Case Study 5 — Modanisa Marketplace · 2022
Fashion Marketplace E-commerce 2022

Crafting a Marketplace Experience for a Modest Fashion Retailer

Modanisa — a global modest fashion platform shipping to 130+ countries — needed to evolve from a retailer model into a full marketplace. I led the end-to-end design: enhanced checkout, supplier orchestration, and the design system to scale it all.

Service Design UX Research Checkout / E-comm UX Design Systems Product Strategy
Client
Modanisa (via Thoughtworks)
My role
Lead Product Designer
Duration
7 months · MVP + Extension
Platform
Mobile · Web · 6+ device types
MO
90%
Task completion rate
42+
Screens designed
56+
Customer insights
14
Customer interviews
6+
New geographies

The Hidden Cost of Owning Everything

Modanisa is a Turkish e-commerce platform catering to women who wear modest fashion clothing, shipping to 130+ countries globally. During the pandemic, a surge in online shopping exposed systemic weaknesses: their systems and processes weren't suited to handle the volume, and their vision of becoming a global marketplace leader was at risk.

Stakeholder interviews with the CEO and CMO revealed a drop in customer satisfaction, reflected in NPS scores and customer support reviews. Modanisa had been owning the entire journey — supplier onboarding, merchandising, logistics, order fulfilment, and back-office operations. The consequences were significant: operational costs surged, delivery satisfaction fell, and international expansion was stifled.

A Three-Pronged Strategy

Working alongside stakeholders and a retail subject matter expert, we proposed a strategy with three connected initiatives:

01
Retailer → Marketplace
Move from owning all fulfilment to a marketplace model connecting suppliers directly to customers.
02
Enhanced Checkout
Replatform the checkout to support order splitting, multiple delivery options, and wider payment methods.
03
Connected Logistics
Create a connected network between identified suppliers and Modanisa to orchestrate orders and manage logistics.

Meet the Women Who Shop at Modanisa

I partnered with Modanisa's in-house product designer to run customer research with four clear objectives: identify key problems, understand customer behaviours and usage patterns, uncover needs and aspirations, and validate the current user journey.

Ayşe Kaya, 25 — Istanbul
Graphic Designer · High Frequency Customer

A young professional who embraces her cultural and religious values through fashion. She pays close attention to details — long sleeves, high necklines, modern trends — and wants to express her personal style without compromising modesty. Her frustrations: limited variety, sizing inconsistency across brands, and affordability challenges.

Fatma Yılmaz, 40 — Ankara
Teacher · High Volume Customer

Values quality fabrics, classic silhouettes, and timeless elegance. As a respected figure in her community, presentation matters deeply. She finds that many brands focus on younger demographics and overlook mature women who embrace modest fashion. She wants contemporary options and detailed product descriptions before purchasing.

What the Research Revealed

Discount clarity
Customers found it difficult to know which discount applied to them and which codes were valid at checkout.
Size information
Sizes vary across brands — the top reason for returns. More detailed size guidance was strongly desired.
Carrier choice
Customers wanted to choose their delivery company — a feature competitors offered but Modanisa did not.
Saved card confusion
Customers didn't realise their cards were being saved, and didn't know how to use saved cards despite 98% having at most 2 cards.

Order Orchestration as the Answer to Delivery Speed

Our core bet: when orders are split across Modanisa and suppliers, it enables faster delivery for customers and more autonomy for suppliers. We redesigned the checkout to make this split transparent and seamless — letting customers know who would deliver each part of their order from the basket onwards.

Key enhancements in the new checkout experience: order splitting made transparent and clearly communicated; multiple delivery options (express, standard, pickup); expanded payment methods including Klarna, PayPal, bank transfer, and buy-now-pay-later; and a redesigned saved card UI with explicit security messaging.

Seven Months From Discovery to Marketplace

Over 7 months, I partnered with Modanisa's team to deliver the full MVP: an enhanced checkout with the new design system across 6 devices and 4 resolutions; payment integrations with multiple gateways; faster delivery via order orchestration; and a live marketplace pilot with LCW as the first integrated supplier.

"This means we may get products faster. We wait a week for products — at least some will arrive faster now."

— Modanisa customer, post-prototype user test

90%

of participants were able to complete all tasks without hindrance — validating the enhanced checkout design across the full end-to-end flow.

After MVP, the work continued. We designed regional marketplace expansion — starting with an EU fulfilment centre — enabling Modanisa to offer locally curated assortments, avoid import taxes in specific countries, and provide faster deliveries and easier returns for European customers.

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