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Project
Context
A Dubai-based e-commerce startup reimagining the fashion lifecycle by merging social inspiration with a secure marketplace. The platform leverages AI to deliver hyper-personalised discovery, streamlined buy and selling, and automated logistics.
I partnered closely with the founder to architect the platform, transforming a bold vision into an elevated, market-ready digital experience.
Role
Head of Product
Team
Me · Founder · Front-end Dev · Back-end Dev
Timeline
6 months
Tools
Figma · Jitter · ChatGTP · StoryBook · Midjourney · Linear
The Impact
£3.2m Revenue generated.
20,000 Users in the first 4 months.
4.8/5 App Store rating.
March · 2025
The Challenge & Opportunity
The Fragmented Ecosystem
The current resale landscape is polarised. It’s either high-end luxury (e.g., The Luxury Closet) or unstructured (social channels/classifieds).
The Market Gap
Global resale fashion is booming ($211bn in 2023), yet users lack a single, safe platform for all-category resale. Our opportunity was to build a curated, secure marketplace with guaranteed delivery that bridges this gap.
March · 2025
1 mon
Discovery & Strategy
Defining Product-Market Fit
To validate our assumptions, the founder and I conducted deep-dive interviews with prospective users.
We found that while appetite was high (25% of UAE consumers had bought pre-owned recently), the experience was plagued by friction in payment, logistics ( delivery), and trust.
The "11-Star" Framework
To solve this, we adopted Airbnb’s "11-star experience" methodology. We mapped out what a magical version of the resale loop would look like specifically for buying, selling, payment, and shipping.
Concierge Shipping
We integrated automated shipping so users never had to queue at a post office. A delivery driver came to them.
Payment & Trust
To eliminate the fear of scams, we built a secure escrow system that holds funds until the item is authenticated and received.
AI-Assisted Selling
We utilised AI to analyse product images and autofill descriptions, removing the "writer's block" friction for sellers.
Truly curated feeds
By collecting hundreds of data points, we curated the discovery feed to feel hand-picked for every single user.
Prototyping & Validation
I built early prototypes to test immediate flows with local users. This allowed us to fail fast and refine the core journeys before writing a single line of production code.
March · 2025
3 mon
Design Philosophy
Conversational but Concise
I wanted a UI pattern that stripped away jargon. The goal was to make the user journey feel like a helpful chat, humanising the experience without increasing time-to-task.
Feedback Loops
We moved beyond guesswork by embedding feedback mechanisms directly into key flows. This allowed us to capture user sentiment in the moment and iterate based on real data.
The "Feel Good" Factor
I leveraged motion design, haptics, and micro-interactions to ensure every touchpoint felt intentional. This focus on sensory details differentiated us from competitors, turning routine transactions into tactile, satisfying experiences.
March · 2025
3 mon
Development and launch
Agile Quality Assurance
Collaborating with a veteran dev team, I utilised my engineering background to bridge the design-dev gap. At the end of every sprint, I reviewed builds not just for visual accuracy, but for interaction fidelity, ensuring the "feel" wasn't lost in code.
Data Integrity for AI
Analytics were a dependency, not an afterthought. I worked with the team to validate tracking events, ensuring our AI models received the high-quality data needed to power the personalisation features.
Phased Launch Strategy
Alpha/Beta: Released to 500 users over 3 months to squash bugs and refine flows.
Go-to-Market: Once stable, we activated regional influencers to drive adoption, resulting in a rapid scale-up to 20k users.
