Partnr
Personalized Product Sourcing from China
The Design Process
Understanding the Problem • Visualise the Solution • Execution
Overview
In this case study, we tackled the challenge faced by international business owners in sourcing high-quality products from China. Our mission was to create a streamlined solution that simplifies this process, overcoming obstacles related to quality assurance and language barriers. Through comprehensive user research and innovative design, we developed a user-friendly platform that enables effortless sourcing of Chinese products, ensuring business owners can secure affordable, high-quality goods without the usual complexities.
Role
UX/UI Designer | Partnr
User Research, Information Architect, Usability Analyst, Visual Design, Context Strategy, Accessibility Design
The Problem
China stands as the global epicenter of manufacturing, yet international business owners often encounter challenges and complicated processes in securing high-quality products at affordable prices.
Objective
Provide business owners a streamlined solution to source products from China.
Help business owners bypass the complications of quality assurance and communication barriers.
Research
|Competitive Analysis|
We examined two similar apps: Alibaba and Made-in-China. This provides valuable insights to help us enhance our approach and deliver a superior experience to our customers.
Through our analysis, we decided to incorporate clutter-free navigation with the Image Recognition Search & Live Calling to make Partnr the strong and preferred competitor.
|Survey|
I also conducted an online survey with 7 participants with the primary goal of understanding how my target audience uses B2B platforms.
100% like that ordering from China is much more affordable
29% had language barrier issues
43% were disappointed by the quality of products available to them.
|Interviews|
Having a more solid understanding of the overall experiences on Chinese B2B platforms, I conducted user interviews to dive deeper into identifying user's needs and pain points.
Participants:
4 interviews, (20mins, 1-on-1)
Interview Topics:
Background ordering products from China
Importance of Quality
What users wish to see as business owners
|Affinity Mapping|
Users dislike the extensive delivery times but believe it evens out with the low prices offered. Quality control is a massive issue & users wish they had more guidance and efficiency throughout the process.
User Quotes
"Quality is VERY important. I wouldn't mind spending extra to get quality products... A lot of companies have 3D models which I find helpful for a 360-degree view."
"Quality and price is everything... I want the items to last."
"I wish to see guidance for people that are completely new to business and opening their own stores online."
Visualize the Solution
|User Personas & Journey Mapping|
User personas provide a clear, human-focused understanding of the target audience, guiding design decisions, fostering empathy, and ensuring user-centered design. The journey mapping process supported the core assumptions of Partnr. Users want to be “hand-held” through the evaluation, ordering, and delivery of products from China.
|Information Architecture|
We asked our users to do card sorting and used the data to reorganize and rename the sitemap to increase clarity for users when navigating through the application.
|Task Analysis & User Flows|
We then conducted task analysis which is vital in understanding user interactions, guiding usability testing, and optimizing workflows for our target user.
Matthew’s objective is to find a high-quality item using the image search feature to place an order. A user flow chart was created to represent his navigation journey.
Execution
|Low Fidelity to Mid Fidelity|
Onboarding
Image Search
Expert Call
Quick Actions
|User Testing|
After doing some user testing on the mid-fidelity prototype, the data collected from the user tests were arranged and sorted for us to begin prioritizing user feedback. We presented the data in a rainbow spreadsheet. We also wrote a Usability test report listing all the difficulties users encountered and things we needed to change in the prototype to make it fully usable and functional.
|Finalizing the UI|
Now we are at the stage where the UI is implemented and refined. The images in the slide below explain why certain UI decisions were made and iterated to create an even more user-friendly platform.
