Industry overview
What is shaping steel
Steel reaches users through producers, distributors and retailers, serving fabricators, builders and OEMs. Brand trust, price and availability decide which bar or sheet is bought.
- Fabricators and builders influence retail steel brands
- Distributor networks decide availability
- Branded steel competes with unbranded on trust
Client background
A TMT steel brand, working in Eastern and Central India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A TMT steel brand
- Sector
- Steel
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- Mobile app development, WhatsApp marketing, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
The brand ran loyalty schemes on paper coupons that were slow to process and open to misuse. Dealers and masons complained about delayed rewards, and the brand had no data on who was actually recommending its products.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: a loyalty app for steel dealers and masons.
- Design around the real needs of dealers.
- Design around the real needs of masons.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
The work focused on 2,000 dealers and 15,000 masons.
- dealers2,000
- masons15,000
Audiences we typically reach in steel
FabricatorsBuilders and contractorsOEM buyersSteel dealers and stockistsRetail home builders
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Eastern and Central India. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Dealer and mason interviews
- 3Loyalty app
- 4Programme dashboard
- 5Insight
We interviewed dealers and masons about how they used schemes and phones, then built a simple Hindi and English app with QR scanning of bar tags, instant points and UPI-based rewards. Masons with basic phones could participate through WhatsApp. A dashboard showed scheme activity by region. Before launch, we piloted the app with dealers in two districts and simplified the scanning flow after watching masons use it on dusty, crowded sites.
Mobile app developmentWhatsApp marketingData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- dealers
- 2,000
- masons
- 15,000
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Supporting WhatsApp alongside the app ensured masons with basic phones were not left out.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: supporting WhatsApp alongside the app ensured masons with basic phones were not left out.
- Track adoption and support tickets, and plan the next release from real usage.
Business impact
- Rewards reached participants within days instead of months, misuse fell because each tag could be scanned only once, and the brand gained a clear view of active masons and dealers by region for the first time.
Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Interactive dashboard
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: how do fabricators choose steel?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.