El Gato Tuerto is an online liquor store built to give customers a seamless eCommerce experience across a wide selection of spirits. From day one the project was shaped by continuous collaboration with the owner, weekly milestone reviews and a clear focus on user-centric design.
Starting from an online menu
I began by meeting the store's manager and owner to outline the high-level requirements: product categorization, an intuitive browsing interface and integration with a delivery service. We agreed on a first prototype that worked more like an online menu than a full shopping cart. As weekly demos showed what the system could do, both of them started to see the value of a complete checkout flow — letting customers order directly turned the site from a product display into a real store.
A mid-project redesign
Halfway through development, new feedback shifted the plan for the Home and Catalog pages. My first layout emphasized product images and short descriptions in a minimalist style; the owner wanted something more dynamic and content-rich that highlighted ongoing deals and premium products. I rebuilt most of the catalog interface to add filtering options, banners and bold promotional elements on the homepage. It meant a thorough refactor of the UI, but it brought the site much closer to the owner's vision.
Adding checkout
Once it was clear the store should handle real online orders, I integrated a complete checkout workflow: cart, address details, payment steps and order confirmation emails. That required redesigning the flow from browsing to purchase, and balancing constraints such as inventory management and real-time pricing for high-demand items. We used a staging environment to test every checkout feature before moving it to production, so the transition from a menu-like structure to a working eCommerce system went smoothly.
Deployment
The front-end React application is hosted on Vercel, with the custom domain registered on GoDaddy. Vercel's serverless architecture allows quick rollouts of new releases with minimal downtime, and the setup is simple enough to maintain as requirements keep evolving.
Marketing and visibility
When the site went live we started a two-pronged marketing strategy. Online, we worked on SEO: page titles, meta descriptions and keywords around popular liquor brands and promotions. Offline, the staff handed out promo cards with a link and QR code during in-store visits. Blending digital and physical channels boosted traffic and bridged the gap between traditional shopping and online convenience.
Takeaways
Continuous communication with the owner and manager, flexibility to redesign mid-project and iterative weekly releases took El Gato Tuerto from a concept to a professional eCommerce platform. Ongoing adjustments to the catalog, checkout and marketing campaigns keep it competitive in the local liquor retail market.