Goals

Create an e-commerce app that ensures a pleasurable shopping experience with an easy-to-use interface with engaging interactions.
 

Task

UX and UI for a mobile e-commerce app with a promotion landing page.
 

Topic Research

Understand how people use shopping apps, their preferences and pain points.
 

Scope

• Users: Frequent online-buyers from 18 to 40 years old.

• Market: There are a lot of e-commerce apps in the stores. We should stand out delivering a great usability and style.
  

User Research

Objectives

Who? (audiences, demographics, psychographics), What? (what will people be accomplishing?), When? (when will people use it?), Where? (where will people use the app and in which device?), Why? (finding out root causes, reasons and emotions for that behavior), How? (which actions or steps needs the user to reach a goal?).

Hypothesis

Answered the questions formulated in the objectives.
Some of them:

"Users use shopping apps during pause times, i.e. meals.”

"Users prefer their smartphones over other devices to do the shopping."

"Logical steps to buy an item: search item or filter by brand and color, add to shopping cart, go to shopping cart, pay."

Methods, Conduct and Synthesis

I conducted a survey to 10 people between 18 and 40 years old, aiming to build a foundation, discover who users are and know which content and functionality is relevant to them.

Some interesting facts and key quotes directly from the user:

“My favorite app is (…) because the shipping and return are free”.

“My favorite app is (…) because of the variety of products and huge selection”.

“I like to have different options for the payment”.

“I like this brand because invests in sustainability”.

“I never leave payment options saved”.

“I always read the ratings and reviews from other users. They help me decide for one product over another”.

Some interesting observations from the gathered data:

• Users' logical steps to buy an item should be no more than 5 and all of them have these following steps in common:
  
  Search - Search bar or categories.
  Some of the surveyed consult the ratings and check shipping fee if there's any.
  Choose size.
  Add to cart.
  Checkout - Enter card number, Paypal account, etc. Set delivery address if its not saved and
  Pay/Accept.
  

• Favorite shopping apps overall:
  
  Amazon: huge stock and good ratings.
  Zalando: shipping and return are free. It has limited offers and very good prices)
  ASOS: nice stuff, fast delivery, different payment options.
  

• Users use shopping apps mostly at home, during lunch, in the morning, in the office or in the train. On the last one, they feel frustrated because they can't use it due to the lack of internet coverage.
  

• Users buy using their smartphones. They almost never use their laptop or tablet.
  

• Users buy the most in the first 15 days of the month.
  

• Users filter using “Sort by" (favorites, price low-high, newest, sale) and by “Brands”.
  

User Stories and Gathering Requirements

As a user I want to Filter my options.

As a user I want to Filter by Sort by (favorites, price low-high, newest, sale).

As a user I want to Filter by Brand.

As a user I want to Filter by Collection.

As a user I want to Filter by size.

1. Support a filter option for „Sort by" (good ratings, price low-high, newest, sale), "Brand", "Collection", "Size" and "Color".
    

As a user, I want to set if I am a man, woman or kids to filter everything from the start.

As a user, I want to set location options.

2. Support screen with gender and location option.
 

As a user, I want to see/find new and hot Deals.

As a user, I open the app to check new hot Deals and prices often.

As a user, I want to be able to scroll and discover new, fresh and interesting products.

As a user, I prefer to discover products scrolling rather than searching specific ones.
As a user, I would use sopping apps as a time killer.
As a user, I want limited offers, with very good price.

3. Support an entertaining Home Screen Feed with Deals,Limited Offers, New products, Recommendations, etc.
 

As a user, I want to see nice and curated content.

As a user, I want to see products worn by a person rather than only seeing the product alone.
As a user, I want to buy good quality products and brands.
As a user, I want to buy products that are sustainable.

4. Strive for a beautiful and simple design and show products in context. Include only well known and good quality brands. Also Sustainable products.
 

As a user, I want to see Discounts. (Include crossed old prices).
As a user, I want to see mixed products but I want to know from which Brand they belong. (include names and brands and prices under the products).

5 Include Brand, Name of the product and Price (crossed prices over normal ones).
 

User Personas

User Flows

Wireframes 

Low Fidelity Wireframes

High Fidelity Wireframes

Creating a Brand

Logo

Color Palette

Text Styles

Button Styles

Icons, illustrations and other assets

Final UI

Interaction Examples

Select Market

Product Details

Edit Product Details

App Walkthrough

Conclusions

Summing up, because there are a lot of apps out there it doesn't mean yours can't stand out from the crowd. 
Sufficient user experience, great understanding of user behaviors, needs, goals and patterns, innovative features and pleasant, desirable and usable interfaces are effective foundations for a successful mobile application. 

The interface should be self-evident and its clickable elements should be obvious. This can be achieved using constraints and meaningful signifiers in the design.
Another important lesson is that sharing your work, testing and receiving feedback is your best friend when aiming to create a great human-centered product. 

Thanks for reading !