Develop Sila: Cross-Platform Mobile App for Real-Time Product Availability & Price Comparison

We are seeking an experienced development team or individual freelancer to build 'Sila', a robust cross-platform mobile application. Sila is designed to aggregate real-time product availability and pricing data from various retail sources, providing users with accurate, up-to-date information on product location, stock levels, and price comparisons. The core functionality will involve integrating with supermarket and retail inventory systems, primarily through APIs, but also utilizing alternative data ingestion methods where direct API access is not available. The goal is to create a scalable platform that efficiently connects consumers with local retail inventory while offering businesses actionable insights and increased visibility. The system architecture will include a mobile frontend for iOS and Android, a powerful backend service, a flexible database layer, and various third-party integrations. Key features to be developed include: Real-time product search with geolocation filtering, a multi-store price comparison engine, a smart shopping list with predictive suggestions, comprehensive user accounts with preference and behavior tracking, and a retailer dashboard for managing promotions, analytics, and sponsored placements. Technical challenges will involve standardizing inconsistent inventory data, ensuring low-latency data updates and high system reliability, designing a scalable architecture for high user volume, and implementing secure authentication and data protection.