The Problem We Were Actually Solving
As a frontend engineer, I've always been frustrated with the assumption that every person in the world has an American credit card, lives in a Western country, and speaks excellent English. But for creators like myself in Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and dozens of other countries, platforms like Gumroad, Etsy, and Shopify just don't work like they're supposed to. Even when we try to use them, we hit roadblocks like unconfirmed international payments, complicated checkout flows, and customer support that can't speak our local languages. And that's without even getting into the issue of online payment gateways that often don't work with our banks.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Initially, we thought we could solve this problem by just adding translations to the existing platform stores. So, we used Google Translate to translate our product pages, and our customers could magically understand English or Spanish or French with just a few clicks. Sounds simple, right? However, it wasn't as straightforward as we thought. Not only did our customers face difficulties understanding the product descriptions, but also, when they tried to make payments, they were stuck in a loop of " invalid card" or " payment declined" errors. We realized that these platforms were not designed with the needs of creators in developing countries in mind.
The Architecture Decision
I decided to take a different approach. I built a custom e-commerce platform that catered to the needs of creators in Ghana. I started by studying the payment systems used by local banks, and I discovered that many African countries have their own digital payment systems like Mobile Money and USSD codes. I integrated these systems into our platform, making it easier for our customers to make payments using their smartphones. I also simplified the checkout flow and made it more local-language-friendly, partnering with local linguists to ensure that our product pages and customer support were available in multiple languages. I didn't stop there; I also created a network of local customer support agents who spoke the language and culture of our customers.
What The Numbers Said After
After just a few months, our platform saw a significant increase in sales from creators in Ghana. Our payment success rate rose from 40% to 90%, and customer satisfaction ratings improved by 50%. We received rave reviews from our creators, who praised our platform for being user-friendly, accessible, and responsive to their needs. One of our creators even told us that our platform was the first time she felt confident selling her digital products online, thanks to our simplified checkout flow and local-language support. As a result, our platform grew to serve creators not just in Ghana but in other African countries as well.
What I Would Do Differently
However, one thing I would do differently if I were to rebuild our platform is to involve more creators from the start. We had a talented team of engineers and linguists working on the platform, but we could have benefited from more input from our actual customers. We would have learned more about their pain points and what features were truly essential to them. I'm glad we took the time to research and build a platform that met their needs, but I wish we could have done it with more collaboration from the start.