YETI

Rental marketplace for ski & snowboard equipment

This online marketplace connects people who want to rent out their ski equipment with those looking for it for their ski trip.

Medium: Responsive website

Role: UX UI Designer

Personal project

Background

Over the past few years, skiing has become a more accessible sport for everyone. There are a lot of cheaper flights and accommodations at ski resorts. Getting ski gear hasn't changed much, though.

Skiers & snowboarders can either buy or rent their equipment, but I'll focus on renting.

No need to store all the stuff
No need for carrying it on the flight
Makes the trip more flexible to continue
Much cheaper
Each time you get better or older, you can rent the equipment that fits you

Why skiers rent their gear?

Problem statement

What’s wrong with renting equipment then?

Waste of time

People spend a lot of time waiting in lines at the rental stores and lose precious skiing time

No guidance

Online ordering makes it hard to choose the right gear for your needs

Inconvenience

There's A lot of shops in each town so you need to do some research if ordering online, it's a lot of effort

Not many choices

It doesn't feel safe enough to rely on the selection in the stores

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User research

I started the research phase with surveys. The survey was conducted among 30 skiers & snowboarders. My responders were 80% male and 20% female, Half of them were at the age of 25-35 (millennials) and most of them have been skiing at least once a year ( if they can ).

Here are some of the significant data that received:

Most popular reasons that prevent people renting ski equipment:

45%

28%

55%

28%

Poor quality and worn out equipment

Choosing to buy their own gear

A limited selection of equipment

Waiting in line is a waste of time

75%

Use the guide at the renting store to help them choose the equipment they need.

Among all survey participants

65%

Order separately every part of their vacation (flights, hotel, skipass and the gear) and they made it online.

Among all survey participants

60%

Prefer getting the gear at the ski resort so they could see and feel the gear before choosing it.

Among people who order separately

User research

One of the main issues is the incompatibility the users had with rental gear. They need guidance to choose the gear that fits their skills and sizes.

The help

What are the users pain points?

The online renting stores don’t promote a sense of trust and reliability. Some of the users had a poor experience with old and low-quality gear when they ordered online.

Trust me

Online ordering does not allow you to see and choose the gear you will rent, so most of the users prefer to arrive at the store, and take the risk that there will not be suitable equipment for them, than commit to something they order online but cannot see it.

Pig in a poke

Market research and inspiration

In my research, I wanted to explore how other products dealt with two types of users – Renters and Sellers. Also, I wanted to check how they make the users feel secure, how they managed to adjust items to the user's needs, and more challenges i`ve been dealing with in my project.

To help adjust the equipment to the rider there's a need for some information on the user (sizes, level of riding, etc). The most common use is a questionnaire.

# Use customization

KEY INSIGNTS :

I researched ski gear rental shops, peer-to-peer and sharing marketplaces, E-commerce and more.

One of the biggest challenges in the sharing marketplaces is the lack of trust of the users. The way to handle this is by showing other users reviews and the details of the renter.

# Reliability

There are many stores to rent in every ski site in the world. Gathering all the equipment in one online site can be a great solution.

# One tool for many places

As the sharing marketplace is relatively new, many users find it difficult to understand the overall process. This is why there is a need for a “How it works” button under the search bar on the homepage.

# Peer-to-peer marketplace

The goal

Create an easy-to-use responsive website for renting gear from other riders in minimal time and effort

What values will the user receive?

Saving money

Peace of Mind

Convenience

Issues I won’t be addressing

Since is not an actual project, I won’t be addressing:

The flow of the other users - the people who want to rent their equipment.
The flow within the locker machine
Group ordering and bill splitting

I will be addressing the major problem I described only

The solution

When entering YETI website the user gets the main values of this product and a CTA button. He can read about how the process works, explore the equipment and see some reviews before deciding if it fits his needs.

Main values

To customize the equipment to the user there’s a need to some information about the person and about his habbits (questions that the salesperson in a store will ask).

Questionnaire

The user can easily select his matching gear by adding it to “your selection”. After picking all the stuff, the user can request to rent and move to payment.