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Loco

Home of Vietnamese hand-crafted products

Industry

E-commerce

What I did

User research, UI/UX Design

Timeline

Jan 2021 - Jan 2023

Team

1 Product Designers & 3 Engineer

✨ How It All Began

In early 2021, I found myself scrolling through Facebook, where my feed was filled with Vietnamese artisans posting photos of their handmade goods, beautiful embroidery, pottery, weavings, often alongside “DM me to buy.”

Problem Statement

Vietnamese artisans have the talent, the stories, the products, but they didn’t have a place to truly shine.

During the pandemic, small businesses in Vietnam struggled to transition online. Existing e-commerce platforms lacked a focus on handcrafted and customized products. Sellers faced issues with customer engagement, pricing, and logistics.

Problem Statement

Vietnamese artisans have the talent, the stories, the products, but they didn’t have a place to truly shine.

That’s when the idea for Loco was born:

What if we could build a digital space just for Vietnamese hand-crafted products?

A home where Vietnamese artisans could share their crafts, tell their stories, and connect with people who truly appreciated the time and care behind every piece?

That’s when the idea for Loco was born:

What if we could build a digital space just for Vietnamese hand-crafted products?

A home where Vietnamese artisans could share their crafts, tell their stories, and connect with people who truly appreciated the time and care behind every piece?

💡 The Vision

Loco wouldn’t be just another online shop. It would be:

A curated marketplace for Vietnamese handmade, customizable products

A curated marketplace for Vietnamese handmade, customizable products

A storytelling platform that brought each maker’s journey to life

A storytelling platform that brought each maker’s journey to life

A space for conversation, not just transactions

A space for conversation, not just transactions

✅ Design Challenges

Defining Unique Selling Point
Differentiate Loco from mass-market platforms by focusing on curation, maker stories, and personal connection.

Defining Unique Selling Point
Differentiate Loco from mass-market platforms by focusing on curation, maker stories, and personal connection.

Onboarding Sellers
Create simple, low-friction seller onboarding that feels easy even for non-technical users.

Onboarding Sellers
Create simple, low-friction seller onboarding that feels easy even for non-technical users.

Building Trust With Shoppers Without Big Brand Recognition
Help shoppers feel confident buying from small, lesser-known sellers.

Building Trust With Shoppers Without Big Brand Recognition
Help shoppers feel confident buying from small, lesser-known sellers.

👩‍🎨 The People We Built For

When we set out to design Loco,
We asked: Who’s struggling the most, and why?

On one side, we met Vietnamese artisans, passionate about their craft but stuck in a digital world that wasn’t built for them.

Cổ Trang Đại Việt Quán

Cổ Trang
Đại Việt Quán

Sellers
Chi, who specialize in making traditional costume.

“I post every day on Facebook, but it’s hard to reach new customers without paying for ads.”

Sellers - Chi
who specialize in making traditional costume

“I post every day on Facebook, but it’s hard to reach new customers without paying for ads.”

The Coffee House

Cổ Trang
Đại Việt Quán

Sellers
Tuan, Frontline Insights from The Coffee House

“Managing orders in my inbox is messy and confusing.”

Sellers Tuan
Frontline Insights from The Coffee House

“Managing orders in my inbox is messy and confusing.”

Cổ Trang
Đại Việt Quán

Sellers
Chi, who specialize in making traditional costume.

“I post every day on Facebook, but it’s hard to reach new customers without paying for ads.”

Cổ Trang
Đại Việt Quán

Sellers
Tuan, Frontline Insights from The Coffee House

“Managing orders in my inbox is messy and confusing.”

On the other, shoppers who were tired of the same mass-produced items and wanted something more personal, but didn’t know where to look.

Shoppers
Thuy, searching for Something That Feels Personal

“I want to find something special to gift my mom, but all I see are mass-produced items.”

Shoppers
Thuy, searching for Something That Feels Personal

“I want to find something special to gift my mom, but all I see are mass-produced items.”

Shoppers
Diem, Looking for Trust Before She Buys

“I don’t know anything about who made this or if I can trust it.”

Shoppers
Diem, Looking for Trust Before She Buys

“I don’t know anything about who made this or if I can trust it.”

By focusing on the real friction points, Loco wants to create a shared space where:

Sellers felt seen, empowered, and respected for their craft
Shoppers felt safe, inspired, and emotionally connected to their purchases

It is a meeting place, built for trust, stories, and slow-made goods.

🛠 What We Built

📱 Feature Highlights

We were trying to build a bridge between the artisans and the shoppers.

To make it works, we had to design for both. That meant balancing simplicity with trust, storytelling with structure, and community with commerce.

Curated Discovery & Filters

Scrolling through generic online stores didn’t inspire shoppers. They wanted something special, something that felt crafted, not mass-produced.
We designed the home discovery to feel like a weekend market: with curated gift ideas, local spotlights, and filters for material, region, and story.

Curated Discovery & Filters

Scrolling through generic online stores didn’t inspire shoppers. They wanted something special, something that felt crafted, not mass-produced.
We designed the home discovery to feel like a weekend market: with curated gift ideas, local spotlights, and filters for material, region, and story.

Curated Discovery & Filters

Personalized Seller Storefronts

Many artisans were used to posting products on Facebook, buried under comments, likes, and messy threads.
Loco create the storefront, where they can share their story, display their products, and show the process behind their work.

Personalized Seller Storefronts

Many artisans were used to posting products on Facebook, buried under comments, likes, and messy threads.
Loco create the storefront, where they can share their story, display their products, and show the process behind their work.

Scrolling through generic online stores didn’t inspire shoppers. They wanted something special, something that felt crafted, not mass-produced.

We designed the home discovery to feel like a weekend market: with curated gift ideas, local spotlights, and filters for material, region, and story.

Easy Product Upload

Most artisan sellers weren’t tech-savvy. They just wanted a way to upload their work without jumping through hoops.
So we made it easy: take a photo, write a few words, publish. No stress. No design degree required.

Easy Product Upload

Most artisan sellers weren’t tech-savvy. They just wanted a way to upload their work without jumping through hoops.
So we made it easy: take a photo, write a few words, publish. No stress. No design degree required.

🌸 User Test

As we put Loco in the hands of real users, the product started to evolve.

Early tests with Vietnamese shoppers quickly revealed they weren’t just browsing for something fun and content alone wasn’t enough; shoppers wanted to see movement, excitement, reasons to come back.

We also had to rethink our feature priorities and reintroduced in-app chat, which turned out to be a game-changer. Vietnamese buyers preferred confirming stock directly with sellers, often chatting first, buying later. That single behavior completely reshaped how we approached the buyer-seller relationship.

Shopping Reels

We knew shoppers weren’t just looking for a product, they were looking for inspiration.
Shopping Reels is short, scrollable videos to make the marketplace feel more alive.

Shopping Reels

We knew shoppers weren’t just looking for a product, they were looking for inspiration.
Shopping Reels is short, scrollable videos to make the marketplace feel more alive.

Buyer–Seller Chat

In Vietnam, shoppers like to ask questions, confirm availability, or just chat before deciding.
That’s why we built messaging so buyers could connect with sellers naturally.

Buyer–Seller Chat

In Vietnam, shoppers like to ask questions, confirm availability, or just chat before deciding.
That’s why we built messaging so buyers could connect with sellers naturally.

🛠️ What I Did as a Designer (and More)

Though my title was product designer, on a small team, I wore a lot of hats:

Easy Product Upload

Led user research with both buyers and sellers in Vietnam (conducted in Vietnamese and English)

Led user research with both buyers and sellers in Vietnam (conducted in Vietnamese and English)

Built wireframes and prototypes in Figma, tested often, iterated fast

Built wireframes and prototypes in Figma, tested often, iterated fast

Collaborated daily with engineers, writing user stories, testing builds, and giving input on backend flows (like how messages or orders were stored)

Collaborated daily with engineers, writing user stories, testing builds, and giving input on backend flows (like how messages or orders were stored)

Set up product analytics (with help!) to measure adoption, drop-offs, and conversion

Set up product analytics (with help!) to measure adoption, drop-offs, and conversion

This was my first time bringing a product from zero to one — not just designing it, but shaping it, launching it, and making it real.

📊 The Impact

We hit 100+ daily active users within our MVP

Earned attention from major investors and regional partners
Identified key local habits (like the preference for direct messaging)
Used real user data to shape our pivot strategy

But growth wasn’t easy. Despite our design and vision, Loco struggled with seller adoption and engagement.

Vietnamese e-commerce is heavily driven by incentives, free shipping, discounts, loyalty perks, and as a small team, we didn’t have the funding to compete with giants like Shopee and Lazada, who were backed by Alibaba and Sea Group.

Still, we gained clarity. Loco may not have scaled as we’d hoped, but it surfaced valuable insights that reshaped how we thought about local market fit and sustainable growth.

We hit 100+ daily active users within our MVP

Earned attention from major investors and regional partners
Identified key local habits (like the preference for direct messaging)
Used real user data to shape our pivot strategy

But growth wasn’t easy. Despite our design and vision, Loco struggled with seller adoption and engagement.

Still, we gained clarity. Loco may not have scaled as we’d hoped, but it surfaced valuable insights that reshaped how we thought about local market fit and sustainable growth.

📚 What I Learned

As the only designer and a co-founder, I wore just about every hat, from UI design to pitch decks to go-to market strategy. It was my first true 0→1 experience, and the lessons were unforgettable:

🌏 Local context is everything
What works in one market might fail in another. Learning how Vietnamese users browse, message, and buy forced us to let go of assumptions and build with cultural nuance in mind.

⚡ Done is better than perfect
Shipping fast and testing in the real world gave us feedback we’d never have found.

🤝 It’s a team sport
Working side-by-side with engineers taught me how to design within real-world constraints and advocate for the user in every product decision.

🪡 Storytelling builds trust
Giving artisans space to share their journey didn’t just make the app feel warmer. It made shoppers more likely to buy.

Loco wasn’t just a design project. It was a crash course in product thinking, team collaboration, and what it takes to create something that matters for people whose livelihoods depend on it.

Wanna collaborate? Let's Chat!

I am currently looking for a team where I can take part, learn from, and become a better designer (/human).

Let's Chat!

Wanna collaborate? Let's Chat!

I am currently looking for a team where I can take part, learn from, and become a better designer (/human).

Let's Chat!

Wanna collaborate? Let's Chat!

I am currently looking for a team where I can take part, learn from, and become a better designer (/human).

Let's Chat!

Wanna collaborate?
Let's Chat!

I am currently looking for a team where I can take part, learn from, and become a better designer (/human).

Let's Chat!