Maaya

Social commerce with shopping in the feed

Maaya is a social app that happens to let you buy what you see.

What we did CodeLeap designed and built the app in React Native, with interactive product tags that link posts straight through to product pages and a checkout that completes inside the app, because every redirect in a purchase flow costs conversions.

Maaya brings social networking and e-commerce together in one mobile product. People follow brands and influencers, browse a feed of their content, and buy the products that appear in it through tags built into the posts themselves. CodeLeap built the app for iOS and Android in React Native, which kept the development cycle fast and cost-effective while preserving the smooth performance an interface needs when it has to carry a content feed and a checkout in the same product.

Product features

Social feed

Users browse posts from the brands and influencers they follow, interact with the content, and come across new products while they are doing so, which is how discovery happens on social platforms rather than through search. The feed has to be engaging in its own right, because that is what makes the commercial layer work at all.
Product tagging

Posts and videos carry interactive product tags that link straight to the relevant product page, which compresses the journey from noticing something to buying it into a single tap. This is the mechanism that connects the two halves of the product, and it had to feel like part of the content rather than an advertisement laid over the top of it.
In-app shopping

Purchases complete inside the app, with no redirect to an external website. Every redirect in a purchase flow costs conversions, so keeping the whole checkout in the app was a deliberate decision from the start.
Creator profiles

Influencers and brands manage their own profiles, upload content and track engagement, which gives them the tools to build an audience on the platform and a reason to keep publishing there. A social commerce app depends entirely on its creators continuing to post, so their experience matters as much as the shopper's.
Community interaction

Users engage with the content and with one another through the familiar mechanics of following, reacting and commenting, which keeps the app feeling like a place to spend time rather than a storefront.

Challenge

The client wanted to merge social media and online shopping into a single seamless mobile platform, and the central risk in that ambition is clutter. Combining user-generated content, influencer engagement and brand promotion with full e-commerce capability puts a great many competing demands on the same screens, and products of this kind commonly end up feeling like a shop pretending to be a social network. The app had to carry genuine commerce, including tagging, product pages and checkout, while keeping the familiarity and easy engagement of a social feed. It also had to be delivered at a pace and a cost that suited a client entering a competitive market where speed to launch mattered.

Solution

CodeLeap developed the Maaya mobile app for iOS and Android in React Native, which allowed a fast and cost-effective build without sacrificing the performance a content-heavy feed requires. The app blends social interaction and commerce through a feed that supports organic discovery, interactive product tags that link content directly to products, in-app purchasing that keeps checkout inside the experience, and creator profiles that give brands and influencers real control over how they present themselves and how they measure engagement. The result reads as a social app that lets users buy what they see, which is the balance the brief called for.

Tech stack

The tech chosen was our speciality, enabling fast development of performant user interfaces and a reliable infrastructure. Maaya is available for both iOS and Android.

Frontend: React Native (iOS & Android)
Backend: Python, Django, PostgreSQL
Hosting: AWS