SearchForNearSouvenir-Seeking App

Ti-Cheng LinA platform for young tourists to look for affordable and aesthetically pleasing souvenirs.

Fall 2018

Young tourists in LA find it difficult to find affordable and aesthetically pleasing souvenirs for friends.

Customer Problem Hypothesis

Description:� Aged 18 to 35

( college students or new graduates )

� Lives out of state

� Has a tight budget

Behaviors:� Loves making lots of friends

� Enjoys traveling around the world

� Comfortable with using technology

Needs & Goals:� Wants to buy an eye-catching gift for friends

� Wants to save money on buying souvenirs

� Wants an app that recommends and comparessouvenir stores

Provisional Persona

Billy Cruz, a young tourist in LA

80% (8 out of 10) of interviewees found it difficult to look for affordable and aesthetically pleasing souvenirs for friends.

Additional Findings:If there was an app that recommended and compared souvenir stores in LA, 10 out of 10 of interviewees would use it.

Interviewees response to Hypothesis:

Customer Discovery Findings

Pros� The UI of LA County Store is

clean with many images.

� The souvenirs are well organized so that it is easy to search for a specific souvenir.

Cons� The top left navigation menu

is overlapped.

� Check out section should have a better alignment.

The button is not consistent and the UX is ugly

The sub-navigation menu overlapped the main menu

Direct Competitors – LA County Store

Pros� Happy mall has categorized

the souvenirs so it is easy to search for a specific souvenir.

� It has souvenirs from all over the world and online services.

Cons� The UI of Happy Mall is old.

� Check out is not centered.

� Product listing page UX is poorly designed.

The check out section should be centered for better UX.

The listing is not easy for users to browse through all the products.

Direct Competitors – Happy Mall

Pros� Etsy’s UI is modern and stylish.

� Etsy products listing page is clear easy to look up.

� It has a map to provide local store information.

Cons� Etsy doesn't have a

suggestion system.

� Etsy doesn’t have a profile page for additional information on the seller.

Map is good for UX and easier for users to look up a specific local store

Direct Competitors - Etsy

Current MarketplaceSouvenirs look up web-based applications are likely to be competing under “Purple Ocean”. A number of websites are already selling LA’s souvenirs. One common problem is that the UI of these websites is not user-friendly.

OpportunitiesSearchForNear mobile app will focus on providing a user-friendly and consistent interface with recommender system and “buy now & pick up later “ feature by cooperating with local souvenir stores and local artists to help tourists to find souvenirs easier.

RecommendationsSome of the competitors already have a lot of users and funding, therefore SearchForNearrequires a good marketing strategy to attract more users and gain more transactions.

Competitive Analysis Findings

Prototype Screens

1.2. 3.1.

Home Page Categories Page Listing Page

Prototype Screens

1.5. 6.4.

Detail Page Check Out Page Receipt Page

Prototype Screens

1.8.7.

Map Page Favorites Page

Execution

Conducted interviews at Starbucks with 5 people that I recruited through Facebook and referrals of friends.

80% (4 out of 5) interviewees are willing to see advertising and pay 5% service fee for the “buy now and pick up later” feature.

100% (5 out of 5) interviewees said that they will use this app to find souvenirs for friends in LA.

User Research Interview Findings

• Customer Segment and their Problem Validated5 out of 5 (100%) young tourists said that they have a hard time to find the souvenirs for friends.

• Value Proposition Validated5 out of 5 (100%) young tourists said that they will use this app to find souvenirs for friends in LA.

• Business Model Validated4 out of 5 (80%) young tourists are willing to see advertising and pay 5% service fee for the “buy now and pick up later” feature.

Based on my learnings, the plan is to persevere.

Facebook Advertising Campaign

Ad1 – focused on the problem Ad2 – focused on the solution

Landing Page - Top

Landing Page - Bottom

Unbounce & Facebook Ad Campaign Results

Advertising Campaign Findings

� The conversion rate for the landing page is 11.11% which is high. However, the results might not be precise due to the small pool of visitors.

� The ad campaign CTR is 0.38% which is not as good as expected on the Ad campaigns due to the fact that my target is the tourists. Tourists do not check mobile phones intensely during their trip.

� People aged 18 to 24 tend to click on the link in the evenings.

Next Steps

IF AN INVESTOR WERE TO GIVE ME $100,000 TO MOVE FORWARD…

� Hire iOS and Android developers to build the APP and launch the MVP on the App Store and Google Play.

� Run online advertising campaigns with a killer landing page and place offline advertisements in local hotels and souvenir stores to get more attention from my target customers.

� Analyze the collected user research data and update the APP.

Thank you for listening!