ASOS new feature
This article has been written for the assignment of Ironhack — full time UX bootcamp in March 2022 and its aim is to analyze an already existing and highly adopted app and incorporate a new feature into the existing product.
Noortje Veenhuizen
The Challenge
The Challenge
This project aims to analyze an already existing and highly adopted app — ASOS and incorporate a new feature that allows the users to view and purchase every item that the model is wearing. The feature I develop will be based on an area of functionality to be explored and compared to user input. My work will culminate in a high-fidelity prototype of a native app that reflects my best path forward based on research, iteration, and testing.
Mission
The goal was to understand both users and the business needs, problems and aspirations in order to produce new and attractive features implemented in the app.
About ASOS
ASOS is a virtual fashion retail company, leader in the online fashion industry that carries 850 brands of clothing, including the ASOS brand, which comprises more than (60% of the line product). The biggest aspirations of the company are becoming the world’s foremost millennial fashion destination and doing it with integrity.
We don’t do fashion like anyone else does fashion. Our ASOS Brands, created by our London design team, look between the lines to bring you the freshest clothing, shoes, accessories and gifts. When it comes to our curation of brands at ASOS, we select the best of those to give you the biggest variety, amazing exclusives and coolest collaborations. There are no rules — just endless ways to be you.
Competitive Analysis
The first important step of the research was to perform a competitive analysis. Through the effective use of business analysis, we can ensure an organization meets these benefits, ultimately improving the way they do business. Studying the habits and successes of other online retailers can help us to incorporate some of these findings into our own company. I did a short investigation of several online retailers websites and tried what worked and what did not.
“Steal like best”
The main competitors: Zara, H&M and BERSHKA share with ASOS the following features:
Being global, fast-fashion retailers
Ecommerce mobile app
Similar price range and target group
Similar functionalities
After downloading and investigating the apps, I wrote down some of the major strengths and weaknesses. This helped me to figure out the common features for fashion e-commerce websites.
After conduction the analysis I decided to compare it with the reviews from Google Play. The repeated patterns were related to the following issues:
- Problems with login
- Inconsistent navigation process
- Difficult process of searching items
- Long checkout time
Look around..
Since I was working with an already existing product and the new feature was already defined, the beginning of my research looked a little different and I decided to adapt it depending on the areas I wanted to explore. I started the research with the following step:
- I downloaded the app to discover it by myself. I examined the layout, colors, typography, design systems, tone of voice to be able fully understand it.
- I talked with people around me (that could be possible users) to know what do they think the feature “buy the whole look” and how’s their feeling about shopping clothes online: how and when they do it, what’s their experience and what would they change/ improve
- I looked for data points regarding:
Online Shopping Habits and Behavior
69% of Americans have shopped online before, and 25% of them shop online at least once per month. The majority (59%) of these shoppers bought clothing items (Invespro)
By 2021, mobile is predicted to dominate online sales, driving 54% of all sales
Digital and mobile wallets are the preferred payment method among online shoppers worldwide. 44.5 percent of online shoppers paid using this method (Worldpay, 2020)
Around half of the online shoppers (46 %) have failed to complete a purchase online because there were too many options to choose from.
Womenswear was the best selling apparel in the ecommerce fashion market with the US alone accounting for $187 billion with $86 billion in menswear. (Statista 2021)
ASOS
Over half of all ASOS’ orders are now placed through their mobile app (and over two-thirds of UK orders
ASOS’ mobile app currently 4.8 out of 5 stars (from over 108,000 ratings just on the App store) and is being downloaded 800,000 times per month
ASOS’s sales had grown 26% in 2018 and by 2020, the brand boasted over 23 million active customers
EMPHATISE
User research
“Learn how users are thinking and feeling.”
To try to understand the users and their shopping habits I ran a 13 question user survey consisting of 11 shoppers who in the past 5 months at least once bought online a clothing item. Before writing down the questions I created Lean Canvas Map to use as a guide in the research process. During the survey, I tried to frame my questions as open-ended as possible and let interviewees openly express their shopping habits and experiences.
Key Insights
70 % indentified as female
85 % between 20–24 years old
60 % tend to buy between 2–3 items
Fashion is important factor for most of the users
Most interviewed people enjoy shopping online
Users shop online because they enjoy it more than because they are looking for a particular thing to buy
All of them reacted positively to the new feature idea
People find shopping apps/webs very confusing
People find irritating that they can’t find the item they won’t and “feel like they wasted their time
“I end up buying more than I planned”“ I like when there are multiple photos of a product to get a better idea of what it really looks like
DEFINE
After gathering all the information I decided to do an affinity diagram to help me organize and analyze the content in order to find the patterns and repeating issues. This gave me a visual guide to be able to select the most relevant information. I started by writing repeated concepts and quotes from users’ answers in sticky notes. Then, I organized them and placed together in the following groups:
Pains:
- Categories not well organized
- Confusing and too small photos of the items
- “I can’t find the items i’m interested in”
- “Too much time spent”
- Not being able to buy the whole look
Gains:
- Importance of actual trends
- Users tend to buy more than 1 cloth item
- Open and curious about new possibilities
- Enjoy shopping experience
Liked others apps features:
- Minimalistic design
- Easier to browse
- Better design and “clean” look
At this point I could decide what will the target audience I will work on:
Target Audience
To investigate more deeply the target group I decide to create a User persona and Empathy map. I used data I gathered from secondary and primary research and I created Nadia to understand her expectations, needs and frustrations.
User Persona
Empathy Map
Job To Be Done
Having this in mind I defined a Job To Be Done — that would guide me on the development of the feature:
From this methodology, I created the following job story:
When I shop online I want to see all items that the model is wearing so I can buy the same look clearly fashionable outfits so I can get inspiration and ideas about what to wear.
When I shop online, I want to be able to buy the whole look so I can wear trendy outfits everyday.
IDEATE
User Flow
Problem Statements
After the goals have been identified, I came up with a problem statement and How might we Statements.
How Might We
Hypothesis
Sketches and Low-fi
I created low-fidelity wireframes to visualise the site’s flow and layout. Based on those low-fi wireframes I created a hi-fi prototype.Once I had the wireframes ready I continued with the mood board of design elements we wanted to include in our solution. The creation of this mood board helped me to keep the style and aesthetic of the site consistent with our goals and expectations.
High — Fi
Above you can see the path that user would take to buy the whole look. I modified the main photo and added “dots” on every item — giving the possibilty to see every item that the model is wearing and buy them separately. In addition, I added a “buy the look” feature so user can buy the whole look with just one “click”. I made the feature more visible and accessible by choosing the black white color. The next step that user needs to take it’s choosing the size and confirming the shopping bag content.
Conclusion
Even though the entire process took quite some time as it was my first time project that includes High -Fi, it was a great learning experience that truly taught me many important skills that a UX Designer needs. Learning about web usability and managing a better web presence was only one of many skills I could learn while working on this project.
I feel more confident in my ability to continue with UX/UI work and motivated to tackle new projects!