Brief and my role

The client is an e-commerce startup that sells monthly subscriptions for contemporary children books in Russia.

They started getting requests for their service from Russian-speaking families who lives overseas.

The client wanted to know if it was worth expanding their service to new markets.

I was the only user researcher and designer on the project.

Problem

Parents in Russia are surrounded by classical and contemporary children books written in Russian. Current users were treating this service as part of entertainment for their kids.

The client didn’t know about how Russian-speaking families who live abroad think about and find new Russian-language books for their kids.

They also didn’t know if the current solution would satisfy their needs.

Solution

I used various user research methods to understand behaviours of the new user group, and compare this to those of current users.

My discovery showed that although there is an unmet need in the new market, the company must make a very significant shift to satisfy such need. Undergoing such changes did not make business sense.

However, I suggested using new discoveries to improve their current offering.