OVERVIEW

While the popularity of shopping local is steadily growing, local shops are predicted to lose $1.6billion in retail sales to other online retailers and American-owned companies. Reports released by Vanity found the independent retailers in Canada (both large and small) have a poor online presence, making Canada a prime target for foreign e-tailers. The way consumers shop is changing. Along with increased purchases being made online, dollars are increasingly “digitally influenced” through product research and deal comparisons online. There is a growing concern that Canadians will lose interest in shopping local as people are being drawn online more and more.

TIMELINE 

2 weeks

PLATFORM

Desktop

ROLE

Lead UX Designer

TOOLS

Sketch, InVision, Illustrator, Photoshop

DESIGN METHODS

User Research, Domain Research, Surveys and Interviews, Competitor Analysis, Affinity Diagram, User Persona, Storyboarding, User Flow, Sitemap, Wireframing, Usability Testing, Prototyping (paper and digital medium fidelity)

THE CHALLENGE

Shop Main St would like to bring the local and “Main St” shopping experience online to enable customers to shop from home. Since Canadian online shoppers spending is expected to increase by 50% between 2014–2019. Main St is planning on preparing digitally for this significant change in customer behaviour. They would like to build a web-based tool that anyone can access in order to build an increased interest in shopping local, supplement the sales of Main St shops, and increase community engagement. The focus of my project is on women’s clothing store category.

PROJECT GOALS

• Create an e-commerce store for women’s clothing stores on Main Street

• Increase sales of the boutique shops

• Increase social media engagement

• Integrate all women’s clothing boutique stores with this new tool

• Increase online engagement

• Create a customized experience for shoppers

• Educate shoppers on basic info for each store

• Allow users to purchase items from all stores in your category within one e-commerce store

FEATURE REQUIREMENTS

• The tool must sell Main St storesʼ products

• A checkout process where all shops can integrate

• The tool will provide users the ability to define what their interests are in shopping (in this case, women’s clothing)

• Recommended products will be customized based on several factors: customer patterns and choices, time of year, weather, and activities

• The tool should consider how shipping would work

• The flow of the tool should be progressive — taking the user step by step in determining their shopping needs