b2b.store team hits Bestway promotional app activation for six to join up marketing plans
Ever been bowled over by a project you’ve worked on? That’s (quite literally) how we felt as we opened Bestway’s online-ordering app recently and were greeted by the wholesaler’s latest Cricket World Cup promotion.
The ‘big-hitting profits’ campaign marked a significant moment for us, as it was the first app takeover we’d done with our newly developed functionality. The development allows us to keep pace with Bestway’s industry-leading eCommerce site, so the app can perfectly replicate the campaign activity on the website.
Our app has always been an excellent companion to Bestway’s online-ordering site, delivering large basket sizes and a great user experience – although the nature of reapproving apps means it’s difficult to be as agile as a website that can be updated almost immediately. It’s always been a balancing act because while there are more hoops to jump through for an app, there’s a better user experience (particularly when it comes to video and animation) in app than on a website.
But thanks to our talented team of developers, we built a layer of functionality that allows campaign activity to be updated much quicker. Add to that our use of React Native technology and any campaign updates would apply to all versions of our app, rather than having to work on the individual versions for iOS and Android.
The development marked another significant step forward for the project that started when we created the first generation of the app for Bestway more than a decade ago and represents the gradual development of its changing business needs.
Back when the initial app was created, eCommerce within the B2B space was in its infancy and promotional takeovers weren’t high on the agenda. But since then, they have become a key part of Bestway’s business, helping to drive additional sales and revenue, while offering suppliers the chance to get more eyes on to their products.
Nowadays, Bestway has a full promotional plan and regularly books tiered deals with partner brands, providing a different level of exposure for each, so it makes sense to extend this into the high-traffic app space.
To accommodate an app takeover in the way Bestway required is no simple task, though. Each page of the app had to look the part and accurately reflect the agreed hierarchy based on the tier of the deal that was in place. That extended into how the pages acted too, with different needs attached to certain promotions, including taking users to the product listing or a competition entry mechanic.
Our developers had to adapt the marketing collateral designed by Bestway’s creative agency to provide a slick experience that feels seamless to the customer, whichever ordering platform they visit.
While the Cricket World Cup campaign was the first we supported within the app in this way, it won’t be the last. And with a slew of other key promotional dates coming soon, we’re expecting to be working on more takeovers in the near future.
