Fashion Wholesale B2B Service
Sinsang Market is the leading B2B commerce platform in Korea, connecting influencers and retailers with clothing manufacturers and wholesalers. To solve a critical business issue in the product search process, I revamped the filtering system and launched a simplified payment transfer feature to expand support for global users. Additionally, I developed a sales management dashboard for wholesale businesses, significantly contributing to their growth.
Role
Lead product design,
UX research,
Design system
Collaborators
1 Project Manager
1 Front-End Engineer
2 iOS/Android Engineers
1 Data Scientist
2 Back-End Engineers
Duration
8 months (2021 - 2022)
Company
About Service
Sinsang Market is a platform that has digitized South Korea's offline wholesale market, helping retailers purchase products easily and efficiently. Currently, over 80% of the Korean fashion wholesale market relies on Sinsang Market, with more than 76.84 million products registered. It is the largest fashion O2O (online-to-offline) service in South Korea, connecting influencers, vendors, and wholesale clothing clusters, and providing end-to-end solutions across the value chain—from design to delivery.
Situation
When I joined the team, Sinsang Market was preparing for global expansion. The main objective of my project was to optimize the UX for product search, payment, and order management systems. I began by identifying the most urgent user pain points and then developed new design solutions to address these issues.
The Challenge
How can we enhance user experience from product discovery to order management to enable wholesale and retail business owners to focus on their core business activities?
Problem Definition Process - Usability Testing
We conducted usability testing with 26 retailers to identify issues in the product browse process.
Our goal was to thoroughly evaluate any usability issues within the service, from product discovery to the transaction process. In this phase, we analyzed the flow of actions across both mobile and web platforms.
Designing the Usability Evaluation Metric
Before conducting the usability test, four team members and I developed a usability evaluation metric. In this metric, green indicates a low error rate, while red signifies a high error rate. Each error rate was calculated by considering the frequency and duration of the errors encountered.
Identifying Improvement Priorities
As a result, we identified three tasks with significantly high error rates in the chart. This allowed us to prioritize usability improvements for the most urgent features.
1) Wholesalers and retailers frequently selected product filters to find the products they wanted.
2) Users searched for products within specific price ranges and category groups.
3) Users experienced inconvenience when connecting to external payment systems.
Problem Definition Process - FGI & Field research
Through FGIs and field research, we met with 26 wholesalers and retailers, identifying their pain points and requirements.
Focus group interviews with wholesalers and retailers helped us understand challenges related to product search, payment processing, and order management, providing key insights into their operational needs.
Additionally, field visits to Dongdaemun wholesale markets allowed us to observe real-world workflows, validate findings, and identify opportunities for improving order management through better technology solutions.
FGI with Fashion Wholesale and Retail Business Operators.
Observing Order Management at Dongdaemun Wholesale
Strategy & Hypothesis
The following 3 key factors were identified as major causes of purchase drop-offs for retailers and obstacles to wholesalers' business growth.
Problem 01
The structure of the filter system, crucial for product search, was inconsistent and the filtering criteria were unclear.
The inconsistent shapes of the filters confused users as they navigated through different filter options. Additionally, users struggled to immediately view filter results, and modifying or removing filters required multiple clicks, making the product search process cumbersome and time-consuming. Furthermore, the lack of certain desired filter options often caused users to abandon their search midway.
Design Direction for Filter System
Our approach involved both restructuring product data and designing a quick, tap-based filter system to enhance user experience and efficiency.
To address core issues, we redesigned the data structure, requiring significant backend resources. I collaborated with engineers to define key attributes and classifications, finalizing the new structure after multiple reviews.
Building on this, I proposed a tap-based UX solution for faster filtering, replacing typing. We designed keyword filter chips and a bottom sheet based on commonly searched attributes, enabling quick and intuitive product filtering.
Solution 01
The filter system structure within the service was completely overhauled to enable faster product searches.
Users can apply multiple filters at once through a bottom sheet to narrow down their search results and easily modify the filters as needed. The filters are prioritized based on data analysis and customer behavior, organized by frequency of use.
Optimized Filtering System for Enhanced Usability Across Various Categories
Problem 02
Wholesalers and retailers faced challenges in efficiently tracking payments and managing sales & expenditures due to the use of third-party payment platforms.
Retailers experienced inconvenience with the manual process of entering account numbers for each wholesaler during every transaction. This led to inefficiencies, as they had to manage multiple account details, resulting in time-consuming steps and a higher likelihood of errors.
Wholesalers struggled to secure a global user base and efficiently manage sales across various markets. Additionally, they needed more accurate tools to effectively manage both their sales and performance, as well as to precisely track their sales within the Sinsang Market service.
Solution 02
Easy Payments with ShinSang Cash
With ShinSang Cash, users can send payments directly and conveniently to trading partners, both locally and globally, without needing to copy account information. This streamlined process makes transactions faster and more efficient across borders.
Solution 03
Streamlined Order Management for Business Growth
The Order Management System centralizes essential business tools, allowing users to efficiently oversee sales activities, monitor financial performance, and manage advertising campaigns. This intuitive interface eliminates the complexity of manual tracking, providing clear and actionable insights to drive operational efficiency.
Impacts
Through A/B testing and user testing, the team accurately assessed the impact of the newly designed features on users. After the filter system overhaul, the time users spent on searching, applying filters, and finding products was reduced by 4 minutes, significantly improving both efficiency and user satisfaction.
Following the launch of the ShinSang Cash payment service, international transaction volume increased by 194%. Retailers responded positively, as they no longer needed to rely on other cumbersome payment platforms.
Additionally, 91% of wholesale users are now actively utilizing the order management dashboard. This feature has become a key tool for simplifying business operations and easing revenue management for business owners.
Takeaways
Contribution to Business Growth by Improving User Journeys for Both Wholesale and Retail Sides
After analyzing the user journeys of both wholesale and retail users and identifying pain points, I immediately proposed and convinced the team of the need to revamp the product filter functionality. Although it was the first project I took on after joining, it soon became a major project across the company. I collaborated with data scientists and backend engineers to reclassify filter categories, making it easier for users to navigate the product offerings, significantly enhancing the user experience.
Proven Success in a Short Time and Being Scouted to Swit by My Design Lead
Within less than a year at Dealicious, I handled large-scale projects including the complete overhaul of the filter system, simplified payment transfers, and a sales management dashboard for business owners. Despite struggling with a herniated disc at the time, I worked from home late into the night, driven by a sense of purpose and genuine joy for the work. Through this experience, I rapidly improved my skills and realized the importance of impactful design that drives business success. Consequently, when my direct design lead moved to a global productivity tool company, Swit, they scouted me as a key design talent, and I had the opportunity to work with them at Swit for an additional two years.
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