Problem

Bringing e-commerce to a local antique shop

uncommonOBJECTS is one of Austin’s most beloved treasures. To call it an antique store would be an understatement. More accurately, it is a fascinating and weird boutique with a wide variety of relics from the past.

My mission was to create an effective way for uncommonOBJECTS to begin selling some of their unique products online, in addition to their store. The special challenge for a store of this nature is its vast one-of-a-kind product inventory. Many shoppers value the eclectic shopping experience of the physical store, and I wanted to bring the same sentiment to the online shopping experience as well.

Project Details

• Spec project

• Sole designer

• 2 week timeline

• Product list of 100 items

• Provided persona

• Deliverable: high-fidelity wireframes

• Tools: Adobe XD

Solution

Empowering the online shopper to explore

Provide shopper multiple ways to navigate products:

1. Intuitive Core Navigation

2. Ample Product Recommendations

3. Specialized “Gift Ideas” Feature

Most e-commerce sites I studied have massive navigations and tens of thousands of products. Even with stellar navigation, that’s a lot for the user to digest. The physical uncommonOBJECTS store also has a lot for the in-person shopper to digest as well. The difference about being in the store is that it creates a sense of adventure, as you could find a hidden gem amongst the knick-knacks or ask the quirky shop owner for a recommendation. The Gift Ideas feature creates the possibility that the online shopper could easily stumble on a “hidden treasure” they otherwise might not find. By also offering a staff recommendation option, the Gift Ideas incorporates the personal element and brings some warmth to the online shopping experience.

Design Process

Competitive Analysis

The research into competitors revealed that uncommonOBJECTS has a very strong social presence. In some cases, uncommonOBJECTS had a stronger social media presence than large competitors. The analysis also shows that other companies selling a wide variety of items have an e-commerce site. This demonstrates a massive opportunity for uncommonOBJECTS to enter this space by expanding their products to be sold online.

Site Design

The natural feel and flow of the original site were very different than that of an e-commerce site, so it was critical to find sites currently successful in the e-commerce space. While comparing e-commerce sites, I found an incredible resource in Baymard.com which has published usability studies on e-commerce websites. Wayfair.com was ranked #3 at the time and offers a wide variety of items much like uncommonOBJECTS. While Wayfair’s products aren’t necessarily one of a kind, they have mastered product layout. They also do a great job of offering users of their site alternate ways to find products. Using Wayfair as a guide, I began to build out the framework of the new uncommonOBJECTS site. Wayfair’s site also has a “Room Ideas” feature that inspired my “Gift Ideas” feature.

Information Architecture

Because the uncommonOBJECTS website does not sell products online, it was critical to rework the site structure to incorporate the content currently represented well with the product framework. To do this, I went through the product list and assigned categories to each item through a virtual card sort. To ensure that I was representing the categories in the best possible way, I asked two other people to sort the products into categories as well. After synthesizing the data from all the sorts, I narrowed it down to six product categories. Due to the small number of products, there were some limitations on how much the categories could be expanded at this time. I explained to my stakeholders that these categories could evolve depending on the type and number of products eventually added to the site.

Persona

Gene loves to shop and considers it her favorite hobby. She enjoys buying clothes for herself, items for her home, and especially finding gifts for friends and family. She likes to browse stores and will take her time making purchases, often times spending months searching for the unique gifts she's known for giving. And while Gene prefers shopping in stores in person, she prides herself on giving unique gifts so much that she has been shopping online more and more. Her 34-year-old daughter has a birthday coming up soon and she hasn’t found that perfect gift yet.

Usability Testing

• Confusing Terminology - The term “most uncommon” did not resonate with users. They found it confusing.
  “If I don’t know what it means, I’m not going to click on it.”

• Order of Operations - All users expected “any category” to be the first selection in the gift ideas widget.
  “I’m not ready to pick a product type until I’ve selected my category.”

• Cart View - The users want to be able to see their cart items throughout the entire checkout process.
  “What if I leave and come back? I want to see what I’m buying.”

Prototype

Learnings

• Versioning is Important - Throughout the project, new ideas take form. I found that it is extremely important to save early versions to be able to compare and contrast as the design progresses. It also allowed me to show my stakeholders various options.

• Listening is Critical - As this was one of my first experiences running usability tests, it was very difficult for me to not jump in when the user was stuck. Listening and observing takes intention and practice. I stumbled in giving them a bit too much guidance and affirmation at times. Identifying my opportunities for growth when conducting usability tests is helping me to improve these behaviors going forward.

• Always Validate - My usability testing showed that while some users liked to use the Gift Finder feature, some did not. Given that I was designing this solution with a specific user in mind, I would want to do more testing to find out if this feature actually meets that user’s needs. Also the testing made me realize that this feature will always be supplementary to the primary navigation.