Take Note
E-commerce with a "local shop" feel
Overview
An e-commerce concept showcasing neighborhood stationery shop Take Note’s highly-curated products while maintaining their brand image. Incorporating Take Note's business model based on customer service, reasonable pricing and keeping it local, I designed an online experience without losing the "small shop" appeal.
The goal of this project was to develop an e-commerce content strategy, site navigation, information architecture, and a checkout process.
Concept Project
Role & Duration
Competitive Analysis, User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Card Sorting, Information Architecture, User Flows, Wireframing, Usability Testing
5 Designers: Interviews/Contextual Inquiry | Solo Design
Timeline: 2 weeks
The Problem
Take Note is a thriving neighborhood stationery shop, priding themselves on being part of a dynamic community. While their highest priority is face-to-face contact with their customers, they see an opportunity to support the local community through the convenience of online ordering with home delivery or in-store pickup.
The challenge would be to build an e-commerce experience differentiating Take Note from other online stationery shops. How do you maintain that community connection and "local feel," emphasizing hand-picked quality over quantity?
Qualitative Research
Through qualitative research, I explored purchasing behavior, mental models and the market landscape, taking what I learned into building site navigation, information architecture and key features.
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Interviews uncovered what drives people to make a stationery purchase and key decision factors.
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Contextual inquiry at a diverse assortment of stationery shops revealed insights into purchasing behaviors and shopper demographics.
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Card sorting exercises revealed mental models - important in building a navigation that's understandable and usable.
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Competitive benchmarking explored how other stationery shops were meeting consumer needs, both in shop and online, honing in on points of differentiation.
Fig 1. Interviewing a local stationery shopper
User Perspectives
Qualitative research unearthed a wealth of perspectives critical to building functions and features addressing shoppers needs.
Providing high-level product showcasing, illustrating as much as possible product's features and unique qualities, could be key to establishing comfort with online shopping.
Product Experience
Stationery shoppers seek a tactile experience. They want to see and touch products, ensuring they get exactly what they want.
Personal Expression
People can see stationery as an extension of themselves - a form of self-expression. Making it a deeply personal shopping experience.
Shop Local
A segment of shoppers have a real desire to shop local, particularly for niches products that feel curated just for them.
Competitor Comparison
Taking a look at Take Note's local competitors, both at their retail locations and online, revealed key points of differentiation that could be brought into the e-commerce experience.
I targeted London Graphic Centre as Take Note's closest competitor in terms of size, demographic and product offerings. Comparing Take Note's business model and services, I highlighted areas of opportunity.
Potential differentiators:
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Source by request
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Product Suggestions
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Highlight product expertise and curation
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Product Reviews
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Establish "shop local" community feel
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Loyalty Program
Fig 2. Competitive analysis comparison
Design Process
Gathering all of the research, I focused on creating an e-commerce site that kept local shoppers and product expertise at the forefront.
Taking insights from card sorting and research, I established the site's information architecture and key features for a minimum viable product. Outlining a user flow, I sketched out and annotated the core user journey before going digital.
I refined customer interactions and engagement through multiple rounds of testing, resulting in a mid-fidelity mockup. Keeping the focus on making the experience "local shop" in feel and featuring all that Take Note has to offer.
The Solution
A highly-curated e-commerce site designed to build comfort with the online shopping experience.
With expert reviews and recommendations plus rich product imagery, shoppers can rest assured that what they see online is what they will get in real life.
Take Note Walkthrough
Project Learnings
With navigation, there is no "one size fits all."
What I found most interesting and challenging about this project were how people thought about and behaved with something as ubiquitous as stationery. Depending on context of use, people gravitate towards language implying utility or something more artistic in nature. Language and context of use can also be influenced by culture and upbringing. It proved an interesting riddle when defining the navigation.
Tactile experiences matter.
I realized that people will continue to shop in store as they want to experience a product and understand it before buying. As a designer, I would like to delve further into exploring functions and features that vividly bring a product to life, simulating the tactile product experience as closely as possible, and building trust between shoppers and an online retail experience.
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