Transatlantic logistics made easy – Shipzee.com

Website

Services

Development • UX/UI

Shipzee is an unusual logistics project. It allows its customers to easily ship items from the US retailers to Europe without having to deal with complicated procedures: customs, additional taxes, couriers, etc. Users simply choose the product and Shipzee takes care of everything else.

Even though the service itself works great, the technical aspect of Shipzee's system was not up to par. This client came to us with a request to make their system work more efficiently, to implement good development practices like Scrum and CI/CD and to completely overhaul the UI/UX with a new design solution. Additionally, implemented changes should allow them to optimize the development costs of the project and increase the sales.

#CodeBase

rewritten

#UX/UI

redesigned

#Costs

reduced

#BackEnd

issues fixed

Task

Since the client was not satisfied by the development quality of the previous provider, we started this project with the Technical Audit and CRO Audit. It’s our standard procedures during which we inspect the client's system as it would be our own - we point to main technical pain points that need to be addressed. Also, we provide guidance on how the overall processes should be improved to make development more efficient.

The main problems that we identified were security vulnerabilities, inefficient UX/UI design and lack of good development practices in general. After discovering these weaknesses we decided to focus on three main areas that needed serious improvement:

To solve these problems we raised three main challenges:

1. Set a new stadard for code quality

Code quality needed to be improved to avoid security vulnerabilities and to increase performance

2. Completely redesign front-end

New UI solution was needed to provide better user experience and increase conversions

3. Implement good development practices

Good development practices like Scrum, CI/CD and testing were needed to improve system's performance and optimize costs

Solution

Delivered technical solutions

Developing a new front-end using Nuxt.js/Vue.js

Renewing the code base based on Laravel framework (PHP)

Building a unified framework solution

Integrated LupaSearch solution to increase the speed and precision of product search

Migration to Google Cloud Platform and Kubernetes

Fixing critical back-end issues to improve system's security and performance

Core technologies:

Laravel, Nuxt.js, Vue.js, Kubernetes, Google Cloud

Core technologies:

Laravel, Nuxt.js, Vue.js, Kubernetes, Google Cloud

Design and user experience (UX/UI)

Shipzee needed a visual update since the old interface was starting to look dated and wasn’t conveying their message effectively. However, updating design elements according to modern visual practices is only one piece of the puzzle. To identify the main areas where potential sales were lost, we performed a CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) audit.

We discovered that since Shipzee provides an unusual logistics service, it was hard for their visitors to grasp this concept quickly. The main challenge for the UX/UI team here was to explain the difference between Shipzee logistics service and a usual ecommerce store.

Justina

UX/UI Lead

Our key task was to make using Shipzee’s services easier. The main problem here was that an average customer didn’t really understand how the system works. The user journey was complicated and the existing site lacked proper design solutions to help users navigate it. For example, since the items were shipped from another continent the delivery times usually were longer than usual. It had to be explained before users made the final decision in order to avoid misunderstandings and potential disappointment

Implemented UX/UI design solutions:

Designed a completely new user interface

Created the main service landing page

Improved and shortened user’s journey

After analyzing the website visitors’ browsing data we identified the main pain points where Shipzee was losing its customers due to confusing experience. The key task here became improving the user UX/UI that were obstructing higher sales.

Main challenges

While it may not be noticeable at the beginning of the project, the absence of good development practices causes many challenges in the long term. This is what previously happened at Shipzee. Future-proofing this project became one of our main goals.

Vaidas

CTO

After auditing the Shipzee system we discovered that it had some serious vulnerabilities and overall code quality was not up to par with provided service. To solve it we have rewritten the code base and implemented good development practices such as CI/CD, Scrum and testing to avoid pitfalls like this in the future.

Results

What we've achieved

Improved platform's overall code quality

It helped to achieve higher system's security and performance

Completely redesigned UX/UI solution

Users we able to navigate the website easier and reach their goals faster

Established good practices of DevOps

The development and maintenance costs were lowered and system became more future-proof

Implementing these changes increased the Shipzee's system security and performance. At the same time solutions like moving the system to GCP and Kubernetes allowed Shipzee to lower their development and maintenance costs.

We have also designed a completely new UX/UI solution and front-end. It allowed users to understand an unusual logistics service better and place their orders more efficiently generating more revenue for the business.

Synergy of these solutions allowed Shipzee to improve their internal performance, lowered their development costs and provided system's users with fluid experience.