TCA Grading & Shop
A live stream trading card shop and grading service, looking to establish its online presence and gain more customers.
Summary
My Role
UX/UI Designer
Timeline
90 hours
Tools
Figma, FigJam
Background
TCA Grading and Shop is an online trading card seller that currently sells and grades cards during their weekly live streams. They have been grading for around 6 months now, but since not many people have heard of them, this can hurt secondary market prices. They are looking to expand their audience as well as provide a place for people to learn more about their company.
Process
Contextual Research
The pandemic provided a massive boost to the previously niche trading card and collectibles markets. Although they have cooled off since their 2020 surge in popularity, these markets have gained enough momentum to continue standing and growing on their own.
“Pokémon … saw sales increase by more than 500% [in 2020], according to eBay.”
In fact, for Future’s 2022 Marketplace 100 (a ranking of the largest consumer-facing marketplace startups and private companies), 2 collectibles companies made major splashes on the list, with video-first collectibles marketplace Whatnot jumping from 99 to 26 in one year, and trading card marketplace TCGPlayer making its list debut at number 12.
User Research: User Surveys
I conducted a survey to gather both qualitative & quantitative data on the habits and preferences of TCA’s current customer base. This would help inform what was important to them, and why they purchase from TCA versus more traditional marketplaces.
Insights
From the user surveys, I gathered three main insights about the habits and preferences of the current customer base.
Access to a large inventory of trustworthy products is the main deciding factor when selecting a marketplace.
All current customers purchase sealed products to mainly open, not hold onto as investment.
Newest releases are often more important to customers than any other available product.
User Flows
Bringing together the contextual, competitive, and user research I had conducted, I created a user flow showing the “happy path” of a user coming to the website to purchase items.
Low Fidelity Prototype
Using everything I had learned so far, and with my user flow as a reference, I created Low Fidelity prototypes of the website. I tested these prototypes with multiple users, gathering notes on common issues, roadblocks, and other sticking points.
Style Guide & High Fidelity Prototype
Using my learnings from the usability tests I conducted with my low-fidelity prototypes, I moved forward to creating a style guide and a high-fidelity prototype. After receiving plenty of constructive feedback about the interface and design of the first high-fidelity prototype. I went back and completely revamped the entire site. This time, I worked to create a strong brand presence for TCA, giving it an aura of quality and prestige. I wanted to create a website and experience that stands out from its generic competitors while feeling inviting and trustworthy.
Live Prototype
Conclusion
Although many ecommmerce websites share the same bones, the UI can create widely varying user experiences, and influence user opinions on both the product that they are shopping for and the company they are shopping from. Putting emphasis on the TCA style guide and the site created a much more streamlined, memorable, and enjoyable experience for customers. Particularly for smaller companies, where trust has not yet been built, this can be extremely valuable in encouraging users to finish a sale, and also return later.