Licensed Sports eCommerce
Licensed sports merchandise from a real licensee. Not resale. Not knockoffs.
The Problem
The client operates as a major North American professional sports league licensee selling sports merchandise internationally. Their current eCommerce infrastructure doesn't support multi-currency transactions, international shipping workflows, or the compliance requirements of licensed merchandise sales across borders. They need a modern platform that handles the complexity of licensed sports retail.
The Approach
A ground-up eCommerce rebuild for the client using Next.js 16 with Supabase, Stripe for multi-currency payments, and next-intl for internationalization. Purpose-built for the constraints of licensed merchandise — territory restrictions, minimum advertised pricing, and league-specific compliance rules baked into the platform architecture.
Status
In Development
Category
eCommerce
Founded
2024
Role
Sr. Project Manager & Technical Lead
Market
B2C customers (sports fans), B2B wholesale (retailers and distributors)
Team
Cross-functional team (PM, 2 developers, designer)
Tech Stack
Next.js 16, Supabase, Stripe, next-intl
Deep Dive
The Licensed Sports eCommerce engagement replaces a legacy storefront with a modern platform designed for the specific demands of licensed sports merchandise retail.
Why Licensed Merchandise Is Different
Selling licensed products from major North American professional sports leagues isn't normal eCommerce. Each league has territory restrictions on where products can ship. Minimum advertised pricing (MAP) policies dictate what prices can be displayed publicly. Royalty reporting requires granular sales data by SKU, by league, by territory. Off-the-shelf eCommerce platforms don't handle any of this natively.
Platform Architecture
Next.js 16 with App Router for the storefront — server-rendered for SEO, streaming for performance. Supabase handles product catalog, inventory, and order management with row-level security. Stripe powers multi-currency checkout with territory-aware pricing. next-intl provides full internationalization for the multi-market customer base.
Compliance Layer
Territory restrictions are enforced at the checkout level — the cart validates shipping addresses against league-specific territory maps before allowing purchase. MAP pricing is managed through a separate pricing engine that ensures displayed prices always comply. Royalty reports are auto-generated from order data with the granularity each league requires.
Milestones