Product Designer & Entrepreneur based in Toronto.
Bridging Art, Community, and Tech.
Project
About me
Enabling fashion enthusiasts to connect with like-minded individuals, explore a curated selection of sustainable fashion treasures, and share their personal style journeys within a vibrant and engaging community-driven platform.
Research
Ideation
UX Design
Background
These young consumers are increasingly turning away from the environmentally damaging practices of fast fashion, seeking sustainable yet affordable alternatives.
Challenge
Discover Phrase
Problem 1 : High Time Cost, Low Return on Investment
However, both roles involve a high time investment with low efficiency. Successful buying and selling are essential for a positive community cycle. Therefore, we believe it's important to change our approach and tackle this issue from both perspectives.
Analyzing more than 10 secondhand software platforms and various offline secondhand merchants, we found that this feeling arises because secondhand markets mainly focus on the transfer of ownership, resulting in a wide range of products without sufficient categorization.
Most online secondhand marketplaces use traditional catalog methods to categorize products, suitable for standard items like electronics and books. However, this approach struggles with non-standard items like clothing, which vary in size, style, and condition.
Therefore, in traditional secondhand markets, a chain of thrift and vintage stores emerges. Most independent stores are curated by owners based on their taste and style, making them more user-friendly and accessible.
On average, it takes about 15 minutes to upload each item, and the level of detail can affect sales. However, this often just adds a sense of reliability rather than being thoroughly read by users.
Emily, who runs a secondhand clothing store with her partner Cecilia, mainly through Instagram and Depop, echoes these issues, indicating a lower incentive for individuals to sell their items.
However, 53% of people do not have a habit of decluttering, either valuing their possessions too much to donate or sell, or hoarding.
Problem 2: Hygiene, Quality, and Safety Concerns
Big Idea
Acquaintance social networking can better address safety, quality, and hygiene concerns.
Additionally, leveraging the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) effect can make buying and selling secondhand items trendy, encouraging more participation.
Experiment
Participants enjoyed the organic interactions and the ease of buying from someone they just met, often looking forward to their future listings.
Prototyping
Fun and engaging uploading processes, combined with AI technology, will create a natural sharing environment that could become a trend, drawing in more users.
We've analyzed three psychological states of users shopping online and tailored different presentation methods accordingly. Seamlessly switch from a high-density information display for quick searches to engaging, intuitive product videos, catering to various shopping needs.
By establishing a friends' network, our marketplace can more accurately recommend products that suit your taste, all within a familiar social context. This approach not only enhances the relevancy of recommendations but also addresses trust issues in second-hand transactions by fostering a community of acquaintances.
Forget the hassle of editing and uploading multiple photos to showcase product details. Simply record or upload a 15-second product video, complemented by a streamlined information entry process, to quickly list items for sale.
Testing and Iteration
However, due to resource constraints, we have currently suspended this project. But we are still tirelessly seeking opportunities and exploring more possibilities.
If you are still interested in this topic or our project, please feel free to contact me.
How we approach this