BackHOWTO: Video Sharing and eCommerce App
Our Paris-based client came to Space-O Technologies with a video editing app in mind, then widened the brief twice. He wanted the social mechanics that made short-form video work, and he wanted creators to sell the products they used on camera. HOWTO is the result, combining video tutorials, editing tools, and a marketplace in one mobile application. Creators film across 22 categories, edit with filters, music, speed control, and keyframe animation, then tag the products used in each step. Viewers tap a tag, add the item to a cart, and pay through Stripe. Within a month of the beta release, roughly 230 French users had uploaded over 1,000 products.
Industry
Social Commerce and Video
Client From
France
Platform
iOS, Android, and Web
About the HOWTO App
HOWTO is a video tutorial platform where creators sell what they use on camera. A cook demonstrating a recipe tags the pan. A DIY creator tags the tools. Viewers buy without leaving the video.
Creators work across 22 categories covering cuisine, sports, DIY, and more. The editing suite handles text, filters, music, rotation, speed adjustment, and trimming. Tutorials break into steps, with products attached to the relevant stage rather than dumped into a single list.
Selling requires a paid subscription and works three ways. Creators sell directly inside HOWTO, drive traffic to their own website through a link, or issue discount coupons. The platform takes 10% commission on each sale, with administrators managing users, content, payments, products, and posts from a central panel.
How We Built the Video Sharing and eCommerce App
Our client works in digital marketing and knew exactly what he wanted, which was a product doing three jobs at once. We studied the market, ran analysis, validated the concept, and delivered a work breakdown covering scope and risk before development started. The technical weight sat in video processing, where long-form uploads pushed device memory to its limit.
Video Creation and Category System
Requirement:
Creators needed to record and publish tutorials quickly across a wide enough range of subjects to build a genuine content library.
Solution:
We built video creation spanning 22 categories from cuisine to sports to DIY. Tutorials are structured into steps, so a viewer follows the sequence rather than scrubbing through a single clip. That structure is also what makes product tagging useful, since each item attaches to the moment it appears.
Video Editing Suite
Requirement:
The client wanted editing capability matching the platforms creators already used, not a basic trim-and-post flow.
Solution:
We built text entry with layout options, music insertion, filter application, rotation, speed adjustment, and trimming. Advanced work followed, including glitch filters, metal filters using shaders, keyframe animation at set intervals, and audio effects covering reverse, reverb, and pitch adjustment. Creators produce finished-looking content without a second app.
Long-Form Video Processing and Optimization
Requirement:
Applying text, filters, transitions, and animation to a one-hour video was slow, uploads dragged, and memory consumption caused devices to overheat.
Solution:
This was the hardest problem on the project. Our video specialists reworked the processing pipeline to bring memory consumption down and shorten publish times on long recordings. Excluding long videos would have been simpler, but tutorial content is exactly where length is unavoidable, so the constraint had to be solved rather than designed around.
Personalized Feed and Discovery
Requirement:
The client wanted an endless stream of content matched to what each user actually watches, which is what sustains session length.
Solution:
The feed personalizes around stated interests, engagement history, categories, and followed creators. Search runs across all 22 categories, surfacing both content and the people making it. Discovery quality determines whether a social commerce product retains users, so the feed does more work than any single feature here.
Product Tagging, Cart, and Checkout
Requirement:
Buying had to happen inside the viewing experience. Any redirect out of the video breaks the impulse that drives social commerce.
Solution:
Creators tag products against tutorial steps. Viewers tap a tag, see the price, and add the item to a cart. Stripe handles payment. Order management then tracks each item from cart through to delivery, giving both buyer and seller visibility across the full journey.
Seller Subscriptions and Admin Control
Requirement:
The platform needed a revenue model and enough oversight to handle content moderation across a growing user base.
Solution:
Selling sits behind a paid subscription, with three routes covering direct sales, external website links, and promo codes. Administrators take 10% commission per sale and work from a panel covering user management, content approval, order tracking, dashboard analytics, and reported posts. Moderation tools handle unauthorized content and malicious accounts directly.
Core Features of HOWTO Video Sharing and eCommerce App
Video Creation
Start recording within minutes and publish tutorials to the community across any of the 22 available categories.
Customization Tools
Add text with layout options, insert music, apply filters, adjust speed, then attach steps and product photos before publishing.
Personalized Content Feed
Browse videos matched to your interests, drawn from the categories you follow and the creators you engage with.
Social Sharing
Like, comment, and share videos with friends, or push an entire post to another page for your followers.
Product Tags and Shopping Cart
Tap a product tag inside a video, check the price, and add it to the cart, with Stripe handling secure payment.
Order Management
Follow every item from the moment it enters the cart through to arrival, with full visibility for buyer and seller.
Sell on Your Own Website
Subscribe to a paid membership and sell an unlimited number of products, including through a link to your own site.
Promo Codes
Issue discount codes to loyal customers, which moves inventory faster and rewards repeat buyers.
Search and Explore
Search across 22 categories to find topics, content, and creators aligned with what you already watch.
User Base Management
Review products, videos, and upload locations per user. Approve or reject requested categories and remove accounts posting unauthorized content.
Content Management
Control all platform content, including privacy policy, user agreement, and product details, with active and inactive states.
Order Management
Track orders received per seller and calculate commission automatically against each transaction.
Dashboard Analytics
View total earnings and commission across any specified date range in visual form.
Reported Post Handling
See which user reported a post, then decide whether to remove the content or block the account that shared it.
Inspirational Video Uploads
Publish platform-curated videos that motivate creators and set a tone for the community.
Who This Social Commerce App Serves
Content Creators Selling Their Own Products
Cooking and Recipe Creators
DIY and Craft Instructors
Sports and Fitness Coaches
Small Product Brands
Independent Retailers
Social Commerce Startups
Video-First Marketplace Operators
Technology Stack We Used
iOS App
Swift
Android App
Kotlin
Backend Development
PHP
Yii2
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS
Third-Party Integrations
Stripe
Our Role in the HOWTO Project
Space-O Technologies handled HOWTO from concept validation through launch across all three platforms.
Market Analysis and Idea Validation
Work Breakdown Structure and Risk Assessment
UI/UX Design
PHP Development (Backend)
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Want to Build a Video or Social Commerce App?
Talk to our team about your idea. We handle the hard parts early, from video processing to payment flows, so the build holds up once real users arrive.
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