10 min read
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Native eCommerce
Designlab's UX curriculum included an end-to-end mobile app project, requiring us to showcase our design thinking and process. The prompt was to conceptualize a product and design at least 3 flows.
I decided to take on an e-commerce project after confirming that online shopping will continue to grow in popularity. My goal was to make online shopping a more pleasant experience overall.
Online shopping can be overwhelming especially because of the endless options available. Favorite aims to simplify the online shopping experience by streamlining product searching and wish-listing so consumers feel in-control of their shopping experience.
I identified the retail industry as Favorite's target market and initiated research into online shopping demographics. According to Ecommercedb, the majority of online shoppers interested in apparel, cosmetics and body care are typically women.
To understand the target audience's perspective, I conducted interviews with five women aged 29 to 45 via Google Meet. Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and focused on their online shopping experiences and pain points.
After synthesizing my interviews via an Affinity Map, an actionable point pertaining to organization arose. 4/5 participants often saved items to different carts or app wishlists or a personal notepad, and they struggled to keep track.
How might we streamline the process of saving items from any online store so that users feel organized and inspired when online shopping or browsing?
When the p is dissected, there are to tworviesthat Favorite should offer: search for any uct and items in an organized fashion. I put myself in the users' shoes and had this dialogue:
I'm on my phone a lot. How can I save items when I'm browsing different apps and sites?
We can design a plug-in that allows you to save items from any store to one app!
But the project is to design a mobile app. Plug-ins are extensions and usually not the star of the show. How can I prioritize features given the 80-hour project time frame?
To accomplish the task of designing a mobile app, I decided that Favorite will be a search engine of retail products. A plug-in feature can be something designed for later versions. And to complement the search function, I conceptualized a curation feature where items can be saved and categorized, just like Pinterest.
Feeling confident with my decision, I then drafted user and task flows for 'collection' creation where users can save and organize their items. The search feature was more straightforward and connected to another feature so you will read more about that in Problem 3.
These flows guide the wireframing stage where I layout different options for onboarding, the homepage and collection pages. Wireframes guide me through the general configuration and help me pinpoint gaps in the flows.
To solve the problem of unorganized notekeeping, I designed a search engine app that allows the users to create personalized lists to save their items in.
Interviewees mentioned that price is a deciding factor when online shopping and they spend a lot of time looking for cheaper or more expensive options from multiple online stores.
How might we provide access to similar options in different price points so that users are empowered to make decisions when shopping online?
Solution 1's search function goes hand-in-hand with a tool that allows users to access similar options in their preferred price range. I describe this as a price search feature so that users can use a single platform to explore different products online and compare prices.
The user and task flows start from the search page and take the user through a series of pages and includes a user decision related to their budget. I included these decision prompts and options because the core purpose of Favorite is to be an all around search
This price search within Favorite gives users a more simplified way of finding other product options and affords them to make decisions on purchases based on price.
To achieve the emotional goal of the HMW statement - empowering users to make decisions, I showed options for price ranges in two main screens: filtering in the multiple options page and dropdowns after the single item page. This way, users can be well-informed throughout the process of browsing.
Imagine this: it's your birthday and your friends and family are asking what gift you want. You have plenty of items saved in multiple carts and screenshots. Now you have to send these items to them.
This scenario is based on multiple interviewee responses where they found sharing items frustrating and time-consuming.
How might we create an organized way of sharing collections so users can save time?
The ability to share or send a link or moodboard is not an innovative feature. This solution is based on interviews, and I focused on making the task as easy and recognizable for users so I incorporated the iOS template for sharing links to contacts to make the process as clean and intuitive.
Sharing links or, in this case, collection sharing is a common feature in other apps, however, I included an indicator that a collection is shared to inform the user.
Looking back, I would have made that indicator more prominent, add a confirmation prompt and provide the ability to see who the user has shared the collection with.
Measuring a fictional product's success is impossible. But for the sake and for the fun of this project, I'd like to layout a few business goals to make it as realistic as I can. These goals can serve as a north star if I decide on updating Favorite:
Working on Favorite challenged me to dig deeper into the research and recognize the complexities of online shopping behavior. The project validated an aspect of consumer behavior: online shoppers are more mindful and self-aware, and their decisions are driven by financial considerations, emotional responses and practical needs. By understanding these factors, I created practical solutions that aim to make users feel less overwhelmed and guilty towards online shopping.
This project gave me good sense of design autonomy, however, I would like to have collaborated with a team to be able to explore other approaches and solutions.