UX Case Study — E-commerce of a local toy store
As a part of a team of four UX/UI design students, I had the opportunity to work with a toy store to help them improve their webshop.
Context
Our client is a small toy store based in Amsterdam. It offers a wide range of classic toys, wooden toys, educational toys, as well as stationery products, cards and souvenirs. Their toys are upmarket and quality-oriented.
The client wanted to improve their online presence, in order to be able to keep existing among all the competitors (similar stores with upmarket toys, but also big chains stores who are quickly expanding their online presence as well as their reach to more niche markets, such as educational toys). The client also wanted to get happier and returning customers online.
Overview
After visiting the toy store, we conducted users interviews, we analyzed the quantitative and qualitative data and we came up with two personae. After several ideation steps (affinity diagram, mindmap, user journey, MOSCOW, sitemap, user flow…), we came up with a paper prototype of the new webshop. We conducted usability testings, then after several iterations, we designed mid-fidelity wireframes.
Research
Understanding the users’ needs and goals are the main objectives while starting a new project. After going to the toy store, we started conducting interviews with potential costumers and creating an online survey. We focused the questions on their use of online shopping, what they like or miss in a physical toy store and what they also like or miss in an online toy store.
We received a large number of answers : 127. With that material, we were able to extract some key numbers.
We were also able to highlight some key findings from the interviews and surveys.
Paint-points :
- Users are often not sure what they want to buy before interacting with the toys when shopping in physical stores.
- They think online toy shopping is not as fun as offline toys shopping. They miss the sense of playing and interacting with the toys.
- They look for specific, accurate and detailed information (related to the product itself or the shipping process) to feel safe and secure while purchasing.
With our key findings in mind, we met our primary user, Jan, and our secondary user, Claire.
Our goals were then to recreate a tangible feeling of the toys and also a toy store experience online. The outcome we hope to see is an increase in positive rivers and ratings, as well as an increase in returning customers.
Planning
We quickly identified the problems with the current website :
- The navigation and user interface are confusing
- The website looks outdated, that makes the whole purchase experience feels not safe
- The website doesn’t give a good sense of feeling and understanding the toys, information is missing (on product pages) and the experience feels not fun and nice as it should.
The user journey shows that Jan, our primary user, won’t purchase from the current website.
Features & solutions
After working on the sitemap and redesigning the entire navigation flow, we came up with several special features based on what we know of our users :
- Customers’ videos and a special hashtag for them to share their unboxing or review of the toy. ☞ This will help customers to get a better understanding of the toy, this will also act as a referral, create influence and a sense of community.
- HD photos of the toy in context, close-ups of materials, videos & stop-motion videos of the toys. ☞ These visuals, creating by the shop, will give more information to customers, highlighting the characteristics of the toys.
- TryMe! Button on product pages. ☞ This button, like the one we sometimes see on toys at the store, will play the melody of the music boxes sold. It will also be used to play a little animation for other toys. We recreate a toy store experience, and online customers can finally interact with the toys.
- See related products. ☞ A simple feature that encourages customers to look at more products and compare them.
Design & Testing
With all this information in mind, we created the first paper prototype, based on the most obvious flow, looking for a toy and buying it. After several usability tests and iterations, we came up with the mid-fi prototype.
After testing it, we can say the navigation is improved and successful. Our main feature, the customers' videos, is well-received, but it depends on the kind of toy people want to buy. The TryMe! button is a success, but it will also be useful only on a certain type of toys, not everywhere. We still have small edits to make to the user interface. The next step will be the high-fi prototype.
