How Wintercircus Enhanced Its Member Experience with a Native Mobile Application
Key takeaways
Wintercircus, a vibrant hub for innovation and creativity in Belgium, partnered with Bits of Love to create a custom mobile application that offers their community a premium digital experience. With a growing membership exceeding 1,000 professionals and a fragmented set of digital tools, Wintercircus needed a mobile application to enhance connections while seamlessly integrating with their existing Odoo infrastructure. In just two months, our team delivered a comprehensive solution featuring a member directory, event management, loyalty perks, and real-time notifications. The application is set to transform how members engage with the Wintercircus ecosystem while maintaining operational efficiency behind the scenes.
Client
Wintercircus
Services
Data hubs —
User interface design —
3rd party integrations —
Maintaining meaningful connections became progressively more challenging.
Wintercircus Collective is an exceptional network of innovators, entrepreneurs, and creatives collaborating within the dynamic Wintercircus space in Ghent. Maintaining meaningful connections became progressively more challenging as the community expanded to over 1,000 members. Members utilized various platforms to find events, connect with each other, access exclusive deals, and participate in the community. At the same time, the administrative team managed these separate systems while striving to uphold the premium experience that members anticipated. Since many Collective members lead busy lives, implementing a mobile first strategy became essential.
“As our collective grew, we realized our members needed a central “always with you” hub to truly experience the power of our community. We needed a mobile solution to enhance connections without creating additional administrative work for our team.”
Dorien Van Steenberge, Manager Collective at Wintercircus
A pragmatic, streamlined approach is the solution
2 months
Extreme programming
2-way
Odoo integration
4+
Platforms & partners
Instead of developing a complex standalone platform, Bits of Love adopted a practical approach centered on quick delivery and seamless integration. We built a native mobile app directly on the Odoo API, ensuring complete alignment with Wintercircus’ current operations. The optimal strategic choice was to create our custom middleware layer connecting the different platforms and collaborating with Wintercircus’ technical partners. This enabled features such as the member directory, event registration, QR-based perks, and a real-time notification center without disrupting existing workflows.
One of the most critical challenges was keeping all stakeholders and partners aligned, as there were many dependencies. Daily and weekly standups, combined with a relaxed mindset, offered our team, the excellent team at Wintercircus and all its partners a sense of reassurance, even when unexpected issues emerged.
“Sometimes we refer to Odoo as ‘Oh noo’ regarding its API documentation and data model. However, we delivered alongside the other partners. Our custom middleware approach ensures that we can quickly resolve data and speed issues between the native app and Odoo data.”
Rien Moeyaert, Technical PM at Bits of Love
The end result is a centralized digital hub that embodies the Wintercircus brand and makes membership benefits effortlessly accessible:
Member directory — A dynamic networking tool that helps professionals connect and collaborate.
Event registration & insights — Members can register for exclusive events, see attendee lists, and engage before, during, and after gatherings.
Exclusive perks via QR codes — A partner loyalty system that grants members access to unique offers through QR code validation.
Real-time updates & insights — Stay informed with news, blog posts, and key announcements.
The result is a scalable, future-ready platform
With the app ready for launch, Wintercircus is set to transform its member experience. The solution will offer instant access to the community directory, allowing members to quickly discover potential collaborators with just a few taps. Event participation will be simplified with one-click registration and real-time attendee visibility. The integrated QR code system will make accessing exclusive member perks seamless, while the notification center will keep everyone updated on the latest opportunities and news.
“This app embodies Wintercircus’s values: innovation, connection, and creating impact. We’re excited to empower our members and see how it enhances their customer experience. We also believe our events, ticketing, and last-minute updates will be seen as “quickly accessible” thanks to the mobile app.”
Dorien Van Steenberge, Manager Collective at Wintercircus
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