Spree.co.za mobile iOS app

Overview

Prior to merging with Superbalist.com, Spree.co.za was the leading online fashion e-commerce store in South Africa. We had a responsive website but wanted to give users a better mobile experience.

Problem statement

The mobile website users were growing consistently and would soon overtake desktop users. Being in a country where most people have smartphones but few have access to a desktop computer we wanted to ensure that the mobile experience was fast and enjoyable for all of our users.

Users and audience

Our biggest audience was young African women under the age of 26, with a fair amount of disposable income, who spend a lot of time using their iPhones.

Roles and responsibilities

I was the lead UX designer. We were the first fashion e-commerce app to launch in South Africa. I looked at what other companies were doing and learned from them regarding what works well and what could be improved. I created wireframes, designs and conducted user testing. I was the only designer that worked on the product, we had two product owners that helped with the strategy and direction of the product and that ensured we launched an MVP.  They also helped to conduct user testing. Two iOS developers and a QA were involved in the development of the product.

Scope and constraints

We wanted to launch an MVP and to be the first fashion e-commerce app in the South Africa App Store.

Process

As a team, the two product owners and I decided which features to bring to the MVP. We decided to launch an app that a user could use to look for a product, filter, add to cart and checkout. All other features would be added after that. I started out looking at other apps in the App Store. Looked at what was done well, what could be improved upon. I did a lot of research on best practices on eCommerce apps. I looked at the tracking of our responsive website to see what features users use a lot and how they use them. From there I created basic wireframes to set out the framework of the app and to get approval from all stakeholders on what the MVP will entail. I created designs which were sent to the developers to create the app. After the MVP was in a good state we had users in the office to do some user testing. I created a user testing report on the results of the testing. We tested over a couple of days and made changes as we found problems and retested it the next day with new users. After we launched the MVP we set up a plan to implement other features that were available on the web but not on the app.

Outcomes and lessons

We only started doing user testing after we had a basic MVP and it was clear that we would’ve found some issues earlier if we tested with prototypes. The app was a huge success and in the first year, it was responsible for 35% of all the traffic on Spree.co.za The conversation rate in checkout was about 6%. Most e-commerce apps average a 2.5% conversion rate. We continued to expand on the app and it won a few awards for innovation. In April 2018 the Spree.co.za app was featured as App of the Day on the South African App Store. In September 2018 Spree.co.za merged with Superbalist and the app was removed from the App Store.