Smart Helados
Together with Smart Helados, we have revolutionized the ice cream delivery in Argentina.
How did everything begin?
Smart Helados was looking for an alternative to the delivery marketplace, due to their high commissions on sales, and to increase profitability by exploiting its own digital commercial channel. The aim was also to provide the user with an exceptional shopping experience and to have total control of the brand value and specific promotional actions.
Our view of the case
From Webexperto, we saw from the beginning the potential to be able to differentiate in their own channel and to achieve something different about the brand and its relationship with consumers. We put a strong focus on the consumer’s shopping experience, seeking not only to make it simple and operate perfectly on mobiles, but also to create functionalities that build customer loyalty.
We worked with a state-of-the-art development that allows the customers to easily select tastes, cones, and toppings having the option to save them in their favorite list. This makes it easier for customers in future orders, so they don’t have to waste time looking for their preferences, since the Web knows it through their profiles.
Who eats?
With the aim of enhancing the shopping experience, we’ve created the concept of Who Eats? It allows the user to remember complete orders, associated with people or situations, which takes recurrent purchases to a new level.
The way it works is to provide the visitor at the end of the purchase the option of being able to assign a name of their preference to people/situations, as well as the products and tastes ordered. From this, the platform allows the customer to repurchase the same preference tastes if they repeat the situation or order with the same people.
The way it works is to provide the visitor at the end of the purchase the option of being able to assign a name of their preference to people/situations, as well as the products and tastes ordered. From this, the platform allows the customer to repurchase the same preference tastes if they repeat the situation or order with the same people.
The development process
The project started with a consulting process on digital transformation and e-commerce, leading to the creation of a prototype that matured in successive debugging and improvement meetings. The result –then in its development stage– was modulated in sprints that allowed establishing an agile process of progress and continuous improvements until the MVP was launched on schedule.
Functionalities and Adventages
- Quick selection of tastes, cones, additional toppings, among others.
- Optimized design for mobiles, excellent shopping experience on all devices.
- Direct access installation (PWA) on Android and iOS mobiles, such as an APP.
- Powerful promotional engine that allows activating and managing various forms of campaigns, discounts, and bonuses to customers.
- Discount coupon management.
- Possibility of real-time chat/WhatsApp to provide the best service in real time.
- Tastes saved as favorites, facilitating repurchase.
- Personalization of each ice cream purchased (¼, ½ kg, etc.) with the name of each guest, to identify their order.
- Possibility to repurchase orders placed by choosing the tastes saved.
- Checkout with online payment or cash on delivery.
- Possibility to define and manage delivery branches.
- Optionally, a Marketplace mode can be chosen for franchise support with geolocation and automated derivation of purchases.
BENEFITS FOR THE ICE CREAM PARLOR
- To be able to have its own ice cream channel with total commercial independence.
- To build brand loyalty.
- To be able to define payment and delivery schedules.
- To have a centralized platform for the operative administration.
- Optional franchise operation.
Technology to think big
- Cloud provider Digital Ocean
- Spree 4.1 e-commerce engine
- PostgreSQL DB
- Docker + Docker-Compose
- CDN AWS CloudFront
- Backups AWS S3
- Integrations:
- Sendgrid for sending Newsletters
- Google Tag Manager
- Facebook Pixel
Conclusion
The project had an excellent team of professionals, as we worked side by side with the Smart team, and the branding and communication agency. The implementation of agile methodologies ensured the launch on expected dates. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, we have achieved the goal of establishing a solid alternative digital channel, which from day one began to generate seamless and ever-growing sales. We have established a very professional order taking option for ice cream parlors, and together with Smart Cremas Heladas, we continue working on the permanent evolution that means higher direct sales.