Web and Mobile Application Solution Expert

Thank you for providing the project details. Your requirements are clear and well-defined. Based on this information, I'll proceed to formulate an architectural design, solution design, and technology recommendations tailored to your project's needs.
Architectural Design:
Considering the nature of your project as a web application, I recommend adopting a microservices architecture. This architecture promotes scalability, maintainability, and flexibility by breaking down the application into smaller, loosely coupled services. Here's a high-level overview of the proposed architecture:

User Interface (Front-End): Develop a responsive web-based front-end using modern frameworks such as React or Angular. This will provide an intuitive and user-friendly interface for customers to browse grocery items, place orders, and manage their accounts.
API Gateway: Implement an API gateway to handle requests from the front-end and route them to appropriate microservices. This central entry point enhances security, load balancing, and API management.
Authentication and Authorization: Utilize OAuth 2.0 or JWT-based authentication for user login and session management. This ensures secure access to user-specific features and data.
Order Management Microservice: Create a microservice responsible for handling order-related functionality. This includes order placement, payment processing, and order tracking.
User Management Microservice: Develop a separate microservice for user management tasks, including registration, login, and profile management.
Catalog Microservice: Build a microservice to manage the catalog of grocery items available in nearby shops. This includes listing items, their details, and availability.
Payment Microservice: Implement a microservice to handle payment transactions. Integrate with popular payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal for secure online payments.
Database: Use a relational database (e.g., PostgreSQL) to store user profiles, orders, and other relevant data. For high availability and scalability, consider using database replication and sharding techniques.
Caching: Integrate a caching layer (e.g., Redis) to improve response times for frequently accessed data, such as catalog items and user information.
Load Balancing and Scaling: Deploy microservices in containers using Docker and manage them with Kubernetes. This allows for easy scaling and load balancing to meet the demand during peak times.

Solution Design:
To address the Functional Requirements (FRs) you've mentioned:

For the user's ability to order food items, the Order Management Microservice will handle this functionality. It will interact with the Catalog Microservice to retrieve item details and availability.
The payment and tracking of orders will be managed by the Payment Microservice, which will interface with payment gateways and update order statuses.
User order history and account management will be facilitated by the User Management Microservice.

Technology Recommendations:

Front-End: React or Angular for the user interface.
Back-End: Node.js or Spring Boot for microservices development.
Authentication and Security: OAuth 2.0 or JWT for secure user authentication.
HTTPS for encrypted communication.
Database: PostgreSQL for data storage.
Caching: Redis for caching frequently accessed data.
Containerization and Orchestration: Docker for containerization.
Kubernetes for orchestration and scaling.
API Gateway: API Gateway services like Kong or Amazon API Gateway.
Payment Gateway: Integration with Stripe or PayPal for payment processing.