Skip to content

A Stalled Fashion Marketplace, Fixed and Launched in 8 Weeks

A multi-vendor marketplace for regional modest-fashion designers, stuck after a previous agency left it half built. We fixed it, finished it and launched it in 8 weeks.

fantasyabaya.me/ar
توصيل مجاني داخل الإمارات للطلبات فوق 300 د.إ · طلبات رمضان تُشحن خلال 24 ساعة
ABAYA & SHAILAابحثي عن عباية، قفطان، مصممة…Englishحسابي2

تشكيلة رمضان 2026

قطع محتشمة من ١٤٠ مصممة خليجية

عبايات وقفاطين وأزياء المناسبات، مع توصيل إلى الإمارات والسعودية.

تسوقي التشكيلةالمصممات

وصل حديثاً

عرض الكل (1,247)

ليلى ستوديو

عباية كتان بأطراف ذهبية

420 د.إ

ميزون روان

قفطان مطرز يدوياً

530 د.إ

-20%

دار كنزة

عباية مفتوحة كريب

510 د.إ640 د.إ

حصة أتيليه

فستان بليسيه طويل

390 د.إ

رمال

طرحة جيرسي

85 د.إ

سحر وشركاه

عباية كريب كحلي

465 د.إ

Client
Fantasy Abaya
Location
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Duration
8 weeks
Team
4 people: tech lead, 2 full-stack devs, QA
Built with
Next.jsMedusaPostgreSQLRedisTabbyStripeAlgoliaAWS
stalled to live
8 weeksstalled to live
conversion rate
2.8%conversion rate
designers onboarded
140designers onboarded
GMV in the first full month
AED 612KGMV in the first full month

01 · About the client

Fantasy Abaya is a seed-stage Abu Dhabi startup building an online home for independent modest-fashion designers from the GCC. Buyers can shop abayas, kaftans and occasion wear from dozens of small labels in one place. The founders had paid a previous agency for nine months of work, but the marketplace never launched: checkout failed, seller payouts didn't work and the codebase had no documentation. They had designers waiting and Ramadan, their biggest sales season, was ten weeks away.

02 · The problem

  • 01

    Broken checkout.

    Orders failed at payment roughly one time in three.

  • 02

    No seller payouts.

    Split payments between the platform and designers had never been finished.

  • 03

    Undocumented code.

    The previous agency left no documentation or tests.

  • 04

    Hard deadline.

    Launch had to happen before Ramadan to catch peak demand.

03 · Our solution

We started with a one-week audit that showed the frontend was usable but the commerce backend was not. We moved orders, inventory and payouts onto Medusa, an open-source commerce engine, and connected the existing storefront to it. We rebuilt checkout with card payments, Apple Pay and Tabby instalments, added split payouts to designers, and built a seller portal for listings, orders and earnings. We added fast bilingual search with Algolia and set up shipping integrations across the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The marketplace launched two weeks before Ramadan.

04 · What we built

  • Reliable checkout

    Card, Apple Pay and buy-now-pay-later with Tabby.

  • Seller portal

    Listings, stock, orders and payouts for each designer.

  • Split payouts

    Automatic commission and settlement to designers.

  • Arabic and English search

    Fast, typo-tolerant search with filters for size and occasion.

  • GCC shipping

    Courier integrations with live rates and tracking.

Is your store stuck? Let's get it launched.

05 · Challenges we solved

  1. 1

    Inherited code

    We kept the storefront design and replaced only the broken commerce layer, saving weeks.

  2. 2

    Peak-season load

    We load-tested for ten times normal traffic ahead of Ramadan.

  3. 3

    Right-to-left layouts

    We fixed Arabic layouts across every page and email template.

06 · Our approach

  1. Week 1

    01 Audit

    Code review, bug list and a keep/fix/replace plan.

  2. Weeks 2–4

    02 Fix

    Commerce backend, checkout and payments.

  3. Weeks 5–6

    03 Finish

    Seller portal, payouts, search and shipping.

  4. Weeks 7–8

    04 Launch

    Designer onboarding, load testing and go-live.

07 · Results

The marketplace launched in time for Ramadan and processed more orders in its first month than the founders had planned for the first quarter. Designers get paid automatically, and the founders now have a documented codebase and a team they can call on for new features.

Inside the product. 

Key screens from the build. Click any screen to enlarge.

Storefront home in Arabic, with an English switch

fantasyabaya.me/ar
توصيل مجاني داخل الإمارات للطلبات فوق 300 د.إ · طلبات رمضان تُشحن خلال 24 ساعة
ABAYA & SHAILAابحثي عن عباية، قفطان، مصممة…Englishحسابي2

تشكيلة رمضان 2026

قطع محتشمة من ١٤٠ مصممة خليجية

عبايات وقفاطين وأزياء المناسبات، مع توصيل إلى الإمارات والسعودية.

تسوقي التشكيلةالمصممات

وصل حديثاً

عرض الكل (1,247)

ليلى ستوديو

عباية كتان بأطراف ذهبية

420 د.إ

ميزون روان

قفطان مطرز يدوياً

530 د.إ

-20%

دار كنزة

عباية مفتوحة كريب

510 د.إ640 د.إ

حصة أتيليه

فستان بليسيه طويل

390 د.إ

رمال

طرحة جيرسي

85 د.إ

سحر وشركاه

عباية كريب كحلي

465 د.إ

01Storefront home in Arabic, with an English switch

Checkout with Tabby and Apple Pay options

fantasyabaya.me/en/checkouts/cn/Z2NwLWV1cm9wZS13ZXN0NDowMUhR

BagInformationShippingPayment

Contactmariam.alhashimi@gmail.comChange
Ship toVilla 14, Al Raha Gardens, Khalifa City, Abu DhabiChange
MethodAramex Express · 1 business day · FreeChange

Payment

All transactions are secure and encrypted.

Pay in 4. No interest, no fees.tabby
1AED 237.50Today2AED 237.509 Apr3AED 237.509 May4AED 237.508 Jun

You'll be redirected to Tabby to complete your purchase.

Apple PayPay
Credit / debit cardVISAAMEX
Cash on deliveryNot available for orders over AED 750
Return to shippingContinue with Tabby
1
Linen abayaSand / 54 · Layla StudioAED 420.00
1
Embroidered kaftanPlum / M · Maison RawanAED 530.00
Discount code or gift cardApply

Subtotal · 2 itemsAED 950.00

ShippingFREE

Ships from 2 designers (Abu Dhabi, Dubai)

TotalAED950.00

Including AED 45.24 in taxes

Payments processed by Stripe. Tabby is subject to eligibility.

02Checkout with Tabby and Apple Pay options

Seller portal with orders and earnings

sellers.fantasyabaya.me/orders
Search orders, buyers, SKUsLA

Orders

ExportPrint packing slips (3)
Available for payoutAED 9,860.00Pending (in return window)AED 4,212.75Next payoutThu 5 Mar · ADCB ••0716Commission15% of item price
AllUnfulfilled 4Ready to ship 1ShippedReturns 1CancelledMarch 2026
OrderDateBuyerItemsPaymentFulfilmentYour net
#FA-24817Today, 11:42Mariam Al Hashimi · Abu DhabiLinen abaya · Sand / 54TabbyUnfulfilledAED 357.00
#FA-24809Today, 09:15Noura S. · RiyadhLinen abaya · Black / 56PaidUnfulfilledAED 357.00
#FA-24802Today, 01:03Hind Al Qasimi · SharjahLinen abaya · Sand / 52 ×2PaidPackedAED 714.00
#FA-24796YesterdayFatima Rashed · DubaiPleated maxi · Sage / SPaidShippedAED 331.50
#FA-24781YesterdayAisha K. · JeddahOpen front abaya · Camel / 52TabbyShippedAED 433.50
#FA-247793 MarReem Obaid · Al AinLinen abaya · Black / 54PendingUnfulfilledAED 357.00
#FA-247603 MarLatifa M. · SharjahLinen abaya · Sand / 54PaidDeliveredAED 357.00
#FA-247442 MarShamma Al Mazrouei · Abu DhabiJersey hijab ×3PaidDeliveredAED 216.75
#FA-247312 MarDana Y. · Kuwait CityLinen abaya · Black / 58RefundedReturn requested—
#FA-247191 MarMouza Al Ketbi · DubaiLinen abaya · Sand / 56PaidDeliveredAED 357.00
#FA-247021 MarSara H. · DohaPleated maxi · Sage / MPaidCancelled—
1–11 of 107 orders
03Seller portal with orders and earnings

Admin GMV dashboard

insights.fantasyabaya.me/dashboard/3-marketplace-overview
Our analytics / MarketplaceSearch…+ NewRS

Marketplace overview

Edited 2 days ago by Omar · auto-refresh 5 min

DateMarch 2026MarketAllChannelWeb, iOS, Android

GMV (AED)

612,384

↑ 138.4% vs. Feb (soft launch)

Orders

1,318

↑ 121.2% vs. Feb

Storefront conversion

2.81%

↑ 0.37 pt vs. Feb

Payment failure rate

0.62%

↓ 4.1 pt vs. Feb

GMV by day

GMV (AED, incl. VAT)Eid al-Fitr: 20 Mar

Payment method

Card44.1%

Apple Pay33.4%

Tabby21.9%

COD0.6%

GMV by market (AED)

United Arab Emirates434,210
Saudi Arabia147,092
Kuwait18,665
Qatar12,417

Top designers by GMV

DesignerMarketOrdersGMV (AED)Payout status
Layla StudioAE21471,904.50Paid 26 Feb
Maison RawanAE16864,212.00Paid 26 Feb
Dar KenzaSA15152,839.75Paid 26 Feb
Hessa AtelierKW13941,506.00Scheduled 5 Mar
Sahar & CoAE9738,118.25Paid 26 Feb
RimalAE18816,002.50Paid 26 Feb
04Admin GMV dashboard

Fantasy Abaya's website today: fantasyabaya.me

Fantasy Abaya website home page
05Fantasy Abaya's website today: fantasyabaya.me

Related work. 

Get in touch

Is your store stuck? Let's get it launched.

Share a few lines about your idea, workflow or project. A senior lead replies within one business day.

  • Free 30-minute strategy call
  • NDA on request
  • Proposal within 48 hours

We reply within one business day. No spam, ever.

The right conversation can save you
six months.

Free 30-minute strategy call · NDA on request · Proposal within 48 hours