An inspiring case of in-store pickup and delivery marketplace app development to help the community strive.
Short overview
Yulia Vykhovanets
Ruslan Vasylenko
Taras Perun
Vitaliy Kobytsia
Time:
April - September 2020
Platform:
Mobile app
Industry:
Buy and sell marketplace
Country:
Haiti
Services:
Mobile app development, UI/UX design, QA testing
Short overview
Team:
![Yulia Vykhovanets]()
Yulia Vykhovanets![Ruslan Vasylenko]()
Ruslan Vasylenko![Taras Perun]()
Taras Perun![Vitaliy Kobytsia]()
Vitaliy KobytsiaTime:
April - September 2020
Platform:
Mobile app
Industry:
Buy and sell marketplace
Country:
Haiti
Services:
Mobile app development, UI/UX design, QA testing
About the client
BOPIS is a P2P, B2C, B2B marketplace that allows the Caribbean and Latin Americans to do business. It’s also available globally, so that everyone can benefit from its buy-and-sell marketplace functionality.
Project idea
“What is not good for one, may be good for another!” Have you got any items you no longer need? Start selling them on BOPIS. This buy-and-sell marketplace offers its users an innovative approach to doing business. With fresh opportunities, people from the Caribbean and Latin America as well as all over the world can start earning money right away, by selling goods or promoting their services.
Story
Story
Business owners have the power to stand up for their communities when they see certain challenges. Jean Neas turned to Apiko seeing a great opportunity for the Caribbean and Latin Americans to boost the economy in their local area.
Our client is from Haiti, so he knows firsthand the political and economic situation there. Instability, kidnappings, thefts, indifference of the state - all of these compelled Jean Neas to undertake an ecommerce marketplace development that would help his community and keep people engaged in honest and profitable business activities. He came to Apiko with an idea to build a completely free, simple marketplace app where users would be able to buy and sell all kinds of products, promote their services or even businesses.
After researching similar apps, such as OfferUp and Letgo, Apiko designed the wireframes, arranging the elements to best accomplish the purpose of the BOPIS buy-and-sell marketplace and respond to the requirements. We developed and tested all the necessary features for smooth user flow, implemented integrations (such as Twilio, Forestadmin, and Branch.io), and deployed the react native marketplace app to AppStore and GooglePlay.
Challenges & solutions
See the challenges and solutions we've offered to our clients
Creating a UI/UX design that would be simple and convenient in use
Enabling integration with Twilio for easy authorization
Developing comprehensive functionality for both buyers and sellers to cooperate effortlessly
Building a robust online marketplace app to handle the growing needs of the platform and stand the test of time
Starting Point
The client initially had:
Inspiring buy/sell app idea that could help people from Haiti and other regions
Target audience
Research & Analysis
Steps we took to analyze the project:
Research of the other popular buy-and-sell apps’ user flow
Wireframes and design creation
During the BOPIS buy and sell marketplace development, we achieved the following milestones:
Mobile app architecture creation
Authorization via email and phone number
Development of all features necessary for buying and selling
BOPIS react native marketplace deployment to Play Market and App Store
Main buy and sell marketplace app features
Our software engineers helped to deliver the following features in BOPIS:
1
Sign up and authorization process
The first thing you experience after downloading the app is a sign-up process. To make it as simple and engaging as possible, Apiko created two options for buy-and-sell app users: to sign up with an email or a phone number. When people create a profile with a phone number, an SMS with a verification code is sent to their mobiles. As it is a global marketplace, the messages are enabled by Twilio integration with the BOPIS app and can be delivered to any part of the world.
2
Search and filter
In order to find the best fit among the variety of different products, the search process is split into categories such as sport, books, furniture, beauty, and many others. Users can also search by keywords and according to location. The BOPIS buy and sell marketplace app provides a way for buyers to find services as well (such as plumbing, car wash, restaurants nearby, etc.) so there are opportunities for everyone to promote their business.
3
Faves and followers
While searching for the items, you may want to save the best ones to return to them later. They are added to your favourites or faves as in the app. Sellers gain more popularity in the form of hearts when more of their items are liked by others. Buy and sell marketplace users can follow not only products or services, but also the sellers they are interested in.
4
Adding items or services
Creating listings is a must feature for sellers. In the BOPIS ecommerce marketplace app, users can add either items or services for sale. Filling in the description, choosing the condition of the item, defining the category, adding photos and price - all these components lead to a better shopping experience for buyers who will be able to find precisely what they are looking for.
5
User profile
Wherever there are interactions between users, there should be user profiles. We made sure it’s easy to edit them: add photos, choose location as well as change language or a password. What else you can see in your profile is your own listings and services (active or deactivated), and blocked users if there are any.
6
Custom chat
For efficient cooperation, our app developers built a custom chat from scratch. It’s especially necessary when shipping and payment solutions are not provided by the ecommerce marketplace platform. Payment and delivery options are entirely up to users to agree on, so the chat becomes an integral part of buying and selling. Apiko also enabled push notifications for users to receive alerts when there are new messages in the react native marketplace app.
Integrations
We’ve integrated the buy-and-sell marketplace with the following services
Technologies
Ecommerce marketplace development: The outcome
Our goal for the BOPIS project was to create an app that would be easy to use for people all over the world to buy and sell different products and services.
Now, BOPIS is a ready-to-use marketplace app with an intuitive interface and far-reaching functionality. Its well-planned user flow and powerful tech stack ensure a smooth user experience for three roles: buyers, sellers, and an admin. You can try it out on both AppStore and GooglePlay.
