Enhancing the TWINT Ecosystem to Solidify Its Leading Position as a Mobile Payment Provider in Switzerland

Continue reading to uncover how Modeso played a pivotal role in bolstering TWINT’s position as a key player in the Swiss payment ecosystem.

“Modeso AG is one of our strategic software partners for implementing selected partner functions within the TWINT Apps. Their focus on ownership and pace has been crucial to our success. They understood our needs, delivered results quickly and efficiently to our highest quality standards."

Stefan Flükiger, Head of Marketplace & New Business, TWINT

About TWINT – The leading mobile payment provider in Switzerland

TWINT has been at the forefront of transforming the way transactions take place in the country. By seamlessly integrating with banks, TWINT eliminates transaction fees, providing users with a versatile payment app that enables peer-to-peer money transfers and purchases at diverse points of sale, including supermarkets.

With over 5 million active users, TWINT however, faces constant competition from global players, challenging the company’s dominance in the market.

The introduction of strategic initiatives like Digital Voucher, Super Deals, and Storefinder is a way for TWINT to retain its user base and stimulate increased transactions.

TWINT turned to Modeso to help implement these projects. Read on to learn more about our collaboration with TWINT and the solutions we’ve implemented.

Our approach

Our partnership with the TWINT team started with Digital Voucher. Not only did we successfully implement this project, but we also established a lasting, deeply integrated partnership, positioning ourselves as a vital extension of TWINT’s technical capabilities. Here’s a concise overview of our approach:

1. Alignment with TWINT’s strategic goals: Integral to our success was getting on the same page with TWINT’s business goals and user expectations – this formed the bedrock of our development efforts.
2. In-depth understanding of operations: We delved deeply into TWINT’s operations, immersing ourselves in their teams and workflows to become familiar with their intricate processes.
3. Collaboration with TWINT’s team: Close collaboration with TWINT’s product owner and business analysts was crucial in establishing and prioritizing extensive project requirements, initiated with a comprehensive document outlining use cases and functional requirements. We’re also working with TWINT’s marketplace team, integration team, UX department, QC engineers, and IT operations team.
4. Agile development approach: Embracing an agile approach, our collaborative sprint planning sessions facilitated adaptability. This iterative method empowered us to seamlessly incorporate new features and adjust to evolving project needs.
5. Participation in TWINT’s partner engagement: Participating in discussions with merchants, we go beyond software development to clarify the nuances of TWINT’s payment interface and workflow. Our goal is to guarantee a seamless integration process for new partners.

As our collaboration progressed, our role expanded to support TWINT in maintaining the platforms we’ve delivered. We’ve been performing this role for over three years now. 

Let’s now explore the solutions that our team has developed.

DIGITAL VOUCHER

Enabling a seamless payment experience for customers

Digital Voucher acts as a bridge connecting TWINT’s payment system with merchants looking to showcase their products. Currently, four integrated merchants use this service, providing their customers with seamless payment options. By integrating TWINT’s payment capabilities with merchants’ offerings in a secure and streamlined manner, we ensure a fraud-resistant environment for users to purchase digital vouchers.

Software development challenges and solutions

The creation of Digital Voucher posed technical challenges. Here’s a concise overview of the main difficulties we’ve faced and the solutions we’ve implemented.

Technology and implementation process overview

The core team on Modeso’s side for Digital Voucher included a lead engineer, a business analyst, and a project manager. Depending on specific needs, we supplemented the team with software developers and QA engineers as required. Here’s a quick glimpse into our development process and technology for Digital Voucher:

Software development

Angular

We chose Angular for front-end development as this technology is part of our core technology stack, allowing us to leverage our established expertise, benefit from regular security and functional updates, and access cutting-edge functionality.

GCP

The application is deployed on the Google Cloud Platform. Our DevOps engineers oversee the deployment and maintenance, using Kubernetes to implement automated scaling. This is particularly crucial for Digital Voucher, where user traffic experiences significant variations throughout the month. We used GCP for Super Deals as well. The application experiences increased variability in user traffic during special campaigns, leading to rapid spikes in the number of users within minutes.

Node.JS

Node.js became our preferred technology for the backend, not only because it is a fundamental component of our core tech stack, but also because it is well-suited to handle large amounts of requests while supporting efficient automated scaling with light-weight microservices.

MongoDB

MongoDB with its flexible schema is ideal for online shops, especially when synchronizing products from external systems. It is also designed for horizontal scalability, allowing Digital Voucher app to handle increasing amounts of data and user transactions as the user base and merchant integrations grow. The ability to distribute data across multiple nodes ensures optimal performance and responsiveness.

RabbitMQ

The integration of RabbitMQ, an open-source message broker that enables asynchronous communication between different components of the app, allowed us to implement microservices architecture while improving the flexibility, scalability, and performance of the application.

User acceptance testing (UAT)

As an integral part of our development process, we conducted an extensive user acceptance testing phase, providing TWINT with the opportunity to thoroughly assess the application. The goal was to achieve a consistent and cohesive experience, ensuring users feel as though they never leave the app.

Robust security

We place significant emphasis on personal data privacy regulations, implementing robust fraud prevention measures to safeguard user information. Prioritizing security is crucial for safeguarding reputation because any security issues could potentially affect TWINT.

Penetration testing

Our security measures included penetration tests conducted by an independent third-party provider to identify potential security vulnerabilities. These tests cover various aspects, such as scrutinizing HTTP headers, checking for unprotected endpoints, and ensuring precise access controls. This thorough examination aligns with data privacy regulations, particularly the recent Swiss nFADP law.

Performance testing

We performed performance testing to make sure the application can cater to the growing user base and can manage more than 150,000 orders per hour. This was crucial, especially in scenarios with fluctuating user traffic. We continuously perform performance tests to ensure that organic user growth can be sustained.

Monitoring and alerting

We cooperate with TWINT’s operations team and have a vigilant monitoring and alerting system in place to contribute to a seamless and secure operational environment. This active monitoring system allows us to proactively identify potential issues and quickly react to system alerts.

SUPER DEALS

Unlocking exclusive offers for over 5 million users

Our collaboration with TWINT extended to the creation of Super Deals, a dynamic space where multiple merchants can showcase special offers to over 5 million TWINT users. The platform supports a diverse range of merchants, from small businesses to established brands, allowing for a rich variety of products and offers. 

Merchants have the flexibility to customize their storefronts within the platform. They can create flash sales and limited-time offers, display countdown timers for time-sensitive promotions, and include affiliate deals that redirect users to external websites.

The platform also includes an inventory management feature that allows merchants to track stock availability in real time, ensuring timely updates and preventing potential disappointments.

The implementation, while similar to Digital Voucher at a high technical level, diverged in terms of merchant integration and product handling. 

At the heart of the platform is a seamless payment integration and a collaborative administration interface. The technical complexity lay in the sophisticated business logic required to manage a diverse array of products, spanning from electronic gadgets to lifestyle essentials.

Here is a brief overview of the functionality we’ve implemented:

Diverse offers, from electronics to lifestyle products, categorized for clarity

Merchants access the admin interface to curate and manage deals

STOREFINDER

Streamlining mobile payments across Switzerland

Storefinder is another project developed for TWINT. Users access Storefinder within the TWINT app, initiating a streamlined process to locate nearby TWINT-compatible points of sale. The map showcases different types of merchants, starting initially with petrol stations. With a simple interface, users can explore and navigate to their chosen POS, ensuring swift and secure transactions through TWINT.

Storefinder not only enriches the user experience within the TWINT app but also contributes to the broader ecosystem of digital payments in Switzerland. By facilitating easy discovery and navigation to TWINT-compatible POS, the platform plays a vital role in promoting the adoption of digital payments across diverse merchant categories, further solidifying TWINT’s position as a leader in the Swiss mobile payment landscape.

Elevating mobile payment experiences for millions of users together with TWINT

From implementing digital vouchers and exclusive deals to providing a seamless store location finder, TWINT’s services have expanded beyond conventional transactions. We take pride in our role in advancing TWINT’s payment offerings, establishing ourselves as a trusted partner for their groundbreaking initiatives.

Value delivered