01 Overview
context
thredup is An online consignment and thrift store that aims to help solve the fashion waste crisis by inspiring a new generation to think secondhand first and provide a sustainable fashion future.
problem scope
our solution
Jump to Final Designs
our task
02 user research
secondary research findings
competitive analysis findings
Users like to show off their trendy pieces and unique finds online. People prefer seeing what pieces look like on a model and have a direct link to unique pieces they see, whether that's a recommended similar item or the one they were looking at.
When we did a further competitive analysis of apps that involved food delivery and ordering, we noticed that group ordering was a successful method to advertise discounts and save money on different fees.
survey – 112 responses
We wanted to learn more about purchasing patterns when browsing with your friends vs. alone. In addition, we wanted to investigate if the shopping behavior for clothing changed depending on the format (in-person vs online) and the condition (secondhand or new).
We divided our survey as follows:
PT.1 // introduction
A pre-screening about their background and shopping preferences to determine candidate fit
Do you prefer shopping/browsing in-person or online?
Do you prefer shopping/browsing alone or with others?
Do you prefer shopping/browsing secondhand or new?
PT.2 // getting into it
Addresses how shopping preferences affect frequency of purchase.
How often do you shop/browse online in a month?
When you shop/browse in online, how often are you shopping/browsing with others?
How often of those times leads to a purchase?
PT.1 // introduction
Invites in-depth responses to their shopping behavior
Which of the following are reasons that you would prefer shopping/browsing with friends over alone?
Which of the following are reasons that you would prefer shopping/browsing secondhand versus new?
03 research synthesis
affinity map
We used affinity mapping to categorize the qualitative information we gathered during our user research. The categories were general shopping motivations, features, behavioral, secondhand, social, online, and miscellaneous.
user personas
We created user personas to help us focus on our users’ various primary pain points and needs of secondhand shopping to ensure our solutions consistently add value.
Fashionista
Needs an outlet to showcase their unique finds
Indecisive
Needs reassurance and confidence in their purchase decisions
Sustainable
Values items that are long-lasting and avoids overconsumption
Frugal
Doesn’t care about the trends, and simply needs affordable clothing
Social
Primarily goes shopping purely as a social activity
key insights
College students...
04 ideation
diverge
// crazy 8’s
With our first set of rounds of Crazy 8’s, we considered gamification, gifting promotions, style boxes, a paired big-little system between the indecisive persona and the fashionista. We also considered an aesthetic feed and moodboards inspired by Pinterest and VSCO, both of which are popular amongst college students. Additionally, we also considered community engagement ideas through on-campus pop-up shops or also designing a community forum to thredUP’s interface.
left: gamification ideation for a competitive loyalty system that emphasized a sustainability metrics leaderboard (ie. fashion footprint)
right: creating a style box/gift for a friend, leaning into the idea that college students value getting the most bang for their buck
converge
We first eliminated ideas that weren’t supported by our user research or were too similar to existing features on thredUP’s site. Then, we proceeded to utilize the Pugh Matrix prioritization framework.
// pugh matrix prioritization framework
We loved this framework’s flexibility in terms of selecting our own criteria as well as creating our own weights and scales. For criteria, we chose social potential, time to implement, college student user base increase, increasing engagement, increasing satisfaction, can use existing infrastructure, ease of use, gamification potential, and user-generated content potential.
We scored each of our possible feature ideas, and with the highest possible score being 28, we decided to move forward with the features that received a score >14. As such, we selected group ordering, loyalty program targeted towards college students, and style boxes/gifts.
diverge again
// crazy 8’s again!!!
After we selected our top 3 ideas by scoring with our Pugh Matrix, we decided to do Crazy 8’s again! We designed multiple frames for style box, loyalty programs targeted towards college students, and group ordering.
converge again
// client feedback
Due to client feedback and the over-complexity of our initial concepts, we got rid of our loyalty program updates, and shifted our concept of style boxes/gifts to shared albums.
Rationale: Loyalty Program
With the client feedback, our ideas of group tasks leading to group points seemed overcomplicated. Our team felt that if we got rid of the competitive and collaboration angles as suggested by our client, there wasn’t much benefit to updating the loyalty program.
Rationale: Style Boxes:
Our client highlighted that the use case of having someone feeling confident enough in their knowledge of their friend’s style in order to shop for them was too niche, and also may only seem marketable during holiday seasons. With this, we decided to shift our idea from shopping for others to shopping with others. This led to our concept of shared albums (final product coined “collaborated collections”).
user flows
With our initial concepts of shared albums, group shopping, and public profiles, we began mapping out the user flows on FigJam. We took into consideration the various possible entry/exit points ⚪️, user tasks 🟦, and user decisions 🔸.
05 final designs
collaborative collections
group ordering
public profiles
06 reflections & thanks
reflections
navigating scope creep
As an incredibly passionate and innovative team, we found ourselves getting eager to design more and more features. However, with the mentorship of ThredUP’s product team, we had to recenter ourselves and ask: Is this feature truly beneficial for our college student user base? Is this a feature we can defend with research? Asking these questions helped us recover from creative burnout.
managing morale
This was my first project where I was the leader of a team of designers. After receiving client feedback that some of our selected features weren’t feasible, there was a noticeable drop in team morale. Although it was important to not be married to our designs early in the design process, as the leader, I still ensured I had individual check-ins with each of my team members to ensure they knew their ideas and opinions were valued. One of my main beliefs as a product manager is that to be a great leader, I not only should focus on the success of their product, but also ensure I am uplifting my team members to achieve their own personal goals and desired growth.
thanks
