Tienda - Discover and trust small businesses
People enjoy supporting their local mom and pop shops. However, people struggle to find and trust information about small businesses. I designed an app to bridge the gap and help people discover, connect and trust small businesses that align with people’s values.
🏆 Tienda won 4th place out of 60+ teams at Product Splash 2021
👩🏽 Presented to a panel of industry leaders from companies such as Netflix and Sony
Duration
August 2021
Role
Product Designer
Responsibilities
Research, Design
The Challenge
Produce & pitch a product that solves an issue that arose throughout the pandemic
As part of the Product Splash competition, my team and I decided to tackle the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on small businesses.
Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the livelihoods of small business owners.
To help mom and pop shops stay afloat, we began researching why people do or do not shop small.
Problem
People struggle to discover and trust small businesses
Consumers lean towards shopping on notable e-commerce sites, like Amazon, for its easy and convenient in-app shopping experience and delivery service. However, people want to support and connect with local businesses, but they find it hard to find small businesses they like and build trusted relationships.
User Research
What is the shopping small experience?
My teammate and I interviewed 11 consumers to identify the frustrations and motivations of people who shop small. From these interviews, these quotes stood out the most.
Using affinity mapping, I analyzed user behavior and feedback to categorize a list of top user pain points. I extracted key insights from the interviews and narrowed down three areas of focus.
Pain Points
What are users struggling with the most?
What does the current user experience feel like?
People feel like they're on an Easter egg hunt looking for local gems
Even by cracking an easter egg open, you might find some treasures or… something not so nice
Design goals
Bridge the gap around small business discoverability and trust aligning with people’s interests
If we created an app where people can discover, connect and trust small businesses and help them make easier, smarter, and quicker shopping decisions, they are more likely to shop small.
Ideation
Exploring ways to unify social communities and small business owners
Option A increases small business discoverability matching consumers to tailored recommendations. Option B increases discoverability through exploring friends or popular collections.
Option C lets people see what’s happening in their local community and easily discover what’s near them. People can stay up to date with their favorite businesses to increase engagement. Option D was designed to encourage people to shop small, however, raises concerns of utility and being out of design scope.
Both Options E and F give owners the ability to express themselves and market their business.
After interviews and key insights, I iterated on the previous design ideation to reflect consumers’ motivations and frustrations. With the competition’s time constraint, I, unfortunately, did not have enough time to conduct usability testing and iterate after feedback.
Final Design
A social platform to discover, connect and build trusted relationships with small businesses
Tienda makes supporting small businesses easier by:
Searching businesses by category, their hosted events, curated lists, or values-based tags such as ecofriendly or woman-owned.
Learning more about the business, the owner, their story, and their mission so you can support businesses you value.
Staying up-to-date with the businesses you follow on your newsfeed and seeing what reviews and ratings your friends are leaving.
Tienda creates an authentic social experience to help people trust small businesses and make easier, smarter, and quicker shopping decisions.
Measuring Results
What are the Success Metrics?
Product Splash Pitch Day + Winners
Presenting Tienda to Industry Leaders
Tienda was one of five finalists for the Product Splash competition. I led a team of UX Designers and Product Managers to conceptualize an app designed to support small businesses. I presented to a panel of industry leaders from companies such as Netflix and Sony and won 4th place out of 60+ international teams.
Begin the video at 9:31 for my presentation.
Key learnings
Focusing more on features than design explorations diverts from solving the overall problem
Defining an overall problem and supporting pain points along with an overall design goal with supporting design goals is crucial. By having a clear understanding and goals, the ideation phase becomes easier because it is more focused if I am effectively solving the problem rather than creating a plethora of nice-to-have features.