Context Carousell 2023 Q1-2
Role Buyer Experience Designer, Luxury Lead Designer
Timeframe 4 months
Phases Discovery, Ideation, Design, Post-launch research
Collaborators Product Managers, Engineers, Category Managers
Project Overview
Furthering our mission to “make second-hand the first choice”, Carousell launched “Certified Mobile” and “Certified Luxury”, a new way to buy second-hand mobile phones and luxury bags. With the new Certified program, users can shop from a large selection of inspected and authenticated products from credible sellers, with the convenience of door-to-door delivery & buy-now pay-later services.
This was the most critical project launched in 2023 to position ourselves towards our recommerce goals. I worked cross-functionally with many teams to deliver the final solution.
Before
After
Problem
Today, buyers have to invest time and effort to find quality mobile phones and luxury bags on Carousell, a secondhand marketplace. Purchasing mobile phones and luxury involves worrying about the condition of the item, quality and dealing with uncertainty in case of post purchase issues.
How might we enhance the Certified experience for users to easily find trustworthy mobile and luxury items, while preserving the regular marketplace?
Goals
Business goals
Increase on-platform transactions
Work with pre-approved third-party sellers to join our Certified program
User goals
Buy mobile phones and luxury bags with peace of mind
Have the flexibility to shop in regular marketplace
Solution
The new “Certified” shopping experience is a distinct tab with consolidated products, simplifying the process for users seeking trusted mobile phones and luxury items. Pre-inspected and authenticated to assure guaranteed high quality, these Certified phones and luxury bags will be sold only by Carousell and verified Carousell 3P sellers.
Choose your product with simple selections
Instead of scrolling through hundreds of listings on the marketplace, Certified items are consolidated into SKUs, just like how you would normally shop on an e-commerce website.
Standardized information
Standardized information, such as battery health and manufacturer warranty, enables users to make quicker, more informed decisions without having to search through descriptions or inquire with the seller.
An e-commerce-like purchase experience
With Certified phones, there’s no need to bargain because you are getting the best deal with guaranteed after-purchase service from Carousell.
Design Process
What are user’s pain points when buying phones and luxury bags?
We interviewed and concept tested with 12 users total.
It takes time and effort to find a good secondhand phone/bag
users need to sieve through a bunch of listings, do their due diligence to make sure the seller is real and not a scam
Condition of the phone/bag is important
users opt for meet-up to ensure that the phone/bag matches its stated condition and to verify that the seller is a real person
users want to see pictures & all the defects area
Defining design success
Reducing overchoice paradox
All items with the same product SKU are consolidated into one product listing
Scalability to different categories
We need to make sure that the design is scalable throughout our 3 Certified categories (Mobile, Luxury, and Sneakers) and the possibility of more categories in the future
User control
Users get to select which phone they want and they can see the exact phone they are getting
Prioritizing our users' feedback over following competitors
From competitor analysis, I found that competitors don’t show the exact phone. They send you a random phone with your selected condition.
Our users prefer seeing the exact phone they will be receiving. They don’t feel confident buying without seeing actual photos.
Our competitor does not show the actual phone the user will be receiving
We show the condition of the actual phone the user will be receiving, which they prefer
Design explorations
Sectioned structure vs Tab structure (chosen)
The tab structure prioritizes the Certified experience over regular marketplace and allows for easier navigation. The sectioned structure maintains the original look of the app but makes the Certified section look more like ads and can easily be dismissed.
Showing vs hiding (chosen) thumbnails of available unit
By showing the best valued item through our algorithm, I want to make it easier and faster for users to purchase a phone. However, they can still select other available units by clicking on the ‘other available items’.
Explorations of our program benefits to best educate our users
I ended up choosing a design that did not take up too much space and was able to convey the information needed to catch users’ attention.
Defining the logic of the selection chips
One challenge we faced was defining the logic of the selection chips and how that reflects through design. I worked with engineers to come up with a solution that was most user-friendly and technically feasible.
Our goal was making it easy for users to select their preferred specs but still giving them as many options to explore as possible.
Therefore, we created a third variant of the chip, which is outlined, to indicate that it’s still available in a different color/storage/condition
Results
Data
Since its launch in April 2023,
Post-launch feedback
I led and conducted the post-launch interviews for our mobile and luxury users to understand what was working and what needed to be improved.
I interviewed 6 users for each category (3 of whom browsed but did not purchase and 3 of whom successfully purchased a Certified phone or luxury bag).
Users find the new experience much simpler and they are more confident to buy because it is guaranteed by Carousell.
“It just feels like I bought it on the Apple website because it’s very straightforward. I just need to click on the model and I get to choose different colors and storage. But for Marketplace, I have to sift through listings and sometimes I find the color I wanted but the storage is not what I wanted.”
“Fantastic, I love it. The price point is slightly higher but it eliminates a lot of uncertainty.”
“I felt more secured purchasing at Certified Luxury as it provides me an ease to buy authentic products with fast delivery although is a fix price with no "Make an Offer" & not me being scam by those sellers selling at Carousell sending me a fake product which I encountered before.”