Bookstore App Designed For Children & Parents

Puppy Dogs & Ice Cream

Project Overview

Puppy Dogs & Ice Cream is a children’s book publishing company that wanted to build a mobile eBook app for families.

Client

Puppy Dogs & Ice Cream

Industry

Publishing

Services

Solution Architecture
App Development
Quality Engineering

Technologies

React
Node.js
MySQL
Cloud Functions for Firebase
Shopify GraphQL

Requirements

The goal of this mobile app was to allow users to access their library digitally while making it easier to buy and read books. It required the same ecommerce store functionality as the website but with also an ‘online and offline’ mode, subscription monetization, and a very user-friendly interface for all ages.

Challenges

The main challenge brought forth by this project was how the entire ecommerce data from the Shopify store would connect with the app. A system was needed to keep the eBook library in sync with the existing ecommerce store.

Allowing offline access to libraries and eBooks so that they can be enjoyed even when there’s no internet access.

Integrating Shopify’s shopping cart in the app to allow customers to buy both physical and digital books.

Solutions

We are maintaining a separate database dedicated to the mobile app. We are also syncing variable information such as item price, cover picture, eBook file source on the first load for the relevant screen. This ensures the app will always show up-to-date eBook information to its users.

We are storing the user’s personal library and eBooks on their device and keeping it private so that it does not display anywhere in the file explorer. Once the eBook is downloaded by the user, no internet connection is required to read.

Since there wasn’t way to manage a customer’s shopping cart from Shopify GraphQL API, we had to maintain a custom shopping cart from the app’s end and import the order through API.

Results

Puppy Dogs & Ice Cream was able to expand their business onto mobile devices giving customers the flexibility to buy and read children’s books digitally. Customers have access to the entire library of eBooks, while also having the option to buy hardcopy books from the app.

With the inclusion of a monthly subscription, parents are able to download eBooks and animated videos to their device and enjoy them offline anywhere. Even when there was an influx of users on the app, there were no performance issues or slowdowns.