Venato: reducing seller listing friction by 85% through rapid product validation

Online resellers experience extremely high-friction in the reselling workflow. They spend between 40 and 120 minutes to create a single listing, which made the effort disproportionate to the financial return.

I transformed a high-friction reseller workflow into a rapid, AI-assisted listing experience that reduced creation time by 85% and improved seller decision confidence.

TEAM - Product designer (me), CTO, Project Manager

MY ROLE - I led the whole design process, from initial research to implementation

PROJECT SCOPE - Designing a totally new B2C mobile app, in 3 weeks

YEAR - 2024

THE RESEARCH AND DESIGN PROCESS BEHIND VENATO

1/4 - Qualitative interviews to uncover online resellers painpoints

I focused on fast qualitative interviews with online resellers to identify the most time-consuming steps in their workflow.

The most valuable insight was that users didn’t simply need faster cross-listing.
They also needed decision support in pricing and description generation, as these are the factors that create the most friction in the flow.

2/4 Turning research insights into core features for the product

Based on the research, I prioritized three strategic core features:

reducing manual effort through AI-assisted listing generation
improving seller confidence through ipricing support
creating longer-term retention through inventory and portfolio tracking

During my research, I conducted some competitor analysis for analyzing recurring patterns on their platforms, as well as features that could've been improved in Venato.

3/4 - Cross-roles iteration loop to quickly validate design decisions

Because speed was critical, I only focused on designing these 3 core features of the product by initially going through a rapid loop of solution design, wireframing and stakeholders validation and feedback.

In this context, collaboration with the CTO and the Project Manager was crucial to validate design decisions.

4/4 - Quick wireframing and prototyping to validate product value proposition with test users

Wireframes were reviewed early with the CTO and PM to quickly validate feasibility, business value, and investor-facing clarity before moving into high-fidelity design and prototyping.

Coordinating with the rest of team has been a key part of the research, for gathering early feedback and making sure that my designs were aligned with their expectations.

USERS' VALIDATION AND REACTIONS

The final prototype successfully demonstrated the product’s value proposition to early target users.
In user validation, the strongest feedback centered around the reduction in listing effort and the perceived value of inventory tracking:

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Even though the concept was not approved for investment, the sprint helped surface the viability and market assumptions early, preventing the investor committee from committing larger resources without stronger validation.

One of the most valuable learnings from this project was understanding how design can accelerate strategic decisions, even when the outcome is negative.
In many ways, helping the business to make an informed decision faster is just as valuable as shipping the product itself.

Other projects I worked on

Social Bonding: a strategy to build a trust-centered social media app

Users have several trust issues when entering social media contexts, specially when it comes to prove the authenticity of the people they interact with, which directly impacts their will to engage and form meaningful connections.

Through early research, interviews, and competitive analysis, I identified key areas where users feel unsafe on other platforms, and designed a trust-centered user experience.

(project under NDA, some details about the product may have been changed)

Greenmatch: solving conversion drop-off in an acquisition flow through UX and trust optimization

This case focused on improving a lead generation flow where usability issues, accessibility barriers, and low trust signals were causing users to abandon the quote process, directly impacting lead conversion.

I transformed a high-friction acquisition flow into a clearer, trust-led experience designed to reduce abandonment and unlock higher lead conversion.

Let’s connect

Reach out on my social media accounts! I share insights about UX psychology and product features 🧠

Follow me on Instagram

Connect with me on LinkedIn