iOS & Android App Marketplace Development for Beverage Delivery Company

The client had earlier contacted Capital Numbers to build the web version of this eCommerce marketplace. Once we delivered, the client liked our work and approached us again to develop the platform’s iOS and Android app versions. However, the challenge this time was to create a multicart feature in the mobile apps.

Multicarts allow users to manage multiple shopping carts from one customer account. It is an excellent option for users as they can give names to each cart and add/remove products in each cart. Moreover, the chances of conversions and sales are higher as customers are already ‘warmed up’ to multiple products in each cart.

Our team had to integrate this multicart feature skillfully within the iOS and Android apps. We had to ensure the multicart sent customers straight to the checkout page.

Our next challenge was implementing a logic for payment retries. Here, we had to ensure no data tampering happened during payment retries.

In addition, we had to add functions that calculate the discounts/taxes to fetch the subtotal. Here, we needed to build custom algorithms to ensure accurate calculations.

Apart from the above, we had to add a solid payment gateway that guarantees seamless online transactions. Our solution had to be robust enough to restrict fraud.

Clients have appreciated our commitment to delivering robust marketplaces in the past. With this project, too, we wanted to give our best in helping the client progress in his vision. So, we chose the following techs to create the mobile app marketplaces:

iOS Version - We used Swift to develop the iOS app because Swift has an expressive syntax and various modern features to fulfill our development needs. We also used Swift’s Moya library to make API call requests and expand the app’s functions.

Android Version - We chose Kotlin to develop the Android app because Kotlin offers code safety and error-free developments. Kotlin requires fewer lines of code which aids in quicker time to market. We also used Android Material UI to design a solid frontend. Plus, we implemented Retrofit 2 to make API call requests smoother.

We even made some common tech choices for both versions. Some of these are as under:

Using the MVVM pattern, we kept the app frontends separate from the backends. MVVM also helped us maintain codebases better.

Our experts used UserDefaults ( in the iOS app) and SharedPreferences (in the Android app) to store data locally. These helped us save data in the form of keys and values.

Next, we added retry algorithms to ensure quick payment retries. Here, we secured the algorithm to confirm retries don't distort invoice data. A lot of brain-wracking went into adding complex logic here.

We worked on UI flows that let customers ‘favorite’ their product lists. We did a few HTMLizations, too, to help customers expand product info upon clicking.

Lastly, we incorporated Stripe to enable all card users to make online purchases safely. We chose Stripe as it allows fault-free checkouts.

After we made the integrations, we deployed the iOS and Android apps on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively.

Buying beverages from mobile devices is a lot simpler now. Our client gets more sales opportunities because of the multicarts. Sellers, too, get to promote their products and make direct connections with their customers.

Here’s a summary of our contribution’s key outcomes: