Second Gear Sports
e-commerce redesign.
Overview:
Second Gear Sports is a family owned consignment shop that carries a wide selection of new and gently used fitness, athletic and outdoor gear located in the tight-knit neighborhood of West Seattle. They’re committed to sustainability, building community and encouraging people to explore the outdoors. The pandemic forced them to close their doors and the owner quickly put together an online site to help the business survive.
Role:
UX Researcher & Designer in a 2 week sprint
Methods:
Research & Synthesis
Competitive/comparative analysis
Interviews
Affinity mapping
Empathy map
Journey map
Personas
Open card sort
Ideation & Delivery
Lo-fi to Hi-fi prototype
Usability testing
Campgrounds surrounding Seattle recently began to reopen and people began to turn to camping as a way to safely travel and find solace in nature during these uncertain times.
Additionally, the West Seattle Bridge is completely shut down until 2021, limiting access for West Seattle residents to get downtown to REI and other shops.
Second Gear Sports recognized an opportunity to meet the local community’s need by providing new and used camping gear through their online site and pre-order in-store pickups.
The Brief.
My challenge was to redesign their website to help them meet customer needs and generate online sales so that the business can survive the pandemic and stay serving their community.
Research Findings
Adapt.
In my interview with the owner, Mark, he talked a lot about the ways he consistently listens to his customers and adapts to their wants and needs.
“So we have to figure out what do we think our customers want? And we try and get it for them relatively quickly. And really just remain small, agile and constantly changing.” Mark, owner
Trust.
Through talking to various customers I found that they put their trust in well known, high-end brands and specialists in the industry and they tend to buy second hand because its cheaper and sustainable.
“Arcteryx has a sub brand that I collect. I’d like to see more brands start doing second hand stuff because if they actually make their products to last then that won’t be an issue for the product if you take care of it.” Luke, interview participant
Sustain.
In my competitive analysis I found that Second Gear Sports’ direct competitors do not sell used camping gear. There is an opportunity for Second Gear Sports to emphasize what sets them apart and speak to users that care about saving money and being sustainable.
I created a persona based on my research to keep my design focused on solving the problems of the user. As I iterated on my design, I consistently returned to this persona to make sure I was designing with the users in mind.
I created this image that maps the persona’s emotional experience while trying to buy a tent on the current site. This further helped me focus my design on the users’ experience and led me to the main goal of getting rid of that second dip into negative emotion territory.
Problem
Customers need a convenient way to learn about and purchase second-hand, brand name outdoor gear so that they feel safe and confident preparing for their rejuvenating camping trip.
Product details page ‘before’ on the left, ‘after’ on the right.
Usability tests and a task analysis revealed that the original website had too much text and was lacking some features that users expected to see, like more product photos and an option to see similar items.
In the redesign I laid out the page to allow shoppers to skim the details in a list format and offered similar items at the bottom of the page.
The owner, Mark, said in his interview that customers are always reaching out to him by email, text or in person to ask about or request products. To address this I added a ‘product request form’ feature that customers will be able to fill out and send if they find that the product they are viewing doesn’t quite meet their needs and they have something else in mind. This promotes that open flow of communication between customer and owner and provides another outlet of customer service.
My interviews with customers revealed that they trust experts and appreciate guidance from store employees. To address this I added a section for ‘Best Use’ that will help guide the customer of the ideal products/gear they need for a specific activity.
Product list ‘before’ on the left, ‘after’ on the right.
Usability tests of the original website showed that the filters on the left side of the page weren’t effective as some items were out of place and users expected more ways to filter the results.
To address this I added filters to allow customers to see all used gear or all new gear. I added a shop-by-brand filter because interviewing customers revealed that they trust specific brands and buy high end brands to ensure quality. The ‘best use’ filter gives customers that bit of expert advice from employees so that they can easily figure out what they might need for a specific activity.
Checkout ‘before’ on the left, ‘after’ on the right.
I tested users by giving them the task of finding and buying a used tent on the original website. This yielded much confusion and frustration from users. There were a lot of glitches in the checkout process and figuring out the delivery option was tough.
I tested my redesign and found the functionality of the process to be more intuitive for users and the ability of seeing a calendar on the check out page gave users a visual to help them schedule a pick up time.
Interview findings show that customers will shop used gear to save money. I added the savings under ‘price’ to show customers how much they saved.
Low Fidelity Wires
Home.
Search bar allows users to search for specific items
‘Just Added’ draws users’ attention to new items
‘Begin Your Adventure’ offers users a buying guide based on activity
‘Shop by Brand’ allows users to shop high end brands that they already know and love
List.
Filters give customers more control over the results they see
Clear, consistent images give customers a snap shot of each product
Details.
Multiple images and videos show the quality/condition of used items
The product request form gives another outlet of open communication between customers and business
‘Frequently bought together’ and ’similar items’ were suggestions from usability tests and help generate sales for business
‘Frequently bought together’ felt overwhelming to have on this page for some uses, so I moved it to a checkout confirmation pop up screen.
‘Best Use’ gives customers a guide from specialists, aka the biz
High Fidelity
Home.
Guide.
Details.
Prototype.
Here is the walkthrough of the e-commerce site at the end of the 2 week design sprint.
