Point of Sale Mobi Application
Industry: FinTech
Location: South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania
Client: Nomanini
Nomanini uses mobile technology to help informal retail merchants offer electronic products and banking services to their communities – anytime. The merchant wallet connects thousands of these merchants across Africa to distributors and banks.
UX
Wireframing
Prototyping
Research
UX writing
Product Liaison
Developer Liaison
AA compliance
Prototyping
Research
UX writing
Product Liaison
Developer Liaison
AA compliance
UI
UI design
Multiple Design systems
Components
Templates
WordPress Oxygen Design
Multiple Design systems
Components
Templates
WordPress Oxygen Design
The Problem
The application caters to small retail stores in the informal sector, where the community has low to no trust in banks, carrying cash is high risk and ATMs are unavailable. This caused challenges around adoption of any new features and adversity to change.
The merchants needed to be able to achieve a transaction quickly in a busy store where internet and cell signal was intermittent. Merchants struggled with identifying whether transactions were failed, pending or successful and would make repeat requests as a result which overloaded the system.
The literacy level is often low, users seldom use email but have multiple phone numbers, making FICA and communication tricky.
Goal
To reduce user frustration and confusion, and become the only device on the merchant’s counter top.
Target Market
Merchants and owners of small retail stores in the informal sector across Africa.
The Trader Direct application includes the below set of features:
Float Loans
Stock Advances
Transaction and Sales History
Reports
Dashboards
Loan Repayments
Cash In and Out
Airtime, TV, utilities, bill pay and mobile data sales
Support Chat
Commission Tracking
Client Collaboration
The application was built by developers with no design input and minimal product assistance. As the project grew and the demand grew the team brought in product managers. I was brought in as the sole designer to assist with improving the product experience and growing its service offering.
I worked closely with 3 different product managers and the development team on each feature from concept to implementation using weekly sprint processes.
The Solution
Initially, Trader Direct only provided short term float loans. We added features for utilities, TV, mobile data and airtime purchases through voucher numbers. We introduced ewallet cash in and cash out functionality for customers to use the merchants as a cash at till where the merchants would gain commission. Merchant and owner profiles provided sales dashboards and store data across products, date ranges and regions. Support messaging services simplified the communication between admin, distribution and merchants. Push notifications aided in mitigating the communication frustrations around lack of email and multiple sms contact details.
The application ran on Android and Mobi Wire devices that we supplied to the merchants. The majority of mobile devices available to the users were feature phones and not smart phones. We developed a progressive web app which allowed for merchants without smartphones or Mobi Wires to use the application.
Partner applications were integrated into the Trader Direct application through means of update and download screens. We also designed journeys for these applications around stock, transaction history and sales.
In order to prevent repeated processing and confusion, we created clearer messaging and relooked the functionality. This meant that repeated requests were no longer possible but the merchant could continue with other transactions while pending was ongoing in the background.
The interface design was planned around a POS concept with big buttons showing icons and labels. We aimed to require minimal text inputs and and large visuals so as to speed up the sales and aid with literacy issues.
I also designed features for the admin dashboard where stores and merchants were managed, added and sales were analysed. These features included broadcast and individual messaging, support, merchant onboarding, sales leaderboards, supervisor onboarding and dashboard widgets.
Later I worked with marketing on the product website which was built in WordPress by a developer using Oxygen builder. I was brought in to fix the layout and styling and make the site responsive. I did this using the Oxygen builder.
Results
- User testing was done by the product team on site in Zambia and Tanzania and the users loved it.
- The problem around repeat transactions was mitigated and allowed the developers more time to focus on the new features and support queries.
- Users responded well to the hands-on approach by the Nomanini product team. This improved the trust relationship and thus the adoption of the new features and changes were well received.
- The commission policy brought in extra income for the merchants and motivated adoption of the new cash in/cash out feature.
- The new features allowed the users to operate their full service from one device and did not need to transport or manage as much cash as before.
- Merchants reduced the number of counter top devices they used daily.
- Owners and merchants were able to track their sales data and view reports on their most popular sales items.
- Merchants were able to keep track of stock, order necessary stock and pay their loans off in time with clear transparency on fees.
- The problem around repeat transactions was mitigated and allowed the developers more time to focus on the new features and support queries.
- Users responded well to the hands-on approach by the Nomanini product team. This improved the trust relationship and thus the adoption of the new features and changes were well received.
- The commission policy brought in extra income for the merchants and motivated adoption of the new cash in/cash out feature.
- The new features allowed the users to operate their full service from one device and did not need to transport or manage as much cash as before.
- Merchants reduced the number of counter top devices they used daily.
- Owners and merchants were able to track their sales data and view reports on their most popular sales items.
- Merchants were able to keep track of stock, order necessary stock and pay their loans off in time with clear transparency on fees.
Learnings and Outcomes
- The informal sector has a lot of untapped growth.
- The informal sector do not trust easily.
- Its tricky to maintain consistent communication with the informal sector.
- Literacy limitations are largely taken for granted when considering accessibility in digital distribution.
- Incentivising product features increases adoption.
- When fees are transparent and visible across the transaction journey, users are more trusting of the feature.
- The close communication with product and development allowed for quick turn around and minimal bugs.
- The informal sector do not trust easily.
- Its tricky to maintain consistent communication with the informal sector.
- Literacy limitations are largely taken for granted when considering accessibility in digital distribution.
- Incentivising product features increases adoption.
- When fees are transparent and visible across the transaction journey, users are more trusting of the feature.
- The close communication with product and development allowed for quick turn around and minimal bugs.
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All visuals use dummy content for privacy and security reasons
