WesMarketplace
UX Research / Interaction Design / Product Strategy / No-code
Role
Founder, Product Designer, Front-end Developer
Team
Product Marketing Manager
Back-end Developer
Funding
Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Timeline
September 2022 - May 2023 (8 months)
Tools
Figma, Bubble.io, SendGrid, Twilio
Links
Mission 🎯
Make campus exchanges easy and sustainable
Vision 👁️
A sustainable, connected campus community
Product roadmap
The project was structured around four strategic quarterly milestones, serving as essential touchpoints to guide our product lifecycle. As the project progressed and new insights emerged, we integrated additional objectives and key performance indicators to further refine our roadmap.
Problem
Hyper-consumption
3000+
Students
40,000+
Packages / year
13+
Packages / student
Located away from urban centers, Wesleyan University students are heavily dependent on online deliveries. This is evidenced by the university's package station handling a remarkable 40,000 packages each year.
Severe wastage
At the end of each semester, dumpsters around the campus are filled to the brim with perfectly functional appliances — thrown away by students during their move-out. This wasteful practice is not only environmentally detrimental but also economically inefficient, considering these items could be resold or donated to peers.
Inadequate platforms
Current platforms, including the Westhrift Facebook group and mainstream second-hand marketplaces like eBay and Depop, inadequately address the specific needs of students.
Students’ pain points
We interviewed 8 students to understand their pain points as buyers and sellers on the FB group and other mainstream second-hand platforms.
User interviews
- Determine where and how students currently buy and sell dorm items
- Understand pain points with buying/selling dorm items
- Gauge the need for a college-focused marketplace
- 8 students (2 Freshmen, 2 Sophomores, 2 Juniors, 2 Seniors)
- 15-20 min video calls / in-person
- What platforms or methods do you currently use to buy or sell items?
- Could you describe the process you took to buy/sell an item?
- What was preventing you from buying/selling on 2nd hand platforms?
Synthesis & insights
- Have trouble searching for items they want on Facebook.
- Don’t find enough variety of items on Facebook.
- Find delivery costs too high on secondhand marketplaces.
- Feel overwhelmed by the complex process of packing and shipping.
- Struggle to find buyers on Facebook.
- Face high platform fees and commissions on secondhand marketplaces.
Persona
I developed two distinct personas based on our gathered insights: one representing the typical buyer and another for the seller. This approach allowed us to empathize with the unique needs and challenges of each group of users.
Buyer
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Seller
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Rethinking campus transactions
User journeys
Mapping out the user journeys for both buyers and sellers allowed us to identify key touchpoints and pain points in their interactions with marketplace platforms, providing valuable insights into where we could improve the user experience and streamline the process for each user group.
Buyer journey map
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Seller journey map
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App features
Create a listing
Users can easily create a listing through an intuitive, single-page form.
Filtering
If users wish to narrow down their search with precision, the filter drawer offers various filtering and sorting options.
Buying an item
Users can effortlessly send a 'buy request' with their contact details. Upon receiving the request, the seller will contact them to facilitate the purchase.
Impact
Within 6 weeks of launch
491
Users
443
Listings
82
Items sold/donated
$5
Median price of items
$1079
Total value of transactions
Women’s Fashion
Most popular category
What our users are saying
Reflection
Turning an idea into a real app ( 0 → 1) is like starting a new adventure 🚵🏻, full of surprises and lessons along the way.
- Despite the promising start, the absence of listings led to a desolate platform. The realization that all my hard work might go unused was a crushing moment, full of frustration and self-doubt. In the end, I enlisted friends to create listings, making the page feel active and got the ball rolling.
- Despite visibility, the reluctance to use the platform persisted, culminating in items still being discarded on move-out day.
- The idea of a referral program with rewards was considered but constrained by budget limitations.
- These trade-offs underscored the value of a holistic view. Instead of isolating each feature, I deepened my understanding of its influence on the entire user experience and system.
- Constraints can sometimes become catalysts for innovation, prompting more streamlined user flows that ultimately enhanced the user experience.
Bonus
Contents
- WesMarketplace
- Mission 🎯
- Vision 👁️
- Product roadmap
- Problem
- Hyper-consumption
- Severe wastage
- Inadequate platforms
- Students’ pain points
- User interviews
- Synthesis & insights
- Persona
- Buyer
- Seller
- Rethinking campus transactions
- User journeys
- Buyer journey map
- Seller journey map
- App features
- Create a listing
- Filtering
- Buying an item
- Impact
- Within 6 weeks of launch
- What our users are saying
- Reflection
- Bonus