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Mobile App Case Study
Apmilane is a startup based out of Michigan, USA. Apmilane wanted to build a Scan and Go app for the small to medium scale retailers and reached out to us. The idea was to build an app that shoppers visiting the physical brick and mortar store can use while in there to quickly scan the products, make payment using PayPal or credit or debit cards and check out of the store with their digital receipt. The stores on the other hand would have their own app through which they can manage inventories, offers, discounts, promotions, POS and return items.
Objectives
- Build an app that will help shoppers and make their overall buying experience more smooth.
- Develop an application to help the stores to eliminate their old POS system and manage everything through this new mobile POS application.
- Create a SAAS platform where multiple stores can register so that buyers can use the app in their stores as well.
- Ensure a user friendly and effective bar code scanning mechanism that will be able to read even the wrinkled and soiled barcodes.
- Build virtual wallet for the shoppers allowing them to use the accumulated funds of the wallet to make purchases.
- Put a process in place through which store managers can help shoppers complete their purchase by accessing the shopper’s cart from their mobile POS system.
- Have the apps for both the shopper and the stores built in Android and IOS.
- Ensure that the apps are easy to use for both the shopper and the store.
PHASE 1
Use Case mapping
Apmilane provided the high level use cases that they wanted to convert into business functionality inside the app. The use case was broken down to the most granular level and then this was mapped to the database design to ensure that the database design was adequate to cater to all the business cases. In parallel, the front end screen mockups were developed and the user journey was built. One of the important aspects of the project was to provide the shopper with an experience that would make shopping and checkout in any brick and mortar store as seamless as they have got used to in the online ecommerce platforms.
PHASE 2
Development of Business Layer
Once the front-end screens and the back-end database design were complete, it was time to build the business logic and the web services to be used by both the shopper app and the store POS app to interact with the back-end database.
With different states having different tax slabs it was also important to ensure that managing the tax on items was made configurable so that stores could manage it based on their needs. The application was designed to allow store owners to run promotions, give cash-back offers and discounts on items and manage it all through their store app.
PHASE 3
Bringing it all together
Once the apps were designed, it was time to bring it all together under a SAAS platform where stores would be able to go and register themselves on the platform and manage their stores on the platform. The platform also provided the stores with different reports to track their vital KPIs that provide them an idea of the operational efficiency that the scan and go app is providing their business.
The platform also provides the stores with an opportunity to add additional KPIs to report on. Bringing the platform, store app and the shopper app required extensive testing to ensure that all the three components of the Scan and Go app were exchanging data properly and the overall shopper journey was a smooth one.
To know more about how we help businesses, check out our Mobile App Development services.