Intro
This is a concept e-commerce website for an Italian sportswear brand Kappa. This project was completed during a web design course. The scope of the project didn’t suggest in-depth user research. However, I still had to create a User Persona and a Customer Journey Map, understand the brand and complete a competitive analysis.
Overview
Duration: 3 weeks, September 2022
My role: Web Designer
Tools: Figma, FigJam
The goal: Make a website that is easy to navigate, with clear information architecture and seamless purchase flow. The design should have a modern street-style attitude and reflect the nostalgic aesthetic of the brand.
Research
The research for this project could have been more extensive due to the scope of the web design course. Usually, I would do user interviews and in-depth analysis of user research. However, I have still explored the brand, its competitors, and clients and created Persona and CJM.
For this project, I chose the German market because the German online store is best developed among existing Kappa websites. I have also suggested that due to the historical connection of the brand with football, Kappa must be the most popular in countries with solid football culture. I have found out that Kappa is an official sponsor of 1. FSV Mainz 05 football club, and so I based my research on this information.
About
Brand identity: Kappa® is one of the leading brands in sportswear and lifestyle worldwide. A technical, nonconformist, colorful, flexible, competent, global, and Italian brand. Kappa's practical delivery of the sports angle and the 80s and 90s nostalgic style make it stand out from its competitors.
Persona
To create a realistic persona, I have dived into German football culture, the fanbase of 1. FSV Mainz 05 in particular. The following data are based on real people I have found on a Facebook fan group of 1. FSV Mainz 05.
Age: 35
Location: Mainz
Family: Has partner
Occupation: Engineer at SCHOTT(glass manufacturer)
Budget: His salary is 60K euro gross
Florian is a fan of a local soccer team 1. FSV Mainz 05, he goes to the stadium once in a while to see the match. He likes sports in general. Athleisure is his main style. He doesn't like spending too much time shopping, so he prefers online shopping. He already has an emotional connection with Kappa, as they are the sponsors for the local soccer team.
Goals- Enjoy his free time after work and feel connected to the local football fan community
- Quickly buy athletic clothes
- He doesn't like going shopping
- The current Kappa website is not convenient to use
CJM
I used Customer Journey Map to explore the current website's specific problematic areas. I have found many issues, from minor typography inconsistency to problems that would deter customers from purchasing, like a lack of size guides and size suggestions.
Planning
Before jumping to design, I needed to understand the structure of the future online store and explore the best practices for e-commerce websites. To do this, I created Information Architecture and completed the competitor analysis.
Information architecture
Creating a detailed IA allowed me to plan the website's navigation efficiently and think of how every page in this project should look before I even started any sketches.
Competitor analysis
Although I have defined the main competitors to be similar nostalgic brands like Reebok, Puma, Fila, etc., I have also analyzed the websites of the sportswear leaders such as Nike and Adidas. I've been looking for the best solutions, comparing and analyzing why certain solutions were implemented.
There was one curious thing I found out about the confirmation page and its CTA. Most e-commerce websites place the "Continue Shopping" button on the order confirmation page. However, neither Adidas nor Nike do not use this solution. I wanted to know why and conducted a little research on this. I made a survey asking respondents what they do after completing a purchase. Would they press "Continue Shopping"? Would they explore related items? 7 out of 11 would just close a website, 3 out of 11 would explore related articles, and only one would click on continue shopping. So maybe Nike and Adidas are right about not having any "Continue Shopping" buttons. Still, I decided to have it in my design, but I would suggest more research and tests for an actual project.
Design and tests (to be continued)
While I’m finishing this case study you can have a look at the final design on Behance (https://www.behance.net/gallery/158226339/KAPPA-E-commerce-Website-Concept )