E-commerce Product Catalog & Order Management API

Develop a comprehensive backend API for an e-commerce platform, focusing on managing product listings, user shopping carts, and the entire order processing workflow. This project will involve creating robust APIs for handling product categories, detailed product information, and inventory levels. It will also include functionalities for users to manage their shopping carts (adding, removing, updating items) and a secure system for placing and tracking orders. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring data integrity, transactional consistency, and efficient data retrieval to support a smooth e-commerce experience.