Redefining and modernising search on Trade Me from million dollar homes to cheep home decor and everything imaginable in between.
Customer-Centric
Collaboration
Data driven
Delivery
Usability
Interaction design
Research
TL:DR
Over 12 months, I led Shipping Transparency across three cross-functional squads spanning seller tooling and buyer experiences on Web and mobile. The initiative introduced a scalable structured shipping architecture across millions of listings, repositioning delivery information from a hidden detail to a primary decision signal.
This work strengthened buyer trust, improved commercial performance, and established a reusable platform capability.
Scope
Role
Impact
The context
Background
Trade Me has historically been perceived as a second-hand marketplace rather than a credible destination for new goods. As global e-commerce expectations accelerated during COVID-19 which put this perception became a commercial risk.
In response, Trade Me invested in a multi-year transformation to become a competitive goods marketplace. I was part of a senior design group that defined a five-year product vision to support this shift, ultimately securing long-term investment under the strategy “Best in range, delivered quick smart.”
The Problem
Trade Me needed to compete with global e-commerce leaders while supporting one of the most complex seller ecosystems in the market.
The marketplace includes:
User research and competitive analysis revealed a critical gap. Buyers lacked clear, trustworthy shipping information early in their decision-making process and confirmed that the Trade Me brand isn't seen as an traditional e-commerce destination. This created friction at the exact moment buyers were comparing listings, leading to hesitation and decision paralysis leading to abandoning the journey altogether.
Constraints
Vision
My strategic goal was to move shipping from a hidden detail to a primary decision signal without overwhelming buyers or fragmenting the experience.
We can improve Trade Me for buyers and increase conversion by providing upfront transparent shipping information (speed, price, availability)
This required us to, Bringing shipping information forward into search, Standardising delivery data across professional sellers and design a system flexible enough to support different sellers with different motivations. Crucially, this was not a UI problem alone and required aligning design, product, and engineering around a shared architectural and experiential vision.
Shipping transparency vision poster
My Leadership
Aligning Three Squads Around a Shared Outcome
I stepped into a cross-stream design lead role, aligning three designers and ensuring design and architectural coherence across the buyer and seller experence. This prevented fragmented execution and local optimisation.
Product Diamond (Trio) Continuous Discovery model
I partnered with the Product Manager to formalise a the product diamond decision model, embedding product management, engineering, delivery, and design accountability within a single decision-making forum. This clarified trade-offs, reduced circular debate, and increased decision speed across the initiative.
The process
1
Vision
During a senior design vision sprint, I identified Search as the highest leverage comparison moment where buyer hesitation was most visible. Working with the Product Manager we formed a clear vision to enpower the teams hypothesis that surfacing shipping cost and delivery time at this stage would increase buyer confidence and reduce decision fatigue at the point of evaluation.
A Senior Commercial Analyst pushed for a simplified all-in total price to create a cleaner comparison experience. However, this approach would have introduced inaccuracy across auction pricing and pickup scenarios, ultimately increasing confusion. I advocated for structured transparency over cosmetic simplicity to protect buyer trust and ensure the solution remained commercially credible at scale.
2
User research
I led moderated interviews and supporting surveys to validate buyer frustration around hidden and inconsistent shipping information. The research confirmed that buyers expected upfront shipping costs and delivry timeframes and were frustrated by having to open listings to discover delivery costs.
I translated these findings into a detailed end-to-end journey map that clearly surfaced friction points. This artefact aligned squads around measurable behavioural problems and grounded the strategy in evidence rather than assumption.
"I like that you can see the shipping charges. It's quite annoying to [have to] go through and look at how much it is." - User testing participant
"The inconsistency of delivery info is annoying but not unexpected from Trade Me. It is an expectation from other e-commerce. Trade Me is person to member not a company [so the expectations are not the same]." - User testing participant
Shipping transparency user journey
3
Opportunity Tree
From the research the Product Manager and I created an Opportunity Tree to clearly outline how each the research insights align to the strategy. This ensured the project maximised the impact across the experience for our users while aligning with strategic priorities.
4
Shipping architecture
To surface shipping in Search, structured seller inputs were essential. I worked closely with Engineering to define experience requirements that informed the structured shipping tree data model. This model enabled buyer location matching, auction compatibility, and pickup handling at marketplace scale. The result was 85 percent adoption among professional sellers and structured delivery logic applied across millions of listings.
5
Cross-Stream Design Leadership
Seller and Buyer squads progressed independently, creating a real risk that one user group’s needs would outweigh the other. I stepped into a cross-stream design leadership role and aligned three designers under shared delivery principles. This intervention ensured architectural coherence across surfaces and maintained an appropriate balance between buyer confidence and seller usability.
6
Buyer release
The business required visible progress, creating pressure to release quickly. This introduced tension within the product diamond around speed versus impact.
I advocated for automatic address matching, based on the hypothesis that an opt-in model would not achieve meaningful exposure. To validate this assumption I ensured we had an A/B test. When opt-in adoption remained in the single digits, we pivoted decisively to automatic matching using the buyer’s last-used delivery address. This shift significantly increased exposure and unlocked measurable commercial uplift.
7
Expanding the shipping architecture
Following the initial release, I initiated further research and developed a proposal with the support of my Design Lead and Product Manager. I explored extending structured shipping into the cart multi-purchase flow.
The data showed that cart transactions averaged 2.6 items per purchase compared to 1.1 items in the standard Buy Now (single item purchase) flow. Simplifying this process and introducing upsell opportunities presented a clear opportunity to increase transaction volume.
However, as the company pivoted towards consumer-to-consumer focus in response to competitive pressure from Facebook Marketplace and this initiative was deprioritised. I worked with Principal Product Manager on the next 3 year stratgy , we made a deliberate decision not to invest further in purchase flow optimisation and instead focused on onboarding new users and retaining high-value customers.
Execution
Shipping information displayed in search
This allows users to quickly scan and understand the full cost in search simplify item comparison
Consistent delivery logic across millions of listings
To achieve a contest delivery logic I worked the the engineering team to shape the technical direction. We agreed to create a shipping tree to make exact shipping costs to buyers delivery addresses.
Clear Shipping in the purchase journey
We aimed to make shipping information visible where it mattered most, at the start of the purchase journey.
Simplified purchase
With the new shipping logic we are now able to match the users delivery address to the correct shipping costs removing an unconventional and unessecry step in the purchase process simplifying the user journey.
No user action onboarding
We started with an opt-in to deliver value quickly. I hypothesised that an opt-in wasn’t going to achieve the goal to get a majority of buyers with the new delivery information. With a low result in the single digits my hypothesis was proved correct and we automatically matched up the shipping architecture with last used delivery address.
Impact
Commercial impact
+6.6%
relative increase in Listing View to Purchase conversion
+3.9%
relative increase in Listing View to Watchlist conversion
Customer impact
79%
of buyers rated the new shipping information “very” or “extremely helpful”
85%
Pro-seller adoption of the new shipping templates
What This Demonstrates
Lead complex, multi-team initiatives with shared ownership
Leading a group of designers across the seller and buyer journeys balancing the outcomes for both user groups.
Design leadership
Navigate technical constraints without compromising user value
Trade Me’s legacy architecture and highly fragmented seller ecosystem made consistent shipping information difficult to deliver. Instead of designing an idealised experience disconnected from feasibility, I partnered early with engineering to shape a scalable shipping data model and define guardrails for accuracy and adoption. This allowed us to achieve 85% professional seller adoption and delivery information in search to balancing system constraints with user confidence.
Systems Design
Framing design as user problems with commercial impact
Rather than treating shipping visibility as a UI enhancement, I framed it as a conversion and trust lever critical to Trade Me’s competitiveness in e-commerce.
Business Impact
Align long-term platform thinking with near-term delivery
I positioned Shipping Transparency as more than a feature, it was a foundational capability. While we delivered immediate value by surfacing shipping information.
Platform Thinking
The success of Shipping Transparency contributed directly to Trade Me’s evolving brand perception.
Trade Me has historically been perceived as a second-hand marketplace rather than a credible goods destination. By releasing structured shipping information the experience was more aligned with a modern e-commerce expectations.
Change Leadership
Operate effectively at Lead level across product, design, and engineering
My role extended beyond design execution. I helped shape the strategic framing, influenced prioritisation decisions, guided technical feasibility discussions, and maintained experience quality across multiple teams.
Strategic Leadership
Gallery
iOS
Android
Web
Redefining and modernising search on Trade Me from million dollar homes to cheep home decor and everything imaginable in between.
Customer-Centric
Collaboration
Data driven
Delivery
Usability
Interaction design
Research
TL:DR
Over 12 months, I led Shipping Transparency across three cross-functional squads spanning seller tooling and buyer experiences on Web and mobile. The initiative introduced a scalable structured shipping architecture across millions of listings, repositioning delivery information from a hidden detail to a primary decision signal.
This work strengthened buyer trust, improved commercial performance, and established a reusable platform capability.
Scope
Role
Impact
The context
Background
Trade Me has historically been perceived as a second-hand marketplace rather than a credible destination for new goods. As global e-commerce expectations accelerated during COVID-19—this perception became a commercial risk.
In response, Trade Me invested in a multi-year transformation to become a competitive goods marketplace. I was part of a senior design group that defined a five-year product vision to support this shift, ultimately securing long-term investment under the strategy “Best in range, delivered quick smart.”
The Problem
Trade Me needed to compete with global e-commerce leaders while supporting one of the most complex seller ecosystems in the market.
The marketplace includes:
Buyer user reseach and competitive analysis revealed a critical gap: buyers lacked clear, trustworthy shipping information early in their decision-making process.
This created friction at the exact moment buyers were comparing listings, leading to hesitation, watchlisting instead of purchasing, or abandoning the journey altogether.
Constraints
Vision
My strategic goal was to move shipping from a hidden detail to a primary decision signal without overwhelming buyers or fragmenting the experience.
We can improve Trade Me for buyers and increase conversion by providing upfront transparent shipping information (speed, price, availability)
This required us to, Bringing shipping information forward into search, Standardising delivery data across professional sellers and design a system flexible enough to support different sellers with different motivations. Crucially, this was not a UI problem alone and required aligning design, product, and engineering around a shared architectural and experiential vision.
Shipping transparency vision poster
My Leadership
Aligning Three Squads Around a Shared Outcome
I stepped into a cross-stream design lead role, aligning three designers and ensuring design and architectural coherence across the buyer and seller experence. This prevented fragmented execution and local optimisation.
Product Diamond (Trio) Continuous Discovery model
I partnered with the Product Manager to formalise a the product diamond decision model, embedding product management, engineering, delivery, and design accountability within a single decision-making forum. This clarified trade-offs, reduced circular debate, and increased decision speed across the initiative.
The process
1
Vision
During a senior design vision sprint, I identified Search as the highest leverage comparison moment where buyer hesitation was most visible. Working with the Product Manager we formed a clear vision to enpower the teams hypothesis that surfacing shipping cost and delivery time at this stage would increase buyer confidence and reduce decision fatigue at the point of evaluation.
A Senior Commercial Analyst pushed for a simplified all-in total price to create a cleaner comparison experience. However, this approach would have introduced inaccuracy across auction pricing and pickup scenarios, ultimately increasing confusion. I advocated for structured transparency over cosmetic simplicity to protect buyer trust and ensure the solution remained commercially credible at scale.
2
User research
I led moderated interviews and supporting surveys to validate buyer frustration around hidden and inconsistent shipping information. The research confirmed that buyers expected upfront shipping costs and delivry timeframes and were frustrated by having to open listings to discover delivery costs.
I translated these findings into a detailed end-to-end journey map that clearly surfaced friction points. This artefact aligned squads around measurable behavioural problems and grounded the strategy in evidence rather than assumption.
"I like that you can see the shipping charges. It's quite annoying to [have to] go through and look at how much it is." - User testing participant
"The inconsistency of delivery info is annoying but not unexpected from Trade Me. It is an expectation from other e-commerce. Trade Me is person to member not a company [so the expectations are not the same]." - User testing participant
Shipping transparency user journey
3
Opportunity Tree
From the research the Product Manager and I created an Opportunity Tree to clearly outline how each the research insights align to the strategy. This ensured the project maximised the impact across the experience for our users while aligning with strategic priorities.
4
Shipping architecture
To surface shipping in Search, structured seller inputs were essential. I worked closely with Engineering to define experience requirements that informed the structured shipping tree data model. This model enabled buyer location matching, auction compatibility, and pickup handling at marketplace scale. The result was 85 percent adoption among professional sellers and structured delivery logic applied across millions of listings.
5
Cross-Stream Design Leadership
Seller and Buyer squads progressed independently, creating a real risk that one user group’s needs would outweigh the other. I stepped into a cross-stream design leadership role and aligned three designers under shared delivery principles. This intervention ensured architectural coherence across surfaces and maintained an appropriate balance between buyer confidence and seller usability.
6
Buyer release
The business required visible progress, creating pressure to release quickly. This introduced tension within the product diamond around speed versus impact.
I advocated for automatic address matching, based on the hypothesis that an opt-in model would not achieve meaningful exposure. To validate this assumption I ensured we had an A/B test. When opt-in adoption remained in the single digits, we pivoted decisively to automatic matching using the buyer’s last-used delivery address. This shift significantly increased exposure and unlocked measurable commercial uplift.
7
Expanding the shipping architecture
Following the initial release, I initiated further research and developed a proposal with the support of my Design Lead and Product Manager. I explored extending structured shipping into the cart multi-purchase flow.
The data showed that cart transactions averaged 2.6 items per purchase compared to 1.1 items in the standard Buy Now (single item purchase) flow. Simplifying this process and introducing upsell opportunities presented a clear opportunity to increase transaction volume.
However, as the company pivoted towards consumer-to-consumer focus in response to competitive pressure from Facebook Marketplace and this initiative was deprioritised. I worked with Principal Product Manager on the next 3 year stratgy , we made a deliberate decision not to invest further in purchase flow optimisation and instead focused on onboarding new users and retaining high-value customers.
Execution
Shipping information displayed in search
This allows users to quickly scan and understand the full cost in search simplify item comparison
Consistent delivery logic across millions of listings
To achieve a contest delivery logic I worked the the engineering team to shape the technical direction. We agreed to create a shipping tree to make exact shipping costs to buyers delivery addresses.
Clear Shipping in the purchase journey
We aimed to make shipping information visible where it mattered most, at the start of the purchase journey.
Simplified purchase
With the new shipping logic we are now able to match the users delivery address to the correct shipping costs removing an unconventional and unessecry step in the purchase process simplifying the user journey.
No user action onboarding
We started with an opt-in to deliver value quickly. I hypothesised that an opt-in wasn’t going to achieve the goal to get a majority of buyers with the new delivery information. With a low result in the single digits my hypothesis was proved correct and we automatically matched up the shipping architecture with last used delivery address.
Impact
Commercial impact
+6.6%
relative increase in Listing View to Purchase conversion
+3.9%
relative increase in Listing View to Watchlist conversion
Customer impact
79%
of buyers rated the new shipping information “very” or “extremely helpful”
85%
Pro-seller adoption of the new shipping templates
What This Demonstrates
Lead complex, multi-team initiatives with shared ownership
Leading a group of designers across the seller and buyer journeys balancing the outcomes for both user groups.
Design leadership
Navigate technical constraints without compromising user value
Trade Me’s legacy architecture and highly fragmented seller ecosystem made consistent shipping information difficult to deliver. Instead of designing an idealised experience disconnected from feasibility, I partnered early with engineering to shape a scalable shipping data model and define guardrails for accuracy and adoption. This allowed us to achieve 85% professional seller adoption and delivery information in search to balancing system constraints with user confidence.
Systems Design
Framing design as user problems with commercial impact
Rather than treating shipping visibility as a UI enhancement, I framed it as a conversion and trust lever critical to Trade Me’s competitiveness in e-commerce.
Business Impact
Align long-term platform thinking with near-term delivery
I positioned Shipping Transparency as more than a feature, it was a foundational capability. While we delivered immediate value by surfacing shipping information.
Platform Thinking
The success of Shipping Transparency contributed directly to Trade Me’s evolving brand perception.
Trade Me has historically been perceived as a second-hand marketplace rather than a credible goods destination. By releasing structured shipping information the experience was more aligned with a modern e-commerce expectations.
Change Leadership
Operate effectively at Lead level across product, design, and engineering
My role extended beyond design execution. I helped shape the strategic framing, influenced prioritisation decisions, guided technical feasibility discussions, and maintained experience quality across multiple teams.
Strategic Leadership
Gallery
iOS
Android
Web
How structured delivery architecture drove a 6.6% conversion uplift across millions of listings.
Organisational Influence
Platform Thinking
Systems Design
TL:DR
Over 12 months, I led Shipping Transparency across three cross-functional squads spanning seller tooling and buyer experiences on Web and mobile. The initiative introduced a scalable structured shipping architecture across millions of listings, repositioning delivery information from a hidden detail to a primary decision signal.
This work strengthened buyer trust, improved commercial performance, and established a reusable platform capability.
Scope
Role
Impact
The context
Background
Trade Me has historically been perceived as a second-hand marketplace rather than a credible destination for new goods. As global e-commerce expectations accelerated during COVID-19 which put this perception became a commercial risk.
In response, Trade Me invested in a multi-year transformation to become a competitive goods marketplace. I was part of a senior design group that defined a five-year product vision to support this shift, ultimately securing long-term investment under the strategy “Best in range, delivered quick smart.”
The Problem
Trade Me needed to compete with global e-commerce leaders while supporting one of the most complex seller ecosystems in the market.
The marketplace includes:
User research and competitive analysis revealed a critical gap. Buyers lacked clear, trustworthy shipping information early in their decision-making process and confirmed that the Trade Me brand isn't seen as an traditional e-commerce destination. This created friction at the exact moment buyers were comparing listings, leading to hesitation and decision paralysis leading to abandoning the journey altogether.
Constraints
Vision
My strategic goal was to move shipping from a hidden detail to a primary decision signal without overwhelming buyers or fragmenting the experience.
We can improve Trade Me for buyers and increase conversion by providing upfront transparent shipping information (speed, price, availability)
This required us to, Bringing shipping information forward into search, Standardising delivery data across professional sellers and design a system flexible enough to support different sellers with different motivations. Crucially, this was not a UI problem alone and required aligning design, product, and engineering around a shared architectural and experiential vision.
Shipping transparency vision poster
My Leadership
Aligning Three Squads Around a Shared Outcome
I stepped into a cross-stream design lead role, aligning three designers and ensuring design and architectural coherence across the buyer and seller experience. This prevented fragmented execution and local optimisation.
Product Diamond (Trio) Continuous Discovery model
I partnered with the Product Manager to formalise a the product diamond decision model, embedding product management, engineering, delivery, and design accountability within a single decision-making forum. This clarified trade-offs, reduced circular debate, and increased decision speed across the initiative.
The process
1
Vision
During a senior design vision sprint, I identified Search as the highest leverage comparison moment where buyer hesitation was most visible. Working with the Product Manager we formed a clear vision to empower the teams “Everything you could want delivered, quickly, cheaply and as promised” The hypothesis behind the vision statement was surfacing shipping cost and delivery time at this stage would increase buyer confidence and reduce decision fatigue at the point of evaluation.
A Senior Commercial Analyst pushed for a simplified all-in total price to create a cleaner comparison experience. However, this approach would have introduced inaccuracy across auction pricing and pickup scenarios, ultimately increasing confusion. I advocated for structured transparency over cosmetic simplicity to protect buyer trust and ensure the solution remained commercially credible at scale.
2
User research
I led moderated interviews and supporting surveys to validate buyer frustration around hidden and inconsistent shipping information. The research confirmed that buyers expected upfront shipping costs and delivery timeframes and were frustrated by having to open listings to discover delivery costs and evaluate similar listings.
I translated these findings into a detailed end-to-end journey map that clearly surfaced friction points. This artefact aligned squads around measurable behavioural problems and grounded the strategy in evidence rather than assumption.
"I like that you can see the shipping charges. It's quite annoying to [have to] go through and look at how much it is." - User testing participant
"The inconsistency of delivery info is annoying but not unexpected from Trade Me. It is an expectation from other e-commerce. Trade Me is person to member not a company [so the expectations are not the same]." - User testing participant
Shipping transparency user journey
3
Opportunity Tree
From the research the Product Manager and I created an Opportunity Tree to clearly outline how each the research insights align to the strategy. This ensured the project maximised the impact across the experience for our users while aligning with strategic priorities.
4
Shipping architecture
To surface shipping in Search, structured seller inputs were essential. I worked closely with Engineering to define experience requirements that informed the structured shipping tree data model. This model enabled buyer location matching, auction compatibility, and pickup handling at marketplace scale. The result was 85 percent adoption among professional sellers and structured delivery logic applied across millions of listings.
5
Cross-Stream Design Leadership
Seller and Buyer squads progressed independently, creating a real risk that one user group’s needs would outweigh the other. I stepped into a cross-stream design leadership role and aligned three designers under shared delivery principles. This intervention ensured architectural coherence across surfaces and maintained an appropriate balance between buyer confidence and seller usability.
6
Buyer release
The business required visible progress, creating pressure to release quickly. This introduced tension within the product diamond around speed versus impact.
I advocated for automatic address matching, based on the hypothesis that an opt-in model would not achieve meaningful exposure. To validate this assumption I ensured we had an A/B test. When opt-in adoption remained in the single digits, we pivoted decisively to automatic matching using the buyer’s last-used delivery address. This shift significantly increased exposure and unlocked measurable commercial uplift.
7
Expanding the shipping architecture
Following the initial release, I initiated further research and developed a proposal with the support of my Design Lead and Product Manager. I explored extending structured shipping into the cart multi-purchase flow.
The data showed that cart transactions averaged 2.6 items per purchase compared to 1.1 items in the standard Buy Now (single item purchase) flow. Simplifying this process and introducing upsell opportunities presented a clear opportunity to increase transaction volume.
However, as the company pivoted towards consumer-to-consumer focus in response to competitive pressure from Facebook Marketplace and this initiative was deprioritised. I worked with Principal Product Manager on the next 3 year strategy and we made a deliberate decision not to invest further in purchase flow optimisation and instead focused on onboarding new users and retaining high-value customers.
Execution
Shipping information displayed in search
This allows users to quickly scan and understand the full cost in search simplify item comparison.
Consistent delivery logic across millions of listings
To achieve a contest delivery logic I worked the the engineering team to shape the technical direction. We agreed to create a shipping tree to make exact shipping costs to buyers delivery addresses.
Clear Shipping in the purchase journey
We aimed to make shipping information visible where it mattered most, at the start of the purchase journey.
Simplified purchase
With the new shipping logic we are now able to match the users delivery address to the correct shipping costs removing an unconventional step in the purchase process simplifying the user journey.
No user action onboarding
We started with an opt-in to deliver value quickly. I hypothesised that an opt-in wasn’t going to achieve the goal to get a majority of buyers with the new delivery information. With a low result in the single digits my hypothesis was proved correct and we automatically matched up the shipping architecture with last used delivery address.
Impact
Commercial impact
+6.6%
relative increase in Listing View to Purchase conversion
+3.9%
relative increase in Listing View to Watchlist conversion
Customer impact
79%
of buyers rated the new shipping information “very” or “extremely helpful”
85%
Pro-seller adoption of the new shipping templates
What This Demonstrates
Lead complex, multi-team initiatives with shared ownership
Leading a group of designers across the seller and buyer journeys balancing the outcomes for both user groups.
Design leadership
Navigate technical constraints without compromising user value
Trade Me’s legacy architecture and highly fragmented seller ecosystem made consistent shipping information difficult to deliver. Instead of designing an idealised experience disconnected from feasibility, I partnered early with engineering to shape a scalable shipping data model and define guardrails for accuracy and adoption. This allowed us to achieve 85% professional seller adoption and delivery information in search to balancing system constraints with user confidence.
Systems Design
Framing design as user problems with commercial impact
Rather than treating shipping visibility as a UI enhancement, I framed it as a conversion and trust lever critical to Trade Me’s competitiveness in e-commerce.
Business Impact
Align long-term platform thinking with near-term delivery
I positioned Shipping Transparency as more than a feature, it was a foundational capability. While we delivered immediate value by surfacing shipping information.
Platform Thinking
The success of Shipping Transparency contributed directly to Trade Me’s evolving brand perception.
Trade Me has historically been perceived as a second-hand marketplace rather than a credible goods destination. By releasing structured shipping information the experience was more aligned with a modern e-commerce expectations.
Change Leadership
Operate effectively at Lead level across product, design, and engineering
My role extended beyond design execution. I helped shape the strategic framing, influenced prioritisation decisions, guided technical feasibility discussions, and maintained experience quality across multiple teams.
Strategic Leadership
Gallery
iOS
Android
Web
