Pifit

A non-profit application built on the concept of pay it forward

services

Mobile App Development

industry

Non-Profit / Retail

duration

11 Months

country

Canada

Project Overview

PiFit is a non-profit reward app development. Its motto is "Pay It Forward," which means to encourage a positive shopping experience with rewards and points at different stores across the vicinity. PiFit is also a marketing hub for emerging and established businesses that want to promote their products through advertisements. A store can offer users a special QR code to earn PiFit points via Shop Local or ICD programs. Users can also avail themselves of coupons by selecting one of the approaches. Users can use these rewards to get instant cash discounts, gift cards, or donate them to charity. In other special features, the users also get lucky draws to win and vacation draws that are automated when one has a certain collection of points in their profile. The rewards and coupon app is all about rewarding fun experiences to shoppers online!

Challenges

Dual Workflow Management

• The system manages dual workflows (Shop Local and ICD Program) post-QR scan, requiring state management for transitions, interruptions, and network failures.

• Race conditions during program selection risk duplicate processing or incorrect rewards.

• Shop Local demands precise reward calculations with tiered purchase amounts, handling concurrent transactions and validation bypasses.

ICD Program Verification

• ICD Program faces challenges in verifying complete video viewing across different platforms while preventing manipulation.

• Ensuring accurate reward distribution despite network issues and device variations.

• Users must watch ads to collect points, requiring cross-platform compatibility and verification.

Automated Draw Lifecycle

• The mobile app implements an automated draw lifecycle management system with weekly cycles (Saturday to Friday) and sequential execution.

• The scheduler handles draw initiation, termination, and queue management, addressing timing conflicts.

• Consistency maintenance and recovery from unexpected interruptions to ensure reliable operations.

Our Solution

State Machine Architecture

• A state machine architecture manages Shop Local and ICD Program workflows through unique transaction IDs and separate processing queues.

• Retry mechanisms and distributed logs ensure recovery from interruptions.

• The Shop Local program employs decimal arithmetic for precise tiered reward calculations with transaction isolation preventing concurrent processing issues.

ICD Verification System

• The ICD Program uses a progressive checkpoint system with local storage for video completion verification.

• Implementing server-side validation and cross-platform compatibility.

• Both programs feature streamlined reward redemption, ICD points for discounts or charitable donations, and coupons for personal use or community sharing.

Automated Draw Management

• Draw management uses status tracking (UPCOMING, ON-GOING, WINNER, COMPLETED) with automated scheduling.

• The system includes points verification, real-time notifications, and randomized winner selection.

• Manual override capabilities handle unexpected interruptions, while phased implementation ensures reliable multi-draw processing.

Features Implemented

PiFit includes a range of features designed to deliver a rewarding shopping experience through QR-based loyalty programs, coupon management, and automated draws.

1. Shop Local Program

Scan the QR code and avail the Shop Local option. A user can earn PiFit points by scanning the unique QR code present in the store. One gets PiFit points if the purchase is made upto $500. A user can redeem these points by getting gift cards.

2. ICD Program

To make the online shopping experience fun, the reward app has this very special program for the users. Instant Cash Discount (ICD) helps one to deduct a certain amount directly from their total bill or can also give the whole ICD to charity. It is mandatory to watch an ad to collect points through the ICD program & use them to get a reward from the app. A user also gets a coupon that he can use, swap, or donate to the community bucket.

3. Search Store

The online reward app enables users to find nearby stores that are affiliated with PiFit. The non profit venture, fetches the current location of a user by default and gets them the results of stores on a GPS map. One can also edit their location intuitively and get a store's location, category name, and distance from him with ease.

4. Gift Cards

There are many gift cards present in the module with their specific prices in the form of PiFit points. Users can redeem these cards with the points and purchase them. The coupon gets automatically added to one's profile right after the points are deducted successfully.

5. Coupon Bank

The coupon bank has a proper bifurcation of a user's earned coupons from ICD flow and purchase. One can explore coupon details, swap any coupon, and redeem them at an instance. On the other hand, all the donated, discarded, and swapped coupons are seen in the community module.

6. Coupon Swap

PiFit has this amazing feature of exchanging coupons with other online community of users. One can mark their coupons for swap, and once marked, these coupons will appear in the community bucket for other users to view. Other users can then send a swap request to the owner. Users can review the details of swappable coupons and decide to accept or reject requests. One also has the option to withdraw their requests before other user accept or reject the request.

7. Draws

50-50 draws and vacation draws are the top perks of PiFit. The eligibility for both the draws is based on collection of Karma Points. If a user has gathered 1500 karma points then he is directly eligible for lucky draw. And if he has gathered 10,000 karma points he is eligible for the vacation draw. The solution picks such users automatically by scanning their individual accounts. And also announces a winner every Friday.

Technology Stack

PiFit is built with a modern mobile and web technology stack to deliver a reliable cross-platform experience.

Cross-Platform

React Native

Backend Framework

PHP (Laravel)

Database

MySQL

Server Stacks

AWS

Frontend UI

React JS

CI/CD

Gitlab

Conclusion

PiFit demonstrates how a well-designed reward app can drive community engagement through the "Pay It Forward" concept. By combining QR-based loyalty programs, coupon management, and automated draws, the app delivers a fun and rewarding shopping experience for users across Canada while serving as a marketing platform for local businesses.

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