Event Sarathi – Event Vendor Marketplace
Award-winning MERN marketplace connecting event organizers with verified vendors
Technologies Used
Proprietary / Private Codebase
To protect client confidentiality, proprietary AI models, and commercial IP, this repository is private. If you are an engineering manager, recruiter, or collaborator wishing to explore code samples, architecture specifics, or arrange a private code walk-through, feel free to connect directly:
Executive Overview
Event Sarathi is a full-stack MERN vendor marketplace that connects regional wedding and event planners with verified catering, decoration, photography, and entertainment vendors — solving the opacity and trust deficit in India's fragmented event services market. Won 1st Prize at the Inter-University Ideathon 2024 competing against 20+ teams.
The Problem Statement
Event hosts in Tier-2 and Tier-3 Indian cities struggle to find transparent vendor pricing, verified service reviews, and contact details — forcing reliance on personal networks and unverified WhatsApp groups. Vendors lacked a professional digital presence to attract leads beyond word-of-mouth.
The Engineering Solution
Built a full-stack MERN marketplace with vendor catalog onboarding (service categories, portfolios, pricing tiers), customer lead inquiry forms with email notifications, SEO-optimized vendor profile pages with Schema.org LocalBusiness structured data, and a Google Search Console-driven content strategy targeting regional event planning keywords.
System Architecture & Implementation
React.js SPA frontend with React Router for vendor browsing, filtering, and detail pages. Node.js + Express.js RESTful API backend with JWT authentication for vendor accounts. MongoDB Atlas for vendor profiles, service listings, and customer leads. Cloudinary for vendor portfolio image hosting. Nodemailer for real-time lead notification emails to vendors on inquiry submission. Deployed on Vercel (frontend) + Railway (backend).
Technical Challenges & Solutions
Optimizing organic search visibility against well-funded aggregator competitors (WeddingWire, Sulekha) targeting the same regional keywords. Convincing initial vendors to onboard without an existing user base — the classic marketplace cold-start problem. Ensuring vendor profile pages loaded fast enough for low-bandwidth mobile connections common in Tier-2 cities.
Key Lessons Learned
Implementing structured Schema.org metadata (LocalBusiness, Service, Review) and consistent Google Search Console monitoring generated a 60% increase in organic traffic within 90 days — without any paid advertising. The Ideathon judges specifically cited the SEO strategy as a differentiator. Personalized onboarding calls with first 20 vendors produced higher-quality profiles than self-serve forms alone.
Roadmap & Future Improvements
Integrating instant WhatsApp lead notification bots for vendors upon customer inquiry submission, and a verified review system with post-event SMS follow-ups to customers for authentic feedback collection.
Case Study Narrative & Verified Outcomes
Event Sarathi launched with 20+ verified vendors across catering, decoration, and photography categories, and won 1st Prize at the Inter-University Ideathon 2024 against 20+ competing teams from 5 universities. The SEO-driven content strategy grew organic sessions by 60% in the first 90 days post-launch without paid promotion. Vendors reported receiving 3-5 qualified leads per month through the platform, citing it as their primary digital lead source.
Related Engineering Case Studies
Elevate – AI-Powered Full Stack Fitness Companion
Hyper-personalized AI workout planner, diet engine & research-published fitness app
ERP Academy – SAP Training Platform with AI-Automated Content Pipeline
Production-grade SAP training institute platform with autonomous n8n-powered blog publishing
MERN Stack vs. Next.js 15 Full-Stack in 2026: Architecture Guide for Founders
Detailed comparison of performance, SEO rendering, latency, and SaaS development speed.
Interested in similar architecture?
Work With Nikhil Nishad
I partner with startups, product teams, and founders globally to design, build, and deploy production-grade AI systems, Next.js web applications, and document automation.