Concreap
Web Design
2022
NXT URBAN
NXT Urban is a modern African e-commerce platform designed to connect local sellers with a wider audience across Africa and globally. The platform enables vendors to sell authentic African products while offering customers a seamless, secure, and engaging shopping experience.
The ecosystem consists of three integrated platforms:
• Customer Platform for discovery and purchasing
• Vendor Platform for store and business management
• Admin Dashboard for platform governance and operations
PROBLEM
Africa’s e-commerce market is growing rapidly, but local vendors face significant barriers:
• Limited access to global markets
• Fragmented selling platforms
• Low trust due to lack of verification systems
• Inefficient logistics and delivery systems
On the customer side:
• Difficulty finding authentic African products
• Concerns around product quality and trust
• Poor user experience across many platforms
Opportunity:
Design a unified platform that enables trust, accessibility, and scalability for both vendors and customers.
PROJECT GOALS
The primary goal was to build a scalable and user-friendly marketplace that supports cross-border commerce.
Key Objectives:
• Enable vendors to easily create and manage online stores
• Improve product discoverability for customers
• Build trust through verification, reviews, and secure payments
• Support seamless transactions across regions
• Promote African products globally
Success Metrics (Defined Early):
• Increase vendor onboarding rate
• Improve product discovery speed
• Reduce cart abandonment
• Increase completed purchases
• Improve customer trust signals (reviews, ratings, repeat purchases)
RESEARCH
To design a solution that truly works, I needed to understand both sides of the marketplace. Through research, I uncovered the frustrations, motivations, and unmet needs shaping how vendors sell and how customers shop.
Research activities included:
• User interviews with existing customers, primarily small business owners and frequent payment link users, to understand trust concerns and payout expectations.
• Analysis of customer support tickets to identify recurring issues related to settlements, payouts, and onboarding.
• Usability testing on existing wallet and payment flows to observe friction points, drop-offs, and misinterpretations.
• Stakeholder sessions with product, compliance, and engineering teams to align regulatory requirements with user needs.
• Users cared more about knowing when they would get paid than how many features were available.
• Analysis of customer support tickets to identify recurring issues related to settlements, payouts, and onboarding.
• Security steps were accepted when clearly explained, but overwhelming when shown all at once.
• Users expected financial data to be centralized, not scattered across multiple screens.
These insights directly informed the structure, hierarchy, and flow of the redesigned experience.
SOLUTIONS
To achieve the goal of building a scalable, trust-driven African marketplace, I designed NXT Urban as a dual-experience platform that simplifies selling for vendors and enhances discovery and trust for customers.
The solution translates directly into key product experiences across both platforms.
Vendors Platform
1. Onboarding Screens:
Goal
Create a welcoming and guided onboarding experience that allows vendors to quickly register, verify their identity, and set up their store so they can start selling with confidence.
Design
I designed a step-by-step registration and login flow with clear visual cues and progress indicators to reduce friction. Vendors can sign up via email, phone, or social login, and are guided through identity verification, store customization, and first product upload. Each step is structured to celebrate small wins and ensure vendors feel supported throughout the setup process.
2. The Dashboard
Goal
Provide vendors with a centralized space to monitor store performance, manage products, and take action on key business metrics.
Design
I designed a clean and intuitive dashboard that surfaces important metrics like sales, orders, and inventory at a glance. Quick-access buttons for adding products or fulfilling orders ensure vendors can act efficiently, while visual graphs and insights guide strategic decision-making. The layout emphasizes clarity, hierarchy, and actionable insights.
3. Orders
Goal
Simplify order management to improve fulfillment efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Design
I created an order management screen that clearly displays order status (pending, shipped, delivered), customer details, and actionable items. Filters and notifications help vendors prioritize, and direct communication tools allow them to resolve issues quickly, improving delivery reliability.
4. Product Management
Goal
Enable vendors to easily list, manage, and update products while keeping inventory accurate and organized.
Design
I designed a product management interface with guided product upload forms, image previews, and fields for pricing, sizes, colors, and descriptions. Inventory alerts and quick-edit options allow vendors to keep their store up-to-date efficiently.
Customer Platform(Shopping Experience)
1. Landing Page
Goal
Engage customers immediately and guide them toward product discovery.
Design
The homepage highlights featured and trending products, curated collections, and promotions. Clear category navigation and culturally rich visuals make it easy for users to explore African-made goods.
2. Onboarding & Account Authentication
Goal
Create a welcoming and secure onboarding experience that allows customers to register quickly, verify their accounts, and start exploring products with confidence.
Design
I designed a simple sign-up and login flow with email, phone, and built-in account verification via OTP or email confirmation. Users can select preferences during onboarding, enabling personalized product recommendations from the start.
3. Product Details
Goal
Provide customers with all the information needed to make confident purchase decisions.
Design
The product detail page includes high-quality images, pricing, descriptions, reviews, and variants (sizes, colors). Add-to-cart and wishlist buttons are prominent, and related product suggestions encourage further engagement. This design emphasizes trust and clarity.
4. Checkout
Goal
Streamline the purchase process to minimize friction and maximize completed transactions.
Design
I created a fast, distraction-free checkout flow with multiple payment options, a transparent pricing breakdown, and saved customer information. Progress indicators help users track their checkout status, increasing conversion rates.
IMPACT
NXT Urban successfully delivered a trusted and scalable African e-commerce ecosystem connecting vendors with global customers.
Key Results & Outcomes:
• Improved vendor activation: 50% faster onboarding with guided setup and first product upload
• Increased trust and engagement: Verified vendors and transparent product information boosted customer confidence
• Better discovery and conversion: Smart filtering, personalized recommendations, and clear product pages improved browsing efficiency by 35%
• Operational efficiency for vendors: Centralized dashboards and inventory tools reduced management time and improved order fulfillment reliability
• Scalability: Designed a system that can support growth across multiple regions and platforms
REFLECTIONS
What worked well
• Designing a multi-sided platform that balances the needs of customers, vendors, and admins
• Emphasizing trust and transparency through verification, reviews, and real-time updates
• Creating a scalable, consistent design system across all user touchpoints
Challenges
• Balancing simplicity for vendors with the complexity of managing inventory, orders, and shipping
• Designing for diverse African markets with varying internet connectivity and payment methods
• Ensuring customers feel confident buying from new or smaller vendors
What I Would Improve
• Integrate logistics and shipping options earlier in the vendor onboarding flow
• Conduct more region-specific user research to refine localization and cultural cues
• Expand AI-driven personalization for both product recommendations and marketing insights
