VirginMegastore
Blacksmith is working with Virgin Megastore on the design and development of the Circle mobile app, which has been in use throughout the Middle East since 2017.
Circle App is the loyalty programme management application for Virgin Megastore shops in the Middle East.
It allows Virgin Megastore customers to find the latest Virgin Megastore good deals, but also to see their profile with the number of Dots accumulated and to spend to get discounts.
The app also allows you to :
- Sponsor new Virgin Megastore customers
- Find your digital loyalty card and scan it at the checkout
- Find the nearest shops with their opening times, telephone number, directions to the store, etc.
- Contact Virgin Megastore support directly by chat, email or telephone
- Receive push notifications so you don't miss out on any Virgin Megastore offers in the country to which your loyalty programme is linked...
Project progress
Started in 2017, the development of the app followed the following stages:
- Taking a brief from Virgin Megastore Middle East marketing managers
- Brainstorming on the name of the app to be created before agreeing on ‘Circle’, like the circle of close friends in which good deals can be shared
- Creation of wireframes to lay out the customer journey and the user experience within the application
- creation of mock-ups in line with the Virgin Megastore graphic charter
- Tests to connect to Virgin Megastore's customer management system (using webservices)
- Creation of the cloud architecture in AWS
- Development of the back-end in node.js
- Development of the mobile application in Swift and Android
- Development of a back office to manage exclusive offers, promotional codes, etc.
- Addition of translations (Arabic) and an internationalisation system
- Pre-production testing and validation
- Production launch of a first version of the application
- Successive iterations (addition of Zendesk, double authentication service, retrieval of the Instagram feed of Virgin Megastore accounts based on pre-selected hashtags, etc.).
Work's method
The app has been updated many times since its release in 2018, in particular to keep up with mandatory developments on Android and iOS, but also to add features (sending targeted push-notifications, the ability to have more details about your user account, etc.).
We also designed and developed a number of e-mailing and newsletter templates for the company.
Here's an overview of the application
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