Improving the second-hand shopping experience
Depop - Mobile App Re-design Passion Project
Timeline
3 months, November 2021 - January 2022
Role
End-to-end design, UX Design & Research
Team
Solo Project
Tools
Figma, Photoshop, Miro, Pen & Paper
What is Depop?
Depop is a P2P social e-commerce company, based in London, where users can buy and sell items. Most commonly sold items on the platform include used or repurposed clothing.
Note: I am not affiliated with Depop in any way, this project was done from my desire to improve a product that I have been using for over a year and enhance my UX/UI design skills.
Objective
Identify problem areas through user research and propose solutions to improve the UX/UI of the Depop app.
This project stemmed out of frustrations I was having when using the mobile app. I wanted to explore if other users were facing similar issues as me. I managed all aspects of this project, from the user research and ideation, to prototyping and usability testing.
The Problem
Buyers find it difficult to shop local. There is currently no way to find local shops.
Buyers and sellers both struggle to connect with each other and want more ways to increase engagement.
There is no way for users to easily send/accept offers. Currently, buyers message sellers to ask for price reductions making the process long and tedious for both stakeholders.
The Solution
1. Ability to shop local
Buyers can now add a custom location to view items that are located in specific regions. This also allows buyers to choose between pickup and delivery when checking out for a cheaper and more sustainable option.
2. Depop Stories
The addition of stories allows sellers and buyers to promote shops, make shop announcements and increases buyer/seller engagement on the app. Users can post photos and tag items in their stories.
3. Make & receive offers
The introduction of an offer system allows buyers to make offers on items, which can then be either accepted or rejected by the seller. If accepted, the buyer can then purchase the item at the new price.
Discover
Target Market
My first step was to gain a better understanding of Depop’s target audience. I discovered that 90% of its active users are under the age of 26 (Generation Z). Depop facilitates a unique interaction between buyer and seller (60% of users do both), which sets it apart from other social commerce platforms.
“Our community is made up of people who are creating a new fashion system by establishing trends and making new from old. They come to Depop for the clothes, but stay for the culture.”
Current Mobile App
I took a look at the current app and key screens that I find to be the most important to the user. I noted down any painpoints that I experienced, for example I found the item card information architecture disorganized, along with potential design opportunities.
Competitive Analysis
Next, I looked into Depop’s competitors and created a comparison matrix to understand where the platform was currently lacking.
User Research
I began user research by creating a customer journey map to gain a thorough understanding of current painpoints a buyer might experience when using the app and potential opportunities for improving the customer experience. I spoke to 5 users as I made this model.
I created a user story map to understand a step-by-step process as to how the buyer makes a purchase. Opportunities I discovered included creating an offer system and clearer item cards to reduce how much a buyer needs to contacts a seller.
Secondary Research
I conducted some desktop research to better understand how users feel about the Depop app. I looked at online forums and the app store for customer reviews. Common painpoints that I identified are:
Item Card Display: Inconsistent AI and its hard for buyers to find details about the item.
Hard to shop local: There isn’t an easy way to find nearby shops or filter by specific locations.
Explore page is too general: Smaller sellers feel unnoticed by the explore tab. Buyers want a more customized and personal experience.
Limited Buyer/Seller communication: Users want to have the ability to negotiate with each others.
Primary Research
In order to personally empathize with Depop users, I set up interviews with 2 users and sent out a survey to collect more information from a larger group. In total I collected responses from 30 Depop users. The users consisted of both buyers and sellers and ranged from ages 16-28.
Among the 30 users, 2 said they only sell, 22 said they only buy, 4 said they buy and sell and 2 had done neither. The insights from my primary and secondary user research were mapped using an affinity diagram in the next stage to help synthesize the design problem.
“I love the offer systems on other apps like Poshmark and eBay and I wish Depop had it too. It would be better for buyers and sellers on the platform.”
Define
Affinity Diagramming
I compiled all the insights I had gathered from my user research and created an affinity diagram to draw out the key painpoints and redesign opportunities for the Depop app.
Through affinity diagramming I defined the design problem(s). These were the major painpoints/needs that I identified:
Need to improve engagement between users (buyers & sellers)
Poor local shopping experience
Creating an offer system to smoothen the buying/selling process
Personas
Based on the insights I discovered from my research I was able to create two personas: Fabian - a small shop seller and Maya - an avid buyer. These two personas were the basis of my redesign decisions.
Defining the Problem
Based on the personas and my findings from the affinity diagram, I defined the problem using three key pain points along with ‘How Might We?’ questions to help guide me along the development stage.
Develop
In this stage I developed potential solutions to the problems I had identified: 1) Poor local shopping experience 2) Improve shop promotion and buyer/seller engagement 3) Need for an offer system
Market Research
I looked into Depop’s competitors to get a better understanding of how they create a local shopping experience for users and how they facilitate an offer system between buyers and sellers. Currently Depop does not have an offer system or local shopping option and users can only filter items based on if the items are in USA or Worldwide.
How do Depop’s competitors create a positive local shopping experience for their users?
Key features that I noticed:
A local tab for discovering items nearby (Facebook Marketplace)
A local filter option in the search bar to search for local items (Mercari)
A filter option to search for items in a specific location (Etsy)
How do Depop’s competitors create an offer system for their buyers and sellers?
Key features that I noticed:
A “make an offer” option next to buy/add to bag
Recommendations for buyers when deciding an offer price
Offers are binding: the buyer’s payment will be processed if the seller accepts the offer.
User Flow Map
Creating a user flow map helped me map out the steps a buyer might take to send an offer to a seller and the steps a seller might take to accept/reject an offer.
Wireframing
Using the HMW statements and user flow mapping I sketched some initial designs on paper (left). These were further iterated upon and converted to digital wireframes using Figma (right).
Prototyping
The static wireframes were converted to hi-fi prototypes, keeping in mind Depop’s existing design system.
Shop local with location filters
Make offers on items
Share and find items through stories
Deliver
Usability Testing
I tested the prototype with two Depop users to validate the new features. I asked them to perform the following three tasks:
Filter items based on a custom location
Make an offer on an item
Visit a shop by viewing a user’s story
I found that both users had the most ease with submitting an offer and were also able to filter items based on location. They found viewing stories to be intuitive; however, both expressed that the item tags on stories could be more explicit as it wasn’t obvious at first.
Next Steps
Reflection & Takeaways
This was the first project where I managed the entire design process individually from the user research to the ideation and prototyping.
I realized that I had underestimated the time it would take to move from discovery and definition into project development.
A key aspect of the project development was wireframing to understand the user flows. Moving forward I need to remember not to rush into Figma/digital prototyping since sketching always helps with early design development.
Lastly, if I had more time I would like to be more thorough with testing and revising the designs according to user feedback.
If you enjoyed this case study, check out my other projects!
