Drop Vendor App — Case Study

The Challenge

Water vendors in Kenya manage operations across phone calls, paper ledgers, and mental math. They need a mobile-first platform that digitizes their entire workflow — from product catalog management to bottle tracking and financial reconciliation.

Our Solution

A comprehensive React Native (Expo) vendor management app:

• Real-time Order Management — Incoming orders appear instantly with one-tap

  preparing → ready

  status updates, keeping customers and riders informed
• Product Catalog — Full CRUD for product listings with pricing, images, stock levels, and availability toggles
• Bottle Ledger — An append-only tracking system for returnable bottles, with settlement workflows when riders return empties
• Staff Permissions — Role-based access for store employees with four capability flags:

  manage_orders

  ,

  manage_products

  ,

  manage_bottles

  ,

  view_finances

• Financial Dashboard — Revenue analytics, commission breakdowns, and payout history

Technical Highlights

• Vendor Staff model with granular capability-based permissions
• Append-only bottle ledger preventing inventory manipulation
• Platform commission: 5% vendor commission automatically deducted
• Real-time push notifications for new orders via Expo Push Notification Service
• Optimistic UI updates with TanStack Query for responsive interactions

Results

Vendors reported a 60% reduction in order processing time and near-elimination of bottle tracking disputes after adopting the digital ledger.