TIMELINE
Sep. 2022 - Jan. 2023
MENTORS
Jess Erickson and Josh Sucher
ROLE
Product Designer
Shopify
The Shop UX team was specifically interested in what mobile features could manifest from Gen-Z's unique shopping habits, in addition to how habits like social shopping could incentivize more purchases.
In June 2023, Shop implemented Shop Cash, a customer loyalty program that rewards repeated shopping.
Overview
In the Fall of 2022, I had the opportunity of partnering with Shop through Berkeley Innovation, a human centered design consultancy at UC Berkeley, to research the e-commerce space the app occupies and how it can better cater to internet-savvy consumers, specifically that of Gen-Z.
THE PROBLEM
User Friction
For a long time, the Shop app was the only consumer facing avenue of Shopify, looking to generate value on behalf of merchants through customers. Shopify is looking to create a destination they can own to capitalize on native capabilities, and to better leverage customers by offering a marketplace of diverse vendors. However, they face difficulties in converting users into marketplace buyers because most people view Shop as a tracking app.
The Purpose of Shop
The Shop app is meant to accompany Shopify’s e-commerce ecosystem, which boasts a variety of brands that are well known to smaller, mom-and-pop shops. Shopify is meant to empower a breadth of businesses, and Shop is its streamlining companion. As an app, Shop boasts seamless package tracking and accessible order histories from Shopify/Shop brands, brand discovery, exploration, and more.
Above is part of Shopify's e-commerce ecosystem strategy, in which they boast the ability to connect e-commerce stores to the hands of online customers, physical brick and mortar stores, and beyond.
However, many people are confused by Shop's function.
Above is Shop's tracking feature, which is used to streamline shoppers' purchase statuses into one application.
When initially asking friends and family about Shop before releasing our screener survey, these were some of the comments we received — these sentiments helped us develop insights on the research to come. Shop is extremely popular for cataloging user purchases and tracking information,
SNEAK PEEK
A quick glance at my solutions.
Our team was instructed to focus on generating robust user research regarding the e-commerce system through the eyes of Gen-Z, which we then utilized to innovate feature recommendations that aimed at fostering user delight and product discovery.
A SNEAK PEAK
Our Impact.
Here's a sneak peek of some of the work our team has helped shape and influence, including a rewards system called Shop Cash and a shopping catalog system called Collections.
Shop Cash
In June of 2023, Shopify launched one of our project concepts, Shop Cash, as a loyalty rewards program for its users. Shop Cash has no monetary value outside of the Shop app but is mainly a cash-back/rewards system that encourages user growth and loyalty!
Shop Collections
Shopify also launched another feature concept this past yearcalled Shop Collections! Shop Collections is essentially a way to organize your "saved" items on Shop. It allows you to share, catalog, archive, and file potential purchases.
REFLECTIONS & THANKS
Special thanks to the
Shop UX Team
If you made it this far — thanks for reading! Thank you to my project clients Josh Sucher and Jess Erickson for your thoughtful guidance and wonderful feedback.
Reflections 01: A well researched product is more important than a flashy one, although visual delight is key in inspiring and motivating consumers to use a product regularly. Although this project’s final deliverable was research-heavy, we were able to create visual deliverables on a short timeline because we knew exactly what we wanted and we had comprehensive UX research to back it.
Reflection 02: A team with many diverse strengths is a strong one! Our team had different strengths that emphasized different muscles — design thinking, business and e-commerce backgrounds, UX research , and more. I learned so much from all the members in my team — as someone with a previously visual-heavy attitude towards design, this project allowed me to reshape my focus on design as something purely artistic.
Ultimately, if I had more time and the resources of an engineering and product team, I wish I could have fleshed out Shop Maps into a feature that is both safe enough to ensure privacy but also serves as a topographic marker of who's buying what. I truly think that knowing what your community engages in is something the average person and consumer is interested in and that this feature could build a sense of trust and locality.
