CheapEatz, an App to enlist Attractive Real-Time Deals

Objective

Byron & Jemece Gasaway required a location-based real-time app to allow local eateries increase customer visits and revenue during non-peak hours. In early 2018, they had an idea of creating a real-time mobile app for restaurant owners. Being restaurateurs themselves, their biggest need was to reduce the spendings to advertise discounts during off-peak hours. To address this need, they decided to get a team and we accepted the challenge.

The Big Question

How CheapEatz couponing app save your time and money?

 A study by BIA/Kelsey predicted that the U.S. spending on daily deals will grow from $873 million in 2010 to $3.9 billion in 2015. If companies like Group-on and Living-Social continued to roll their local deals out to more metro areas, Kelsey forecasted that the annual U.S. spend on daily deals could reach as high as $6.1 billion in 2015.

​CheapEatz was formed for the dual purpose of providing great value to customers by offering real-time discounts and generating more traffic to restaurants during slow or non-peak hours. The app increased customer loyalty by delivering geo-location based offers and deals as per customer preferences. It also helped in streamlining retail sales and also served as a marketing platform for delivering digital coupons.

For Group-on and Living-Social, continued expansion meant more than just adding cities-it also meant increasing ad inventory. The one-deal, one-metro setup meant only one merchant could get the spotlight every 24 hours, and that created a bottleneck of potential advertisers. Hence, the efforts to grow into a new related type of dealing: giving users a roster of merchant offers when they're out on the street, gained pace.

Challenges Faced

Every restaurant has its own offers and different timings or days to give such offers and promotions. Since the application had to support real-time data, developing a highly synchronized app was our primary concern. Another challenge was to develop a seamless UI for easy navigation. Some other challenges were:

 

●       User and coupon management

●       Device compatibility for existing and next-generation devices

●       Delivering a unified user experience

●       User notification based on geo-location

Overcoming Challenges

The solution comprised a secure framework, dedicated coupon management, and connectivity with listed restaurants. We divided the app in two parts: for users and restaurant owners, with a strong admin panel. A restaurant owner could run campaigns to attract users with the flexibility of date and time on their own. The app had to run flawlessly on various iOS and Android-based devices, notifying users about limited offers.

Features of the App

Some of the features incorporated in CheapEatz were as follows:

Real-Time Discounts

Instant access to real-time discounts, activated upon arrival at your favourite locally owned restaurants.

Timer

A discount timer that allowed you to track the duration of each real-time promotion.

Preview Dining Options

For dining convenience there was a preview listing restaurants’ menu and their most popular dining options. Users also got a look at restaurant ratings provided by the most recent CheapEatz visitors.

Track Your Savings

CheapEatz allowed you to track your savings each time you dine.

Navigation and Tracking

With the help of maps, users could identify deals related to dining, grocery, shopping and much more.

Price comparison

Users could compare the price of products on different stores by applying their coupon codes and offers.

Payment gateway (Credit, Debit, Wallet, Net banking, Paypal, Braintree)

Convenient approaches for making payments with a very convenient and hassle-free approach.

Gift Cards

For attracting the users and keeping them using the app.

Steps Taken

Keeping in mind all the requirements of our client and other operational barriers, our Business Analysis team did their research and came up with a plan to build a customized platform for foodies and restaurant owners to generate more traffic in restaurants during slow or non-peak hours.

The platform was loaded with features that not only ensured bringing new customers to the restaurants, but also ensured retaining their existing ones. We designed all the wireframes carefully to pave a clear way for processing further steps in a very effective and efficient way.

Some of the key steps followed during the development of this app were as follows:

Engagement With Users

An in-depth market research was performed keeping industry giants like Group-on and Living-Social in mind. It was found that there was a great potential that could be capped by this app and sales of the restaurants can be immensely escalated.

Business Assessment Document

Wireframing

After intense development sessions with our clients, our mobile app development team came up with an efficient wireframe that would work best as per client requirements after their approval.

UI/UX Design

UI Design

We discussed with the client about designing a customized interface and offered them adequate designs for the ideated concept.

Backend & API

We designed the framework for the backend and used REST APIs to interact with the mobile application. We also used Corn to schedule commands and help it run systematically at fixed intervals.

Front-End

A working prototype of the above application was prepared on the basis of the app flow.

Development

Testing

Results & Conclusions

After the above steps were followed, we were able to complete the app within the client’s allotted deadlines. The client was amazed to see the extraordinary work from our team and was very happy with all the efforts .

The app is performing well in the market with clients getting their benefits due to an increase in their overall sales.