DS Group S.p.A.
We developed the B2B mobile app “Smart Horeca” for the Ho.Re.Ca. sector, commissioned by DS Group S.p.A. for CDA – Food Distributors Consortium.
Services:
UX/UI Design; App Development; System Integration; Offline-First & Sync; Performance Optimization
Technologies:
Flutter, Dart
2023 – 2025
Project Overview
The Food Distributors Consortium operates in a sector where commercial relationships have traditionally been “on the field,” but are increasingly driven by data, content, and operational speed. The goal was to bring a truly useful ordering experience to smartphones and tablets: extensive catalogs, complex promotional rules, consistent pricing and availability, as well as a clear document section for invoices and communications.
The Smart Horeca B2B app was designed to become a practical, everyday digital channel, capable of reducing friction and downtime: fast search, advanced filters, a robust cart, correctly applied promotions, and order flows consistent with business processes. A key requirement was also to ensure operational continuity in unreliable network conditions through offline mode and incremental synchronization.
UX/UI Design
The UX/UI work started from the retailer’s real workflows: quickly finding a product, immediately seeing if it’s on promotion, filling the cart without errors in units of measure or rounding, and submitting the order with all necessary parameters—delivery date, notes, discounts/free items. The interface was optimized for fast, repetitive consultation, with clear components, immediate feedback, and visual priorities on the most important data: prices, promotions, quantities, expiration dates, and statuses.
Special attention was given to the document and information section: invoices with summary indicators, sorting, due dates, and quick access to media/documents, while maintaining a consistent experience across the catalog, news, and content.
Mobile App Development
The development of the Smart Horeca B2B app was carried out with a focus on scalability, reliability, and performance for extensive catalogs and complex B2B order flows. The architecture was designed to maintain consistency between the interface, business logic, and integrations, and to support continuous releases over time.
The frontend was developed in Flutter using the Dart programming language, enabling a single, high-performance codebase across mobile devices. The UI was designed to remain responsive even in the presence of:
Catalogs with thousands or tens of thousands of items.
Advanced filters and search functions
Dynamic calculations on the cart and promotions
At a functional level, PurpleSoft implemented:
- Product catalog with search, categories, and advanced filters
- Cart with management of units of measure, quantities, rounding, and real-time UI updates
- Promotion engine applied to cart and order (target1/target2, x+y, min/max, minimum quantity, multi-promo), with strict handling of all operational scenarios.
- Direct/indirect order flows (order data, delivery date, discounts/free items, writing to services/DB)
- Robust persistence and management of order notes (including special characters)
- Invoices, News, Media/Documents sections (PDF viewer, “new” indicators) and Settings/Profile
System integration (DS Group services + CDA management systems)
To keep data and content synchronized, the app integrates with:
- DS Group systems, used to feed and update content and operational data (catalog, news/media, and related data)
- CDA management systems, for core B2B flows (customer data, orders, and documents/invoices), with data synchronization at the database and service level
Access is managed through token-based authentication, with roles and a multi-company context, ensuring that each user operates with data and configurations consistent with their associated company.
Offline-first (local database + incremental sync)
A key requirement was to ensure operational continuity even with variable connectivity. For this reason, an offline mode was introduced with:
- A local database on the device
- Incremental synchronization
- Selective table refresh (without full wipe) to reduce time and impact on users
The project has continued to evolve with ongoing releases, including upgrades of Flutter up to version 3.27, with targeted interventions on performance and stability.
Results
Smart Horeca B2B has transformed a traditionally “on-the-field” process into a solid, fast, and reliable mobile experience. The app seamlessly handles extensive catalogs and complex commercial rules, allowing retailers to quickly search for products, build the cart with correct units of measure (pieces, cartons, cases, kg, etc.), apply consistent promotions, and submit orders without discrepancies.
The system proves its value especially in real-world operations: offline mode and incremental synchronization ensure continuity even under unstable network conditions, while optimizations make the most critical parts of the experience—such as search and filters, the cart, the promotion engine, and data synchronization—smooth and immediate.
In a project commissioned by a software house like DS Group, success is measured by operational reliability: correct calculations, consistent data across systems, and processes that require no corrective interventions. An app built to withstand daily use at scale.
