Focus: a super app to eat, shop, ship and pay

Focus is a super app: in a single application, the user orders a meal, shops, sends a parcel by express and pays with a wallet. On the other side, merchants manage their orders from their own app. We built the whole thing with Focus Group.

The context

A super app adds up several businesses that each have their own rules: food has its time slots and preparation, the shop its stock, express its rounds, the wallet its controls. The risk is to produce four apps glued together. The challenge was a unified experience with independent services behind it.

What we built

• The customer app on iOS and Android, with the Food, Shop, Express and Wallet universes, and a rewards program.
• The merchant app, to receive and prepare orders, manage the catalog and follow payments.
• The administration panel: merchants, catalog, orders, couriers, promotions and indicators.
• The API: a single gateway in front of business services separated by universe.

How we worked

A design system shared between the customer app and the merchant app, so that both look alike without being confused. The universes were delivered one after the other, each with its screens, services and tests, on a common base of accounts, payments and notifications.

Technologies

Flutter mobile apps, Next.js administration, Node.js API with gateway and business services, notifications and mobile payments.

What we take away

A super app succeeds when each universe could live on its own and the user never notices. It is a matter of architecture as much as of design.