How Might We Help Sellers and Content Creators to Collaborate Effectively for Promoting/Selling Items Online?

Intro: A multinational logistic company planned to enhance its sub-business, which provides supports & trainings for live commerce activities in Southeast Asia. As many sellers on social commerce apps (such as TikTok and Shopee) utilize their delivery services, the company aimed to assist sellers in streamlining their end-to-end process, from sourcing items to selling items online and delivering them to customers.

My role: develop a new feature that can facilitate collaboration between sellers and content creators in promoting/selling products. I conducted preliminary research, created user flows, built wireframes, and provided improvisation suggestions.

Duration: 4 months

WHAT THIS FEATURE CAN DO:

• Assist sellers/brands in finding content creators to promote/sell their products.

• Review content creators' profiles and offer tasks according to the seller's budget

• Allow coordination and progress tracking to ensure seamless collaboration.

Summaries (TL;DR for those who have limited time)

• The app serves to support and train sellers for their live commerce activities in Southeast Asia.
• There's a need for a new feature to connect sellers and content creators for promoting/selling products.
• Two flows were developed for two types of users : sellers & creators.
• Following user testing, we added a new filter function 'Recommend Creator' to help sellers choose the most suitable creator(s).
• The hi-fi version was built with the help of a UI Designer in China to ensure consistency between different features.
• The feature has been tested in several Asian countries and received positive responses, but in Indonesia is still pending due to ongoing evaluation of social commerce rules by the government.

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RESEARCH

PROBLEM AND OPPORTUNITY

The app was initially launched to help sellers/brands improve their livestreaming and liveselling skills. However, many sellers still hesitate to use the features because they think they lack of talent in online communication.

Meanwhile, there is a growing number of content creators who has strong promotional skills. Therefore, we planned to create a new feature that can connect sellers and creators, allowing them to collaborate in promoting or selling items.

COMPETITOR STUDIES

We studied other platforms offering similar services, but their main focus is solely on selling

Since our app also provides skills enhancement features for both sellers and creators, this ensures that we can offer better services, not only to connect them but also upgrade and educate them.

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PROPOSED SOLUTION

USER FLOW

We created a flow similar to other marketplaces: displaying a list of creators for sellers to choose

Initially, we created a simple and straightforward flow where sellers can browse creator listing and pick one creator to collaborate with them. However, when we visualized it into wireframe, we felt something was missing, so we conducted few user tests.

Our studies revealed that some sellers still struggled to choose the right creator. To answer this issue, we added an advance filter: “Recommend Creator”. While the journey may be longer, it can help seller choose the most suitable creator(s) that suit their needs.

Aditionally, we also refined the flow from the creator side, adding the possibility of rejecting the order & requesting sample.

MORE WIREFRAME EXPLORATIONS

While developing more wireframes, we discovered more scenarios that sellers can choose from

If the 'Recommend Creator' journey is too long, the seller can skip some steps and choose the creator based on their selected product. They can view a list of creators who have promoted/sold similar items in the past.

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RESULT

Hi-Fi Result 1: Enable sellers to select creator(s), either manually or through recommendation

For sellers, after linking their e-shop and items, they can choose a creator and specify the service and item to be promoted. Alternatively, sellers may use the 'Recommend Creator' filter to receive suggestions for creators.

After making a payment, the offer will be sent to the selected creator(s) for approval.

For the payment flow, there may be some complexity due to the possibility of the selected creator rejecting the order. To address this issue, we implemented a similar flow to online transportation apps that offer refunds if a driver cancels the order.

Hi-Fi Result 2: Allow creators to accept order request immediately

For creators, they can await orders/tasks from sellers. Once they receive an order, they have the option to approve it and start promoting/selling the item. Additionally, if eligible and available, they can choose to receive a free sample from the seller.

Creators can receive either a flat fee or commission, depending on the order set by sellers.

Hi-Fi Result 3: Facilitate further collaboration & coordination for ongoing tasks/orders

After the order is created and approved, the flow progresses to order tracking, completion, and review. I was also tasked to continue developing these flows for the desktop version.

As the end-to-end journey can be quite long, please feel free to contact me to know more about these flows!

We also developed the SaaS desktop version, even though it has lower priority compared to the mobile app version

For the SaaS desktop/dashboard version, we aimed to make the creators’ profile pictures larger, as attractiveness might be a key factor in choosing a creator. However, we discovered that many sellers don't use the desktop version because they either lack high-end computers or Wi-Fi in their workspace, relying instead on mobile internet. Therefore, the SaaS desktop version has a lower priority than the mobile app version.

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OUTCOME AND REFLECTION

• The feature has been tested in a few Asian countries and received warm responses, with plans to become one of the app’s main features. However, in Indonesia, the feature is still pending due to ongoing evaluation of social commerce rules by the government.
• In this project, I collaborated with a UI Designer from China and learned some design preferences in other Asian countries, such as using smaller typefaces, color gradients, and complex illustrations.
• In addition to the Creator Market feature, we also proposed another feature called “Product Market,” where creators can proactively find products and ask sellers to promote them. However, since this feature can be more complicated, we decided to focus on the Creator Market first.