Design Case Study: Enhancing Buyer-Seller interactions at OLX Autos
With 5,000+ employees and 500+ inspection centers across the Americas, Asia, and Africa, OLX Autos manages a truly global car marketplace. To transform the auto industry for the better, we need our solutions to scale while still catering to the unique needs of our users and team members, from Indonesia to Nigeria to Mexico.
That’s why we focus on identifying and eliminating bottlenecks, complexities, mistrust, and other problems. We want to bring a frictionless, comfortable experience to the auto industry (a sector notorious for a poor buying and selling experience).
“We’re building a holistic experience and delivering peace of mind. This requires a mix of technology and a human touch. We want the app to feel like you’re doing business over a cup of tea or coffee,” says Jasjit, Associate Director of Product, Dealer Experience at OLX Autos.
Margins can get thin in the used-car business. On OLX platforms, dealers and sellers have too many questions to answer, making it hard to prioritize leads. Since dealers and sellers are busy, buyers have to wait too long to get answers to questions. Simply put, communication takes up too much time and resources.
The goal
Optimize buyer-seller interactions to ensure buyers as well as dealers and sellers can operate more efficiently. This will increase seller profitability, improve the used-car trading experience, and create an overall more harmonious and prosperous ecosystem.
Our approach
Reposition the chat on OLX as a facilitator that helps transactions move from product and price negotiations to agreements and deals.
“The goal is to reposition the chat on OLX as a facilitator that helps transactions move from product and price negotiations to agreements and deals. The chat uses milestone-driven activity and makes it easier for consumers to go through the journey,” describes Nishant, Technical Architect and iOS Chapter Lead at OLX.
Our solution
Build tools to streamline and automate buyer-seller interactions. Those interactions will include Negotiations before the final deal is closed. For Sellers — Negotiations are a great way to dispose products and drive sales. For Buyers — Negotiations meet multiple needs: Rewarding them with a sense of fulfilment, monetary benefits, affiliation etc.
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To help the seller, the OLX team created a text analysis AI model to help sellers respond easily to repetitive questions and even auto-respond to factual questions.
To help the buyer, the OLX team created an ‘AI cloud of questions model.’ The model includes advice so buyers can ask sellers the right questions and move towards deal closure and also help with price suggestions.
Thanks to the AI cloud questions model, sellers can prioritize leads and close deals in a fraction of the time it took before. Car shoppers only need a fraction of the time they needed before to get the necessary details and find the right vehicle. On an average, question cloud usage is at 20% at conversational level( all exchanges). As conversation becomes more richer(more exchanges) the usage also increases.
