Techichi Global
ROLE:
UX/UI Designer/Researcher/Writer
ACTIVITIES:
Full suite; from user research and synthesis through design ideation, prototyping, and testing
EXPERIENCE:
Mobile app
YEAR:
2025
Honest Ecommerce: Curbing User Distrust
problem.
Buying and selling preowned technology on ecommerce platforms has become a veritable minefield of exploitative practices.
Research indicates that users are generally distrustful of platforms that perpetuate deceptive practices/policies (e.g., preferential listing fees), incorporate unnecessary navigational obstacles, and infuse confusion with pricing that seems wholly detached from fairness or equity.
For the Techichi project, Shaughnessy Design considered options to simplify the ecommerce marketplace experience while alleviating sweeping user distrust in this space, to thereby decrease drop-off rates while ultimately increasing user retention.
challenge.
Our team found that reimagining this ecommerce marketplace niche proved to be more an effort of artfully eliminating traditionally deceptive design choices that widely occupy this space. Following initial user and market research, we came to the further realization that the very same sector-based motivations that perpetuate these practices also shelve sensible features that would undoubtedly bolster the overall user experience.
The challenge ultimately revealed itself as how to sever marketplace design choices that served no user ends while reimagining the space in a new, exciting, yet simpler way, all while retaining the core essence of an overall recognizable experience.
Lessons Learned: The biggest takeaway from the Techichi project was that ecommerce, and more specifically ecommerce marketplaces, are intensive UX design efforts. As this was the maiden Shaughnessy Design voyage, we lacked full appreciation for exactly how expansive this undertaking would be and ultimately had to dial back expectations for our first product iteration to include only the buyer side experience.
solution.
Shaughnessy Design succeeded in its efforts to harmonize marketplace design simplicity alongside a refreshing take on the ecommerce experience that works to alleviate user distrust and ultimately increase traditionally lackluster retention.
We began by omitting common practices in this space that had more of a nexus to design, such as time-locked deals, disguised advertisements, default opt-ins, and hidden costs, while counseling stakeholders regarding more policy-centered practices (e.g., allowing stock imagery to represent products, and use of preferential listing fees).
Next, we paired down the visually exhaustive approach far too many tech ecommerce marketplaces leverage, which through the navigational confusion it causes represents its own form of deception. Rather than assail the user with a funhouse of categories, advertisements, links, and product imagery, Shaughessy Design opted for an approach that really distills the experience down to its essential elements.
Finally, we incorporated an AI Fair Market Value (FMV) feature that uniquely scours the internet for each product sellers post on the platform. The tool then cost averages prices to provide users with a real-time assessment of the overall fairness of the seller’s asking price.
