For this project, I was tasked with designing an eCommerce platform to address issues commonly faced by eCommerce customers and, more specifically for the first stage of this business, would target issues women commonly face when purchasing clothing online. Through our research, we discovered gaps and opportunities in the traditional eCommerce market which would allow us to differentiate ourselves by providing a better user experience while maintaining a competitive advantage in the personalized shopping space.
Interviewing female shoppers across body types and ages, we discovered unanimous frustration with traditional eCommerce platforms which were viewed as imprecise, untrustworthy, and uninformative.
Shoppers reported having to return items often, purchasing items in multiple sizes to avoid this, and relying on interpreting reviews or comments left by other customers. Nonetheless, almost all still use eCommerce to shop frequently despite issues.
Consumers demonstrated a clear desire for accurate quality and sizing information, which is seen as ambiguous and leads to frequent returns and worse user experience. Additionally, consumers in older age groups were more likely to shop for specific occasions and less likely to browse and purchase something they didn’t expect, showing their mental model for online shopping may revolve around occasions rather than categories or other common search filters.
Style Magnet helps users shop for clothes tailored to their body, style, and trends. They can browse by occasion or use our personal shopping service, where our team curates looks based on size, style, and event. By prioritizing fit and flattery, users feel confident and comfortable, while our recommendation algorithm ensures every purchase suits their taste and fits well, creating a more inclusive, convenient shopping experience.
Given our research, we built our persona around a female working professional who desires a better shopping solution but doesn’t have time to browse endlessly for deals.
I created UI navigation elements from scratch and chose colors, fonts, and icons I thought would elevate the look of our brand. Bodoni and Century Gothic, used in conjunction with our chosen color palette, have a stylish and established feel which adds to our fashionable and contemporary theme.
Our initial wireframes focused on providing a simpler user flow for shoppers looking to buy for specific occasions. The first mockups we designed featured the purchase flow, from outfits to items, and organizing outfits into common occasions or moments in life.
After completing our initial MVP prototype, we decided to run a small-scale field test to see how our business model and user experience would be perceived. First, we tested the accuracy of our measurements algorithm, finding that the majority of users received appropriately-sized clothing, though preferably we’d want that to be all users.
We also tested our user experience, and the majority of users found the work valuable and would pay for the service. From observational testing, we also discovered that users preferred the moments page over the browse page, finding it more helpful and validating our results from the initial survey.
We set out to create an enhanced approach to purchasing clothing online for women of all body types and sizes, solving the problems of quality and fit ambiguity and helping women make informed decisions about their purchases.
I believe that Style Magnet solves these problems through body type matching, size recommendations, and style matching while offering further service like personal shopping and browse by moments to make shopping online easier than it’s ever been.
Style Magnet offers features that should be standard across eCommerce and shines a spotlight on them, creating a more equitable and usable solution that anyone else on the market.
Since the end of this project, one of the students who runs Style Magnet has won startup awards and continues to take the service into development.
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I'd love to help with your next project and I'm always available for a chat. If you have any questions or you'd like to get in touch, feel free to contact me.
