Clarifying Questions

1. Who are we

   1. We are a startup that has seen an opportunity in the antique space to make buying and selling more accessible as it is still largely an unorganized market

2. What are our objectives?

   1. Our objective is to find PMF

3. What are the constraints?

   1. Time – We have to launch in anticipation that worldwide inflation and recession would trigger more activity in this market

   2. Money – We have $300K as an initial seed investment

   3. Resources – 60% of the seed investment can be allocated for engineering resources the rest is set aside for marketing

   4. Geography – no restrictions but we would like to pilot in NY, London, and Dubai

   5. Technology – No restrictions as of now

Market – Users & needs

4. Who is our customer

   1. People with disposable income who are willing to purchase antiques to collect

   2. Businesses (art dealers) who purchase to resell further

   3. People who own antiques and want to sell to make a profit are one-off sales

5. Segment – Buyers

   1. Collectors

   2. Dealers

6. Segment – Sellers

   1. Dealers

   2. One-off sellers

7. Needs Buyers

8. Need Sellers

9. Business needs

10. Focus Areas
    As we are constrained on time and resources it will be wise for us to focus on Art Collectors and Art dealers as a user group and if we can solve for this group we indirectly are solving for the rest of the users as well.

    Also, given the time constraint, we need to build an MVP and iterate so focusing on features that are must-have first and then slotting in the could haves and should have in the future iteration.

    A healthy ecosystem can only be created when the quality and quantity of supply are greater than demand. And the demand needs to grow organically to create a viable business.

11. The solution

An online marketplace that will enable antique enthusiasts to securely buy and sell authentic products.

Brainstorm  Features Based on needs

Business Needs

Seller Needs

Buyer Needs

For launch, we should consider the H impact and Low to Medium effort features as they would form the base of our application

North Star Metric to track

1. Buyers – will be successful when they can easily find and purchase an antique they like

2. Sellers – will be successful when they can sell antiques to a buyer. They will also be activated when they make their first sale

3. Business – we as a business would be successful when we can facilitate a sale

Since our objective is to reach product-market fit we must focus on the sellers and their point of activation. Sellers are activated when they make a sale.

So we could think of tracking the number of sellers with at least one sale in a given month.

Antiques – What I know

• these are items that are prized because of their rarity and uniqueness.
• Antiques can range from items that are not so costly to ones that are very expensive.
• Antiques are valued for their authenticity.
• Antiques can be about all types of products and some of them are one of a kind
• Antiques are fragile
• Antiques – not everyone buys antiques, usually people who have some disposable income
• Antiques – people who sell them can be individuals or businesses
• Antiques – are also sometimes illegally sold, so government departments try to prevent buying / selling

Users / Customers

• Sellers of Antiques – individuals, some sellers specialize in certain types of antiques
• Sellers of Antiques – businesses
• Buyers – individual buyers
• Buyers – commercial buyers / merchants
• Government Officials – with interest in preservation of artifacts
• Authenticating Agencies – such as a firm which might confirm / value an antique professionally

Target Customers:

• Newbie Sellers – Everyday individuals who have something interesting to sell, no prior experience in antiques
• Buyers of all stripes – everyday buyers and merchant buyers
• Limiting to North America as a market to test based on its overall volume

Product Value Proposition

• Make it easy for everyday people to get good value by selling their  wares for the best price. This will expand the pool of people who are into selling and buying antiques in a vibrant marketplace much broader than current alternatives.

Focusing on the Seller Persona, here is proposed list of key features apart from the ability to merchandize, sell, deliver and get paid.

Metrics

This is a marketplace product. Main things that matter:

North Star Metrics

• The number of transactions that happen in the marketplace / monthly
• The value of transactions that happen in the marketplace /monthly
• The number of unique buyers and sellers / monthly
• The number of listings active / month

Additional Metrics

• % new sellers every month
• % new buyers every month
• % repeat seller
• %  repeat buyer
• Average buyer satisfaction rating
• Average seller satisfaction rating

Antiques are the type of goods that are precious because of their age and good condition.

I would like to ask a few clarification questions before proceeding with the design:

1. Are we looking for a particular category of antiques such as furniture, pieces of art, jewelry, etc.?
2. Will this product be integrated with the current e commerce platforms? (Separate)
3. Are we looking for a web application or a mobile app? (App selected)

We are considering jewelry as a primary category and intend to separate it from antiques for buying and selling.

• Sellers are responsible for listing the antiques on the website. The sellers can again be subcategorized as follows:
  • Seller who want to list the items to earn money.
  • Seller who want to list the items to just to get rid of them.
• Buyers : who will purchase or bid on the listed antique item.
  • Collectors
  • Designers (Interior/Exterior) or Designers’ Firm.
• Antique experts / Analysts : They can basically be freelancers with some credibility or work experience in an antique shop.

1. How can I sell quickly?
2. How will I get the right value for my antique items?
3. How to win over/avoid the competition with listing of fake/duplicate antique items?
4. How can I become a trusted antique seller so that my future listings will get quicker response?
5. How to ship the items to the buyer’s doorstep with proper safety?

1. How do I earn money from expert advice and suggestions?
2. How to become a trusted antique expert on the product portal?

1. Bring a huge seller benefit (customer) and will increase the engagement and retention of the sellers for a long time, which will also keep this product alive for a long time.
2. Builds a huge trust within the seller community and which can also can potentially reduce the CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost).
3. Make the product popular as well, which also brings a huge value to the business as well.

The feature allows sellers to coordinate with an antique expert on a specific product category, starting as a trial service to experience the process. The expert evaluates the price based on high-resolution images provided by the seller.: The feature allows sellers to coordinate with an antique expert on a specific product category, starting as a trial service to experience the process. The expert evaluates the price based on high-resolution images provided by the seller.

1. Condition of the antique item.
2. Any important Inscriptions on the item.
3. Documentation with the antique (if available).

1. We will provide the option for everyone (sellers and buyers) to share the product landing page on various social networks such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
2. We can sell AdWords for the sellers which will showcase, promote their product on the home page of the app. This will also boost the business.

First, I want to clarify some assumptions. I would want to start this service in the US market (easier logistics, more data on antiques, large existing market) and I would want to build a web app because there is often a lot of information associated with antiques and it’s easier to scroll and review images (damages etc) on a larger screen size.

Next, I’d like to define some user groups who could use this service.

1. Adults who are avid collectors of a certain era or type of item

2. Interior designers looking for unique items for their clients

3. Wealthy individuals who are looking for sophisticated pieces/originals

4. Adults decorating their home on a thrifty budget

I’m going to select the last user group because re-selling is trending these days and it would be interesting to design a service that brings antiques further into mainstream buying.

I’d also like to define the goals of this service. Given that this is a true marketplace and its a new service, the goal is primarily to acquire a critical mass of buyers and sellers to create network effects. I will also assume our business model is focused on transaction fees for now (we can talk about advertising and other services later).

Thus the key metrics I would focus on for this service are related to acquisition and activation (though I’d also want to track total revenue, profits, and GMV) (1) Total items listed on the service (2) Number of merchants (3) Number of buyers acquired (clicking through the product listings) (4) Bounce rate (5) Number of buyers completing registration into our platform

Next, I’ll walk through what the pain points or user needs of this user group are:

1. These adults are often busy (may have children or busy with other obligations as they are doing home decorating in addition to their existing responsibilities) and want to find interesting items without spending too much time sifting through items

2. This group is not necessarily sophisticated antique buyers so they find the history of the item slightly interesting (so they can post or share the story with their friends) but care more about function and aesthetic more than verifying its origin

3. These users are looking for items that will match their home

4. These users are on a budget/price sensitive so want to find the best item for the price

5. This group is not willing to pay a lot for shipping. Would go with the cheaper option if presented.

Also for the antique sellers, there are two types – the shops who have an inventory of items and individuals who are selling their existing items. Neither of these groups has sophisiticated shipping capability. I would want to select one group to focus on to start building out our item listing. I would select the shops because I can build a critical mass of items much more quickly given the amount of items they have.

Some pain points of the shop:

1. With the growth of online business and low traffic due to COVID, they’re finding that they could connect more with shoppers if they were also present online.

2. They don’t have warehouse and other fulfillment and shipping services available currently. It’s difficult and expensive to get the manpower to provide these services.

3. They only have a limited number of each item.

4. They may not be tech savvy (often successful antique sellers are those who have been doing it for a long time)

OK let’s move to solutions.

I would like to pair solutions 2 & 3 together. As an MVP, I would start with helping shoppers discover the items near their local antique shops by providing them with targeted products. This will help them save both time and money. It also addresses the issues that antique merchants face in trying to fulfill orders because it’s focused on local delivery and gig workers can help ensure that items are delivered.

Some risks: The largest risks are related to fulfillment and shipping. When adding gig workers to the mix, our transaction costs will be higher. We run the risk of deterring both merchants and consumers depending on who we pass on the cost to. (Although one value of local delivery is that shoppers may be willing to pick up the item on their own to save costs). By focusing on thrifty items, it may also decrease our revenue potential esp. with all the associated costs. Also damages/returns will be difficult to handle because of the limited availability of items.

Step 1: Ask Clarifying questions to narrow down the scope of the product/ question

-What do you mean by antiques? (Anything which is rare, old, precious and expensive in nature and has a great resale value)

– Web based product or mobile app? (Mobile app)

-IOS or Android? (Both)

-For a particular region or not( Yes for the scope of this question lets assume that this app will allow buying and selling of antiques in NY only)

-Is it a standalone product or are we planning to integrate it within an already exisiting solution/marketplace

Step 2: List down the user groups.

Buying and selling of antiques will be done in a marketplace type setting hence this setting will have both buyers as well as sellers. Which will also be our 2 main targer user groups

1)Buyers :Buyers based on their buying capacity and activity can be further categorised into the following types

A) Collectors (Individual) who love buying and storing anqtirues, they are generally wealthy in nature and have a huge collection of antiques.

B) One-time individual buyers who buy because they like the antique

C) Comapnies/Organisations planning to buy antique

2)Sellers: Based on their selling capacity, sellers can be further divided/categorised into the following types.

A) One-time indidvidual sellers: Selling as they want to get rid of the antique.

B) Organisation/companies selling antiques

C) Large scale individual sellers: They have a huge collection of antiques that they want to sell off

3) Antique experts: They have a good idea/understanding of antiques and are generally freelancers in nature who give advice to people whenever they have any dounts regarding buying or selling of antiques.

Step 3: Select the target group you’ll design for and give your reason for the same

For the scope of this question I’ll go with Individual Collector (buyers) and Large scale individual sellers as these are the 2 largest user segment that will be using our app and will be able to derive maximum value from the app in the marketplace setting.

So for MVP these are the 2 user segments that i’ll be going ahead with.

Step 4: List down the user pain-points

Individual Collector (Buyer)

1) Don’t know what all antiques are available currently and are ready to be bought?

2) Searching for antiques that they like and want to buy is a time consuming process

3) Want to be able to connect directly with the seller if they have any doubts

4) Want to know if the price stated for the antique is correct or not?

5) Don’t know whether/if the payment gateway is safe or not and what are the different mode of payment available

6) Want the antique to be delivered at their doorstep

7) Want to know if they can negotiate on the price or not

8) Want to check the review and ratings of the antique, the seller before making the purchase?

9) Wants to know about the genuinity and authenticity of the antique

Large Scale Individual Sellers

1) Want to know if anyone is interested in buying their antiques?

2) Wants to connect to the buyer if they have any doubts/issues before they can make a decision?

3) Wants to reach out to the audience and ensure that the product is up and available for everyone to view

4) Wants to know what is the right price for the antique that they can ask

5) Wants to be deliver the antique in the best and fastest possible manner to the end customer

Step 5: Priorisiting the user pain-points based on criterias like Impact to end user, Impact to business value

For Buyers

For Sellers

For buyers the pain-points that we have prioritised are as follows:

1,3,4 5 and 9

For sellers the pain-points that we have prioritised are as follows:

3,4 and 5

Step 6: List down the solutions for the prioritized pain-points

For Buyers:

1) Don’t know what all antiques are available currently and are ready to be bought?

A) Easy voice based search feature: To show all the antiques that are currently available 

B) AI based recommendation feature: Which will recommend the buyer available antiques based on previous searches, interest shown, types of antiques bought earlier etc

3) Want to be able to connect directly with the seller if they have any doubts

A) Chat/Message feature: By which the buyers can directly connect to the sellers regarding any concerns/issues they have regarding the antique/product.

4) Want to know if the price stated for the antique is correct or not?

A) Reach out to antique expert with query: The buyers can reach to antique experts to check if the price stated for the antique is too high or not. If its too high then they will go to other platforms to purchase antiques, if it’s not high then they can make a decision regarding the buying of antique

5) Don’t know whether/if the payment gateway is safe or not and what are the different mode of payment available

A)  A secure payment gateway will be built such that all transactions that are carried out are encrypted in nature 

B) Linking with different payment methods/gateways like paypal, other wallets, debit cards and credit cards

9) Wants to know about the genuinity and authenticity of the antique