Research Goals

• Uncover user’s current concerns on Trade Me

• Uncover opportunities in the current user journey - buyer & seller side.

• Identify current trends used in eCommerce and general online platforms.

• Learn what makes Trade Me’s main competitors successful.

• Discover ways quality control can be incorporated seamlessly.

Methods

• Secondary research

  • Competitors

• Primary research

  • User Interviews & Observations

  • User Survey

The Task

On the Trade Me app:

1) Identify evident indications that listings shown are new or used

• Home Page

• Search Results Page

• Listing Page

2) Search for 'headphones'

• Identify and describe how new and used listings are indicated

Participants

To have a better understanding on what Trade Me users are experiencing, a group interview and observation was conducted with two participants (P1 & P2) and a semi-structured interview and observation with a third participant (P3).

*P1 ( Female, University Student), P2 (Female, University Student), P3 (Mother, Administrator).

Main Takeaways

All participants have a strong impression that Trade Me is primarily selling used goods in the marketplace to date based on its strong reputation and its name.

Participants have primarily relied on the thumbnail images shown in the search results page of the listing to understand whether it is new or a used item. Further observation of the item description was needed to strengthen their understanding of whether they identify the item as new or used.

How is it indicating whether the item is new or used?

Participant P1 has used Trade me in the last year but has found that she had not noticed she could use the filter in the header to find new or used items. Further indication of how much users rely on images to indicate an items condition.

“I guess the way you can tell somewhat clearly if an item is used is if the picture is clearly taken by the seller, but aside from that it’s kind of ambiguous.” - P1

Did you find it easy to differentiate whether the item in the search results are new or used?

P3 has last purchased from Trade Me two years ago and remembered not using any filtering but instead used visual cues such as images and price to conclude the condition of the item. In P3’s case, the participant had purchased an item with the impression it was brand new based on the provided image- in this case was likely a stock photo as she was surprised it came to her in a damaged packaging with some scratches on the product.

“No, unless they specify that in the description.”

“I think I missed checking (the item condition) before purchasing (the item) because I thought Oh! It’s cheaper!” - P3

Competitor: Amazon

The leading marketplace giant Amazon is a precedent that showcases multiple elements of personalisation to shape the experience of each user based on their interests. While looking at a new listing, offering of available used products is located in the same page below the listed new item. This feature provides the user the ability to compare different prices and quality.

Comparison to Trade Me

Observing the current Trade Me app, it is evident the users have a large control over their listings, in particular their images and provided information.

The website originated as a platform that provides users at home the ability to sell their used items for a bargain, and the listing quality is reduced in some cases because of this concept. Currently the client has indicated they have not looked into controlling quality of listings in the past.