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Cart to Order Flow

This guide walks you through implementing the complete shopping cart to order conversion process.

Overview

The cart-to-order flow involves several steps:
  1. Add items to cart
  2. Validate cart contents
  3. Calculate totals and fees
  4. Process payment
  5. Create order
  6. Update inventory
  7. Send notifications

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Add Items to Cart

2. Validate Cart for Checkout

3. Create Payment Intent

4. Process Payment

5. Create Order from Cart

Complete Flow Example

Error Handling

Common Validation Errors

  • Out of stock: Product no longer available
  • Price changes: Product price updated
  • Invalid quantities: Quantity exceeds available stock
  • Store unavailable: Store is not accepting orders

Payment Errors

  • Insufficient funds: Card declined
  • Invalid card: Card details incorrect
  • Network error: Payment processing failed

Best Practices

  1. Always validate cart before payment
  2. Handle errors gracefully with user-friendly messages
  3. Clear cart only after successful order creation
  4. Send confirmations via email and push notifications
  5. Update inventory immediately after order creation
The cart-to-order flow is designed to be atomic - either all steps succeed or none do, ensuring data consistency.