Case Study: Extending Bagisto with Customizable Storefront Templates, GraphQL Enhancements, and PIM Integration

Overview

Bagisto is an open-source eCommerce platform built on Laravel, offering flexibility for custom storefronts and backend extensibility. I forked and contributed to Bagisto to address a common limitation I observed in real-world usage: the gap between backend product management, frontend presentation flexibility, and conversion-focused storefront design.

The goal of this work was to make Bagisto more viable for production eCommerce use cases by improving backend extensibility through GraphQL, enabling highly customizable storefront templates, integrating a Product Information Management (PIM) system for scalable product operations, and enhancing product detail pages to support real buying decisions.

The stack included PHP (Laravel), GraphQL, TypeScript, React, and Next.js.

Problem Statement

Out of the box, Bagisto provides a solid foundation for eCommerce, but I identified several limitations that affect scalability and conversion:

Limited Storefront Flexibility

Merchants often need multiple visual and UX variants without rebuilding the frontend.

Weak Separation Between Content, Design, and Data

Storefront customization was tightly coupled and not easily configurable per store or theme.

Manual Product Enrichment

Managing large catalogs directly in Bagisto becomes inefficient without a PIM.

Under-Optimized Product Detail Pages (PDPs)

Key purchase drivers (materials, sizing, variants, social proof) were not structured for conversion.

My Role and Ownership

I worked as a mid–senior frontend-focused engineer with strong backend ownership, responsible for designing and implementing GraphQL schema extensions, enhancing backend template configuration logic, building a fully dynamic frontend rendering system, integrating external systems (UnoPIM), and improving product UX and conversion features.

This was not a cosmetic contribution; it involved architectural decisions across backend and frontend.

Backend Enhancements (PHP, Laravel, GraphQL)

1. GraphQL Extensions for Storefront Templates

I extended Bagisto's GraphQL layer using Lighthouse to support 25 fully configurable storefront templates. The challenge was designing a schema that could represent arbitrary template configurations without becoming unwieldy.

I created a JSON-based configuration structure stored in the database, then exposed it through GraphQL with proper type definitions. Each template configuration includes color themes and palettes, UI density settings, component positioning for hero sections and product grids, and dynamic sections like carousels for testimonials, reviews, and promotional content.

The key architectural decision was storing configurations as structured JSON rather than normalized database tables. This allowed for rapid iteration and easy addition of new configuration options without schema migrations. The trade-off was that complex queries on configuration data required JSON path operations, but this was acceptable since configurations are read-heavy and rarely queried by complex criteria.

I built GraphQL resolvers that validate configuration schemas on write and provide type-safe access on read. This ensured that invalid configurations couldn't break the frontend while maintaining flexibility for merchants to customize their storefronts.

2. Conversion-Oriented Template Configuration

Beyond visual customization, I added conversion-focused sections configurable from the backend, including trust elements (testimonials, reviews), call-to-action positioning, and content blocks designed to guide prospects toward purchase.

The intent was to allow non-technical users to influence conversion outcomes without redeploying frontend code.

3. UnoPIM ↔ Bagisto Integration

To address catalog scalability, I implemented a direct integration between UnoPIM and Bagisto. The integration needed to handle bulk product imports, attribute mapping, and conflict resolution when products exist in both systems.

I built a synchronization service that runs as a Laravel queue job, processing products in batches to avoid memory issues with large catalogs. The service maps UnoPIM product attributes to Bagisto's schema, handles variant creation, and manages product images through Bagisto's media system.

The tricky part was handling conflicts when a product exists in both systems with different data. I implemented a merge strategy that prioritizes UnoPIM data for product attributes but preserves Bagisto-specific data like custom fields and localizations. For concurrent updates, I used database transactions with row-level locking to prevent race conditions.

The integration also needed to handle partial failures gracefully. If one product in a batch fails to import, the others should still process. I implemented per-product error handling with detailed logging, so merchants can see exactly which products failed and why.

Frontend Implementation (TypeScript, React, Next.js)

1. Template Rendering System

On the frontend, I built a dynamic rendering system that consumes GraphQL template configurations and maps them to React components. The goal was supporting 25+ storefront variants from a single codebase without duplicating components or hardcoding layouts.

I created a component registry pattern where template configurations reference component names, and the rendering system dynamically imports and instantiates the appropriate components. This required careful design to avoid circular dependencies and ensure tree-shaking still worked effectively.

The performance challenge was that dynamic imports can delay initial render. I solved this by preloading component bundles for active templates and using React.lazy with Suspense boundaries. For template-specific assets like images and styles, I implemented code splitting at the template level, so each storefront only loads what it needs.

I also built a configuration validator that runs at build time to catch invalid template configurations before they reach production. This prevented runtime errors from malformed configurations and gave merchants immediate feedback when configuring their storefronts.

2. Product Detail Page (PDP) Enhancements

I significantly enhanced the PDP experience to better support buyer decision-making:

For structured product information, I extracted key attributes like material, color, and fit, rendering them as clear bullet points to improve scannability and trust.

I implemented size and color variant logic where variants dynamically update pricing, availability, and visual selection state. I also added sizing chart support directly into the PDP, reducing ambiguity and return risk for apparel products.

These changes aligned the PDP closer to modern, conversion-optimized eCommerce standards.

Technical Challenges and Decisions

GraphQL Schema Design

The GraphQL schema needed to support highly dynamic UIs without over-fetching data. I designed query fragments that merchants could compose based on their template needs, and implemented field-level selection so the frontend only requests what it actually uses.

I also added a depth limit to prevent deeply nested queries that could cause performance issues. The schema uses interfaces and unions for polymorphic types like different carousel content types, which required careful resolver design to maintain type safety while allowing flexibility.

One specific challenge was handling nested configurations - templates can have sections, sections can have components, and components can have nested configurations. I used GraphQL's nested input types and built validation logic that ensures the configuration structure matches what the frontend expects.

Frontend Performance

Template-driven rendering introduced the risk of performance degradation, especially with 25+ possible template variants. I used React.memo extensively for configuration-driven components and implemented useMemo for expensive computations like layout calculations.

Code splitting was critical. I configured Next.js to create separate chunks for each template's unique components and assets. The initial bundle only includes the template loader and common components, with template-specific code loaded on demand.

I also optimized the GraphQL queries themselves. Instead of fetching entire template configurations, the frontend requests only the active template's configuration. For multi-template scenarios (like A/B testing), I implemented prefetching for likely templates based on user behavior.

System Integration

Maintaining data consistency between UnoPIM and Bagisto required careful design. I made all import operations idempotent by using external IDs from UnoPIM as the source of truth. If a product with the same UnoPIM ID already exists in Bagisto, the import updates it rather than creating a duplicate.

For concurrent updates, I implemented optimistic locking using version fields. When UnoPIM sends an update, the system checks the version number. If the version in Bagisto is older, it applies the update. If versions match or Bagisto is newer, it logs a conflict for manual resolution.

The integration also handles partial failures gracefully. If an import fails for one product, it continues with the rest and logs errors for later review. This prevents a single bad product from blocking an entire catalog import.

Impact

The work enabled 25+ configurable storefront templates without frontend redeploys, improved conversion-readiness of Bagisto-based stores, reduced product management overhead through PIM integration, and created a scalable foundation for future storefront experimentation.

This work transformed Bagisto from a generic eCommerce framework into a more production-ready, conversion-aware platform.

Key Takeaways

Strong separation of data, configuration, and presentation is critical at scale. GraphQL is a powerful enabler for dynamic frontend architectures. eCommerce success depends as much on UX and conversion as on data correctness. Backend and frontend decisions must be aligned from the start.

Technical Stack

The backend used PHP 8.1+, Laravel 10, GraphQL (Lighthouse), and MySQL. The frontend was built with TypeScript, React 18, Next.js 14, and GraphQL Client (Apollo). For integration, I worked with the UnoPIM API through a RESTful synchronization layer.