It occurred to me that one could build an online store without a database, with JS serializing the cart into an email for the customer to send.
This would avoid the need of cookies, consent forms, database costs, and let you use just a static site and an e-mail address.
I've done a low tech store. Basically users browse products they like. They enter their phone and address to send it to as proof that they're actual buyers. The page caches their contact details so they can do the same on other items. If it's hard to imagine, it's in the cover image of this article: https://smuzani.medium.com/setting-up-a-mobile-backend-serve...
It goes into a database. We'd filter orders by phone number to form a "cart", and also filter out "delivered" statuses from their past order.
It was meant to be a MVP to see if people in one country would actually buy ingredients through a recipe app. Worked incredibly well - we were swamped with orders as soon as we allowed it.
It was around 85 items over 3 days, totalling around $750. We'd contact them via WhatsApp or SMS, request payment, verify payment, send the item, then verify it arrived. But we had the power of databases to sort that out. That stuff gets exponentially more complex the more orders and items you get.
But why would you avoid doing that to save on "database costs"? It's a lot harder when you can't really track who you contacted, who paid, who said they were going to pay but haven't paid, and so on. I'd have happily outsourced that process for a few cents.
This may still work today, someone should try it.
Send where, and what happens then, and how does all of it work with no database?
Three days later, customer wants to know what's happening with the order.
Can you describe all the use cases, and how they work without a database?
You could run an online store with only a printer. Put your "database" of goods on paper, distribute it to potential customers, and they can fill out and FAX it back in.
But not in a store.
Be aware you might be sending personal information. And you'd be doing so unencrypted.
You could still use a static site by having a form that writes to a DB, or replace the DB with a plain text file if you'd like.
Cookies or login help for repeat customers should you desire to remember them and not have them re-enter stuff.
Note: I’m sure no normal people would buy from such a store unless they were our type of nerds who were explained what the deal was. But as a thought experiment I think it’s perfectly possible.
Back in the day, people didn't even use CC; heck, they refused to transfer via ATM because they thought the money could disappear, so they'd drive up to a cash deposit machine to make online transactions.
These days, there are still people who insist on cash. But you can automate it with virtual account numbers. So you'd assign a virtual account number to a customer, which forwards the money to your actual account. But since that virtual account number is uniquely assigned to a customer, you can track that this specific customer paid.