Messagent
Multi-brand platform that turns WhatsApp into the direct channel between retailer and customer, currently running for Basko and Despar Nord Ovest.
Challenge
Grocery retail brands reach customers through proprietary apps almost nobody installs and newsletters almost nobody opens. What was needed was a channel already present on everyone's phone, able to handle loyalty, coupons, flyers and campaigns for several brands at once without duplicating infrastructure for each one.
Solution
A multi-tenant platform built on Meta's WhatsApp Business APIs, where each brand has isolated numbers, credentials, keywords and permissions. Customers are recognised in conversation, link their loyalty card by photographing it, and receive their wallet, coupons and their own store's flyers in chat. It currently serves the Basko and Despar Nord Ovest brands.
Frictionless onboarding
The customer writes to the brand's WhatsApp number and is recognised automatically. New contacts receive the privacy notice and registration in a single tap, and from that point every interaction is profiled: no app to install, no form to fill in.
That is the substantive difference from a proprietary app. The entry cost for the user is not installing software, it is sending a message on a channel they already use every day.
A loyalty card read from a photograph
The user photographs their card and the platform reads the barcode straight from the image, linking the card to the phone number. No manual code entry, no mistyped digits to fix through support.
From there the digital wallet lives inside the conversation: a keyword returns coupons and point balance updated in real time. Coupons are distributed, redeemed and tracked on the very channel the customer already uses.
Flyers and store locator
Flyers are uploaded and scheduled with a validity period, a type and a reference store. On first contact the user picks their shop from a geolocated list, and that choice stays tied to their profile.
The combined effect is that offers, flyers and coupons become relevant to the store where the customer actually shops, instead of being undifferentiated national messaging. They only ever receive the promotion currently running in the shop they care about.
Channels, contests and scheduled sends
The platform publishes content to the brand's WhatsApp channels and distributes it to the entire subscriber base. Photos and videos sent by editors are ingested, permanently archived and published behind a link that stays stable over time.
Contests and promotional mechanics run directly inside the conversation, with rules and periods configurable per brand, and entries are recorded and auditable without manual steps.
Every message can be scheduled and delivered at the set time, with delivery guaranteed even across service restarts. That is the requirement separating a scheduled campaign from one that goes out when somebody remembers to press a button.
Configurator and data isolation
A web panel manages brands, keywords, flyers and channels without touching code, so recurring operations don't require development work.
Access and permissions are governed by centralised authentication: each operator only sees their own brand's data. On a platform hosting different retailers, often competing with each other, isolation is not an accessory feature but the precondition for the platform being usable at all.
Live for two brands, and no link to visit
The platform is currently used by Basko and Despar Nord Ovest. Two brands on the same installation are also the practical proof that multi-tenant isolation works: numbers, credentials, keywords, flyers and subscriber bases stay separate while the underlying infrastructure stays single.
There is no web address to open in order to see Messagent, and that is not an omission: the product lives entirely inside WhatsApp. The only public-facing interface is the conversation, and the only brand-facing interface is the configuration panel, which is access-restricted.