This documentation Illustrates the Crepaholics UK app development process and how it went from a sketch on paper to a physical app that you can download on your phone. This documentation will also describe the app's features and functionality, as well as explain how it caters to my preferred target group’s needs and interests. Collecting sneakers was once a niche hobby however it has become very popular in recent years and sneaker culture has grown rapidly in the United Kingdom. The growth in sneaker culture can be accredited to more frequent sneaker releases, a rise in sneaker blog pages, more sneaker events, artist collaborations and brand collaborations. (The rise of the sneaker culture - 2021) According to Weinswig (2016), the sneaker industry was worth £45 billion in 2018 and is estimated to be worth £68 billion in 2024. Since 2018, there has been an increase in the number of celebrities that wear rare sneakers and collaborate with major sneaker brands. Sneaker brands use this as a strategy to increase demand for such sneakers and raise interest for similar designs. In most cases where this strategy is adopted, the brand produces a limited and low supply of the sneaker, in an attempt to once again elevate the demand even further, however this may come as a big issue for sneaker collectors (sneaker-heads), as attempting to purchase these limited sneakers can be a huge struggle. (Jacobs, 2021). For example, the Nike Air Jordan 1 x Travis Scott, retailed for £165 and released on the 30th April 2019; the sneaker had an extremely high demand due to it connections with the huge hip-hop star/ style-icon. Sneaker blog pages and social media sites aided in showcasing the sneakers, which again pushed demand. The sneakers had very high demand and very low stock numbers. At the time of writing this documentation, 18th April 2021, the sneaker is currently valued at £1367 according to Stock X (An online sneaker/streetwear marketplace). Another example is the Nike Air Jordan 1 x Off-White ‘Chicago’ collaboration which were released on the 1st March 2018, retail on this sneaker was £150, and they are now worth £3274. For contrast, the Nike Air Jordan 1 ‘First Class Flight,’ which also retailed at £150 in the same year, is only worth £185 on the aftermarket. These examples help to illustrate how artist and brand collaborations can increase the demand and selling potential of sneakers, all by creating a buzz around them. This also highlights a problem sneaker-lovers face in the struggle to purchase and obtain these treasured limited-edition sneakers. Purchasing sneakers online has become a lot more difficult as people in hundreds of thousands crash web-shop severs on release dates. The battle to obtain such releases has also given rise to technological developments that aim to ensure the user will be the fastest to the checkout and bypass any competition. Bots are a family of programs which try to provide a purchasing advantage to the user and can consist of automated add-to-cart services, website monitors and express checkout services. (Ref) Sneaker reselling is one part of the sneaker culture that has benefited as a result of peoples’ inability to obtain high-end and limited-edition shoes at retail prices. Laws of demand and supply suggest a higher price for a product can arise where demand exceeds supply. Within the sneaker culture, the demand tends to be extremely high and supply relatively low which gives rise for an aftermarket – a resale market. As a result of this, people will tend to have to pay more than retail if they really wanted a highly demand sneaker. Buying low and selling big is the central thrust of sneaker reselling. The growth of Stock X and Goat (a sneaker marketplace) has also led to the £1 billion valuations of the sneaker reselling industry. (Sole value – the sneaker resell market 2021)
As a personal shopper, during the 2020 March - June lockdown, I struggled to supply my clients with items they wanted due to stores being closed. This affected my sales drastically since I was not able to complete my role, to source and supply clients with limited sneakers, clothing and accessories. I took longer to meet my client’s needs and I had to find a way to purchase limited sneakers. While searching online how to buy limited sneakers I came across a website called Dropdate; a website that shows the time and release date of upcoming fashion items. However, this website did not provide links to buy the limited items, which is what the Crepaholics UK app solves. According to MacMurdo and MacMurdo (2021), a significant number of people miss out on sneakers they want to wear or sell because of a lack of information; they don't know where to buy limited sneakers. As MacMurdo and MacMurdo write: “Trying to get the Yeezy's was worse. I spent about 45 minutes attempting to fight through the overloaded websites of major sneaker retailers Footlocker, Footaction, Eastbay and Champs at about 6 am before realizing that I had missed the release.” This is an example of what the majority of sneakerheads face when trying to purchase a limited sneaker and further identifies the need for the Crepaholics UK app. The Crepaholics UK app informs users about the latest fashion news such as sneaker leaks, designer brand collaborations, upcoming sneakers and Crepaholics UK stock updates. The application provides specific information on upcoming sneakers like the date and time of the release while also providing a direct link to an external site to purchase an item. Crepaholics UK stock will also be available to purchase on the app through an email form. A WhatsApp QR code is included for users to join and converse. People within the sneaker community can chat, buy, sell and trade while also networking with each other.
The Crepaholics UK App has six key features that help me create a perfect and secure app that meets the needs and wants of my target audience; these consist of a home page, a release dates page, a WhatsApp page, an information page, a shop page, and a pre-order page. The home page keeps users up to date on the latest fashion and sneaker news, including music artists and their most recent collaborations, leaked sneaker and fashion news, and new Crepaholics stock. It is made up of striking thumbnails that I created in Adobe photoshop, each of which includes a broad image relevant to the article's subject and a bold title in black. I decided to make the title black so that the page goes with my red, white, grey and black theme, this was important to establish my theme as it the first page shown when the app is launched. The release dates page is the key feature of the Crepaholics UK app; it informs users of the time and date an item will be released, as well as providing direct links to buy the item. I produced the thumbnails using Microsoft Word and included a simple picture of the sneaker with the release date and time directly below. Users who have the Crepaholics UK app have an advantage over those who do not; the aim of the simple design is to make it easy for users to find the sneakers they want to buy. Majority of the app’s pages include a shop icon. This feature helps users to look at the things that Crepaholics has available for sale presently. Since this was the only camera available for this project, the images on this page were taken with an iPhone 12 Pro Max camera. I used a grey vinyl backdrop to make the photos appear more professional and appealing to potential customers. The final feature of the shop page is an order tab, which allows users to send an email directly from the app and can be located once an image is clicked. This function was included to make ordering items easier for Crepaholics UK clients. According to a participant in the user testing, this makes the software more user friendly. The WhatsApp page, which includes a QR code, is another feature of the Crepaholics app. The QR code is a connection to a WhatsApp group where users can talk about sneakers and fashion in general. The aim of the group is to help develop the sneaker community. Participants in the group will be able to sell, purchase, and trade items. Before any sales or transactions, all participants must complete a legitimate check in the group to minimize the risk of scammers and robbers. This can be accomplished by tagging each other in the group; if other participants have interacted with the person being tagged, they can react “legit.” Users also have the option to complete a deal though the admin, this avoids friendship groups joining, falsely verifying themselves and saying each other are legit when they are not. E.g.: Buyer – “Legit check on @Jason,” for example. Anyone who has dealt with Jason can vouch for the fact that he is "legit" (legitimate buyer/seller). The information page is the Crepaholics UK app final feature. This page gives a quick overview of what the Crepaholics UK app is all about. This page includes a contact form for users who may need assistance or have issues with the app. Users can find links to all of Crepaholics UK's social media sites, allowing them to stay up to date on the company's progress and connect with it via Twitter and Snapchat, they can also place orders on Instagram.
The Crepaholics UK app is targeted at people who are interested in fashion or sneakers (also known as a fashionista or sneakerheads, respectively). The application aims to keeps users up to date with the latest fashion/sneaker news and offers direct links on how to buy limited edition sneakers. The target audience choices were influenced by Crepaholics UK's social media observations. According to the Crepaholics UK Instagram audience insight, people aged 18 to 24 engage with the page 59 percent more than any other age group. According to (App Download and Use Statistics 2020), people aged 18 to 24 use smartphones more than anybody else and download the most apps. I developed three user personas to represent the people that the Crepaholics UK app is aimed at. Persona 1 Kirsty Banks, a stylist from north London, is 23 years old. She is a single mother who enjoys purchasing matching shoes for her son and herself. Kirsty works as a freelance stylist for musicians and spends her spare time reading fashion websites, newsletters, and photographing outfit inspirations for Instagram. Her long-term ambitions are to open a styling agency and launch her own brand. Persona 2 Stacey Loven, a student at Warwick University, is 18 years old. She is interested in fashion and aspires to be like her idol Jerry Lorenzo, who owns the streetwear clothing and footwear brand, Fear of God. Stacey is planning to attend a summer fashion internship and hopes to broaden her awareness of the industry. Stacey enjoys shoes as well, but her favorite pairs are always sold out when she goes shopping. Persona 3 Marcus Black is a 25-year-old business management graduate from Coventry University. In his spare time, he buys and resells limited-edition shoes. However, he has been unable to buy sneakers from stores due to Covid 19, which has impacted his reselling business. Marcus enjoys collecting shoes as well.
The initial concept for the app was to have a homepage that kept people up to date with the latest trends and sneaker news. The Release Date page would give users the time, date, and direct access to buy limited-edition items. A chat page where users can connect with one another and buy and sell products, as well as an account page with login details and contact information for the Crepaholics UK app. After showing this sketch to my supervisor, he told me to find a substitute for the user chat page because it could take a long time to develop. However, I did not fully dismiss the concept of a user chat. I looked at how to make a user chat page and discovered that it would be a lengthy task. Since I don't have the resources to create a user chat page, I've decided to create a WhatsApp group chat and embed the QR code/hyperlink into the app. Before I began working on the app, I double-checked that all of the material, such as photographs, videos, and article text, had been created. To make the app's thumbnails and text, I used Photoshop, Microsoft Word and Adobe Spark. I made sure to finish all of the content before starting the project so that I could concentrate on the app itself, and it would also speed up my workflow. I was ready to start developing my app in Unity now that I had completed all of the app's content. Unity was the right app for me to use because I've used it in the past to create games. My supervisor agreed that this would be the right app to use so I wouldn't have to do much coding other than input and drag buttons and panels. As my supervisor was very experienced in Unity and app development we agreed that a step by step workshop would put me in a good position to execute my goal for the app. I learned how to apply pictures to buttons and insert videos into my panel as a result of these workshops. I'm also learnt how to make various Pages for my application. This workshop put me in a strong position to create my app's first version. When I was putting a video on the home page, I ran into a problem where the video was too large and scaling it didn't work. I had to find the exact scale of the video and adjust it in unity to correct this. My second major update was the feature icons bellow. I used icons to give the app a more professional appearance; the names of the icons made the app look unappealing according to my supervisor. Now that my home page has a structure, all I have to do is add more material, such as fashion articles, sneaker leak articles, and designer details. To do so, I needed to make a scroll view. This meant that the app users would be able to scroll up and down and I was also so able to fit more content to the Home page. I created photos for the release dates page that included the shoe as well as the time and date of the release. I made a scroll view of these images. I had some ideas for the release dates page that I didn't end up doing. I added instructions above the scroll view to assist the user when purchasing a sneaker. Originally, I planned to create a page with photos of upcoming sneakers that, when pressed, would display the sneaker's time and date as well as a link to purchase the sneaker. However, after further consideration, I concluded that this would prolong the process of getting to the sneaker; users want things to happen quickly. As previously stated, the WhatsApp website will contain a QR code that will allow users to enter the WhatsApp group chat directly. I applied the QR code image to a button and inserted it into my panel to allow users to access the group chat by clicking or scanning the QR code. Initially, I intended to build an account page that displayed users' login details. However, after further thought, I realized that creating this would take a significant amount of time. Another option was to build an information page that informs users about Crepaholics UK and includes a contact form for any issues they may encounter. I had to add a receiver input and a body input as well as coding to make this email system run, which I struggle with. I learned how to code by watching YouTube videos, and my supervisor also helped me. When I tested this feature, I would always get a failure message in the console and wouldn’t receive a message in my email imbox. My supervisor and I looked over the code several times but couldn't figure out what was wrong. I sought advice from a fellow student who had the same problem and solved it, with his help I was able to send a message from the app and receive the details in my email inbox. Now that all the pages for the apps were created I had to figure out a way to link the pages. I had to make every button on the app responsive and complete its task. With the coding tutorials provided on Aula created by my supervisors I was able to link the pages together. I also added links to images that needed them. The scene code, email code and image codes allowed my app to be responsive and also meet the aims and goals for the Crepaholics UK application. YouTube helped me with these codes as coding is not one of my major strengths. My app was ready for my participants to test. However, whenever I tried to convert the software to an APK file, it always failed. My app was building from an external hard drive, which I discovered after checking the error on YouTube and Google. I was able to build and send the app to my participants for testing after transferring the entire unity file to my laptop. A user testing participant suggested that I create a shop page where people could order things. I took this advice and built a page highlighting Crepaholics' stock available. When a user clicks on a picture, it will take them to a page where they can order the shoe using the email function I learned about earlier in the project, there are clear instructions on how to order from the application.
User testing is the method of putting a website, application, or product's functionality and features to the test by having real people perform particular tasks in practical situations. The aim of this procedure is to determine whether or not the Crepaholics UK app is usable and determine whether or not the product is ready for real-world use, as well as how it can be improved. Application testing identifies errors, missing features, and weaknesses in the Crepaholics app. At the beginning of the project I showed my supervisor a Lo-fidelity prototype of the app. This was my first concept of the application in a simple format. My supervisors liked the features of the application, this boosted my confidence to create the project I had to launch my software on my Android device before the hi-fidelity prototype (completed application with all components working) test to ensure everything was working properly and that I didn't run into any issues while interviewing my participants. I also wrote a script to help me keep track of what was said and what was coming up next in the interview. I made a script and questionnaire so that each participant has the same experience. It was simple to download and launch the application for participant one. Participant one found the app to be very user-friendly and was able to work through it without difficulty. Participant one also suggested that I add a shop page with items for sale, which is exactly what I did after the interview. When participant two tried to open the application, some of the icons were not in the right place. I immediately corrected the issue and resumed recording. The grey theme appealed to the participant, as did the application's ease of use. They didn't fail to finish any task. They did claim, however, that the font size of the articles was difficult to read and didn’t see the shop icon. The software was smooth and very simple to use, according to participant three. The participant mentioned that as a sneakerhead, he had a 10% success rate buying limited sneakers during lockdown, but that the Crepaholics UK app would help him to buy sneakers. He gave the app an 8 out of 10 rating because he enjoyed it so much. (10 = Amazing) I came across a problem during my user testing. I realized that the Dior sneaker infographic on the home page would not play on older Android models. I looked for solutions to solve this, one solution was to purchase a 3rd party asset that will cost £500-700, due to lack of money and time this is a problem that is outstanding and cannot be solved now. Future iterations will look at testing specifically how the video could run on different types of hardware. However, I have tested the app on a Redmi Note 6 and a Samsung S21 Ultra and the video works perfectly fine. (Testing can be found in the appendix)
To reach the app's proposed target audience, the Crepaholics app will be distributed in a variety of ways. The Google Play store will be the primary distribution method. The Google Play store has certain benefits that have led to it being the primary distribution method for the Crepaholics UK app, instead than the apple store. To become a Google play store developer, you must pay a one-time fee of £25 (less than the Apple Store). Since the project's budget is small, the Google Play Store is the better choice. If I had a larger budget, I would consider paying £99 to become an app store developer. As a Google Play store developer, I will be able to obtain free tutorials on how to use the services, lowering the cost of hiring someone to assist me. As a developer, I will be able to review the sales data for the Crepaholics UK App, as well as access detailed reports, statistics, and feedback. I will be able to monitor app output from my Android device, making it easier to keep track of the app's progress. I plan to use social media sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to promote the app. The fact that social media sites are free is the key explanation for this type of marketing. Hashtags and Facebook/Instagram promotion will also aid in the growth and recognition of the Crepaholics UK app, as they can increase its reach. However, I would be required to pay for Instagram/Facebook promotion; this cost can be adjusted based on my budget and the number of people I wish to reach. The Crepaholics UK app will eventually be available on the app store, and I intend to make a video promoting the app and pay sneaker-related social media influencers like Tonyd2wild to promote it before it goes live. Tonyd2wild is a well-known social media influencer who has a YouTube channel with seven hundred and three thousand subscribers and is well-known for his sneaker videos and posts. Since Tonyd2wild and Crepaholics have the same target demographic, sneakerheads, this form of distribution would help Crepaholics. However, this approach would cost me nearly £300 for an Instagram post and a YouTube video describing the Crepaholics UK application's features and functions. I have considered other sneaker social media influencers like Qias Omar however, he charges a lot more. On the Google Play store, the Crepaholics app will be available for free at first. I'll make the app £1.99 on the Play Store as the number of users and interaction grows. This fee will be used to develop the app, poetically grow a team, and create a user chat feature in the app, among other things.
The MacBook used to build the Crepaholics UK app crashed several times, which slowed down the workflow and prevented me from completing certain tasks. Another problem I faced during this project was having poor and unreliable my Wi-Fi connection; because I didn't have strong Wi-Fi, I had to send emails via phone instead of video chatting with my supervisor. The current lockdown/pandemic was a huge limitation, and it had a significant impact on the whole project. If I could meet my superior in person, I could actually accomplish tasks that I was struggling with far more quickly. In the future, I'd like to add an actual user chat to the Crepaholics UK app, which might require a larger team. I've also considered creating a database that updates and adds information to the app automatically, giving users as much content as possible to fulfil their needs. Another major goal I want to pursue in the future is to incorporate a cart feature into the app, allowing users to add items into a cart to directly purchase items from the Crepaholics UK app. This would improve the app's usability and would make the app more appealing according to participant 2. The main goal will be to become an Apple developer and publish the Crepaholics UK app on the App Store. This documentation demonstrates the process and inspiration behind the Crepaholics UK application, which improves users' chances of buying limited-edition sneakers and apparel while also educating them on the latest fashion and sneaker news and trends. This documentation also includes information about the growing sneaker community as well as provide proof that this application is needed.