Kharbuj: a seed storefront built for farmers on their phones.
Kharbuj sells melon, gourd and vegetable seeds to farmers across India. Shraen designed and built the storefront end to end: crop-led navigation, product pages with pack sizes, a cart, and ordering on WhatsApp.
- Sector
- Agricultural seeds
- Market
- India, mobile-first
- Scope
- UX/UI, storefront design, frontend
- Stack
- Next.js, React
- Result
- [TODO: add one real result (launch date, mobile LCP or orders via WhatsApp)]
The problem.
A farmer buying seed online is making a decision that sets up a whole season. They need to know the seed is genuine and will germinate, which pack size to buy, what it costs to deliver to their village, and that they can pay when it arrives.
Many shop on a budget phone over a patchy connection, and search for crops by the names they use every day rather than catalogue terms. A generic ecommerce template answers none of this, and buries the product under menus built for a different kind of shopper.
The approach.
Kharbuj is built with Next.js, not Shopify. It is here because the work is the same: design around how customers actually shop, then build it properly.
- 01
Navigate by crop
The main navigation lists crops (muskmelon, watermelon, cucumber, gourds, tomato, chilli, okra) instead of abstract categories, and search accepts everyday names such as tarbooz, kheera and karela.
- 02
Trust before the first scroll
Germination testing, cash on delivery, all-India delivery and crop advice sit in a bar directly under the hero, and the delivery threshold is in the announcement bar on every page.
- 03
Product pages built around pack size
Price, MRP and saving are shown together, pack sizes are large tappable options with their own prices, and the quantity stepper, add to cart and buy now buttons stay simple.
- 04
Ordering the way customers already do
Alongside the cart, every product page has an Order on WhatsApp button, and an Ask an expert link in the header opens a conversation for crop advice.
- 05
Bilingual where it matters
Hindi names sit beside English ones for crops and key headlines, so the store reads naturally to customers in both languages.
What was built.
Designed and built by the same person, with no hand-off between a designer and a developer.
- Home page with seasonal hero and trust bar
- Crop-led navigation and search
- Collection pages by crop
- Product pages with pack sizes and quantity
- Cart, buy now and WhatsApp ordering
- Mobile-first responsive frontend
Questions, answered.
About this project, and what it means for a Shopify store.
Was Kharbuj built on Shopify?
No. Kharbuj is a custom storefront built with Next.js and React. The same approach, mobile-first design around how customers actually shop and a careful build, is what Shraen brings to Shopify stores.
What did Shraen do on the Kharbuj project?
The UX and UI design, the storefront design system and the frontend build, from the home page and crop navigation to product pages, cart and WhatsApp ordering.
Can you add WhatsApp ordering to a Shopify store?
Yes. A WhatsApp order or enquiry button can be built into Shopify product pages as a theme section, prefilled with the product and variant, alongside the normal cart.
Let's make your store better.
Tell me what's holding your store back. I'll tell you honestly whether it's a two-week fix or a bigger project.