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.
Through a survey of female shoppers across body types, sizes, and age, we discovered they are frustrated with traditional eCommerce platforms, viewing them as imprecise, untrustworthy, and uninformative tools.
Respondents reported returning items often, purchasing items in multiple sizes, and relying on reviews or comments left by other customers. Nonetheless, almost all still use eCommerce to shop and continue to shop frequently despite issues.
Looking at our research, consumers demonstrated a clear desire for accurate quality and sizing information, which is seen as ambiguous and leads to frequent returns and a worse user experience.
Additionally, consumers in older age groups were more likely to shop for specific occasions and less likely to browse aimlessly 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.
The Style Magnet app helps users shop for clothes specifically curated for their unique body shape and measurements, personal style, and current trends. Additionally, users can browse by moments, finding clothing options for any specific occasion, or utilize our personal shopping option, allowing the Style Magnet team to shop for them based on their style, size, and occasion.
By prioritizing fit and flattery, users can feel comfortable and confident in their clothing choices. Style Magnet’s recommendation algorithm empowers users to shop for their taste and for any occasion, with the knowledge that whatever they buy will accurately fit, fostering a more inclusive and convenient online shopping experience.
When choosing a target audience, we knew we wanted to launch this product to target female shoppers first. Given our research, we built our persona around a working professional who desires a better shopping solution but doesn’t have time to browse endlessly for deals.
Our initial wireframes focused on addressing some of the concerns discovered in our research; namely, we wanted to provide a better flow for shoppers looking to buy for specific occasions.
To do this, we first designed screens mocking up the purchase flow, from outfits to items, and then designed screens that would organize outfits into common occasions or moments in life.
To create our design system, we designed a logo, created navigation menus for our features, and chose colors, fonts, and icons we 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.
Using the Style Magnet app, users can browse items specifically curated to fit their body. Allowing the user to input their measurements and select their body type, we eliminate the frustration most often associated with online shopping: size disparity.
As users engage with Style Magnet, we learn more about their style preferences, creating personalized recommendations directly from retailers’ catalogs so their recommendations constantly evolve to match their personal taste.
Along with matching their fit and style, users can browse by moments, discovering items curated for the most important occasions in life from date nights to vacations to business meetings.
Additionally, users can take advantage of our personalized shopping service, providing us with a short description of their budget and what they’re looking for and allowing the Style Magnet team to shop for them.
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.
Firstly, 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. We 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. You can check out how it’s going at https://www.stylemagnet.co/
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.
