Forefront
OVERVIEW
Forefront is a platform that seeks to combine social media and ecommerce in order to have a centralized platform for discovering local businesses. The founder wanted to figure out how to cater to her business and consumer market, as well as how/if to incorporate micro influencers to promote products.
PROJECT INFORMATION
Design Practices: user surveys, developing personas, data analysis, comparative analysis, ideation sessions, slide decks
Timeframe: 2 months
Tools: Canva, Miro, Figma, Google Forms, Google Docs
ROLE:
Created surveys
Conducted surveys
Analyzed insights
Formed personas
Conducted ideation sessions
Ran comparative analysis
Created slide decks and reports
The Challenge
Creating a platform that strengthens the visibility of locally-owned businesses
Creating a platform that builds strong ties between small businesses and their customers
Seeing where influencers play in the future of the platform
Business survey insights
Consumer survey insights
Surveys and Interviews
Business Persona
Consumer Persona
From the data collected, we formed these two personas. One representing the business owners and the other representing the consumers.
The Problem Statement
How do we create a platform that strengthens the visibility of locally-owned businesses and builds strong ties between them and their customers?
HMW Questions
How might we allow for businesses to find their target markets?
How might we build connections between the businesses and their consumers?
How might we help consumers discover local businesses?
Comparative Analysis
Etsy
Can save make lists and pin items
Season based suggestions
Suggestions based on searches
Companies have a star rating
Has a blog that promotes items
Etsy has forums for sellers to connect and discuss
Has Etsy Teams to team up with sellers nearby and promote collaboration
Follow hashtags
Instagram recently allowed creatorsto host Live sessions with up to three additional guests at a time (four
people in total)
18 to 34 year olds make up the biggestshare ofInstagram’s audience (60%)
58% of userssay they’re more interested in a brand afterseeing itin a Story
The most active brands post17 Stories per month
Brand Stories have an 86% completion rate
44% of people use Instagram to shop weekly
Golde
Locally owned ecommerce site
Accessibility adjustments such as seizure safe profile, vision impaired profile, and adhd friendly profile
Golde Customer Care chat bubble
Suggested product bundlesforroutines
Articles and recipes
Solutions
Promotions of various products
Working with activity groups and clubs that align with certain businesses
Encouraging partnerships between businesses
Forums for communicating on a b2c and b2b basis
Loyalty programs forrepeat customers
Specialrewards for customers that promote the business
Local events to promote the platform and local businesses
Giveaways
Townhall livestreams
Online challenges
Feedback surveys after sales
Local black networking events
Next Steps
There was a lack of communication with the founder of Forefront which impeded any further advancements in the development of her platform. But if given the opportunity to continue, the next steps would have been to curate the confirmed consumer base in order to draw them to and develop the site. Then from there, further testing would be done to make sure that there’s as little friction as possible for business owners and consumers.