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Boosting Sales
for Local Retailers
Company
Zello Tech
My Role
Lead Designer
Timeline
4 months
Responsabilities
Research
Market Research
Brand Design
Design Direction
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Prototyping
Overview
In early 2020 during the pandemic, local businesses were heavily impacted. Working collaboratively with the local trading federation, our team at Zello was assigned to conceptualize a platform to help local merchants boost their sales and help customers save more money.
The platform also had to be profitable, allowing it to grow and become a sustainable business. Key business stakeholders suggested a cashback pla tform for local retailers. Cashback platforms were becoming popular nationwide, but most cash flow was heading to other estates.
Spoiler Alert!
This is not a successful startup story. However, it highlights the importance of early Product Discovery in guiding startups to re-evaluate and pivot their strategies by addressing the right concerns.
Questions from Discovery Workshops
In early discovery workshops I had facilitated, some outstanding questions emerged from the team:
1
How could we attract merchants to perceive value and extract real benefits by joining this platform?
2
How can we encourage consumers to shop from these merchants via our platform? What's the incentive for someone to join?
3
Is this a feasible business venture?
Consumer Research & Competitive Study
To better understand these questions, we started with a consumer survey to see how often people use platforms like ours. Because of COVID-19, we talked to some of these users on WhatsApp. By looking at our competition and using our earlier research,] we got more ideas and started designing the first versions of the consumer app.
Talking to merchants was very helpful. We found that convincing them to work with a platform like ours isn't easy. They had concerns like technical issues, worries about more competition, and how much discount they could give. Using this information and a Lean Business Canvas, we changed our approach later on.
Nobolso
Cashback
After collecting the data and considering stakeholder strategies, I created the initial design for Nobolso. It's a cashback platform with an app for local deals and a website for merchant insights.
The Consumer App
For consumers, I created a digital wallet to see their cashback balance and transfer it to others. They can also view a detailed activity log, which shows cashback received, payments, and discounts. In the partners' section, users can find local cashback deals, which can be sorted by type. Our team built a feature to recognize purchases using the user's CPF, a Brazilian ID.
In early discovery workshops I had facilitated, some outstanding questions emerged from the team:
1
How could we attract merchants to perceive value and extract real benefits by joining this platform?
2
How can we encourage consumers to shop from these merchants via our platform? What's the incentive for someone to join?
3
Is this a feasible business venture?
The Outcome
During interviews with local merchants, I discovered challenges our stakeholders hadn't initially considered. These included technical issues and concerns about competition on our platform. This suggested that getting merchants on board might take longer than expected. While merchants liked our customer insights feature, our small user base was a drawback.
We had hoped to gain access to a large 1.2 million user base by partnering with the local trading federation, but that deal didn't come through. After reviewing our findings, the stakeholders decided to stop the project since they felt the business wouldn't grow quickly enough.
Key Learnings
My journey through this project provided several key insights.
3
Importance of Early Product Discovery
Engaging in early product discovery can prevent unnecessary resource expenditure. Interviewing potential users and partners can bring essential insights to light, challenging stakeholder assumptions and aiding in informed decisions.
3
Importance of Early Product Discovery
Engaging in early product discovery can prevent unnecessary resource expenditure. Interviewing potential users and partners can bring essential insights to light, challenging stakeholder assumptions and aiding in informed decisions.
3
Importance of Early Product Discovery
Engaging in early product discovery can prevent unnecessary resource expenditure. Interviewing potential users and partners can bring essential insights to light, challenging stakeholder assumptions and aiding in informed decisions.
3
Importance of Early Product Discovery
Engaging in early product discovery can prevent unnecessary resource expenditure. Interviewing potential users and partners can bring essential insights to light, challenging stakeholder assumptions and aiding in informed decisions.
Next Project
Starbucks Farm Coffee Experience
Take me back home.