Brand experience design for a second-hand transaction platform

Abstract

The project is about an online second-hand trading platform running in China, named Paipai Second-hand (Paipai). The project aimed to tailor a branding strategy for Paipai and deliver the according brand knowledge through a holistic brand experience to create Paipai’s brand image in consumers’ mind and build up its brand equity. Starting from the market analysis, the author investigated the context around the brand. Parallelly, some user studies were conducted to understand the user needs. The conclusions from both parts resulted in a re-defined brand positioning, including the target group, the category, and a series of benefits. After, some other researches were designed to learn users’ desires to brand experience. Based on the brand strategy and the user needs, a design guideline was created to lead Paipai’s brand experience design. Some paradigms reflecting the requirements from the guideline were designed and evaluated by users. The result of the evaluation showed that the brand experiences were desired and the design guideline was effective. The project has three distinguishing features. First, it took a user-centered approach. End-users were invited to participate in every step of the project so that their needs can be maximally detected. Second, the result of the project was mainly based on first-hand studies, which can ensure that the results of the project are tailored for Paipai and are the most likely to be the suitable solution. Third, the project aimed at a holistic brand experience to establish the brand equity rather than some marketing activities for hot spots, resulting in accumulative brand knowledge. The deliverables of the project were a re-defined brand positioning, a set of determined brand personality, a design guideline for desired brand experience, and a series of touch points paradigms.