- Building & Trade Supplies
SOIF: Architectural Film Trade App
- Project Overview
How SOIF Put 500 Finishes in an Installer's Hand
SOIF supplies architectural film to installers across the UK, more than 500 finishes in wood, concrete, stone and marble, solid colour, fabric, metal and leather. The catalogue already sold through a BigCommerce store, but that store assumed a desk, and installers are on site.
Codinative built SOIF a native app for iOS and Android that sits directly on the existing BigCommerce catalogue, inventory and customer groups. Nothing was migrated. An installer signs in with their trade account, sees their own wholesale pricing, finds a finish by its product code, and places the order from the job itself.
- Relevant Keywords
- Why SOIF Chose Codinative
From Web Store to Native Trade App
Mapping the Live Catalogue
The real categories, finishes and customer groups were mapped first, so the app would mirror the store instead of reinventing it.
Scoping to What Happens on Site
Not every web page earns a screen. The app was scoped around what an installer does on a job: find a finish, check the price, check stock, order.
Wiring Trade Pricing to the Account
Wholesale rates are tied to a BigCommerce customer group, so a logged-in account sees its own pricing with no second price list to maintain.
Building on the Existing APIs
A React Native front end talks to the Storefront and Customer APIs. No second database, no sync job, no duplicate catalogue.
Store Submission and Launch
The app shipped to Google Play, where trade installers download it free.
- The Challenge
Everything About Ordering Assumed a Desk
- No App at All: The whole catalogue lived on the web, which on a phone meant pinching through a storefront built for a monitor.
- Trade Pricing Was a Question, Not a Number: Wholesale rates depend on the account, so away from the desk installers were guessing or ringing in to ask.
- 500+ Finishes to Scroll: Installers work from product codes, not names, and there was no way to go straight to HF 5118.
- Job Sites Lose Signal: A browser tab is useless the moment the connection drops, which on a half-finished building is most of the time.
- The Solution
The Store, Rebuilt Around How Installers Buy
01
Trade Sign-In With Real Pricing
A logged-in account pulls its own wholesale rates straight from its BigCommerce customer group.
02
Search by Code or Name
Type a product code the way an installer already writes it down, or search the finish by name.
03
Seven Material Categories
Wood, concrete, stone and marble, solid, fabric, metal and leather, split the way the trade talks about it.
04
Cart With VAT and Coupons
Subtotal, VAT at 20% and grand total broken out before checkout, with coupon codes applied in the cart.
05
Checkout Without Leaving the App
Saved address, saved payment method, Apple Pay, Google Pay or card. Browse to confirmation in one place.
06
Live Stock, Offline Catalogue
Stock and pricing poll live from BigCommerce; the catalogue is cached so browsing survives a site with no signal.
- Feature Showcase
Inside the app
- Get the App
Get SOIF
On Google Play
- Tech Stack Implementation
Built with a modern stack
Frontend
- React Native - one codebase for iOS and Android
- Dark, high-contrast UI tuned for reading on site
Commerce & Accounts
- BigCommerce Storefront API and Customer APIs
- BigCommerce OAuth, carrying trade pricing access
Payments & Sync
- Apple Pay, Google Pay and card, taken in-app
- Live polling of product, price and stock
Offline & Notifications
- Cached product catalogue for browsing without signal
- Order status and restock alerts pushed to the installer
- Results & Value
Outcomes that move the business
Only
Trade App in Its Market
The one architectural film supplier in the UK with a dedicated app for installers.
500+
Finishes in the Pocket
The full catalogue, across seven material categories, searchable by code.
Live
On Google Play
Published and free for trade installers to install on any Android phone.
In-app
Order to Confirmation
Browse, cart, VAT, coupon, address and payment, without leaving the app.
- Built for the Trade
What the App Changed on Site
01
Faster Than the Mobile Web
A native app answers instantly where a storefront built for a monitor stalls, which matters most mid-job.
02
No More Pricing Calls
Trade login shows an installer their exact wholesale rate, so nobody rings in to confirm a price.
03
Search the Way the Trade Works
Installers bookmark product codes rather than finish names, and the search was built for that habit.
04
Works Without Signal
The cached catalogue keeps browsing alive on sites where connectivity does not reach.
- Built to Grow with the Catalogue
Room to Grow Without a Rebuild
Because the app reads SOIF’s own BigCommerce categories, products and customer groups, a new finish or a whole new material category is added on the store and appears in the app with no new release.
There is no second database and no sync job to keep in step, so the catalogue can grow as far as the store does. The same pattern fits any BigCommerce merchant selling to trade accounts, which makes this a repeatable build rather than a one-off.
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