Distilling Knowledge — Revamping a Sake E-Commerce Portal
“What exactly does this number mean about my sake?”
Industry: E-Commerce
Project Scope: User Interface Design, User Flows
The Context of our Project
Inter Rice Asia (IRA) approached Reassemble to redesign their website with a focus on B2C sales, so they could reach a larger pool of customers online.
The Inter Rice team possessed a rich knowledge of sake, which could be imparted to their customers offline. They were passionate about sake and engaging educators. But a website did not allow for this sort of in-person engagement.
Our challenge was clear: we would have to build a bridge between Inter Rice Asia and sake lovers online, by simplifying and refining how they presented their knowledge. We had to distill Inter Rice’s expertise, into information that was understandable and actionable for its customers.
Here’s how we did that.
Polishing Knowledge into Information
The first step to making good sake is to polish the rice to get its core. So that’s how we started — out of the expert knowledge that Inter Rice Asia possesses, we had to find the core of information that users look out for.
Our first step was to find out what is in that core. We tapped on the expertise of Inter Rice staff to find out what their customers look out for in a sake. Here’s a couple things:
- Grade
- Polishing Ratio
- Rice Type
- Alcohol Percentage
- Brewery
- Prefecture
- Flavour Profile
“These days, I look out for Junmai more. But prefecture of origin is also important to look at!”
This was the core of information users needed — the data that sake lovers use to make purchase decisions. Based on this, we could work on creating a product description page that informs and nudges customers.
We also made use of this information to better organise the website and cater to users who have an idea what they enjoy, by improving the top navigation. This is the original top navigation:
Each brand and type contains a wealth of information and history — but it would take a connoisseur to understand this background. So, once again, we redesigned the navigation around those key information points that a general customer can understand.
The revamped top navigation allows visitors to zoom in quickly on a preferred category, grade or flavour profile of sake, direct from the home page.
Breaking down information
Our effort to present the most actionable information hit a snag when it came to the SMV.
At its most basic, Sake is normally defined as sweet or dry. This is measured using the Sake Meter Value (SMV), which measures the density of sake relative to water, and therefore the proportion of sugar in the rice that is converted into alcohol.
The problem was that this technical information has limited value to the average drinker. There was no obvious link between the SMV number (say, -10.0) and how a sake actually tastes; it doesn’t really mean anything, unless you know a lot about sake.
Therefore, we had to come up with a way of displaying sweetness/dryness that was friendlier and more meaningful to the average drinker. We avoided just stating numbers, and came up with this.
Conclusion
E-commerce can be a great challenge for retailers who don’t just sell stuff, but also the knowledge around their products. With Inter Rice Asia, we met the challenge as we always do — by considering the user’s point of view. This led to a couple of important questions:
- Given the short time a sake lover has, what would get them to find and choose the right sake for their taste?
- Given that not every sake lover is an expert, how do we turn technical information into meaningful insights?
Once we had answers to these questions from real customers and the staff who support them, we could transform the Inter Rice Asia website into a far more effective sales channel, and extend their reach to a larger audience.
What questions could we ask about your e-commerce operation and your customers, and how might we help you extend your reach?
You can find out more about what Reassemble does through our portfolio. Or arrange a date to talk to us, and find out what user-centred design can do for your business.
