Project overview

REsight is an eCRM platform for retail execution and monitoring. It tracks products in retail settings along with stores, locations and pricing, giving companies a complete view of their retail operations. The platform is made of a React web application, a React Native mobile app used in the field, and a Node.js and MySQL backend.

My role

I worked as a frontend developer at REsight from 2019 to 2022, focused mainly on the React Native mobile app while also contributing to the React web application. I worked closely with a designer on components, styles and pages across the product.

The challenge

The mobile app is used in retail environments where connectivity cannot be taken for granted. Field users needed to keep working without an internet connection, and the data they collected had to reach the platform reliably once they were back online. At the same time, managers needed a different view of the same data, with tracking and analytics instead of data collection.

What I worked on

• Built offline workflows in the React Native app, with SQLite as local storage so users could keep working without a connection
• Implemented data synchronisation so information collected offline was sent to the platform once the device reconnected
• Built tracking features for products, stores, locations and pricing information
• Developed the manager interface, with user tracking, information tailored to managerial roles, and analytics dashboards with graphs and reports
• Created a reusable UI component library with styled-components, shared across the app
• Integrated AI-powered image recognition through Python services

Technical decisions

• Offline-first on mobile. Instead of depending on the network, the app reads and writes to a local SQLite database and synchronises with the backend when a connection is available. This made the app usable in the field regardless of connectivity.
• A shared component library. Building the UI on a custom component library with styled-components kept the app visually consistent and gave every new screen a common foundation to build on.
• Role-based experiences. Field users and managers work with the same data through different interfaces, so each role sees the information and tools relevant to their work.

Outcome

The platform gave field teams a mobile tool that works reliably with or without connectivity, and gave managers the tracking and analytics they needed to follow their retail operations. It was also where I built a solid foundation in React Native, offline data handling and component architecture.