The client:
The client is a leading price comparison service platform owned by a US-headquartered e-commerce giant. It connects millions of sellers and buyers in the USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia and allows customers to compare prices of multiple products across e-commerce sites.
The Challenge
As the client wanted to do away with its dependency on its parent company’s third-party ad network and affiliate network, they needed to overhaul their existing platform. Also, as their existing data center was marked for decommissioning, they had to revamp their web application and move it to a new data center. This would also enable them to enhance their UI/UX and improve customer experience.
Moreover, as the client was operating in the European market, they had to follow the law that requires a merchant (advertiser) to be represented by a Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) on Google for Shopping Ads. Hence, the client needed to display deals and offers from 50 unique merchants in the US, UK, France, and Germany while seamlessly integrating with a new affiliate network.
The Solution
Persistent was the natural choice as it has been a reliable technology partner to the client’s parent organization, effectively maintaining the third-party ad network for years. We re-architected and re-implemented the client’s web application to make it a more responsive, seamless Single Page Application (SPA) with a React-based front-end and a Java Spring Boot-based service.
We deployed the revamped SPA on the client’s parent organization’s cloud environment/data center and made it installable as a Progressive Web Application (PWA) on users’ devices. We made sure that the re-architected application satisfied all of Google’s minimum requirements for a CSS in the European markets it then operated in, namely the UK, France and Germany. The integration with a third-party deal aggregator also allowed the client to expand their business to Italy soon after.
We also enhanced the UI and UX of the company’s website while integrating payment widgets to allow users to buy items directly from within the parent company’s application via the guest checkout flow. We integrated with the existing affiliate network using APIs and another affiliate network to help the client expand in a few more European markets, such as Spain, Poland, The Netherlands, Ireland and Switzerland.
The Outcome
Saving of $10 million annually towards CPC efforts
300% improvement in application response time for desktop and mobile versions
Expansion in other European markets
