ShopNEXT: Making the world of Web3 accessible to the masses through rewards
About ShopNEXT
Launched with a mission to bring Web3 to the masses, Vietnam-based ShopNEXT is a Web3 loyalty platform that follows a shop-to-earn model. The startup allows users to earn token rewards from daily shopping, introducing them to blockchain while helping merchants grow their businesses. In collaboration with Visa as a payment gateway, ShopNEXT is quickly growing its user base around the world.
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Contact usShopNEXT migrated to Google Cloud, leveraging Compute Engine for a round the clock server uptime so that customers can be rewarded with tokens every time they shop.
Google Cloud results
- Scales a new instance in 2 to 5 minutes
- Improves go-to-market speed with Firebase Remote Config
- Provides easy documentation for seamless engineer and developer experience
Enabling 100% server up time even during traffic spikes
With the emergence of the metaverse, blockchain technology, and NFTs, the world of Web3 is fast becoming commonplace. However, acceptance and adoption of the space still remains a challenge. For Linh Le, CEO at ShopNEXT, it was a personal interest in the world of Web3 that drove him to develop a platform to introduce it to the masses.
"Our hope is that people can leverage new technologies to improve their lives, by shopping more efficiently, for example. Being an early adopter in the Web3 space, they can also get a foot in the door with the new opportunities available to them," he says.
According to Linh, two key barriers prevent people from entering the crypto space. The first is the complexity of it, and the second, is credibility. "Unlike traditional banking, setting up a cryptocurrency (crypto) wallet can be daunting for many people. Furthermore, the uncertainties of the Web3 space can cause a lot of doubts for people to take the first step," says Linh.
To demystify common perceptions, ShopNEXT was created to lower the barrier to entry by rewarding users with crypto tokens every time they make a purchase with traditional methods of payments. In just under two years, the app has users in more than 79 countries around the world.
Originally known as Shopiness, an ecommerce cashback affiliate marketing app that had been in operation for more than six years in Vietnam, the company rebranded to ShopNEXT in 2021 and launched Version 2 of its app in January 2023, which now allows people to earn token rewards when they shop with their Visa card. "Anyone with a Visa card can link their card with our app once, and everytime they make a payment, they will get rewarded instantly," explains Linh. Once enough token points have been accumulated, users can choose to trade in the crypto space, or simply redeem them for vouchers.
To further scale globally, ShopNEXT needed a reliable cloud solution that would enable it to grow globally, and decided on Google Cloud for its reliability, scalability, and security, running its virtual machines (VMs) on Compute Engine.
Bringing the world of Web3 to the masses with 100% server uptime
As a cashback affiliate marketing platform, availability is crucial to the business’ success. "We work with some of the biggest ecommerce companies here in Vietnam, so we need a very reliable system," says Linh, adding that since ShopNEXT’s revenue is heavily reliant on people making payments through their app, even a few hours of server downtime can be detrimental to the bottom line.
"In the past, we had experienced server downtime during key sale events, and when this happened, people were unable to make payments through our platform, affecting our revenue," explains Linh. "This is why when deciding on a cloud platform, we needed to ensure that we would achieve 100% uptime, and Google Cloud delivered."
"In the past, we had experienced server downtime during key sale events, and when this happened, people were unable to make payments through our platform, affecting our revenue. This is why when deciding on a cloud platform, we needed to ensure that we would achieve 100% uptime, and Google Cloud delivered."
—Linh Le, CEO, ShopNEXTCompute Engine provides ShopNEXT a powerful, reliable, and scalable resource, allowing the company to host applications, process data, and even store data where needed.
"An important benefit of Compute Engine is its flexibility. We can choose a template or custom our own template to expectation, which means we can tailor the computing resources to match our workload requirements. This helps us optimize the performance and review courses," explains Tony Tran, Head of Strategy at ShopNEXT.
The flexibility that Compute Engine enables also allows software engineers to configure their VMs with their preferred operating system, and manage their VMs through a web-based console or API, scaling resources up and down as needed.
With so much flexibility, Compute Engine has become a cost effective solution for ShopNEXT, as they are now able to optimize their resources, reducing substantial costs. "There are no hidden costs associated with Google Cloud products, and everything is really transparent which is something that we appreciate as a startup," says Linh.
"An important benefit of Compute Engine is its flexibility. We can choose a template or custom our own template to expectation, which means we can tailor the computing resources to match our workload requirements. This helps us optimize the performance and review courses."
—Tony Tran, Head of Strategy, ShopNEXTGiving merchants and shoppers the best app experience around the clock
More than ensuring an always-on payment system, ShopNEXT helps merchants promote relevant products to customers. At the same time, they aid shoppers in finding what they are looking for by using Firebase Dynamic Links to send relevant deep links to users, so they can shop seamlessly across desktop and mobile.
"When we run a marketing campaign and want users to go directly to the last deal offer on our partner ecommerce platform, we can use the deep link to send the user directly to a certain app screen, improving the buyer journey," explains Linh. Apart from giving users a better user experience, there is often a higher conversion rate since the correct links are sent to buyers who already have the intention to make a purchase.
ShopNEXT also uses Firebase Remote Config to carefully test projects on beta before release, so that they ensure a product is ready for launch before releasing it to the public.
"If we want to test a new feature on the app, we can just open that version of the app to specific types of users, such as frequent shoppers who use Visa only, for example, so that we can get feedback from them, without disrupting the user experience for other shoppers. This way, we are to test and fix any issues before launching." More importantly, running remote config on new features and functionalities helps ShopNEXT improve its go-to-market speed since the DevOps team can roll out and test anytime.
One of the biggest concerns for app developers is ensuring that their infrastructure can weather the storm for the long run. ShopNEXT relies on Firebase Crashlytics to monitor and track any potential stability issues, prioritizing the more important ones for engineers to resolve before they become a problem.
A supportive team that understands local market needs
As an ecommerce platform, being available to customers at any time of day and night is part and parcel of the business. Furthermore, technology is always evolving, and engineers need to be in the know to get the best out of it.
"The Google Cloud team is quick to respond every time we need support," says Linh, sharing that support is always available within 24 hours. "When there is a product update, the Google Cloud representatives are quick to send us helpful information that supports developers so that we use the products in the most effective way."
Furthermore, as a Vietnamese startup, engineers at ShopNEXT may not be as fluent with the English language so having a Vietnamese speaking team to provide support in the local language has been beneficial.
"While we have customers around the world like Japan, Thailand, Philippines, and the US, most of our customers are still located in Vietnam. With the global presence of Google Cloud and the flexibility it offers, we expect to further grow our Visa card features and capabilities around the world," says Linh.
"While we have customers around the world like Japan, Thailand, Philippines, and the US, most of our customers are still located in Vietnam. With the global presence of Google Cloud and the flexibility it offers, we expect to further grow our Visa card features and capabilities around the world."
—Linh Le, CEO, ShopNEXTIn the near future, ShopNEXT plans to deploy Confidential Space to maintain a high level of data privacy as they drive meaningful collaboration across teams. This ensures that customer data continues to be encrypted even as it is being shared or processed, while also fulfilling ShopNEXT’s vision of easing Web3 adoption through driving secure, seamless user experiences.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About ShopNEXT
Launched with a mission to bring Web3 to the masses, Vietnam-based ShopNEXT is a Web3 loyalty platform that follows a shop-to-earn model. The startup allows users to earn token rewards from daily shopping, introducing them to blockchain while helping merchants grow their businesses. In collaboration with Visa as a payment gateway, ShopNEXT is quickly growing its user base around the world.