DS Group S.p.A.
For DS Group S.p.A., we developed the conversational module of their proprietary product, Distance Sales—an omnichannel assisted sales channel based on web widgets and a mobile console, designed to integrate natively into the platform and operate at enterprise scale.
Services:
Technologies:
2022 – 2023
Project Overview
DS Group S.p.A. is a software company specialized in digital solutions for sales and omnichannel customer experience.
Distance Sales is one of their strategic products: a platform for assisted and personalized sales that brings the one-to-one experience typical of physical retail stores online, integrating consulting, customer relationships, and sales processes into a single digital flow.
Within this ecosystem, the chat channel represents the first point of contact between customer and consultant—the moment when a request turns into a relationship.
DS Group commissioned us to develop the conversational module, with the goal of creating a reliable, integrable solution that can truly operate under enterprise-level workloads, capable of natively interacting with the Distance Sales backend.
The project had to ensure zero friction on the customer side, enabling the immediate start of a conversation directly from the website, while at the same time providing operators with a robust tool for handling requests, prioritizing them, and managing response times.
The solution was designed as a pair of coordinated tools: a lightweight widget for customers (web) and an operational console for employees (iOS/Android), both based on a consistent data model and a real-time infrastructure designed to support continuous releases and product evolution.
UX/UI Design
La soluzione è stata progettata come una coppia di strumenti coordinati: un widget leggero per i clienti (web) e una console operativa per i dipendenti (iOS/Android), entrambi basati su un modello dati coerente e su un’infrastruttura in tempo reale pensata per supportare rilasci continui ed evoluzione del prodotto.
The solution was designed as a pair of coordinated tools: a lightweight widget for customers (web) and an operational console for employees (iOS/Android), both based on a consistent data model and a real-time infrastructure built to support continuous releases and product evolution.
Operator-side functionalities
Appointment Management
Thanks to the calendar feature, appointments with customers can be managed intuitively, improving internal organization and service quality.
CRM Integration
Through integration with CRM and internal systems, operators can access relevant customer information in real time, making interactions more personalized and reducing the time spent switching between different tools.
Request Management, Upselling & Cross-Selling
With dedicated support for handling customer requests and inquiries, operators can conduct conversations more consistently and naturally, seizing opportunities to offer complementary solutions or additional services at the most appropriate moment.
Customer-side Experience
Personalized Experience
Through configurable paths and personalized content, customers are guided with an experience that adapts to their needs, making each step clearer and more reassuring.
Payment and Digital Signature
By integrating payment and digital signature within the same flow, customers can complete the final step smoothly, reducing friction during the checkout phase.
Guided Journey
Shared Consultation
Co-browsing and co-editing features allow operators and customers to view content together in real time, improving understanding and speeding up the decision-making process.
Intelligent Navigation
Guided navigation, supported by centralized content, keeps operators and customers aligned, reducing unnecessary steps and keeping the session focused on the objectives.
Software Development
The Distance Sales Chat module was developed as a strategic component within the Distance Sales ecosystem, using a modern, real-time–oriented technology stack. The solution was designed to ensure immediate responsiveness, reliability under load, and easy integration with DS Group’s existing systems.
The entire conversational channel is built on Flutter, chosen to create a single codebase shared between the customer web widget and the mobile operator console (iOS and Android). This choice allowed for functional and visual consistency across channels, while simultaneously accelerating product evolution and continuous releases.
For real-time communication management, an event-driven architecture based on Firebase Realtime Database was adopted, enabling instant synchronization of messages between customer and consultant. Authentication is handled via Firebase Auth, with anonymous access on the customer side to remove any entry barriers, and structured authentication on the operator side, integrated with expiring application tokens.
The Customer Chat Widget, designed for quick integration into any website, was developed as a lightweight, standalone component that can be embedded via iframe. Communication with the host page occurs through JavaScript and postMessage, allowing dynamic resizing of the widget and seamless integration without impacting the customer’s infrastructure.
The mobile Agent Console, on the other hand, serves as the daily operational tool for consultants. The app provides a structured inbox for managing conversations, with clear rules for handling requests, separation between new and assigned chats, and real-time push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging, even in the background. This enables operators to respond quickly and maintain control over their workload.
Integration with the Distance Sales backend was implemented via a generated OpenAPI client, allowing the chat to interact with the platform’s core services: session management, immediate appointment creation, and escalation to live sessions or video calls, with the link sent directly to the customer within the conversation thread.
Particular attention was given to the robustness of the operational flow: session management, token persistence, notifications, conversation status, and transitions (handling, closing, archiving) were designed to function consistently even in high-intensity usage scenarios.
The result is a robust, scalable conversational module that is truly production-ready, designed not as a simple chat, but as an operational channel integrated into an enterprise remote sales system.
Results
PurpleSoft enabled DS Group to integrate a robust, immediately operational, and scalable chat channel into Distance Sales without adding complexity to the platform. The shared Flutter codebase ensured consistency between the customer widget and the operator console, simplifying maintenance and updates.
Thanks to real-time communication and native backend integration, response times have been reduced, consultant-side workload management is more efficient, and daily operations (handling requests, prioritization, escalation to live sessions and video calls) occur seamlessly.
The result is a more reliable, consistent, and scalable platform, reinforcing Distance Sales as an enterprise solution for omnichannel assisted sales, supporting growth, operational continuity, and continuous product evolution.
