Every day, Melbourne Market moves the fresh produce that feeds Victoria. As the state’s sole wholesale fruit, vegetable, and cut flower trading centre, this critical infrastructure supports thousands of businesses and facilitates billions of dollars in trade that sustains communities across the state.
The Market is Managed by the Melbourne Market Authority and it partnered with Elegant Media to develop a comprehensive mobile application that transformed how traders, buyers, and visitors navigate and interact within one of Australia’s largest fresh produce hubs.
Background
Due to the lack of a digital solution, the Melbourne Market Authority faced several operational challenges that impacted business efficiency and the overall tenant and visitor experience. With an ever increasing footfall it was imperative to deploy a tailor-made digital solution to overcome these challenges.
Operational Challenges
Melbourne Market Authority faced several challenges that impacted business efficiency and user experience:
- Tenant Experience: Finding specific businesses within a facility of thousands meant time wasted and frustration for traders and buyers alike
- Information Accessibility: Vital market announcements became buried across emails, noticeboards, and lost in word-of-mouth conversations which left tenants operating with incomplete information
- Market Authority Visibility: Without a digital tool, the Melbourne Market Authority had no direct way to quickly communicate with tenants or hear their feedback.
- Market Transparency: Buyers couldn’t easily discover which suppliers offered what services: limiting competition, choice, and furthermore market efficiency
- Resource Allocation: Staff time consumed by paper-based processes for job postings, newsletters, and announcement
The Solution
The Melbourne Market mobile app was envisioned to transform how the market operates by putting essential tools directly into users’ hands.
Instead of wandering through the massive complex searching for businesses, traders and buyers would be able to instantly locate any supplier using interactive maps with turn-by-turn directions.
All important announcements and market updates would be pushed straight to app user’s phones in real-time, ensuring everyone stays informed without having to check multiple sources.
The App would also include a complete business directory with search filters, making it easy for buyers to discover exactly which suppliers offer the products or services they need.
Communication would also be significantly improved as the Market Authority would be able to use the App to communicate directly with all tenants through instant notifications, and businesses can respond or ask questions, creating genuine two-way dialogue.
Administrative tasks such as job postings or newsletters would happen digitally through the App, saving time and resources while reaching more users faster.
Melbourne Market Authority App Development Challenges & Solutions
1. Integrating GPS Enabled Interactive Maps of the entire Market Ecosystem [Features]
Challenge: The MMA App needed to offer users detailed and accurate maps and layout plans to ensure the tenant and visitor experience was seamless.
Solution: Elegant Media’s developers integrated GPS navigation through an API (application programming interface) thereby offering both online and offline, turn by turn directions for both tenants and visitors to the Melbourne Market.
2. Building a seamless User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) [Usability & Navigation]
Challenge: With over 3,000 tenants and thousands of daily visitors, the MMA App needed to offer an easy-to-use interface complemented by an intuitive design that made using the app a breeze.
Solution: The Elegant Media UI/UX team followed global best practices in creating a custom design that made the lives of its users easy and simple. The design was fluid and the App’s user journey was smooth and memorable.
3. Fusing Cross-Platform Compatibility [The MMA App should work on all devices]
Challenge: With a wide variety of devices amongst smartphone users in Australia, the MMA App needed to work effortlessly across both Android and iOS devices.
Solution: The MMA App was developed by Elegant Media using Flutter for iOS and Android. The App was rigorously tested on various devices and interfaces prior to its release, thereby offering an optimal user experience and natural integration and responsiveness across all user devices.
5. Tailored Push Notifications [Functions]
Challenge: Given the large tenant occupancy of the Melbourne Market, the Authority requirement was to be able send out push notifications to different audiences as per their particular needs.
Solution: The MMA App’s backend dashboard offers Market Authority team members to push messages to selected audiences with different topics such as direct messages, market news, important announcements, service updates and more.
The MMA project demonstrates how a tailor-made digital mobile app solution can address complex operational challenges while enhancing user experience and community engagement. The MMA App now serves as a critical infrastructure tool that supports the daily operations of one of Australia’s most important fresh produce markets.
Melbourne Market Authority Mobile App Development Process
Results
The Melbourne Market mobile app has solved the many challenges faced by the Market Authority by putting everything tenants need into one place on their phones.
Traders can now find any business instantly using GPS-enabled maps instead of wandering the complex. All announcements, safety alerts, and updates are pushed directly to users in real-time, eliminating information gaps and the searchable business directory helps buyers discover suppliers quickly.
The Market Authority can furthermore now communicate instantly with all tenants through push notifications and receive feedback directly through the app. Paper-based processes like job postings and newsletters have become digital, saving administrative time while reaching everyone immediately.
