NuFinds

Designing an end-to-end app with a MVP to streamline the process of buying, selling and trading second hand clothes

Project Overview

Problem

The global impact of clothing waste has drove many shoppers to consider purchasing second hand over new items. With this increased interest for second hand clothing, there was a need for a more seamless experience that facilitates all secondhand clothing transactions such as buying, selling, and trading

Solution

An end-to-end app that streamlines the process of buying, selling and trading second hand clothes.

  • Includes variety of methods for delivery including in person pickup or shipping

  • Customizable filtering system when searching for items

  • Trade second hand clothes if preferred over buying or selling

My Role

Product Designer, UX Researcher

Project Duration

July-August 2023 (80 hours)

Tools

Figma, Maze

RESEARCH

Competitive Analysis

I conducted a competitive analysis on 4 existing second hand marketplace apps. Depop and Poshmark specialize in second hand clothes while OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace are more for general second hand items.

Survey

I sent out a survey through Google Forms to 13 participants. The goal of this step was to get a better idea of how users are currently buying or selling their second hand clothes. I also wanted to gage whether there is an interest for a trading feature within the app.

What were the results?

80%

of participants stated that the main reason why they buy second hand clothes is because it’s more affordable/budget friendly

50%

of the participants prefer to shop for second hand clothes in person while the other half prefer to shop online

84%

of participants preferred to discard their used clothes by donating it to the thrift store

User Interviews

I wanted to elaborate on the key points that were discovered through the survey by conducting 1:1 user interviews. I recruited 3 participants, between the ages of 20-30 who have both buying and selling second hand clothes experience.

Motivations

“Selling second hand clothes is a way to curate my own wardrobe. Clothes that I don’t want anymore, I will sell and use that money to get something I like better.” -Lisel (Interview participant)

Challenges

“For second hand shopping, I feel that it’s harder to justify buying a lot of items from a particular seller because they might not have a lot of clothes that I want. I don’t want to pay for shipping when it’s just one item.” -Jenny (Interview participant)

Needs

“When I use apps like OfferUp, I always use the filters to search for items. It saves time and makes the process easier for me to find an item.” -Brian (Interview participant)

DEFINE

Affinity Mapping

I organized my notes, observations and quotes from the interviews into groups. I was able to identify common themes from these groups.

Key Takeaways

  • Participants are open to a clothing exchange as long as they are able to find clothes that align with their style and sizing preferences.

  • Shipping takes a substantial amount of effort from sellers. They want a simple and time efficient way to ship items or would like the option to do in person pick up.

  • Users value a good search feature with filtering capabilities. This helps users have an easier and faster time finding specific items that they are looking for.

User Personas

All of my research and affinitizing the interview findings led to the following two personas: The Expert Shopper (Sarah) and The Curated Seller (Lily). As I moved on in the design process, I had these persona’s goals and needs in mind especially when prioritizing features for NuFinds.

IDEATE

Site Map

Taking a look at my personas, I created a site map with features that would address user needs. Based on the interest that users expressed during the surveys and user interviews, I decided to incorporate the trading feature into one of the steps that users will encounter when adding a listing for a new item.

User Flows

I created 3 user flows to visualize key paths that users will encounter when using the app.

DESIGN

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

Using Figma, I created some mid fidelity wireframes that roughly showed the layout of each screen and where certain information will be located. I wanted to make my wireframes detailed enough to help guide users through each flow during my next step which was concept testing using my mid fidelity wireframes.

UI and Branding

Originally I had two color pallets but I asked participants to select the one that they preferred. The majority of participants selected this monochromatic color pallet, noting that it was simple and pleasing to the eye.

Concept Testing

I conducted concept testing because I was mainly looking for feedback on the visual hierarchy, any confusion with the design, and overall flow. These are the iterations I made:

  • Bookmark instead of favorites icon. Users are more familiar with this icon and stated that they tend to bookmark items and refer back to them at a later time.

  • Filter by color. Users stated this saves them time by only looking through items of a specific chosen color.

  • Sort by Price: high to low. Users noted that sorting by Price: high to low is commonly found on most filters but was missing here.

High Fidelity Wireframes

Armed with the feedback I received from my concept testing, I started bringing each screen to life. Throughout this process, I referred back to my personas Sarah and Lily, thinking about how each screen will help them reach their goals.

Add a Listing

TEST

Usability Test

Usability Testing was conducted through Maze.co where I was able to recruit 9 participants to complete the test. The test results showed that the prototype was functioning accordingly and users were able to complete all three tasks that were asked of them.

What improvements can be made?

  1. In order to make it clear to users the exact input fields that need to be filled out before moving onto the next step, an asterisk symbol should be placed next to each input field label.

2. During the selecting a delivery method step, users noticed that they were able to select all three options. That was not the intention and users should be limited to only selecting one delivery method.

3. Helper text would make it easier for users to identify that they are expected to type in a price. Some users were confused when faced with the make an offer screen and thought they had to type out a message that included their offer price.

Final Prototype

After making some minor iterations based on my usability testing, we now have a final prototype! As you click through the prototype please keep in mind the 3 tasks that you can attempt:

  1. List an item for sale using photos from your phone camera roll and make the item available for trade.

  2. Search for “Black Converse” and use the sorting option to sort by Price: low to high. You can also filter by size and condition.

  3. Select the first item listing on the discover page and make an offer to the seller.

Test the prototype yourself!

Conclusion

Previous

What’s next?

Due to time limitations and focusing on the MVP, I wasn’t able to build out all the features of the app. After speaking to participants, there seems to be an interest in a way to compare and contrast different listings to find the one that has the most value for it’s price. This is a feature that I want to create a flow for and see how it could be built out.

Personal Takeaways

While working through this project, I really learned the value of asking for feedback from others. Getting feedback from users about my mid fidelity wireframes helped validate the key concepts that I was testing. This allowed me to feel more confident as I built out my high fidelity prototype.

Overall this project taught me the importance of sharpening my MVP skills. There were a lot of features that I wanted to build out but I was reminded of my personas and their essential needs.

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