Re-home

A feature that allows customers to put up their unwanted IKEA products to a resale feature as a solution to a more eco-friendly approach to furnishing homes.

Design Process

Research 

UX/UI Design  

Prototyping 

Usability Testing

Timeline

AUGUST 2024 - SEPTEMBER 2024

(1 Months)

*Working on a part-time 20hr/week schedule

Problem

While IKEA ‘s affordable and trendy pieces encourage experimentation, this can lead to hefty returns. With their generous return policy—365 days for new items and 180 days for opened items with proof of purchase—customers who miss the deadline are ineligible for refunds, resulting in dissatisfaction. IKEA also has a Buy Back and Resell program that has limitations on eligible items, leaving some customers unable to trade in unwanted furniture.

Goal

Introduce a resale feature that reinforces IKEA’s commitment to sustainability, community, and eco-friendly solutions. Allowing their customers to remotely list out their unwanted products without the hassle of traveling to the store and addressing the issue of the missed return window.

The Research

With the problem and goal in mind, I began to plan out my research by gathering insights through 3 different methods:

Competitive Analysis

Evaluated 3 platforms to better understand their strategy in assisting users to effectively resell and browse products. Here I identified their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.

User Interviews

I spoke with 5 participants to discuss about their individual experiences when shopping for home decors in order to develop a more effective feature aimed at helping the customers purchase furniture sustainably.

**Key findings from my affinity map**

Conducting Surveys

Developed a questionnaire to understand consumer habits, preferences, and experiences in shopping, returning, and sustainability practices. This includes 20 questions and 2 conclusions, taking 5-10 minutes to complete:

**Key findings from the data collected**

- Each platform allows users to interact with sellers through product listings, though the extent varies
- All 3 platforms have usability issues, such as poor organization (eBay), lack of filtering capabilities (AptDeco), and unclear product photos (Facebook Marketplace)
- Users across platforms struggle with trust issues, including counterfeit products (eBay), legitimacy concerns (Facebook Marketplace), and poor service experiences (AptDeco)
- Facebook Marketplace benefits from its large user base and social integration
- eBay excels with deals, coupon codes, and brand partnerships
- AptDeco focuses on sustainability and a guided shopping experience
- Facebook Marketplace takes a 5% selling fee, whereas eBay earns revenue from various fees
- eBay has customer complaints about poor service and counterfeit products
- AptDeco struggles with cancellation policies and filtering reviews
- Enhancing seller verification and trust with the consumers
- Improving user experience and product organization
- Streamline customer services and transparency with the brands values

- Individuals prefer shopping in-store than online
- Authenticity and quality can strongly influence one’s decision to purchase
- Frustration arise when cheaper options are found after a purchase
- Shoppers stress the importance of quality over price
- Worried about getting products that look nothing like they were portrayed online
- Prefer shopping in-store due to concerns of security and safety
- Awareness about these topics varies but some are seeking more education on sustainability
- Some express interest when given the option of going green while shopping
- Many individuals mention regifting, donating, or selling unused products instead of disposing an item completely
- Mixed feelings about returning items due to the hassle of the process

Some participants update their spaces seasonally or as part of ongoing efforts to beautify and organize their homes.

Many participants shop for furniture and decor during life changes like moving, relocating, or buying their first home.

Changes in personal taste, wear and tear of furniture, or the need to streamline spaces prompt furniture shopping.

Many focus on specific needs, like: color scheme , space organization, or furnishing other properties like beach houses.

User Personas

Based on the insights of my affinity map and the data I gathered from my surveys, I developed 2 personas that effectively represents the challenges and goals of my potential users.

For this instance, Elena represents the buyer who is looking to shop secondhand as an affordable option as somebody who is a student. And Amir representing as the seller, who is looking to sell his furniture to make some quick money before moving to another state.

POV and HMW Statements

With the research data, and the personas in mind, I made it my goal to tackle these 2 questions from 2 perspectives, The Seller and The Consumer:

User Flows

Going straight into the user flows, I developed 3 flows. These flows show the 3 pathways a user may go through when tackling the new features. Such as: navigating to the feature, listing a product, and purchasing an item. Making the flows helped me identify any pain points and opportunities a user may encounter along the way.

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

To get a better understanding of the layout, I tried my best to replicate IKEA's layout using screenshots as reference. As well as looking at my user flows to make sure I’m on track with the actions of my users. The key tasks I developed consists on the flow of the consumer and the flow of the seller.

I had a difficult time identifying the exact measurements for the frames from the original website to layout elements like the cards. Some placements, like the chat box, were awkward when translated to my screen, leading me to estimate measurements to achieve accuracy.

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

After conceptualizing the design into low-fi wireframes, I refined them into mid-fidelity frames. Before going into my first round of testing, I added a couple more frames and elements to help with the flow of the tasks. As well as, other adjustments made based on feedback I got from my mentor and group critiques.

To start, I added the original home screen with the added feature to the top of the screen to follow how IKEA updates their website. This also introduces the first CTA button to help the user navigate to the Re-home feature.

Next, I made adjustments to the buyer flow by giving users the option to add an item to their cart instead of solely relying on messaging the seller to make a purchase. My peers pointed out that requiring users to message the seller first introduces several pain points. For instance, it could lead to users losing interest or feeling uncomfortable initiating contact.

To address this, I added a more prominent ‘Add to Cart’ button while keeping the message option available. Additionally, I included a small detail showing how many other users are viewing the product. This encourages buyers to act more quickly, creating a sense of urgency and engagement.

Next, I added additional frames to show how a consumer would message a seller about a product. This includes: how they prefer to receive the item based on their comfort level, completing the transaction through chat, and viewing the purchase confirmation screen.

I initially planned to show the full transaction process but struggled to find an up to date reference from IKEA. My mentor advised that since the process is straightforward, concluding with a confirmation screen is best. The only reference I found was a confirmation screen, supporting this choice.

The last adjustment made was to enhance the seller's flow. After hitting 'List Product', users see a detailed screen for creating a listing, such as: product name, type, location, preferred IKEA location, description, pricing, and a photo gallery.

I have also included a confirmation screen to let the seller know that their listing was successfully uploaded. Reinforced by thanking the seller for making sustainable decisions and by using IKEA to do so. This helps with reminding the user of IKEA’s values when it come to sustainability.

Branding

Before refining the design, I focused on maintaining consistency with IKEA’s established branding. To achieve this, I matched their signature blue and yellow color palette, text hierarchy, and iconography.

To maintain consistency, I followed familiar layout patterns from IKEA's desktop version and had a reference guide ready. While designing the product details page and chatroom, I used the formats from IKEA's website. For example, I based my chatroom design on IKEA's chatbot, making sure it aligned with their brand.

Mid-Fidelity Testing

After making my adjustments, I moved onto user testing. So, I got in contact with 5 participants to test out the 2 main flows: the consumer flow and seller flow.

Although the feedback I got from my peers were positive, many of my users had some suggestions on the design aspect. Such as: adjusting the sizes of certain icons. But because I am adding a feature to an existing website, I had to communicate to the participants that I had to follow the measurements according to the UI kit of the company.

Here are some of the feedback given:

“I didn’t see the message icon--the icon could be more visible...”

“I thought the message icon and the add to bag button were together; wants the message button next to meet the seller.“

“I thought the task was fine, but I thinks that instead of having the steps in one page, breaking it up might be better.“

“The icons and too small for me to see...“

High-Fidelity Wireframes

With the feedback I gathered and the established branding in mind, I moved on to creating the high-fidelity wireframes.

I started with the consumer flow, allowing users to browse categories for items. When a user selects ‘Furniture,’ they see a list of available products. If they find something interesting, they can view details such as: the retail and resale prices, reason for sale, listing date, seller's name, messaging option, delivery or pickup methods, and how many users are currently viewing the item.

I mainly used Facebook Marketplace for images in this section, choosing real photos instead of AI-generated ones to make it feel more realistic and relatable. To protect privacy, I made sure none of the images showed identifiable landmarks, addresses, faces, or people in the background.

Continuing with the consumer flow is the messaging and chatroom feature. Once a user decides to proceed with a purchase, they can either message the seller to confirm availability or move directly to the transaction process.

If they message the seller, they get default message prompts to start the conversation. After starting the chat, the user can complete the transaction using a secure payment link sent by the seller, ensuring a smooth buying experience. This feature helps clear communication between buyers and sellers, minimizing misunderstandings during the transaction.

Lastly, I refined the seller flow. Making the flow seamless and straightforward, the user is able to fill out the following: putting in the name of the product, what kind of product, their location, preferred IKEA location, product description, pricing, and most importantly photo gallery.

And once the user has finished filling out the fields, they can simply post up the listing which is followed by a confirmation screen.

High-Fidelity Testing

I was able to get a hold of a few of my previous participants from the last testing session, along with a couple of new users to see the product with fresh eyes. I asked them to complete tasks from each the consumer and seller flow.

With a mix of old and new participants, I was happy to hear that the feedback was mostly positive. But there was a common confusion when I asked them to search for a specific kitchen table. Another aspect that was confusing trying to find the ‘Listing’ button for the seller task.

Here are some of the things that were said:

“I would like the listing option in the homepage...having a separate link next to ‘shop now’ button would be easier.“

“Another selection from the categories in ‘kitchen’ or other related categories to a new pages where it shows kitchen related items would help...”

“I would suggest showing other selections of other kitchen islands style below if this option doesn’t work; similar to Amazon...something like that would be nice...”

“Finding the ‘listing’ button was a little hard to find...“

Iterations

With the feedback in mind, I’ve made the proper adjustments in order to clear up the confusions from my high-fi testing session.

The first adjustment I made was adding an additional card to make it easier for users to find the ‘Listing’ button. A couple users mentioned how tricky it was to locate when given the task. When they finally located it, they noted that it was too small and easy to miss. Since I was following IKEA’s established branding and design flow, they suggested adding a more visible section to improve accessibility.

Another adjustment I made was adding related product suggestions and refining the category selection to better align with the given task.

One user pointed out that having related product suggestions is helpful when searching for an item. They mentioned how websites like Amazon provide similar items to help narrow down choices, making the browsing experience more efficient.

Prototype

To try out Re-home for yourself, click here!

Conclusion

Adding a feature to one of my favorite brands was very fun to explore. In the future, I would like to explore a few more additions that would make this app more effective since this projects the main MVPs. Such as: incorporating a point system to add to IKEA’s existing membership, a tracking system to help users view their delivery, or an AI system to help IKEA take down false sellers to aid in security of their customers.

Seeing this project come to life made me think of all of the possibilities of how this can be pushed further to assists people’s needs.