NZ Safety Blackwoods is a large industrial and safety products supplier serving customers across construction, engineering, manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure, and workplace safety sectors. The company operates at scale across New Zealand, providing essential products to a broad customer base spanning both trade and enterprise accounts.
The NZSB Customer Mobile Application was developed to provide customers with a mobile first purchasing experience, extending the existing eCommerce ecosystem to smartphones and enterprise handheld devices. The application enables customers to complete end to end purchasing journeys entirely from their mobile devices.
Core Customer Capabilities
What the Application Enables Customers to Do
Search and browse industrial product catalogue
Manage favourite product lists for repeat purchasing
Place orders with full checkout and payment flows
Track deliveries and view order history
Manage account details, addresses, and preferences
Perform checkout with purchase order references and delivery notes
The solution acts as a direct extension of the existing eCommerce ecosystem, improving mobile accessibility and customer engagement across all buyer segments.
How They Operated Before
Prior to the mobile application, customers primarily interacted with NZ Safety Blackwoods through desktop and browser based systems. These workflows were not optimised for mobile users and created friction at multiple points in the customer journey.
Previous Customer Interaction Channels
Legacy Touchpoints Before Mobile Application
Desktop and web based ordering systems
Traditional online account management through browser portals
Browser based checkout experiences
Manual navigation between account functions and pages
Web dependent password recovery and registration workflows
Account linking requiring external site redirects
Address updates managed through desktop portals only
Product search limited to browser based interfaces
Order tracking accessed via desktop order history pages
The mobile experience was highly limited, requiring customers to switch between desktop portals and external web pages for many common account activities. This created a disjointed experience that reduced engagement and increased abandonment during key workflows such as checkout and account management.
Challenges Faced
Five primary challenge areas were identified through UX discovery and customer journey analysis:
Fragmented Authentication Journey
Users were required to move between multiple systems to complete authentication related tasks including login, forgot password, account linking, and registration. Redirect handling between internal and external systems increased friction and drop off rates.
Limited Product Discovery Experience
Without a dedicated mobile search experience, locating industrial products was time consuming. Customers required keyword search, dynamic suggestions, barcode scanning, advanced filtering, category navigation, and sort controls — none of which were available in a mobile optimised format.
Complex Order Management
Repeat purchasing workflows were inefficient. Customers needed order history access, product reviews within orders, tracking links, and reorder capability from a single interface. Traditional web flows created delays when managing or repeating past orders.
Checkout Complexity
Managing checkout through web only processes reduced efficiency. Customers needed to handle shipping address selection, delivery instructions, purchase order references, order notes, and multiple payment paths — all from a streamlined mobile checkout experience.
Customer Self Service Limitations
Account management features including address management, profile updates, favourite lists, saved products, notifications, and account settings were not mobile friendly. This forced customers to use desktop systems for routine self service tasks.
Challenge
Impact on Customers
Fragmented Authentication
Multiple system redirects caused friction and increased drop off
Limited Product Discovery
Finding industrial products was slow and cumbersome on mobile
Complex Order Management
Repeat purchasing required unnecessary manual steps
Checkout Complexity
Web only checkout reduced transaction completion rates
Self Service Limitations
Routine account tasks required desktop access
Collaboration Approach
The project followed a customer centric product delivery approach, beginning with detailed UX design and prototyping before moving into development. This ensured the application was built around validated customer journeys rather than assumptions.
UX Design Coverage
Design Area
Screens & Flows Covered
Authentication
Sign In, Forgot Password, Create Account, Link Account
Shopping
Search, Product Browsing, Product Details, Favourite Lists
Commerce
Cart, Checkout, Orders, Tracking
Account
My Account, Address Management, Settings
Delivery Activities
Project Execution Steps
Requirements gathering workshops with product owners and stakeholders
User journey mapping across all key customer touchpoints
Figma screen prototyping and interactive flow design
UX reviews and design iteration sessions
Development iterations aligned to validated prototypes
QA validation against acceptance criteria
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and sign off
Release deployment to production environment
Technical Expertise & Solutions
The application was built using a native Android approach to ensure full hardware integration, optimal performance on enterprise devices, and the best possible user experience on the Android platform.
Authentication Module
A complete authentication system was implemented covering all key flows required for secure and seamless customer access.
Authentication Flows Implemented
Sign In with credential validation
Forgot Password with secure reset flow
Create Online Account with validation engine
Existing Account Linking to connect legacy accounts
Website redirect support for external authentication transitions
Comprehensive validation handling throughout all auth flows
Account Management
A full My Account module was implemented to give customers complete self service control over their profile and account settings from their mobile device.
Account Management Screens
My Account dashboard with quick access to key functions
Address listing with primary address visibility
Address creation, editing, and deletion
Default address management
Profile updates and personal detail management
Account preferences and notification settings
Product Discovery
A comprehensive product search and discovery system was built to help customers find industrial products quickly across a large catalogue.
Search & Discovery Capabilities
Full text product search with keyword lookup
Dynamic search suggestions as users type
Barcode scanner integration for instant product identification
Camera search support for visual product lookup
Category navigation and hierarchical browsing
Filter screens for narrowing results by attributes
Sort options (price, relevance, availability)
Dynamic loading of search results
Product Experience
Product detail pages were designed to provide all information required for purchase decisions in an accessible and well structured mobile layout.
Product Page Features
High quality product images with zoom support
Real time availability indicators
Full product descriptions and specifications
Add to Cart with quantity selector
Favourite handling to save products to lists
Related products and recommendations
Favourite Lists
A flexible favourite list system was implemented to support repeat purchasing workflows common among industrial buyers.
Favourite List Capabilities
Default favourite list automatically created per account
Multiple lists supported per customer
Create new lists with custom names
Rename and manage existing lists
Add and remove products across any list
Full favourite management from product pages and list views
Commerce & Checkout
A complete checkout system was implemented covering all edge cases required for B2B industrial purchasing, including purchase order references, delivery instructions, and credit account payment.
Checkout Area
Capabilities
Shipping
Address selection, address modification, delivery notes
Order Handling
Purchase order number entry, order comments, validation checks
Payment
Credit account payment, card payment options
Confirmation
Order review, success state confirmation, error handling
Order Management
A full order management module was delivered to provide customers with complete visibility and control over their order history.
Order Management Features
View individual products within each order
Order tracking with carrier integration
Track & Trace link integration
Reorder capability to restore previous orders to cart
Cart restoration for incomplete checkout sessions
Tools & Tech Stack
Mobile Technology
Technology / Library
Purpose
Kotlin
Primary development language for Android application
Android SDK
Core Android platform APIs and device integration
MVVM Architecture
Separation of concerns and maintainable codebase structure
ViewBinding
Type safe view access without boilerplate
Navigation Component
In app navigation and back stack management
Retrofit / OkHttp
HTTP client for REST API communication
Gson
JSON serialisation and deserialisation
RxJava3 / RxAndroid
Reactive programming for async data streams
Google ML Kit Barcode Scanner
Barcode and QR code scanning capability
CameraX
Camera integration for scan and visual search workflows
Firebase Analytics
User behaviour tracking and usage analytics
Firebase Crashlytics
Real time crash reporting and stability monitoring
Datadog
Performance monitoring and operational observability
Design & UX Tools
UX & Design Tooling
Figma – primary UI/UX design and prototyping tool
Interactive prototypes for stakeholder review and validation
User flow mapping across all customer journeys
Component driven design system for consistent UI patterns
Additional Technical Features
Additional Capabilities
Native barcode scanner with hardware integration
Camera integration for visual product lookup
Client side validation engine for forms and checkout
Bottom sheet interaction patterns for contextual actions
Search indexing for fast catalogue lookup
Dynamic filtering with real time result updates
Current Status
The NZSB Customer Mobile Application development has been fully completed. All planned modules from the design phase have been implemented, validated, and released to production. The application is currently live and operational, supporting end to end customer purchasing journeys from authentication through checkout and order tracking.
Delivery Lifecycle
UX Design
Development
UAT
QA
Production Release
Deployed Modules Summary
Module
Status
Authentication & Account Management
Eliminated paper based and spreadsheet driven workflows across key inventory activities
Customer Account Features
Real time scanning and validation significantly reduced time to confirm stock counts
Product Discovery & Search
Warehouse teams now operate entirely from handheld devices without desktop dependency
Barcode & Camera Scanning
Live scanning and system integration reduced recording errors and discrepancies
Product Detail Pages
Instant access to stock levels and availability across all warehouse locations
Favourite Lists Management
Streamlined PO and goods receipt workflows accelerated inbound processing
Cart & Checkout
Pre dispatch checks reduced outbound errors and improved order accuracy
Order Management & Tracking
Consolidated reporting provides managers with timely operational insights
Ongoing Activities
Although core development is complete, the following activities continue on an ongoing basis:
Ongoing Work
Production support and incident response
Bug fixes and defect resolution
Performance optimisation and load time improvements
Feature enhancements based on user feedback
UX refinements and usability improvements
Android platform upgrades and SDK updates
Maintenance releases and security patches
Impact & Benefits
The NZSB Customer Mobile Application delivered measurable improvements to the customer purchasing experience and operational efficiency of the eCommerce channel. By providing a fully native, mobile first application, NZ Safety Blackwoods now offers customers a seamless end to end buying journey without dependency on desktop systems.
Customer Experience Improvements
Benefit
Outcome Delivered
Reduced Desktop Dependency
Customers can complete all key workflows entirely from mobile
Mobile First Purchasing
End to end buying journey optimised for smartphone and handheld devices
Faster Product Discovery
Barcode scanning, search suggestions, and filtering reduce time to find
Simplified Account Management
Self service account tasks available on mobile without desktop access
Improved Self Service Capabilities
Address, profile, favourites, and settings all managed from one app
Operational Benefits
Benefit Area
Outcome Delivered
Faster Ordering Workflows
Streamlined cart and checkout reduced time to order for repeat buyers
Better Repeat Purchase Experience
Favourite lists and reorder capability simplify repeat purchasing
Reduced Navigation Complexity
Single app consolidates all previously fragmented touchpoints
Improved Account Visibility
Customers have real time visibility of orders, addresses, and history
Streamlined Checkout
B2B friendly checkout with PO references, delivery notes, and credit accounts
