Problem

A Canadian food distributor, known for its high-quality frozen meat and seafood, wanted to improve customer experience and sales through an omnichannel strategy. Their existing Shopify website worked well, but they desired native iOS & Android apps while maintaining Shopify as their backend. Here were the key challenges:

• Shopify API Throttling: Shopify’s API limits caused performance issues and app freezing. Multiple API Calls: Fetching data from various APIs slowed down the app.
• Offline to Online Transition: The client wanted to encourage in-store purchases through the app.
• Marketing Campaign Efficiency: The marketing team needed a way to drive users directly to specific product pages through email campaigns.

Our Approach

• Native Mobile Apps: Built native iOS & Android apps that communicated directly with Shopify through a custom middleware.
• Performance Optimization: Implemented a middleware layer to cache product data using Redis, significantly reducing API calls and improving app performance.
• GraphQL Integration: Leveraged GraphQL to ensure only necessary data was fetched, further reducing API calls and avoiding throttling issues.
• Offline to Online Integration: Developed a QR code scanner functionality to connect in-store customers with promotions and new product launches.
• Deep Linking: Implemented deep linking (using Branch.io) to allow marketing campaigns to direct users to specific product pages within the app.
• Hybrid Checkout: Maintained a smooth user experience with a hybrid checkout approach, seamlessly redirecting users to a web checkout page.

Benefits

• Faster App Launch: Apps deployed on Play Store and App Store within 2 months.
• Enhanced Performance: Middleware and server-side caching significantly improved app performance and user experience.
• Increased Sales: Offline-to-online transition resulted in a 2x increase in store-front sales.
• Improved User Engagement: The app allowed for better product promotion, leading to increased user engagement and brand loyalty.
• Streamlined Marketing: The marketing team gained the ability to run targeted email campaigns with deep links for efficient product promotion.