How quick commerce company GoTiger brings Asian food to customers with Shopify Plus and smartphone app from Latori

The online supermarket GoTiger offers its customers a wide range of Asian foods: From dumplings and spicy chillis to pak choi and bubble tea, it has everything an Asian gourmet's heart desires. The Berlin-based start-up currently delivers its fresh food from countries such as Japan, Korea and China in Berlin and Potsdam and guarantees a delivery time of no more than 2 hours, depending on the location.

The idea is great, the concept of the Asian delivery service works, but if you look at the competitors Gorillas and Flink, one thing becomes clear: To really take off in German food commerce, GoTiger needs a mobile shopping option. This is where we come in. Within four weeks, Latori developed a smartphone app for Android and iOS for the Berlin-based Asian delivery market, so that GoTiger customers can now order conveniently from their smartphones.

For us, this project was something very special. In an interview with Linda Dao, Product Manager at GoTiger, we reviewed the highlights of the project.

That the app development was a complete success for the company is already shown by the current figures.

Development of a smartphone app for the Asian commerce company GoTiger

The delivery service GoTiger was confronted with these challenges

GoTiger originally planned to go live with a first version of the smartphone app in early April 2022. Since the cooperation with the previous agency was not satisfactory, this deadline had to be postponed. To bridge the gap, a web version of the store was published, which went online from April to mid-June and was then to be replaced by the app. All marketing activities were geared towards this deadline, which is why there was some time pressure for the Asian food delivery service. On the recommendation of its Shopify account manager, the Berlin-based start-up approached Latori with a request to develop a functional smartphone app for iOS and Android devices as quickly as possible.

"We explained that things had to move very quickly for us now, which fortunately was no problem at all for the team. Only two to three weeks later, we already met and discussed our plans in a kick-off meeting," says Linda Dao.

The requirements for the GoTiger App

GoTiger needed a fully functioning, reliable first version of their App, downloadable from the App Store and Play Store, in just six weeks. This should enable the clientele,

• to browse through the assortment,

• to place an order,

• enter the address,

• select a desired time and

• to checkout.

Due to the fact that GoTiger is a mixture of e-commerce and local quick commerce, additional features were necessary. This means that customers should only be able to order via the app if they live in Berlin and if this is the case, they should be shown the individual delivery window for their address.

In addition, it was important to the delivery service that each product page contain a detailed description of the product. This should include, for example, the origin of the item and provide inspiration as to what could be prepared with it. Finally, the app had to be designed in such a way that coupons could be redeemed easily, because GoTiger's marketing strategy was to reward the first customers with certain coupons.

Thanks to agile approach in only 4 weeks to the finished app

To realize the smartphone app, our team worked very closely with GoTiger. Due to the imminent launch date, there was no time to lose. In daily stand-up meetings and weekly sprint meetings, the current status and the further procedure for the app development were discussed.

Since an internal team from GoTiger had already completed almost all the designs by the first deadline with the previous agency, everything was already ready from the graphic side except for minor details. In project management, Linda Dao from GoTiger and Latori project manager Darja Fodor worked hand in hand.

The first step for the two was to create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) that would meet all the requirements needed to get the app into the app stores. Once this was achieved, work could continue by adding more features and optimizing the usability and performance of the app.

For the development of the app, our developers used the Flutter framework. This made it possible to use the same code base for iOS and Android, since Flutter can compile for both platforms. In addition, various tools were integrated to increase the range of functions. For example, the Shopify app Referral Candy is used as a referral program and thanks to the Google Places API, it is possible to check whether the address entered is in the current delivery area. GoTiger also used Shopify's Multipass feature and Firebase for the social logins.

Due to the good cooperation and speedy implementations of our developers, the launch date of the GoTiger app was met. Just two hours after the online Asia Market submitted its app to the relevant stores on June 13, 2022, it was live.

Why Shopify Plus is the perfect background system for this project

GoTiger chose Shopify Plus as its background system for specific reasons. Linda from GoTiger cited the following advantages of the system as crucial:

• Price-performance ratio: The company is still relatively at the beginning of a promising career and therefore wants to rely on an inexpensive store system with a wide range of functions.

• E-commerce platform without limits: To be well positioned for the future, it needs a system that grows with increasing requirements. Shopify Plus is the best platform for this and the perfect solution for GoTiger.

• Low effort: It was important for the Berlin start-up to be able to set up a store relatively quickly and with little technical effort. This is also very possible with Shopify, as no in-depth technical skills or programming knowledge are required.

• Interfaces: GoTiger would like to add new features to the app in the future, for which standardized interfaces are needed that can be connected to other platforms without much effort. Shopify offers a number of interesting app integrations for this purpose. The warehouse as well as suppliers can also be completely connected to the store system, which is a great advantage for GoTiger's work processes. This way, the company can check at any time whether the customer is in the delivery area and a time window can be specified in which the goods are guaranteed to arrive.

On the road to success: These results were achieved with the new GoTiger app

After just 6 months, the GoTiger app has already recorded 100,000 downloads in the app stores and 200 to 300 orders are received per day. Thanks to better processes, the startup has also been able to add more products to its range.

"The clear structure is particularly well received by our customers."

- Linda Dao, Product Manager at GoTiger

The app's good performance also scores with users, which is especially evident in the reviews. It was rated 4.7 in the App Store and 4.2 in the Play Store. The GoTiger app is currently always in the top 30 to 40 of the app charts in the "Food and Drink" category.

Conclusion: The perfect interaction of Latori, GoTiger and Shopify

Looking back, the project to develop a smartphone app for GoTiger's Quick Commerce business, using Shopify Plus as the e-commerce platform, was not only an exciting challenge for Latori, but a complete success for everyone involved. "I'm very happy about how well everything worked out in such a short time, especially because I know that there can be many obstacles in project management," Linda sums up.

GoTiger can offer its clientele a fully functional app that fulfills all the desired features and connects flawlessly with all other relevant platforms and interfaces. As a result, all work processes can be simplified and optimized, and the various departments receive all the important information they need for smooth operations.

The collaboration with GoTiger has been excellent. Within a few weeks, we were able to develop an app from scratch and meet the deadline.

"I was really very satisfied. Latori has shown great flexibility. We would definitely work with Latori again."

– Linda Dao, Product Manager at GoTiger

GoTiger's goal is to become the Asia-To-Go store with the largest assortment and the best service in the future. First, the full potential of Berlin and Potsdam is to be exploited, before expansion into other German cities may follow as early as next year. In addition, more content will be offered to GoTiger customers and the product range will be further expanded. Due to positive customer feedback and high demand for more products, the company is aiming to add more Asian specialties to the existing 1,000 items soon.

Upcoming projects for GoTiger are also the webshop and the launch of a desktop version to reach other target groups. Linda can very well imagine the cooperation with Latori. Of course, we are full of friends and zest for action.