Building a food marketplace for local businesses
During the COVID pandemic in Vietnam, Zalo Connect, a mini-app within Zalo, gained popularity by finding assistance and connecting small businesses to households to buy food, utilities and medicine under restrictions. However, as the pandemic receded and restrictions were lifted, Zalo Connect faced challenges in finding a new direction and establishing its own unique branding.
Despite these challenges, we remained optimistic about the app's potential to continue to expand and support small business owners who are active on Zalo.
Date
August 2022 - March 2023. Released on market on April 2023
The team
1 product owner, 1 designer with guidance from 1 senior lead designer, 1 writer and teams of developers and QC
What I did
User research, wireframe, hi-fi prototype, user testing, final product
Research
Insights from user data indicates a promising marketplace
Over 2.7 million active users utilize their Zalo profiles to sell their products, creating a massive C-commerce marketplace within the Zalo social network.
Users frequently sell various products depending on the season and post their listings actively on their own profile, averaging 2-6 posts per day.
Many sellers form wholesale groups to distribute products to retailers. These groups are some of the largest and most active on the platform, indicating a thriving marketplace.
Pain points
Lack diversity and content
Each shop has a single profile with a field of description to write down all of their products and shipping information. These profiles are grouped into feed based solely on user location. Since the shop profiles and pictures remain the same for a long period on feed, users are discouraged from exploring new content.
To update listings , sellers need to submit a new profile and wait up to 24 hours for approval. This system was put in place during COVID-19 restrictions but has become outdated as sellers now have access to a wider range of products and update their listing daily.
Lack solid positioning
Based on surveys and in-depth interviews with sellers and buyers, it was found that Zalo Connect lacks a strong position in the users' view. Many users are still confused of what can actually be purchased on Zalo Connect.
Hard to use
The mini-app is considered difficult to use by many, especially the content posting process and the location-based feed.
