Team 15 - MarketConnect

A social platform to connect small businesses who are unable to transition to the online market during the pandemic with potential customers

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Inspiration

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses such as small shop owners and market merchants have lost their main income stream due to tight SOPs and regulations that forbid them from doing their business physically.

However, they are unable to transition themselves onto the online market and are cannot keep up with the online trend due to the lack of familiarity with modern technology.

The livelihood of local grocers is also affected as they are forced to buy from supermarkets and grocery giants.

Our Solution

MarketConnect is a social platform to connect small businesses who are unable to transition to the online market during the pandemic era with potential customers nearby.

  • Allows merchants to easily and seamlessly transition partially towards the online market
  • Provides more transparency during the trading of goods
  • Incurs zero commission fee towards the merchants who are already struggling financially
  • Aims to be a localized market distribution in which customers trade with nearby merchants for ease of accesss

Technology Used

We designed the UI together using Figma's collaboration tools. From the designs, we then prototyped the app using Flutter. We then integrate Firebase Firestore into the app with FlutterFire.

Challenges

  • Setting up the Android development environment was a hassle and time-consuming.
  • Learning Flutter and Firebase as only one of us was familiar with it.

Accomplishments

Being able to come up with a working Android App within a day.

Learning Outcomes

  • Flutter is a fast and simple way to build beautiful mobile applications
  • Firebase integrates well with Flutter and eliminates the need to write backend code from scratch

What's Next

Since no commission fee is incurred, this solution relies on advertising for long-term sustainability. In-app messaging and payment systems can also be integrated alongside custom delivery options to allow for a more seamless trading experience between merchants and customers.

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