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EXCESS INVENTORY MARKETPLACE FOR PERISHABLE GOODS

They have been serving manufacturing, logistics, sales, and DoD contracting industries for several decades.

130+ NEW PLATFORM MEMBERS

That’s quite a big number considering the first LAUNCH IN 2018.

50+ BIDS/DAY

On an average 50 BIDS are received every day.

$5.5K REVENUE PER MONTH

About $5500 is received from subscribers every month.

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OVERVIEW

The client is a Virginia based consulting firm that develops online strategies for companies both in the U.S. and overseas. They have been serving manufacturing, logistics, sales, and DoD contracting industries for several decades. The client wanted to develop a collaboration platform for sellers and buyers of bulk perishable goods. They were planning to eliminate the need for paying commission to brokers for buying and selling, yet being able to negotiate. DreamzTech got the opportunity to extend its technical expertise to the client and develop a successful solution.

GOALS

  • Unification of data
    received
    from all equipment onto a single platform and automated interpretation.
  • Registering a sample for
    each
    machine with upper and lower reading limits so that alerts can be generated in case
    of
    abrupt fluctuations.
  • Process data and represent
    in
    the form of animated graphs and charts wherever possible for instant decision
    making.
  • Using Industrial IoT to
    monitor equipment health and provide scheduled maintenance, proactive and preventive
    maintenance.
  • Platform to view the
    current
    status of a machine and the ability to view its breakdown history.
  • The solution also provided
    the
    option to control machines from a user interface using PLC/SCADA and IoT.

Business PROBLEMS

  • Web-based marketplace catering to perishable goods only.
  • Connect buyers to sellers without compromising privacy.
  • The ability of Sellers to showcase products and specs to receive interests.
  • The ability of buyers to search for products and save searches.
  • The ability of buyers to bid on products and communicate with the seller.
  • Sellers should be able to accept bids partially or fully for their listing.
  • Automated notification system for bids and acceptance.
  • Detailed analytics on listed products for buyers on the platform.

SOLUTIONS WE PROVIDED

  • Robust marketplace with UX specific to perishable goods. Members can be both buyers and sellers.
  • Only buyers can initiate communication with the seller. The sharing of the profile is a voluntary action.
  • Easy intuitive UI to list any type of perishable product. Bulk uploads allowed.
  • Buyers can create and save searches. Results auto-updated when new offers are added.
  • Buyers can place bids on one, many or all lots of a listed offer.
  • The seller can accept bids from different buyers on different lots of the same offer.
  • Email and in-app notifications are auto-sent when bids are placed or new offers are added.
  • Average bid value, average quantity, distance, etc for an offer are displayed to buyers.

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ABOUT THE CLIENT

The client is a Virginia based consulting firm that develops online strategies for companies both in the U.S. and overseas.

HEADQUARTERS

United States of America

INDUSTRY

US

SERVICES RENDERED
  1. Corporate Finance: Initial Public Offerings, Private Equity
  2. Structured Finance: Syndicated Loans, Leveraged Loans
  3. Stock Exchange Market Infrastructure
  4. Clearing and Settlement
SERVICES WE PROVIDED

Dedicated Team

With a team of technology and industry experts working in coordination the whole process of Analysis, Planning and Execution was extremely cost-effective and fast considering the project complexity.

Consulting

Solution architects and Business analysts interviewed clients, clarified requirements and created a backlog of tasks. All tasks were scrutinized, cross-questioned and prioritized for smooth execution.

Architecture

Architects, Tech Leads, QA Leads, and Senior developers worked together to determine the technology platform, design workflow, plan database, and API architecture. Necessary 3rd party services were identified.

Enhancements

DreamzTech is continuing to implement enhancements as and when requested by the client. A complex, activity-based notification system has been developed recently. Support is provided as per SLA.

Quality Control

The QA team planned testing to meet the latest standards on speed, performance, and security. Automated testing was done wherever possible. The test approach and disaster recovery mechanisms were determined.

Development

The marketplace solution with core features was developed in 2 phases. Each phase was segregated into 3 releases so that end products could be launched in Prod quickly.

Approach from DreamzTech

As the customer ventured into the development of this unique platform they sought support from a software partner with expertise in the areas of new-age technology, consulting and marketplace. DreamzTech got the opportunity to develop end-to-end features for this solution, engineer user experience, integrate with relevant third party software and perform testing.

ANALYSIS

DreamzTech engaged Project Managers and Business Analysts to gather requirements from the client, prepare specification documents and produce interactive wireframes for the core application. We provided consultation services on monetizing the solution.

PLANNING

The architects from DreamzTech analyzed requirements to determine Technology to be used, database structure, data flow, and microservices. The project budget, timeline, and release dates were determined and shared with the client. A product backlog was created.

DEPLOYMENT

Our team comprising Project Managers, Tech Leads, Designers, Developers, and Quality Analysts have been working with the client since 2016, developing and releasing the core application back in 2018. Since then multiple enhancements were done.

THE BUSINESS BENEFITS

DreamzTech’s strategy on the development of this solution was to minimize server requests and to optimize the querying of the database. This resulted in a fast and robust marketplace. Over the years the application appealed to many subscribers who wanted to dispose of excess or problem inventory and subscribers who were looking to buy products without paying commission to middlemen.

Key Application Features

The web marketplace for perishable goods, developed by Dreamztech, proved to be a great success for DreamzTech. As platform members grew, our relationship with the client evolved.

automated oil changeMANAGE OFFERS

Create offers with various present parameters. Create as many lots as needed.

fleet management -asset management CLOSE / ARCHIVE SEARCHES

Searches can be closed/archived when fulfilled. These can be reopened later.

asset order manage ACCEPT BIDS

Sellers can accept bids coming from several buyers on different lots of a single offer.

automated oil changeOFFER TYPES

Offers can be full/partial, shippable / for pick up. It can be marked as regular/damaged/distressed.

fleet management -asset managementMANAGE SEARCHES

Users can create searches with preset parameters and save. The results are automatically updated.

asset order manage QUICK SEARCH

This feature lets users get a quick overview of all offers under a product category they are looking for.

asset management systemADVANCED SEARCH

Create advanced search with various sorting and filter criteria like price range, shelf-life range, etc.

digital ad platformOFFER ANALYTICS

Important analytics like total quantity, avg cost, remaining shelf life, etc for offers are displayed.

b2b travel portal INSTANT CHAT

Buyers and sellers can communicate using instant chat over a bid (offer and search). The profile can be shared.

asset management systemBID OVERVIEW

Sellers also see a quick overview of all interests/bids they received on their offers like bid range, distance, etc.

digital ad platformBLOCK USERS

Users can halt communication with another user on an offer or search. This prevents abuse.

b2b travel portal PLACE BID

Buyers can inside offers from a search and place bids on one, multiple or all lots in that offer.

asset management systemSTATUS LEGEND

Offers and searches are marked with color-coded legends for quick identification of their status.

digital ad platformMANAGE LOCATIONS

Users are able to add multiple warehouse/office locations based on their membership plan.

b2b travel portal MESSAGE CENTER

All user-to-user communication appears in the message center. Clicking on a message redirects to the full communication.

asset management systemNOTIFICATION CONTROL

Users can control the interval/frequency in which they wish to receive email updates when they are away from the application.

digital ad platformPRODUCT REQUEST

While creating an offer/search if the intended product category is not listed, the user may request it (to admin) to be added.

b2b travel portal DASHBOARD

The dashboard lists 10 offers and searches with the latest activity. Shortcut to message center also available.

asset management systemAUTO LOGOUT

Users are logged out automatically if they are inactive for some time. Admin can configure this.

digital ad platformBULK UPLOADS

Sellers can upload and update offers in bulk via CSV upload. The system specifies errors.

b2b travel portal USER GUIDE

Users’ guides are available in every section of every page in the application. Admin manages this.

asset management systemSUPPORT WIDGET

Zendesk support widget is placed on every page of the application so that users may report errors instantly.

digital ad platformRUNTIME CALCULATIONS

The expiry date of lots and remaining shelf life of listed products are calculated is displayed in real-time.

b2b travel portal USER SUBSCRIPTION

Users may subscribe to several paid and free plans. Recurly was used to implement subscriptions.

Technology Overview

USER INTERFACE:

HTML5

CSS 3

Bootstrap

Jquery

BUSINESS LOGIC:

C#

ASP.Net MVC5

RESTful API

DATABASE:

MS SQL

OTHER TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY:

GIT

JIRA

Twilio

Zendesk

Postman

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