The first step was a technical discovery process where we unpacked product vision, user experience, and requirements. This ranged from no-fuss sign-up, booking meeting rooms, reserving a table at a restaurant, invitations to shopping events, and digital wayfinding. We wanted to ensure the experience had a premium aesthetic, delivered the right functionality, and retained the flexibility to develop new functionality in the future. We developed a new technology stack and architecture utilising a headless CMS and off-the-shelf enterprise-grade APIs, which allows for the addition of more services in the future. We then worked collaboratively with Precinct, designing detailed wireframes for key user flows aligned to the proposed architecture. Prototypes for the core ordering and payment flows were created for user testing with staff, operations teams, and customers. After validating the various journeys, we completed the UI with an updated look and feel based on Commercial Bay's new brand guidelines.

Tenant success was critical to the project. We provided Precinct with smart marketing tools so the team could work on behalf of the 150 retail and commercial tenants. This included an app, website, digital signage, and mobile marketing toolkit—all powered by a user-friendly content management system. The admin-friendly dashboard provided their community managers and marketing teams with a full suite of configurable components, including user targeting, reporting, and analytics.

We enabled Precint to engage their audience using tools such as a wallet, redeemable offers, gift cards, gamified loyalty, and push notifications. Precint were able to run seasonal campaigns including "free coffee" by integrating the Commercial Bay App with the Point of Sale (POS) system at a local coffee bar and a daily chance to "spin the wheel" and win a prize, whereby successful users got a digital voucher that could be redeemed by scanning a QR Code at the operator's POS.

The pandemic hit mid-project, just weeks before the Precint was due to open its doors. A decision was made to accelerate the launch of mobile food ordering, a feature that was on the roadmap but was out of scope for launch. It now became critical to the success of the app as it would enable visitors to the Precinct to safely order food from vendors from the app. A Precinct dining guide was developed that seamlessly blended editorial content and promotions, with in-app functionality helping customers to order ahead, order table service, or have their order delivered to their office. We designed, built, and tested the system in six weeks of remote prototyping. All 50 operators signed up in time to "safely" serve over 300,000 visitors to the Precinct in the first week of opening.

A seamless customer experience for vendors on the Commercial Bay App was enabled by an online order operator app, integrations with POS, payment, and eCommerce platforms, and a programme of education and training with operators. We used Big Commerce for the multi-vendor marketplace, which had zero fees for tenants and enabled customers to order from multiple operators and only pay once.