Problem and Challenge

Company X needed technological support for their personalized cosmetics sales process, which begins with collecting data about the client’s skin condition and ends with delivering the appropriate product – whether ready-made, custom-created, or prescribed after a teleconsultation.

Available Shopify plugins and extensions proved insufficient to handle this complex scenario. They lacked flexibility in building conditional logic, integration with external APIs, and full control over the user interface.

Our task was to build an external system that would seamlessly and aesthetically fit into the existing store.

The main challenges in the project were:

• Designing and creating an interactive quiz that collects data needed to determine product composition or direct the patient to a medical consultation.
• Maintaining full visual and functional consistency with the existing Shopify-based store – despite the quiz application being an external system.
• Handling multiple post-quiz scenarios: recommending a ready-made product, transferring data for personalized product manufacturing, or initiating the medical pathway.
• Integration with the US e-prescription system, where doctors work with external platforms for issuing digital prescriptions.
• Data synchronization between modules, including the laboratory, telemedicine platform, and customer service backend.

Solution

We created an independent web application that serves as a diagnostic quiz while simultaneously managing the entire product personalization pathway.

The application was designed to be lightweight, responsive, and fully visually consistent with the client’s existing Shopify store – despite operating outside its environment.

React technology handles the user interface, while the backend, based on Spring Boot, manages all business logic, data processing pathways, and integrations with external systems.

The quiz enables collection of key information about the user’s skin and automatically directs them to one of three pathways:

• Ready-made product – recommendation of a product available in the store’s standard offering, suitable for the user’s specific skin type.
• Personalized product – preparation of a dedicated formulation based on a unique recipe developed by the laboratory, delivered directly to the client.
• Medical therapy – in cases requiring medical intervention, the quiz directs the user to a medical teleconsultation, where a doctor can issue an e-prescription based on quiz results and additional data. The prescription is then fulfilled by the laboratory, which prepares an individually tailored prescription product.

We also ensured complete technological separation from Shopify – the application operates independently, but thanks to appropriate UI/UX, it doesn’t disrupt user experience continuity.

A key aspect was preparing conditional logic for processing quiz results and transferring them to appropriate modules: laboratory, telemedicine platform, or e-prescription system. All integrations with external systems – both medical and the client’s internal systems – were based on secure APIs.

The solution was completed with a back-office application – the Formulation App – used by the client’s employees to manage quiz results, create cosmetic formulations, and collect customer feedback. This is where input and feedback data are analyzed, and cosmetic formulas are continuously improved based on real user needs.

Lessons Learned

Through this collaboration, we gained practical know-how in developing complex applications that work with the Shopify ecosystem and integrate medical and sales data in one cohesive process.

In summary, we can meet challenges related to:

• Creating complex, interactive forms that are both intuitive for users and crucial from a business logic perspective,
• Maintaining full visual consistency between an external application and an existing online store,
• Shopify platform limitations – we thoroughly examined its capabilities and constraints in the context of extending functionality, such as custom quizzes and conditional logic,
• Appropriate solution architecture selection – we made a conscious decision to create a parallel quiz application instead of attempting to build functionality within Shopify, which allowed for greater flexibility and independence,
• Integration with external medical systems – we successfully connected our system with the US e-prescription and telemedicine service.

If you’re facing similar challenges – contact us. We’ll be happy to propose an appropriate solution.