The Approach
I built a full-stack product management platform using Next.js and MongoDB with a scalable architecture supporting image uploads, product categorization, and secure admin access.
PRODUCT EXPERIENCE
Built to solve real operational challenges.
Admin Product Management
A secure admin dashboard that allows product managers to upload, edit, and organize products with images, specifications, and category assignments.
Multi-Image Upload System
Products support multiple high-resolution images with previews before upload. Images are processed and stored using Cloudinary.
Structured Category Architecture
Products are organized using a scalable multi-level category system supporting categories, subcategories, and nested product types.
Product Detail Experience
Customers can browse detailed product pages with multiple images, specifications, and clear navigation through the product catalog.
Customer Enquiry System
Instead of traditional checkout, the platform enables customers to send product enquiries directly to the sales team.
Mobile Product Browsing
The storefront is fully responsive, allowing customers to browse the product catalog and submit enquiries seamlessly on mobile devices.
Admin Product Management
A secure admin dashboard that allows product managers to upload, edit, and organize products with images, specifications, and category assignments.
Multi-Image Upload System
Products support multiple high-resolution images with previews before upload. Images are processed and stored using Cloudinary.
Structured Category Architecture
Products are organized using a scalable multi-level category system supporting categories, subcategories, and nested product types.
Product Detail Experience
Customers can browse detailed product pages with multiple images, specifications, and clear navigation through the product catalog.
Customer Enquiry System
Instead of traditional checkout, the platform enables customers to send product enquiries directly to the sales team.
Mobile Product Browsing
The storefront is fully responsive, allowing customers to browse the product catalog and submit enquiries seamlessly on mobile devices.
Engineering Highlights
- JWT authentication with secure HTTP-only cookies
- Protected admin routes using Next.js Edge middleware
- Multi-image upload pipeline integrated with Cloudinary
- Serverless API architecture using Next.js App Router
- Scalable MongoDB schema design with Mongoose
Challenges & Lessons
- Resolved case-sensitive filesystem issues that caused production API failures on Vercel
- Migrated authentication from jsonwebtoken to JOSE to support Next.js Edge runtime
- Debugged production cookie behavior across secure environments
- Handled deployment inconsistencies between local development and serverless infrastructure