CASE STUDY
Shopping Souvenirs SouPerbly
10 minutes read
SouP is a souvenir discovery & planner app that helps travelers like you get that perfect souvenir given the time, budget and luggage space that you have.
Tools used:
Adobe XD, InVision, Photoshop, Illustrator, Google Forms
Google images, Shutterstock
Click on the links below for more details
It's made for Vivian
Vivian is our user persona made from affinity diagrams based on 5 interviews and 34 survey respondents. Her core needs and known habits on souvenir shopping are known here.
Magnets and cheap mugs and snow globes with kittens, these are a few of my unfavorite things…
Vivian scans the tourist shop on Broadway and 47th Avenue one more time and wishes she had more choices. She has about 15 minutes left to pick a souvenir for her family and everything she could afford here was, well, something that would just end up in Goodwill. But Vivian has always been thoughtful, and the idea of bringing home nothing was as scandalous as the “Donald Trump Huuuuge Condom” on sale for $3.99. She sighs. Planning for this trip has already been stressful, why should coming home be as well?
The Problem
“I don’t want to buy what will just be thrown away”
Like Vivian, you may be tired of run-of-the-mill, throw away souvenir items and want unique and authentic regional souvenirs outside the normal tourist trap shop. You may even be clueless on what to get.
The Initial Idea:
Create a curated souvenir finder
Like a google for souvenirs. Nicer ones that people would ooh and ahh to.
“I need a house warming gift for Jane who likes alcohol and oriental art!”
SouP’s recommendation under food & collectibles
Dragon Cocktails Picks Set
Google Search
VS.
Yin and Yang Wine Glass
But why stop there? The challenge in souvenir shopping is not just simply finding stuff. For Vivian, it’s also budgeting and making sure everything fits in her luggage. Could we help her with that, too?
The New Idea:
Create a curated and customized souvenir shopping experience
Like if a personal assistant and a local tour guide had a baby who turned into an app.
Imagine this:
Vivian is finally going on vacation after a ton of planning.
The stress is not over yet.
She needs to get people stuff.
She doesn't have a lot of time, patience or money so she plans with SouP.
After keying in her preferences, SouP plots her shopping plan.
Vivian is on point, on schedule, and on budget with her purchases.
People love Vivian. Vivian is smart. Be like Vivian.
Creating SouP:
(click on images for details)
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Journey Map
Competitor Analysis
Feature - Prioritization Mix
User Flow
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Initial Sketches
SouP evolved into a planner app after predicting pain points Vivian might encounter during her shopping experience. The entire process above served as building blocks for the preliminary sketches.
How SouP served Vivian’s pain points:
"How can I search for something when I don't even know what I'm looking for?"
What's in SouP?
Recommended items based on viewing/ search history and a taste quiz
SouP borrows from the familiar interfaces of Yelp, Amazon and Airbnb—apps which Vivian already use—so she can complete her tasks easier.
The SouP interface then underwent several iterations from user testing (below). They showed that while searching for souvenirs was a no-brainer for testers, souvenir shopping planning via the Planner feature was messy since a unique interface was introduced. More coach screens were added as a result.
Slide left or right to see the before/after
Users were confused with all the available controls so we hid them (using ‘Edit >’)
Luggage options are more legible with side scrolling. Placing input fields all on the left and controls on the right made a cleaner interface.
Images served better reminders.
The clock was the least important feature and thus removed
Progress bars were also made uniform to avoid confusion
Used words since icons needed additional explanation. Colors with tool tips showed the progress better too
Possible word plays:
- Try SouP! (Call-to-Action)
- SouP of the day (Newsletter Title)
- {What’s hot} SouP! (Announcement)
- SouP, Take it home (Tagline)
- SouPer Man (Mascot)
See more of SouP’s style tile here.
SouP’s logo can also be customized depending on the region where it is used
Selling SouP:
SouP stands for SOUvenir Planner. With all the different travel apps out there, it was important to name and style the app into something catchy, memorable and easy to market.
The Results:
Testers were able to successfully search for souvenirs, save and retrieve them, and plan for a shopping trip. The project ended there but additional research is needed on if users will actually use SouP on their next travel.
Vivian will likely use SouP to find souvenirs she likes and add them to her Favorites. She would later retrieve them when she’s in the area they are sold at or if she even remembers at all. Shoppers are unpredictable creatures and testing revealed that potential users might find it difficult to stick to a time & budget-bound itinerary which SouP offers, especially with someone as impulsive as Vivian.
At best, it would give Vivian the options she needs and an estimate on resources needed to get everything on her shopping list.
SouP was made out of the motivations and preferences of souvenir shoppers. Future plans involve more studies on the dynamics of the actual shopping process. Only when it successfully directs the souvenir shopping behaviour, can it be said that, SouP is definitely made to everyone’s taste.