Shopping for furniture in Nigeria physically or in-store is such a tedious and stressful chore to do and there is still no guarantee that one will find pieces that they love. It can also take a surprisingly large amount of time to go from one store to another in finding these pieces. Shopping for furniture online is the perfect solution to these problems.
However, in Nigeria, there are only a few apps that allow you to shop for furniture online and the experience is not usually great. I decided to carry out research on it and ask some Nigerians about their experience with shopping for furniture both online and in-store, as well as what they would love their experience to look like.
The objective of this project is therefore to build an e-commerce furniture application that allows users to scroll through a variety of high-quality and modern furniture and purchase them for home delivery.
Design Process
Discover
User Research
I carried out qualitative research by interviewing 12 Nigerians who are potential users of an e-commerce furniture application, within the age range of 22 to 40 to understand their current experiences with shopping for furniture online, as well as the challenges that they face while trying to shop and what they would love their ideal furniture shopping experience to look like, to get an insight on how to proffer solutions that make their experience better. The key points from the interview are put in the table below.
Using the data gathered from the research, I was able to put forward a problem statement and solution.
The Problem Statement
Buying furniture in Nigeria is very stressful as users struggle to go to stores physically because it is time-consuming and difficult. Therefore, users need to find an easy way to purchase them online. However, shopping for furniture online is also difficult because users find it hard to find apps that serve that purpose, and the few apps available for that purpose do not give users a great experience.
The Solution – Ijoko
I came up with an e-commerce furniture application that allows users to purchase furniture online and get it delivered to them with ease. The application proffer solutions to most of the pain points of the users as it has the following features:
- Access to customers’ reviews and photos
- Variety of payment options
- Display accurate product dimensions and quality of material used
- Promotion & deals
- High-quality photos
- Easy navigation and checkout process
Define
User Persona
With the information gathered from the interview I carried out, I came up with a user persona. The user persona describes a potential user’s habits, pain points, and needs.
Empathy Map
I also created an empathy map to understand the user’s feelings to help create empathy between the user and me.
Competitive Analysis
| Jumia | Jiji | Konga | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High quality photos | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Customer Reviews | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Detailed product description | ✔ | ❌ | ✔ |
| Guest Checkout | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Self-assembly instructions | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Product dimensions | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Variety of Payment options | ✔ | ❌ | ✔ |
| Product search | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Deals and Promotions | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Recommendations | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Add to Cart | ✔ | ❌ | ✔ |
| Scheduled delivery | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Google sign-in | ❌ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Favourites section | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Order tracking | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Re order product | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Categories | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Ideate
At this stage, I created a User flow that shows the activities of the user from the beginning to the end of a transaction.
User Flow
Design
Low Fidelity Wireframes
With these sketches, I was able to come up with a starting point of what I expected the final design to look like.
High Fidelity Wireframes
Typography and Colours
In order to maintain uniformity throughout my design, it was important for me to create a style guide to set up my text font, colours and grid.
Final Colour Palette
Typography
Visual Design
Onboarding, Sign Up and Log In
Homepage including Search Feature
I designed the homepage screen in such a way that the users can navigate the main features of the app easily. It contains the bottom menu for the user to access the other pages of the app easily. It also includes a search option that allows users to find any item they are looking for as well as the Product Categories feature that allows the users to go directly into whatever category they want without looking around for too long.
Product Categories
Favorites
With the favorites feature, users are able to make and personalize a list of their own favorite items. Their favorite furniture is saved in this section and they can always come back and add it to cart once they are ready to purchase. When a user is trying to delete an item, a confirmation message is sent to them to ensure that they are sure they want to do that. If the user wishes to undo what they have deleted, they are able to do that with the Undo button.
Reviews Page
I designed a page that allows the user to write a review that is visible to other customers as well as read the reviews that other users have written. It showcases the date that the user made the review and the product that they are reviewing as well as the ratings they have given the product
Product Description
This screen shows the details of each product in the app. I ensured that it shows the necessary details of the product. That includes the material that it is made of, the dimensions and colours of the product. Users can also add to cart or wishlist and view all the previous ratings of the product. That enables the users to make a decision before a purchase is made.
Profile
Cart
Users are able to see their products on the cart and also have the privilege to add products to the cart or increase the quantity of the product they want to purchase. Users are also able to use a promo code to reduce the cost of the product if they have one.
Checkout
The checkout interface contains shipping addresses, delivery options, and payment sections. In the billing section, users can input their delivery details, edit existing addresses or add a new one. When the user checks out successfully, I designed a screen to show that the order was successful after which they get a notification on their notification screen.
Testing
Right after I created a high-fidelity prototype, I conducted a usability test to find out whether or not my design solution meets up with the user’s requirements. The testing was done by prospective users who shop for furniture online and, the key findings from the usability test are:
- Users are able to navigate easily between categories and find products.
- Users can add to the cart and delete items they no longer want.
- Users are able to see easily all furniture in processing, delivered, and canceled.
- Users find the checkout process easy enough and the checkout time pleasing.
- Users can create an account easily and fast.
- The interface of the app is straightforward and it meets the user’s requirements.
See below a draft of the questions I used to conduct the usability test.
Reflections.
Working on this project was fun and I enjoyed every process. The most challenging part of this project was how long it took me to digitalize my wireframe as I underestimated how much time I needed to do that. However, I learned the importance of designing with the users which makes the user experience (UX) of a product more satisfying.
I learned more about the processes required in building a feasible, accessible and usable product and this improved my problem solving skill.