Transforming Planet

to the fastest digital Tax Free service in the world

CHALLENGE

Building the first low-code SaaS

Planet is a revenue generating payments service provider serving over 600,000 Merchants and 100 Financial Partners in more than 70 markets on five continents. A few years ago, Planet won a big bid concerning the entire electronic Tax Free system of the United Arab Emirates. When researching alternatives, Planet discovered that there was no ready-made solution for this. This realization prompted Planet to give eSystems the opportunity to help unleash their superpowers by building a comprehensive Tax Free system on a low-code platform.

"We just had 4 months from tender to launch in the UAE, so we needed to have a platform that supported our goal of a fast implementation while not compromising on user experience design."

Gary Byrne President – Tax Free, Middle East and Asia, Planet

"It only took us 3,5 months from winning the quotation to completing our new electronic Tax Free system. This would not have been possible without low-code technology."

Ingi Arnarson Head of Product Management – Planet

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

2,5+B€ Billions of Tax Free sales processed in the first year

12 500 Stores use the solution in the United Arab Emirates

100+M€ Millions of Tax Free refunds processed in the first year

4 mths Project duration

17ppl Team size

GOALS

A scalable solution, automation & integration at a high speed

The primary goal was to build a purposeful web-based solution which enables integration between information, people, devices, and systems. The solution aimed to provide tourists with a seamless Tax Free shopping experience through connecting merchants, tax authorities, and banks. It was important that this solution would run on all modern browsers and mobile devices and have a fantastic customer experience. The intention was to create both a full-stack architecture to support lifecycle management of the application portfolio and technology that is scalable and secure.

planet-kiosks

SOLUTION

Low-code accelerated the development speed

The digital solutions included:

Front-end systems for merchants and self-service kiosks for shoppers
Back-end systems integrating various web services
A process for issuing, export validation, and refunds
Real-time reporting
Automated electronic billing

Technical solutions were constructed on the OutSystems low-code development platform with neither runtime interpreters nor proprietary data-models

Low-code solutions support the full life cycle: creation, deployment, monitoring, and management

Planet app screenshots

RESULTS

A full digital transformation in just 4 months

The end result was the world's first fully digital end-to-end tax refund solution with point-of-sale eligibility verification.
Planet's solution is now operating in 12 500 stores in the United Arab Emirates. During its first year in operation, the seamless business solution has served over 1,3 million shoppers and handled Tax Free sales of more than 2,5 billion Euros.
Simultaneously, the United Arab Emirates has become Planet's 2nd largest market in terms of volume. The results of Planet’s solution are excellent, and all it took was eSystem’s superheroes and 4 months.

eSystems created a brand-new solution for a brand-new problem while Planet guided from the driver’s seat. Imagine what we could help YOU achieve.