Spreent

Spreent's goal: maximize savings through consumers collaboration.

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Inspiration

In the age of online shopping, online shoppers commonly face an issue: the 6pt font size text stating the minimum spending to qualify for free shipping or a promotion code. $10.20 more required for free shipping. This commonplace frustration inspired us to develop Spreent.

What Spreent does

The core of Spreent is simple - it is a platform for online shoppers to connect with each other to reach the minimum spending, and save some money while shopping.

A user can start a Spree, which constitutes 3 details: the name of the Spree, the minimum spending required, and the current amount. After interacting with Spreent, the user's Spree will be added to our database where other users can search for and join Sprees.

A search for Sprees returns up to 5 Sprees, which will show the name of the Spree (mainly describing the shopping platform), the minimum spending, as well as the current amount. Should the user be interested in the Spree, they can join the Spree by clicking the "Join" button. The user will then be prompted to enter the amount they intend to spend. Users can also view Sprees that they are currently part of, to allow them to organize and manage their Sprees.

Upon meeting the minimum spending required, Spreent sends a notification message to all members in the Spree, which states the Telegram username (ex. @HelloWorld) of all the users. This allows the users to communicate with each other, facilitating their purchase.

How We built Spreent

Spreent's back-end and front-end was built using Telegram's Bot API and the Python Telegram Bot API wrapper. Databases for Sprees and users are built using Google's Firebase.

Our choice of Telegram as the platform was motivated by: the opportunity to learn Python and Telegram Bots API, as well as its widespread use.

Challenges We ran into

• Unfamiliarity with Python, Telegram Bots and Firebase
• Developing an optimal and intuitive flow for Spreent
• 24 hours time frame

Accomplishments that We're proud of

• Teamwork
• Problem solving for an unfamiliar project
• Successfully hacking together a satisfactory Telegram

What we learned

• Time management and work division
• Priority allocation for features
• Python

What's next for Spreent

Using a Telegram as testing ground and a proof of concept for our idea, we discovered that a Telegram Bot is a viable platform to host our idea. We plan to scale Spreent to a cross-platform iOS and Android app to reach out to people beyond Telegram. Integration with online shopping platforms like Shopee, Zalora, and Lazada is also a future goal, allowing us to increase the convenience of usage.

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