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🛒/ePettyshop

Building an E-commerce Platform from Idea to Growth

ePettyshop began as an idea to help small businesses establish a trusted online presence. Over the past three years, the platform has evolved into a complete e-commerce solution supporting merchants across different stages of their digital journey.

RoleFounding Product Designer
Duration8 Months (MVP) • Live
Active sellers50+
FocusProduct Design • Branding • Scale
Product Walkthrough Dashboard
Product Walkthrough Dashboard
[01 / 09]

Market Opportunity

We found that many small sellers in Tamil Nadu were still relying on Instagram, WhatsApp, and word of mouth to run their businesses. Existing e-commerce platforms often felt too expensive or complicated for the way they worked.

So we saw an opportunity to build something around their everyday needs. A simple, seller-first platform with local support that helps them set up, manage, and grow their online business with ease.

01 / The issue

One seller.
Too many disconnected steps.

Ordering through messages

Customer ↔ Seller

customer

Is this bag available?

Each detail takes another message.

Illustrative conversation, not a research quote.

The seller had to connect everything.

Without a dedicated storefront, orders lived in conversations. Tracking was manual, payments needed follow-up, and checkout lacked trust.

02 / The solution

One simple store.
Built around
the seller.

The everyday store

Everyday tote₹499
Add to cart

Illustrative flow · Sample product and order

That’s why we created ePettyshop.

We set out to bring a professional storefront, simpler order management, and a trustworthy checkout together—without the cost and complexity sellers faced, and with local support.

Illustrative product direction · Not measured outcomes

[02 / 09]

Research & Key Findings

Market research revealed the opportunity. Qualitative research—interviews, contextual observation, and task-based usability tests—helped us understand the people behind it: their goals, behaviours, and everyday frustrations.

Merchant discovery / Namakkal

Local sellers. Everyday realities.

Understanding how small businesses capture orders, confirm payments, and get parcels out the door.

01 / Participants & context

12
small businesses

Namakkal · Ages 24–52

3D printingTextiles & apparelHandicrafts

Retail and home businesses: first-generation digital sellers alongside established offline shopkeepers.

Orders primarily through

WhatsApp Business & phone calls

02 / Methodology applied

6
Contextual inquiries & shadowing

On-site observation during peak morning and evening hours, mapping order capture, payment reconciliation, and dispatch.

6
Semi-structured interviews

30-minute direct discussions about inventory tracking, customer communication drop-offs, and payment confirmations.

03 / Core friction & data

The “3-app ping-pong” loop
WhatsAppGPay / PhonePeNotebook / Excel

Product enquiries in chat, UTR screenshots for payment checks, and separate records for stock availability.

30–40%

Estimated customer-interest drop-off

During availability back-and-forth and the wait for payment confirmation screenshots.

“Customers ask price and photo on WhatsApp, send a screenshot of GPay, but by evening I can’t match who paid for which parcel without checking my bank SMS.”

— 3D printer, Namakkal

04 / Key findings

Every order meant more manual work.

  • Information was scattered. Sellers managed enquiries, payments, and stock across different tools.

  • Payment checks took time. Sellers had to match screenshots and bank messages with each order.

  • Orders couldn’t move forward. Sellers needed to verify payments before confirming orders.

  • Customers had to wait. Stock checks and payment follow-ups added friction to the buying journey and risked losing sales.

Preview note: uses your supplied participant details and quote. Confirm the measurement basis for the 30–40% estimate before publishing.

Key Insight
Small business owners didn't need more features. They needed a platform that felt familiar, simple, and trustworthy.

Customer experience / Tamil Nadu

From purchase intent to purchase friction.

Understanding what stops mobile-first shoppers from completing a purchase with a social seller.

01 / Participants & methodology

Who / Target shoppers

Everyday, mobile-first buyers.

18 regular mobile shoppers buying through Instagram DM shops, WhatsApp catalogs, and standard e-commerce platforms.

  • Ages 19–45
  • Tuticorin, Namakkal, Salem & Chennai

How / Research methodology

8 task-based usability tests

Observed browsing, price enquiries, and test purchases through social-seller workflows versus a web link.

10 retrospective 1:1 interviews

Explored recent unfulfilled purchases, payment hesitations, and delivery tracking frustrations.

02 / Customer survey

Customer survey

Shopping through social sellers

Recreated visual · illustrative questions, not a raw response

Q4 · What slows down your purchase?

Waiting for price / stock
Finding the right size or colour

Q6 · What worries you about payment?

Sending GPay screenshots and waiting for confirmation
No receipt or dispatch timeline

Google Forms · Illustrative survey mockup

03 / Research findings

What made shoppers hesitate

Payment trust

No automated receipt or clear dispatch timeline.

Product discovery

Unsorted images and no instant stock or variant information.

Delivery clarity

Uncertainty about order status after purchase.

“I hate having to message 'PP' (price please) and wait 3 hours just to know if a dress is in stock or if they deliver to my pin code.”

— Bala Subramanian, 25 · Kovilpatti

04 / Key findings

Shoppers needed answers before they could buy.

  • “PP” fatigue. Shoppers had to wait for replies about price, stock, and delivery before deciding to buy.

  • UPI verification anxiety. Sending money to a personal phone number felt unsafe without an instant receipt or estimated dispatch date.

  • Catalog fatigue. Browsing 100+ unsorted images made it harder to find products. Shoppers wanted stock status, size and colour selectors, and direct UPI checkout.

[03 / 09]

Building a Brand and Design Foundation

Typography, colour, design principles, and an adapted Ant Design interface for ePettyshop.

Building a Brand and Design Foundation

I set a clear visual foundation for ePettyshop: readable type, a confident blue, and familiar patterns that help sellers scan and manage their products.

Typography / Inter

Clear at every size.

A neutral sans-serif keeps product names, prices, and stock details easy to scan.

Aa Bb Cc 012312px
Metadata
Aa Bb Cc 012314px
Small text
Aa Bb Cc 012316px
Body
Aa Bb Cc 012320px
Subheading
Aa Bb Cc 012324px
Heading

Colour / Interface roles

One blue. Clear hierarchy.

The brand blue marks primary actions and the current location. Neutral surfaces keep dense inventory information calm and readable.

Brand blue

#3F72AF

Text

Primary content

Surface

Quiet backdrop

Divider

Structure

Design system / Ant Design patterns

Familiar components. One visual language.

Search or jump to…esc
DashboardSales and store activity
NotificationsRecent updates
Item listProducts and variantsItems
CategoryOrganise productsItems
Stock entryUpdate stock countsItems
↑ ↓ move · ↵ openesc close

Form controls

Text input

Enter item name

Select

Choose category

Text area

Add a short description

Segmented control

ActiveInactive

Inventory table

Table rows, status tags, and pagination

Add item
ProductCategoryStatusStockPrice
Handwoven cotton toteAccessoriesActive24₹899
Everyday linen shirtApparelLow stock3₹1,499
1–2 of 24

Clear

Make item, stock, and price information easy to scan.

Familiar

Use common search, table, and pagination patterns.

Efficient

Keep frequent item-management actions close at hand.

[04 / 09]

Designing the MVP Experience

Our primary objective was simple:

Reduce friction in the signup flow, simplify store setup, and help sellers publish their first products within 10 minutes.

Our MVP

Simple onboarding, feature 01 / 04
Feature 01
Simple onboarding

Keep signup short and guide sellers through the essentials of setting up their store.

Start with the essentials

Store setup

Your store starts here.

Store name
Email address
Continue setup
Feature 02
Catalog management

Bring product details, prices, and stock together so sellers can prepare their first products for sale.

Build the first collection

Product details

Product name

Add product photos

Price

Set price

Stock

Add quantity

Publish product
Feature 03
Payments

Include UPI and payment gateway options in the checkout flow, with payment status alongside the order.

Connect checkout and payment

Payment options

Payment gateways

Razorpay
PhonePe
Continue to payment

Payment status linked to the order

Feature 04
Order tracking

Give sellers a clear view of each order, from confirmation through dispatch and delivery.

Keep the next step visible

Order stages

Order overview

1Confirmed
2Packed
3Dispatched
4Delivered

Explore the features with the arrows or swipe.

[05 / 09]

Design Decisions That Shaped ePettyshop

Every product decision was driven by one guiding principle: make online selling easier for small business owners. Rather than introducing more features, the focus remained on simplifying workflows, reducing friction, and building only what merchants truly needed.

Decision 01

Designing for Sellers, Not E-commerce Experts

Problem

Most existing commerce platforms expected merchants to understand complex e-commerce concepts, creating a steep learning curve for first-time sellers.

Decision

The product was designed around familiar selling behaviors, allowing merchants to transition naturally from WhatsApp and Instagram selling to a complete online store.

Outcome
  • Lower learning curve
  • Faster onboarding
  • Increased user confidence
  • Familiar merchant experience
Manual WhatsApp/IG Flow5 Manual Steps
01
Customer sends DM / query about product availability
02
Seller physically checks shelf inventory to verify stock
03
Seller manually calculates price + shipping and shares bank details
04
Seller manually writes shipping label & schedules third-party courier
05
Customer uploads payment screenshot; seller manually validates bank receipt
ePettyshop Simplified Flow3 Auto Steps
01
Customer orders instantly from self-serve online storefront
02
System instantly processes payment & automatically updates inventory
03
Seller gets automated alert, taps print for pre-filled shipping invoice
Decision 02

Building a Unified Product Management Experience

Problem

Managing products across multiple screens increased effort and made catalog creation unnecessarily complex.

Decision

Product creation was consolidated into a single workflow where merchants could manage pricing, inventory, images, SEO, shipping, and variants from one place.

Outcome
  • Faster product creation
  • Reduced navigation
  • Better usability
  • Simplified daily operations
Previous Fragmented Flow5 Screens
Tab 1 Basic Info
→
Tab 2 Pricing
→
Tab 3 Inventory
→
Tab 4 Shipping
→
Tab 5 SEO

Forced context switching across 5 separate configuration pages. High rate of form abandonment and catalog errors.

ePettyshop Unified Editor1 Screen
Unified Product ManagerSingle Scrollable Form
01. Details
02. Inventory
03. Pricing
04. SEO & Variants

All settings consolidated on a single page. Reduced catalog creation friction by 60% with instant visual feedback.

Decision 03

Building a Focused MVP

Problem

The product roadmap contained many ideas, but limited time and resources required a focused first release.

Decision

Prioritized only the features required for merchants to successfully launch and manage an online store, while planning advanced capabilities for future iterations.

Outcome
  • Faster MVP launch
  • Reduced development complexity
  • Clear product roadmap
  • Continuous improvement through customer feedback
Phase 01Feature IdeasRaw input pool of merchant requests, market benchmarks, and design ideas.
Phase 02PrioritizationFiltering core value features vs complexity to scope a focused MVP.
Phase 03MVP LaunchDeploying essential checkout & catalog features in a fast 6-week release.
Phase 04Merchant FeedbackTracking actual usage metrics and gathering direct feedback from sellers.
Phase 05Continuous EvolutionIteratively introducing advanced merchant tools based on validated needs.
Design Principle
Every major product decision focused on reducing complexity, building merchant confidence, and creating a platform that could grow alongside the businesses it serves.
[06 / 09]

Execution Schedule

The project was divided into design-discovery, prototyping, user-validation, and developer-integration phases. We utilized weekly review syncs to maintain alignment across teams.

Month 01
Discovery & ResearchMerchant field interviews, workflow analysis, competitor auditing.
Month 02
PrototypingHigh-fidelity wireframes, interactive user testing of catalog flows.
Month 03
MVP DevelopmentFrontend React scaffolding, merchant dashboard layout code.
Month 04
IntegrationsWhatsApp messaging APIs, payment gateways, and domain mapping setups.
Month 05
Beta TestingPilot releases with 50 local merchants, analytics validation.
Month 06
DeploymentPublic storefront release, merchant onboarding scaling.
[07 / 09]

Performance Over Time

Post-release metrics indicated high query response bottlenecks. We partnered with technical leads to restructure query parameters, optimizing page performance for scaling workloads.

Database Performance Scaling
Before Optimization
After Optimization
1000ms500ms100ms0100250400500+
Performance Summary:

Optimized query structures and database indexing prevented response time spikes, maintaining sub-150ms execution speeds even as concurrent merchant traffic scaled beyond 500 concurrent connections.

[08 / 09]

Key Metrics and ROI Outcomes

We achieved substantial workflow enhancements. The layout highlights three primary quantitative indicators:

30%Time reductionDaily order processing
20%Conversion boostB2C checkout path
95%Satisfaction scoreMerchant usability survey
Primary Business KPIsGrowth & Milestones
+142%Growth RateMonth-over-month increase in active storefront creations.
5,000+Active ShopsMilestone target reached within 6 months post-launch.
Processed over INR 12M in gross merchandise value (GMV)
Checkout Conversion RatesComparative
Old Checkout (WhatsApp DM Manual Flow)18.4%
ePettyshop Self-Serve Storefront58.2%
Result:3.1x conversion rate boost due to friction-free storefront order flow.
[09 / 09]

Key Takeaways

Reflecting on this product launch, key lessons include:

01
Usability Trumps Visual Decoration

Reducing visual clutter and sticking to layout patterns saved time for active users during daily transactions.

02
Early Prototyping Saves Development Costs

Validating layouts with low-fidelity sketches saved weeks of developer rebuilds by capturing workflow errors early.

03
Collaborate Daily with Engineering

Daily design-developer alignment ensured that layout ideas were feasible within the strict constraints of the dev sprint schedule.

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