OKWINE: Redefining Wine Culture in Ukraine Through Innovative Mobile Solutions
- Discovery Phase
- Product Development
- UI/UX Design
- Mobile App Development
- Swift
- Kotlin
- PHP
- Firebase
- Jenkins
- Xcode
OKWINE BY THE NUMBERS
About the client & the story behind them
OKWINE’s prominent position stems from their continuous team development, encompassing rigorous training within their school and global exposure at top-tier productions. Their unified web market, okwine.ua, offers nationwide delivery and allows users the flexibility of self-pickup from any OKWINE store, highlighting the company’s dedication to tailored customer service.
In 2019, OKWINE spearheaded the establishment of Wine Hunters — an importer-distributor that quickly gained ground in Ukraine. With over 100 contracts across alcohol and food sectors, their collaborations extend to national chains, HoReCa, and specialized retail.
OKWINE made industry waves by pioneering cryptocurrency payments within their segment, showcasing their commitment to innovation.
Driven by an ethos of innovation, OKWINE embarked on creating a mobile app to enhance service quality and customize customer interactions, underscoring their dedication to evolving customer experiences.
Request to Devlight
Okwine approached Devlight with a clear objective: a rapid market entry within three months by launching a native app solution. The immediate goal was to establish a foundation for future innovations, encompassing compelling features and user-centric designs.
The MVP sought to encompass vital elements: a loyalty program, promotional features, an intuitive map view, and seamless communication with wine shops for swift interaction.
In alignment with business objectives, the aim was to enhance convenience for existing loyalty program users, expand interaction points, and entice new users to engage through the application. A key focus was on digitizing customer data for improved analytics, paving the way for crafting superior, personalized offers in the future.
Challenges and Limitations
The primary challenge was the meticulous selection of essential functionalities for the MVP within a stringent three-month release window. Striking a balance between urgency and necessity was paramount to ensure a timely launch.
Another hurdle involved choosing an optimal design system—one that offered flexibility for future development without compromising the speed of initial deployment. This demanded a fine balance between sophistication and agility.
Moreover, developing the mobile application amid ongoing architectural transformations in the client’s backend posed a substantial challenge. Simultaneous updates to the backend architecture, specifically the integration of microservices, demanded seamless coordination between the backend and mobile development teams. This synchronization aimed at enhancing data storage logic and improving inter-service communication to bolster performance and security measures.
Problems we faced
The project encountered several intricate hurdles throughout its development journey:
· Integration Complexity: The intricate task of separating development and business logic while simultaneously integrating the new API presented challenges. Ensuring seamless integration without compromising functionality demanded meticulous coordination and implementation;
· Continuous API Testing and Refinement: Developing API methods in parallel required a continuous testing and refinement process. Ensuring the reliability and efficiency of these methods demanded rigorous testing protocols and iterative improvements;
· Risk of Apple Developer Account Delay: A looming risk involved potential delays in acquiring the Apple developer account within the stipulated timeframe. This risked impeding the testing phase through TestFlight and configuring a critical section of the application architecture;
· Constraints in Design Development: Time constraints resulted in limitations regarding wireframing and prototyping. The absence of these crucial steps impacted the early visualization and refinement of design elements, posing challenges in the developmental phase.
How we did it — solutions, approach, methodology
Discovery Phase and Design
Our journey commenced with weekly calls, fostering an interactive dialogue with stakeholders to elucidate, refine, and endorse project requirements. These sessions not only enabled thorough discussions on backend architecture but also facilitated design presentations and approvals through consistent engagements with the client.
As the discovery phase culminated, meticulous evaluations of design and requirements ensued. This involved a strategic selection of functionalities for the MVP, harmonizing the time constraints for mobile development and the available resources within the client’s backend team. The conclusive discovery artifacts encapsulated comprehensive API documentation, detailed specifications, design blueprints, UI kits, and an elaborate style guide.
Product Development Stage
Parallelizing backend and frontend development initiated our voyage, allowing for synchronous progression. Simultaneously, the onset of native iOS and Android development bolstered our stride towards realizing the envisioned solution. Additionally, integrating a QA specialist at the project’s inception facilitated comprehensive testing protocol formulation, including test plan creation and the inception of test cases for mobile and backend assessments.
Product Testing
Operational testing of each feature within the controlled test environment marked a pivotal phase. Detailed reports on feature functionality and integration within the customer’s product environment were meticulously generated. Following this, report formation and subsequent retesting cycles were rigorously undertaken to ensure robustness and resolve any identified discrepancies.
Release and Product Growth
Aligned with our initial plans and agreements with the client, the project release seamlessly unfolded as envisioned. Currently, our team is actively engaged in providing support for the mobile application. Concurrently, the project’s discovery phase for application development enhancements has commenced, laying the groundwork for future growth and evolution.
Completed Challenges
In our race against time, robust communication emerged as our guiding force. Weekly sessions, agile discussions, and synchronized efforts across teams fostered a unified vision. Our success lay in cohesive collaboration, agile adaptability, and a shared commitment to excellence within constraints.
Future challenges
Our journey envisions pioneering e-commerce integration amidst backend transformations, crafting a niche super app, and reaching the pinnacle in app store rankings. This roadmap charts a course toward redefining wine culture through innovation and user-centricity.
KEY FEATURES AND VALUE
Final design
