Qtrove- Redesigning of the User Experience and User Interface

Time and again we have seen new companies in the field of Organic Lifestyle products, but only a few have achieved the rate of success as ‘Qtrove’. Qtrove is a curated marketplace that exhibits and sells natural & sustainable products from passionate entrepreneurs across the country.

With a plethora of content and products along with hundreds of sellers and thousands of products, Qtrove is trying to find its place among millions of small businesses and websites. Along with doing business this company is helping entrepreneurs get their products to reach end-users. Since the products sold here are not mass-produced, the website offers more market place to the sellers to showcase their skills and stories. With all this, the customers get a large variety of products to choose from.

The vision of the brand is to help consumers switch to a natural and sustainable lifestyle, raising a community where every interaction creates a chain of good karma. The Mission of the brand is to build an empowered ecosystem where local sellers are driven by passion and purpose. Curating the best of natural, sustainable, chemical-free products made by passionate sellers. In a saturated market a brand is only as unique as its vision and mission, and how they are implemented.

Website Details/Insight

Qtrove is a relatively new website in the industry. It is using the platform “Shopify” to run its website. Therefore, their server is based in Vancouver, Canada, making their severs a bit slow. They added their first product on March 14, 2016, and have been updating their website regularly. The website has an average traffic of 100 k+ visits/month. During the lock-down, they saw a surge of traffic rising to 500 k+ visits per month during April. Their top-selling product is tea followed by combo packs and soap.

Almost all of their traffic source is through search and direct media, which means they are not focusing much on advertisements. If they are still getting traffic, this shows that there is a demand for such a market and they are currently filling that gap.

They have approximately added 1300+ products during July, which shows they are committed to growing. They are using the Font Museo Sans and the theme ‘Live’ by Shopify. Going ahead there are certain concerns we have for the website relating to- Scalability and Page-speed. The large contentful paint (google) take 19.4 seconds to load, this period is huge and will just make the consumers with low internet speed, exit the page. The background of the website is white making the web-page look common and a bit dull.

Understanding the stakeholders

To understand this company properly we need to understand its stakeholders who are like pillars to this business.

1. Curators (Qtrove) — They are the main visionaries behind the idea and execution. They give structure and identity to the brand. For Qtrove they have not only made a website and app but have created a story and connect with the users. They need a proper work environment with advanced technology. They help in increasing the growth of the brand.
2. Consumers — Consumers are like reality check for any business. They need good quality products, ease in payment, and timely delivery of products. Wherever they find these features in an effective way they tend to move towards that business.
3. Retailers — Retailers or suppliers provide a brand with basic content to sell. Products with long expiry dates and good quality increase trust towards brands. Timely execution of orders and a good customer experience with calls and messages increase the loyalty towards Qtrove and their name. They need timely settlements and a dashboard for order execution and inventory.
4. Delivery Partners — Timely deliveries, a notification with a smooth tracking experience makes the consumer feel good about his order. For all this to happen smoothly it is really important to provide them with a proper address and phone number.

Competitor Analysis

The main competitors for Qtrove would be Modicare and Keva.

• Modicare is a wholesale dealer for skincare and food and beverage products. Modicare is headquartered in New Delhi. Vikas Arora is the CEO of this company. They have physical stores increasing the trust of customers.
• Keva is a manufacturer and producer of personal care products, household products, dairy products, and other related items. Keva is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Kedar Vaze is the CEO of Keva. Keva has raised a total of $23.4 M in funding.

Understanding the existing Interface

The website of Qtrove seems to have a philosophy of ‘Do everything, do it all’. They have tried to put in every feature, every module and every deals in a single page. While it does give the users a lot of options, they might feel overwhelmed by the choices.

Strengths

There are a few places where Qtrove has an upper hand over its competitors.

• Like having a huge variety of options to filter the products
• Highlighting trending/need of the hour product.
• It is beneficial for both its consumers and sellers.
• A good opportunity for the people who are just starting their business and need recognition.
• They have a ‘FOR YOU’ section specially curated for the customers.
• They are providing the customers with a 24*7 chatbox.
• They have a huge range of subcategories /products, they have mostly covered all kinds of products a customer might need. And they all are sustainable and organic products.
• They have included almost all the pin codes of the country which most of the websites cannot provide with. (depends on the product)

Weaknesses

• The website lacks consistency between the seller page and product images.
• Lack of colours that encourage a consumer to make a purchase decision is a huge blow to their conversion rate.
• Information is often cramped on the website which can make consumers overlook key areas.
• The icons and illustrations on every page of the website follow a different style.
• Most of the product pictures are blur and stretched. They don’t have a format for the sellers for uploading their products.
• There has been a repetition of information throughout the website.
• The free shipping policy and the lifetime shipping policy is confusing and doesn’t make much sense.
• When you scroll down they have a huge paragraph of categories which makes it difficult for the customers to look at/read.
• It has random advertisements coming up while the customer is searching. It does take the consumers attention but it also cuts the information they are looking at.
• The number of categories can reduce as there has been a repetition of similar things.
• They have an option of liking or disliking products in the ‘FOR YOU’ section. But the liked products are not saved anywhere.

Opportunities

• Having a clean website will make it easier for the customer to operate it.
• Adding a section ‘Meet the sellers’. This will help in looking at the stories/Best selling products much more easier. It also helps in the recognition of the seller.

Analyzing the needs of the brand, customers, and the sellers

Customer:

• Good quality products with a guarantee.
• Wide range of products.
• Availability
• Price range
• Good customer care
• Authenticated sellers
• True reviews and feedback
• A friendly app/website

Seller:

• Good dashboard to manage inventory
• Guidelines and training’s on uploading products
• Revenue
• Recognition
• Timely settlement
• Good feedback and reviews

Brand:

• Revenue
• Recognition
• Customers loyalty
• Authenticated sellers for a good reputation.
• Good feedback and reviews

Customer Analysis

Environment conscious Millennial, health advocate, fitness freaks, etc are the main focus of the brand. People who believe in quality over the price of goods are the users attracted to Qtrove.

• Age — 18 to 45
• Gender — Male/Female/Other
• Needs — Organic/Eco-Friendly products
• Geographical Location — India

Existing Interface

Home Page

Products

Sellers of the Week

Proposed Interface

• The website can have a specific color scheme instead of using a lot of colors which will make it easier for the consumer to load the site.
• With the color scheme, they can also have a specific format for the images and the information about the products and sellers.
• Instead of having two options for free lifetime shipment they can have one option to meet the sellers. It will include all the sellers based on the categories of the products they sell. Here the customer will be able to see the story about the seller/products they sell/reviews and more. This is also helpful as the customer will have more information regarding the seller and authenticity.
• They can provide a specific requirement for the sellers to upload their images so that the images aren’t blurred or stretched. This will also help in organizing the platform well.
• Instead of using different styles, they should stick with one to make the website look good and friendly.
• They have an option to like (swipe right) and dislike(swipe left) the products (under for you) on the mobile app. They can add an option of super like where the product will be directly added to the wish-list. (swipe up)
• Instead of having a bulk of categories they can remove it and use it when a person is buying a product. They can have an option to see the similar products or also search for what is trending among other customers.

Information Hierarchy

1. Product

• All Categories
• Type
• Price Range
• Sort by

Seller

Price (High to low/low to high)

2. Availability

• Pin codes
• Stock

3. Image

• Authenticity
• Quality

4. Price

• Worth

5. Offers/Coupons

• Upcoming
• Availability

6. Rating

7. Reviews

The First Skeleton

1. Navigation Flow

2. Style Guide

Wireframe

Prototype

Final prototype Qtrove

Student of UnitedWorld Institute of Design. Department of Visual Communication. This article was an assignment given to us about redesigning the User Experience and User Interface of a platform.

This project was done by: