private sales

Say Wow

For SayWow, we have developed a solution for the 360° management of private sales organized for large fashion companies.

Services:

UX/UI Design; Cross Platform App Development; Web App Development

Technologies:

Adobe XD Prototyping, Flutter, Angular, MSSQL, .NET 6, Azure DevOps

2019 – Ongoing

Say Wow Mockup

Brief

Say Wow” is a top player company at both national and global level in the organization and management of private sales (in-store and online) for major fashion groups and brands such as Kering, Sephora, Levi’s, and other renowned brands. They turned to Purplesoft just a few months after the establishment of their company in November 2019, with the goal of speeding up and optimizing all the major processes related to their business: receiving articles, re-labeling products, shelf arrangement, invitation and user reservation management, entrance verification, garment sales, advanced reporting, and handling unsold items.

private sales

UX/UI Design

The management system has been designed and developed primarily to be accessible via tablets, which are the designated work devices for each member of the team managing the events. We have carefully analyzed the way all the processes related to private sales are managed, including attending many of these events in person. We have studied the different steps and usage flows, prioritizing usability for the operators. After completing the analysis, we understood that the fundamental phases that constitute a private sale are five: merchandise reception, customer booking, customer check-in, merchandise sale, and finally, return of unsold items. Based on these phases, we designed the user experience of the solution by breaking down each phase into smaller steps, which were further divided into individual tasks. At this point, each task was developed to make the process fast and intuitive. We created an initial demo of the solution to allow the staff to test the potential of the software in the field and gather their feedback. This process is crucial for optimizing the user experience and the successful implementation of the software.
PurpleSoft - Private sales management solution

Software Development

The solution consists of a mobile app used by the staff (via tablets and smartphones) and a web app that allows users to view available private sales and make reservations for them.

The solution is divided into 6 modules:

Administration Panel (back-end): The panel allows customization and configuration of the entire solution (App and Web App). It enables the management of all modules (as mentioned in the following points) and also includes features such as user profiles and roles management, product database management, mailing lists, private invitations, referral codes, and sales restrictions at checkout based on brand and/or category.

The “Product Reception and Re-labeling” module (mobile app) allows scanning of received products to perform a check against the shipping document and re-label the products according to internal guidelines.

The “User Booking” module (web app) allows users to view available events and make reservations for them.

The “Check-In” module (mobile app) is used to check the reservations of people attending the private sales. It involves scanning and validating the QR codes on their booking confirmations.

Cash Register (mobile app): This module enables both physical and online sales. The shopping carts are personalized to ensure accurate sales reporting for each customer.

Returns of unsold items (mobile app): This module enables the generation of a return document, organizing shipments in groups of pallets or individual units of measurement.

Reporting (back-office): All the essential data is summarized in a customized and easily accessible reporting system, leveraging the use of Power BI.

SayWow Booking Website

Technologies

The following technologies were used for developing the software solution:

The database, the foundation of all the data in the management system, was developed using T-SQL language and Microsoft SQL Server.

The web APIs, which serve as the communication engine between the back-end (database) and the front-end (mobile app and web app), were developed using C# language with the .NET 6 framework. The .NET 6 framework, provided by Microsoft, enables the development of secure and high-performance Web APIs.

The mobile app for private sale management has been developed using Dart language and the Flutter framework. Flutter, a framework by Google, enables the creation of cross-platform applications for Android and iOS.

The web app used by users for reservations has been developed using TypeScript language and the Angular framework. Angular, a framework by Google, allows for the creation of web applications.

HARDWARE

On the hardware side, we have implemented an integrated solution that includes:

Bluetooth barcode readers: used during the receiving phase to scan the barcodes on each product, allowing for inventory completion.

Zebra, TSC, and Brother label printers are used during the receiving phase to print new labels with discounted prices.

SumUp payment terminal: used during the sales phase to enable credit card or debit card payments.

Telematic receivers (RCH fiscal cash registers): used during the sales phase to print fiscal receipts.

ESC/POS receivers (non-fiscal cash registers): used during the sales phase to print non-fiscal receipts.

Zembra_Printer
Sumup

Integration with SumUp

Integration with SumUp has proved to be a convenient and successful solution, as it allows both physical and online payments to be accepted, with the possibility of making partial refunds or completely cancelling an order in a simple, system-integrated manner. To complete and optimize the integration process, we developed a Flutter plugin that we decided to publish on the official Flutter developer portal (pub.dev) to contribute to this vibrant community. The plugin is open source and downloadable from the pub.dev/packages/sumup page.

A software that can be used in multiple countries

Over time, Say Wow has grown and expanded its business internationally as well. For some countries, it was necessary to adapt the software accordingly.

United States: In this country, the Value Added Tax (VAT), equivalent to our Value Added Tax (IVA), varies based on the state and the amount. Therefore, we have implemented a percentage-based taxation system based on the zip code and the amount of the receipt. To achieve this, we have expanded the database to accommodate this additional information.

Saudi Arabia: Another interesting challenge we faced was adapting the system to comply with the simplified electronic invoicing requirements in Saudi Arabia. In this country, they have a specific system for the issuance of simplified electronic invoices, which is based on the generation of a specific QR code encoded in TLV (Tag Length Value) format. We resolved the issue by extending the web APIs to calculate the TLV value and generate an image containing the QR code.

Switzerland: We introduced non-fiscal receipts on non-fiscal printers. To achieve this, we developed a Flutter plugin capable of generating non-fiscal receipts on any ESC/POS compatible printer.

PurpleSoft - Private sales management solution

Conclusions

This work has given us the opportunity to design and develop a tailor-made solution for the complete management of a private sale. It was a great opportunity for us to work with a complete and complex system, and the satisfaction of our client after extensive use of the system makes us more than proud!

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