Jump-starting a store's sales
General Assembly UXDI Project I Adding an e-commerce function to an existing website
The Project:
Haaz Design and Art Gallery is a space that combines furniture, lighting, design objects and art. Like all brick and mortar stores, Haaz has been hit with the pandemic restrictions. For this project I was tasked to design a new e-commerce functionality that will be added to the store's existing website.
Role: UX/UI Designer, solo project
Duration: 2 weeks
Skills: User Research, Information Architecture, Site Map, Sketching, Wireframes, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Tools: Axure, Optimal Workshop, Miro
Final Product
Case Study
Empathy Map
I conducted 3 user interviews for my reseacrh. To better understand and prioritize user needs, I used Empathy Mapping to synthesize my user research.
• Due to major increase in the time spent at home, all the users wanted to improve their home decor.
• Since most of the shopping experience is online now, all the users mentioned frustration about signing up to too many sites. Guest checkouts were highly preferred and appreciated.
• All the users mentioned that they would like to be able to set the delivery time and date according to their availability.
Personas
After the Empathy Mapping exercise, 2 personas emerged. My primary persona's home is at the center of her life and it is an ongoing project with constant improvements. My secondary persona has a similar goal, while the needs and frustrations are different.
Problem Statement
"Mia needs to find original pieces for her home online and be able to purchase them easily because the lockdowns prevented her from enhancing her home decor."
Competitive Analysis
With the behaviors and needs of my personas in mind, I checked out the local designer furniture stores. While the information architecture and product discovery flows were very similar, I noticed that the absance of a sign up process and guest checkout was a rising trend.
Information Architecture
To find out how users think the content should be organized and categorized, I conducted a card sorting exercise with 8 users. I picked 100 product images from the catalogs on the HAAZ website.
I built the IA based on the dendrogram of the best merge method. While all the categories were straightforward, only one seemed out of place. Bookcases were categorized under Decor. I revisited my competitive analysis and decided to put it under Furniture.
Main Navigation & Site Map
The existing HAAZ site had a basic IA with very similar category labels to the card sorting results. But these categories only contained catalog links and no subcategories or products. So I grouped them under Catalogs tab and added Products tab for the e-commerce function. I branched the Products tab based on the card sorting results.
User Flows & Page Layouts
Usability Testing
I made two usability testing with similar user profiles to the personas. For the test I gave two tasks to the users to complete
Task 1
“You are looking for a new sofa. Visit Haaz to find and purchase one.”
Task 2
"You won't be available for the scheduled delivery time. Visit Haaz to reschedule a new delivery time"
Successes:
• Navigate through the site easily
• Able to checkout quickly
• Reschedule delivery without errors
Hesitations:
• Expected the option to sign up for credibility
• Not sure if the payment process was secure
• Product name was not very informative
Next Steps:
• Add an icon or text to ensure the payment is secure
• Consider adding a sign up option
