GIRLFRIEND COLLECTIVE

The brand is inclusive, but breaks that promise at checkout

Girlfriend Collective is a inclusive and sustainable activewear eCommerce.

Objective: Remove the barriers in the purchase flow of the online store, from finding a product to checkout.

Role: End-to-end Product Designer (UX/UI).

Timeline: 5 weeks.

BUSINESS PROBLEM

Girlfriend is an American brand that makes activewear from recycled plastic, built on inclusivity and body positivity.
It went viral with a Facebook campaign "Share the website with a friend to receive a free pair of leggings": 10,000 orders in 24 hours, stock sold out.

Yet the e-commerce contradicts that story.
Discounts are invisible, out-of-stock items aren't flagged, there is no wishlist, live chat or sort by and checkout requires registration with no social login, not even Facebook, the channel that made the brand famous.

Target: Millennials and Gen Z sensitive to environmental impact.

SOLUTION & RESULT

| The brand promises inclusivity.
The UX extends it into the interface.

• Visible discounts
  with a homepage slider, a dedicated page and badges.
• Wishlist and Live Chat
  to support the decision and drive conversion.
• Guest checkout and Social Login
  to remove barriers at registration.

HEURISTIC REVIEW & COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

| 5 heuristic violations that hide information needed to decide

Through a heuristic evaluation I found 5 violations that hide the information needed to decide.
The two most serious: promotions hidden with no labels or section, and no way to sort products by price, popularity or newest.

I then compared the site with 8 US competitors in sustainable activewear:

• 7 out of 8 display offers clearly. Girlfriend doesn't.
• 8 out of 8 let users sort results. Girlfriend doesn't.
• Only 3 out of 8 have a favourites feature. A gap but a less common one.
• Size range: Girlfriend has the widest, and only 2 competitors come close.
  Inclusivity was Girlfriend Collective strength.

USER RESEARCH, PERSONAS & JOURNEYS

| An eco-conscious shopper who still needs to justify $60

I surveyed 54 women aged 20-40 based in the US:

• 53% are environmentally conscious, and sustainability builds trust in a brand.
• 69% shop in store, to try the product and assess the fit.
• 71% buy every 2-4 months: planned purchases, not impulse.
• 56% spend $21-40 on a pair of leggings.

They needed reasons to trust the purchase: visible discounts, saved favourites.
From the data I built two personas and two journeys.
They showed where people give up: hidden discounts make them leave the site, no sorting makes browsing frustrating, unflagged stock wastes clicks, and mandatory registration lengthens the checkout.

USER FLOWS & SITEMAP

| The revised information architecture has solved the pain points that emerged in the user journeys and flows

• Findability Discounts, Stock and Sort by made visible.
• Decision support Wishlist to save products and Live Chat to solve doubts in real time.
• Checkout Guest Checkout and Social Login.

WIREFRAMES

USABILITY TESTING

| Did the fixes actually fix? Yes

I tested the prototype with 5 women aged 25-43 across four tasks spread between desktop and mobile:

• Find a specific product
• Complete the checkout
• Contacting support

Results:

• Under 1 minute for both findability and checkout on desktop.
• Under 12 seconds to find discount sections and customer service on mobile.

4 out of 5 found discounts through the homepage slider, only 1 through the navbar and only 1 used live chat, so it needs more visibility, like a sticky button.

UI KIT

| Inclusivity in sizing and design

The UI palette uses skin tone shades and meets WCAG accessibility standards, so inclusivity shows up in the interface too.