- Platform
- Web, iOS, Android Mobile App
- Duration
- 14 Weeks
- Industry
- Marketing Tech
- Read time
- 5 min read
RaftLabs built Instantor Rewards, a receipt scanning loyalty app for Sanbra Fyffe, an Irish plumbing and heating supplier. The iOS, Android, and web app lets plumbers and installers earn points by uploading product purchase receipts, with Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers and monthly prize competitions. The platform reached 5,000+ downloads in 3 months, logged 100+ receipt uploads in the first month, and increased average order value by 25%. Built in 14 weeks using Flutter, Firebase, NestJS, PostgreSQL, and Hasura. Delivered via BrandFire.
Sanbra Fyffe supplies plumbing and heating products to builders' merchants across Ireland under the Instantor brand. Their customers, plumbers and installers, buy regularly and by volume. But Sanbra Fyffe had no digital relationship with them, no way to identify their most loyal trade customers, and no mechanism to reward the purchase behavior that was already happening.
Every off-the-shelf loyalty platform they looked at was built for retail consumers, not tradespeople. The mechanics that work for coffee shops (tap your phone, collect stamps) do not translate to a plumber buying batches of fittings from a merchant and keeping the receipt in their van.
We built Instantor Rewards through BrandFire in 14 weeks: an iOS and Android app where plumbers upload product purchase receipts to earn points toward Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers, with monthly prize competitions adding an ongoing reason to stay engaged. In the first 3 months, 5,000+ plumbers and installers signed up. Average order value increased 25%.
before & after
What changed
- No loyalty program: Sanbra Fyffe could not identify or reward their most loyal plumbers and installers
- All purchase tracking was manual, making it impossible to verify sales or run targeted promotions
- Direct engagement with end-trade customers was minimal, with the merchant as the only touchpoint
- Nothing gave plumbers a reason to choose Instantor products over a competitor's equivalent
- No way to contact trade customers about new products, training events, or competitions
- Plumbers and installers earn points by uploading product purchase receipts directly in the app
- Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers reward purchase volume with exclusive Instantor merchandise at each level
- Monthly competitions give points a second purpose: entries into prize draws for weekend getaways and electronics
- Sanbra Fyffe has a direct digital channel to their trade customers for product updates and event invitations
- Admins manage competitions, validate receipts, and track program performance from a central web panel
What we had to solve
- 01
Validating purchase receipts without making the process feel like a job
A receipt upload program is only useful if tradespeople actually use it. Plumbers work fast, their receipts come from dozens of different merchant formats, and they have no patience for an upload flow that takes three minutes and gets rejected half the time. We designed the receipt upload experience to be as close to "take a photo and submit" as possible, with a backend review process that validated purchases against Instantor product lines and resolved edge cases without requiring the user to resubmit. The friction had to be low enough that uploading a receipt felt like a natural end to a purchase, not a separate task.
- 02
Making tier progression feel worth working toward for a trade audience
Gamification mechanics designed for consumer apps (streaks, badges, points counters) tend to feel frivolous to tradespeople whose relationship with loyalty programs is purely transactional. The tiered system needed to feel like a professional recognition program, not a game. We designed the Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers around cumulative purchase volume, with merchandise rewards at each level that had genuine trade value, and monthly competitions that gave even lower-tier members a reason to stay active. The competitions were the mechanism that converted passive members into regular uploaders.
outcomes
What we achieved
Sanbra Fyffe had no loyalty program and no digital relationship with the plumbers and installers who bought their products regularly.
All purchase tracking was manual and disconnected from any reward mechanism, giving trade customers no reason to document their purchases.
Without rewards or tier incentives, there was nothing encouraging plumbers to increase their purchase frequency or consolidate spending with Instantor products.
What clients say
No hype. Just outcomes.
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
IrelandThey provided ideas that we hadn't really thought of, which helped our program standout.
Your best customers keep buying but you have no system to recognize or retain them?
the build
What we built
Instantor Rewards gives trade customers a reason to choose Instantor products and a reason to keep choosing them. Every feature supports one of those two goals.
Tradespeople upload receipts between jobs, under a minute, no manual data entry
Plumbers and installers photograph their Instantor product purchase receipts and upload them from the app. Each validated receipt credits points to their account. The upload flow is designed for a tradesperson between jobs: under a minute, no manual data entry required.
Next tier becomes a visible target: members consolidate purchasing with Instantor instead of splitting
Members progress through Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers based on accumulated points. Each tier unlocks exclusive Instantor merchandise and benefits. As members see their tier rise, the next threshold becomes a visible target, making the program a reason to consolidate purchasing with Instantor products rather than splitting across suppliers.
Even lower-tier members have a reason to upload regularly: occasional users become engaged ones
Points from receipt uploads qualify members for monthly competition draws with prizes including weekend getaways and electronics. Competitions give even lower-tier members a reason to stay active and upload regularly, turning occasional users into engaged ones without requiring any change to their purchasing behavior.
Team manages draws, validates receipts, and exports program analytics from one panel
Sanbra Fyffe's team manages receipt validation, competition administration, prize draws, and member communications from a central web admin panel. Competition winners are selected with automated draw logic. Admins export member data and program analytics in CSV format for reporting and campaign planning.
Engagement
How we worked together
- 01Weeks 1–2
Discovery and scoping
We map the problem before writing code. Two weeks of technical audit, stakeholder interviews, and prototype — so both teams align on scope and risk before sprint one.
- 02Ongoing
Two-week Agile sprints
Each sprint ends with working software, not a status update. You review a real build, request changes, and approve before we move forward. No surprises at handover.
- 03Ongoing
Daily async updates
Slack for daily progress, Asana for task visibility, weekly video calls for decisions. You have full visibility without needing to attend every meeting.
- 04Final
Handover and warranty
Full code handover with deployment runbooks and documentation. Thirty-day warranty period for production issues at no extra cost.
stack
Why we chose this stack
- 01The app needed to work identically on iOS and Android for a trade audience using a mix of devices. Flutter compiles to native code on both platforms, delivering the camera access, push notifications, and real-time point balance updates the loyalty program required from a single codebase.Flutter
- 02Authentication and push notification delivery needed to work reliably on both iOS and Android without becoming a maintenance burden. Firebase handles both at scale and powers the competition and receipt validation alerts that keep members engaged.Firebase
- 03The backend needed structured APIs for receipt validation logic, tier calculation, competition management, and admin operations, all with the kind of maintainability that a program running for years requires. NestJS's modular architecture made that organization natural.NestJS
- 04Point balances and tier status needed to update in real time when a receipt was validated. Hasura's GraphQL subscriptions pushed those updates to the mobile app immediately so members saw their new balance before they left the app.Hasura
Loyalty rewards app development FAQs
Plumbers and installers photograph their product purchase receipts and upload them through the app. The backend validates the receipt against Instantor product lines and credits points to the member's account. The validation step ensures points are only awarded for qualifying purchases while keeping the submission process fast enough for a tradesperson who does not have time to fill in forms between jobs. For Instantor Rewards, 100+ receipts were submitted in the first month.
A straight points program gives members no visible milestone to work toward. For Sanbra Fyffe's trade customers, plumbers and installers who already buy regularly, the tier system transformed their existing purchase behavior into a recognized status. Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers made progression visible and gave members a professional recognition element beyond just accumulating a number. Monthly competitions added a separate layer of engagement that kept lower-tier members active between tier thresholds.
Yes. For Instantor Rewards, the integration model was receipt upload rather than direct POS connection, which worked because the products are sold through merchant intermediaries rather than directly. For programs where a brand operates its own retail locations, we integrate directly with the POS so points credit automatically at checkout without requiring customers to photograph receipts. The right approach depends on whether you sell direct or through a distribution channel.
We delivered Instantor Rewards (iOS app, Android app, web portal, receipt upload and validation, tiered membership, monthly competitions, admin panel, push notifications, and Firebase authentication) in 14 weeks. That timeline was possible because we started with a clearly defined set of trade-specific requirements. Programs with more complex tier logic, direct POS integration, or deeper analytics would take longer. Contact us to estimate based on your program mechanics and platform requirements.
Yes. After delivery, the client owns the source code, data, and infrastructure credentials. There is no ongoing licensing fee or vendor lock-in. Sanbra Fyffe has been running Instantor Rewards since its 2021 launch and continues to own and operate the platform. Any future development (new features, platform extensions, additional tier mechanics) can be handled by any development team.
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