We Make E-Commerce Affordable for Everyone
Project overview
The world's shopping habits are changing and e-commerce is here to stay. However, many businesses still haven't leaped into the digital age. To fill this gap, we created Cartify.
Cartify is a SaaS platform that helps store owners or entrepreneurs build online businesses. It allows entrepreneurs to create an online store through ready-made designs and sell their merchandise anywhere.
Metrics
(indicating improved user engagement)
with simplified onboarding flows
through streamlined onboarding design
The Problem
Many users, especially small businesses and entrepreneurs, face significant challenges when setting up an e-commerce website.
High development costs and the technical complexity of platforms like WordPress/WooCommerce can be overwhelming for those without coding expertise.
Additionally, users often struggle with integrating necessary tools, such as payment gateways and marketing services, which typically require custom setups or extensive technical knowledge.
The process of building and launching an e-commerce site can also be time-consuming, delaying their ability to get to market quickly.
These combined challenges make it difficult for users to establish an online presence efficiently and affordably.
Exploration
Survey
First things first, before we started creating anything. We launched a survey asking questions about e-commerce in Greece, to find more about the problems of business owners and future entrepreneurs.
This survey included 30 questions, and we got 22 responses in 2 weeks of an ad campaign. That way, we found some problems that most of our potential users had.
Some of the problems we found out are:
We also did research about the most wanted features on an ecommerce website
Competitive Analysis
| Competitor | Competitor type | Website | Mission Statements | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NMStore |
Direct |
“Ώρα να αποκτήσεις το eshop που σου ταιριάζει” |
|
| |
InstaWooShop |
Direct |
“Κατασκευή οικονομικού e-shop σε 1 μόλις μέρα!” |
|
| |
NagaCommerce |
Direct |
“Υποδεχτείτε τη νέα εποχή του
e-Commerce στην Ελλάδα” |
|
|
Personas
Sarah Williams
Age: 32
Occupation: Owner of a Boutique Clothing Store
Location: Athens, Greece
Background
Sarah started her boutique five years ago and initially sold through Instagram. Now, she wants to expand her presence online and create a professional-looking store that’s easy to manage. She’s tech-savvy but doesn’t have time to learn complex coding or technical skills.
Goals
- Launch an online store with a minimal setup process.
- Manage inventory and orders easily from one place.
- Ensure her site looks visually appealing and represents her brand.
- Use built-in marketing tools (SEO, social media integration) to grow her customer base.
- Offer a seamless mobile shopping experience to her customers.
Frustrations
- Learning curves with more complex platforms.
- Lack of customization in some off-the-shelf platforms.
- Difficulty integrating with third-party tools like shipping and payment solutions
James Roberts
Age: 38
Occupation: Founder of an Online Tech Gadget Store
Location: Athens, Greece
Background
James has a background in tech and is familiar with development platforms. He’s launching an online store to sell curated tech gadgets like smart home devices, headphones, and wearable tech. He needs a platform that allows him to fully customize features, integrate with advanced tools, and manage a growing inventory. James values scalability and efficient management because he anticipates rapid growth and needs to handle high-volume sales.
Goals
- Launch an ecommerce store that stands out with unique features.
- Offer a smooth and user-friendly shopping experience.
- Optimize for mobile shopping.
- Scale his store to handle thousands of SKUs and customers.
- Integrate easily with third-party tools like shipping, inventory management, and payment solutions.
Frustrations
- Limited flexibility in creating unique product pages.
- Inconsistent customer support with other platforms.
- High fees for additional features and integrations
Research Findings
Most of our competitors have many themes for the client to choose from. But we decided to create only 3 themes to launch faster. The themes will be: Home, Fashion and Technology.
In order to ensure that our clients will have success in the eCommerce, we made an e-book which can be sold separately.
There will be 4 pricing plans:
Starter, Entry, Standard, Advanced
In order our users find the right plan for them, we decided to create a wizard with a series of questions about their business.
Ideation
First we need to create a sitemap and a user flow for our website.
Sitemap
Information Architecture
User Flow
I've also created a user flow for onboarding the client, specific for each plans and for the wizard (Let's start page)
Wireframes
I've created mid-fidelity wireframes for both desktop and mobile, based on our IA and sitemap.
A few takeaways for the wireframes:
- The copies are written in Greek
- We already had some copies written, so half of the text you are going to see is legit and half is a placeholder text (lorem ipsum)
- For the 'Let's start' page we are going to use Typeform so i didn't created a wireframe
- I also created a checkout page. The user will go automatically to checkout, skipping the cart page (we don't really need it and we want to skip some steps on the user flow)
- For the Starter and Advanced Plan we wanted to create a bigger Landing Page to use in Ads and Marketing in general
UI Design
I've created a design system and also i played around with the graphics and found out the layout and style we are going to use.
High-fidelity key-screens
Reflection
Working on Cartify was a transformative experience that challenged my skill in balancing user requirements and technical feasibility.
Creating an efficient interface for both novice and experienced users was a significant challenge.
This project enhanced my understanding of e-commerce design principles and user-centered methods.
Reflecting on the past, I would enhance certain onboarding components and explore fresh integration possibilities to expand our reach to a broader audience.
Creating Cartify enhanced my ability to adjust and evolve based on actual user feedback, influencing my strategy for upcoming tasks.
