How Customer Research Reframed the Jewelry Shopping Experience

1stDibs is a curated marketplace of over a million extraordinary pieces, from furniture and fine art to jewelry and fashion. Since 2014, Everyday has partnered with 1stDibs on various design, research, and strategy initiatives, including their first native iOS app. 

1stDibs is most well known for vintage and antique furniture, however the site offers many beautiful items including jewelry. The 1stDibs product saw an opportunity to attract more jewelry shoppers by rethinking the jewelry shopping experience. First, we needed to learn how jewelry shoppers browsed and how 1stDibs could best support them.

What We Did

  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Concepting workshop
  • Customer interviews
  • UX design
View our Capabilities

Project Type

  • Marketplace e-commerce

Project Date

  • 2019-2020
simplified research goals mobile
Our research goal is to understand jewelry consumers’ process for shopping for designer or vintage jewelry in order to uncover opportunities to better support their behaviors, needs and preferences.

Project Strategy

Determining the Right Problem to Solve

We began by conducting stakeholder interviews to define the success for the project and understand the challenges. We held a workshop with a cross-functional team to brainstorm how we could encourage exploration and discovery. The output of the workshop was a set of high-level concepts. Next, we needed the customer’s perspective to learn how they shop both in and out of 1stDibs.

“More recently I've been looking into the resale sites, like 1stdibs. I've gone that route more, because I think, being in the retail world, paying full price just is like... It's like purchasing a car. You walk off the lot, and it's worth nothing.”

Image of jewelry with a quote from a research participant about purchasing jewelry from resale sites.

“More recently I've been looking into the resale sites, like 1stdibs. I've gone that route more, because I think, being in the retail world, paying full price just is like... It's like purchasing a car. You walk off the lot, and it's worth nothing.”

Discovery Research

Learning First-Hand How Customers Shop

We recruited 1stDibs jewelry customers to participate in 1-hour remote interviews. In our conversations, we learned about their priorities and preferences in jewelry and asked them to recall their last purchase and discuss the steps involved. The interview ended with a screen-sharing exercise where they shared how they shop with different sites, including 1stDibs. 

The results were rich portrayals of the journeys shoppers take to collect and invest in jewelry. 

Terms customers use to describe jewelry that differed from the taxonomies used by 1stDibs.

Our research highlighted how a jewelry purchase is different than shopping for furniture. A jewelry purchase is a personal long-term consideration woven between emotional factors. Participants had different terms they used to describe what they were shopping for. These terms were often subjective and visual and didn’t always align with the typical taxonomies and functionality on the 1stDibs site.

The research revealed that participants wanted more ways to feel confident in their investments. From better imagery, storytelling, and communication with dealers to authenticity, participants were seeking reassurance in their purchases.

Outcomes

A Customer-Supported Jewelry Shopping Experience

Insights from the research helped recalibrate the product team’s perspective on how to support their jewelry customers. The research helped highlight the critical details that are important in making a jewelry purchase. It drove a redesign of the product detail screens and resulted in an experience that helped engage, educate and support customers as they shop for that perfect piece.

The Everyday team were our partners in design research & UX design. They helped us uncover customer insights that guided the design for our apps and web experiences.”

XIAODI ZHANG

CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER AT 1STDIBS

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