Development of a Community-Focused Bakery Discovery Platform with Enhanced Business Profiles and Analytics

Food & Beverage

eCommerce

Advertising & marketing

Identifying the Challenges in Connecting Dessert Enthusiasts with Bakeries

The client requires a platform that enables dessert lovers to discover bakeries and desserts, both locally and nationwide, addressing needs for mobile-friendly search, personalized favorites, and visibility for business owners seeking greater searchability and marketing capabilities.

About the Client

A startup aiming to connect dessert enthusiasts with local and national bakeries through a comprehensive digital platform, supporting both consumer searches and bakery profile management.

Goals for Building an Interactive Bakery Discovery and Business Engagement Platform

Develop a mobile and web application allowing users to search for bakeries based on location, dessert type, occasion, dietary preferences, and other filters.
Enable users to save and manage favorite bakeries and searches for quick access.
Provide bakery businesses with customizable profiles, including location, menu, hours, and dessert galleries.
Implement subscription-based plans for bakeries, offering features like enhanced search visibility, deal posting, and analytics access.
Create an internal analytics dashboard for bakery owners and super administrators to monitor user interactions, ratings, and link engagement.
Support nationwide shipping and ordering features within business profiles where applicable.
Ensure scalable, secure, and responsive architecture supporting increasing user engagement and profile management.

Core Functional Specifications for the Bakery Discovery Platform

User Authentication: Login, signup, guest access options.
Search Functionality: Search by location, keyword, filter by radius, dessert type, occasion, dietary concerns.
Business Profiles: Editable profiles with hours, images, links to menus/websites, dessert categories, and shipping options.
Favorites and Collections: Save favorite bakeries and searches for personalized access.
Deals Management: Business owners can add, edit, delete promotional deals with expiration dates and links.
Ratings System: Users can rate businesses with a star system and view aggregate ratings.
Analytics Dashboard: Business owners and super admins can view interaction data, including URL clicks, ratings, and date-range filtering.
Subscription Management: Tiered plans allowing access to enhanced features and deal uploads.

Technology Stack and Architectural Preferences for the Platform

Mobile Development: Native apps using Swift for iOS, potentially Kotlin/Java for Android if applicable.

Web Platform: Responsive web application using PHP, HTML, jQuery, and REST APIs.

Backend Services: RESTful API architecture to support mobile and web clients.

Databases: Secure storage of business profiles, user data, and analytical metrics.

External Systems and Services Integration Needs

Location Services: Geolocation APIs for accurate search and filtering.
Payment Gateways: For processing subscription upgrades and deals, if applicable.
Shipping/Delivery APIs: For nationwide dessert shipping capabilities where relevant.
Analytics Tools: For tracking user interactions and generating reports.

Essential Non-Functional Metrics and Standards

Scalability: Platform to handle increasing user base and business accounts.
Performance: Fast search response times (<2 seconds) under load.
Security: Robust data protection, secure authentication, and compliance standards.
Availability: 99.9% uptime for mobile and web services.

Projected Business Benefits and Outcomes of the Bakery Discovery Platform

The new platform aims to significantly increase bakery visibility, improving local and national reach. It is projected to support thousands of user searches per day, drive higher engagement for bakery partners, and enable data-driven decisions through analytics, ultimately boosting customer discovery, ordering, and satisfaction within the dessert community.