How to optimize mobile apps for three different operating systems with each other?

How to optimize and make mobile apps for three different operating systems consistent with each other? What to do to make the changes translate into favorable business results? “We focus on User Experience!”, or a few words about the cooperation of the Symetria agency from Poznan with Ceneo.en.
Ceneo.pl is one of the most popular e-commerce sites in USA1. It makes it possible to quickly and easily search for products and then compare their prices in many stores. For a long time now, Ceneo.pl offered its users mobile applications, designed for the most popular operating systems.
The applications mentioned were developed by different project teams and at different times – as a result, they were inconsistent, both functionally and graphically.
Ceneo.pl therefore decided to carry out a redesign of the application to refresh the interface, eliminate bugs and make its appearance more consistent across different devices and operating systems. This project was entrusted to the Symetria agency from Poznan.

A good product is born in… research

Symmetry already at the initial stage proposed a methodology of work in the spirit of user-centered design (UCD). Thus, the project was preceded by a series of studies aimed at getting to know the Ceneo user – his needs, requirements and problems he faced while using the application.
On the basis of quantitative and qualitative data, the main priorities and assumptions of the project were formulated. Know the context and how to use the Ceneo application.pl, Symetria decided to pay attention primarily to the mechanisms for searching, filtering and sorting items, that is, the process of reaching the preferred product.

Multiplatform design

After the research stage, it was time for the functional design of the application. One of the biggest challenges during the design was to follow the guidelines of operating system manufacturers (UI Guidelines). Each manufacturer provides its own design guidelines, which, with several operating systems, can result in a wide variation in the design of applications (something they wanted to avoid).
As an example, the option to quickly launch a search engine can be used here. In Android and iOS it has been placed in the side menu. In the case of Windows Phone, it was not possible to develop a side menu, so the search icon in the corner of the interface was used.
The inspiration for the new, consistent home screen for all apps came from the iPhone start screen, which was rated best during a survey with users.
Symetria designed the application’s most important screens (start screen, category screen and product screen), which laid the foundation for Ceneo going forward.en. Based on these, new and improved versions of the Android, iOS, Windows Phone applications have been developed.
According to Tomasz Kaczmarek, UX Specialist at Symetria: “Cooperation with Ceneo.pl was one of the first projects of its kind. To date, we have not had a situation where we worked on more than one mobile application of the service within one project. In this case, there were as many as 4 of them, each completely different, characterized by elements characteristic of a particular operating system.

As such, the issue of making the apps more consistent seemed like quite a challenge, which I think we handled quite well. Developed on the basis of analysis and research, the projects meet the needs of users as much as possible, while at the same time realizing Ceneo’s business goals.”

Ergonomics above all

The new Ceneo application.pl is not only a revised, transparent interface. It also took care of e.g. more prominent access to the barcode scanner, or category.

In the new app, offers are displayed to the user immediately on the first tab of the product page. This resulted in better visibility of the offers, the product images are larger, and the user experience – more intuitive.
Users who are using the app for the first time can benefit from a simple guide that shows the ways and advantages of using the app (English. Onboarding). This mechanism makes it easier for users to learn about available functionality and teaches them how to use the interface.