Use Bubble "In-App" Database or External option via API?

I hope everyone is having a great 2024 so far!

The main question is whether I should use the Bubble “In-App” Database option or an external option via API such as Postgres, Mongo, AWS, dbDiagram, etc.?

If using “3rd party” Square or Thrive/Shopventory, is there a way to integrate via API to display product info on my Web App? If so, is this the best practice or rather integrate to send purchase info to “3rd party” for update? Building APIs isn’t a blocker or concern just want to do it the best way possible.

Product Info

MVP Vision: Health & Fitness Supplements E-Comm store to support 2 brick-and-mortar locations. Mainly targeting a local market in late phases looking to add more inventory and target wider areas.

Concerns:

  1. The store has a lot of products that have a brand, item, category, flavor, and size mandatory filter/selection options users need to pick to select a product they want. All this information across a lot of products will add significant weight to the application.
  2. Catalog could massively expand if “non-local” sales gain traction. More weight.
  3. Using a third-party platform (Square, Thrive/Shopventory) for inventory management:
  • Will need integration with the platform so that when a user buys an item the third-party system can receive API calls to update.
  • Updates are needed when items are “out of stock” to reflect on site.
  • AI Site Assistant will be added post MVP to help users with item selection based on specific needs so Bot will need access to Database for reference. (Possibly have a workaround so not necessarily a factor)

If you need additional info to give the best answer please let me know and I’ll provide it. Thanks for the help and I’m excited to hear from everyone and build a great platform for our amazing users.

Best,
KPK

Built in Bubble database is good for this

+1 what @tylerboodman said. Such data is not an issue in the slightest for Bubble to handle and will likely be faster than querying a 3rd party.

NOTE: You may want to create a satellite data type for searches or store other details and reviews in other data sets (with a review average score on the product dataset).