Vodafone global IoT marketplace
Project date: 2020
Vodafone IoT
Vodafone was, in 2018, one of the first telecommunications operators to offer Internet of Things devices; they wanted to play a pivotal role in the industry.
In order to become a leader, they invested heavily in creating a completely new product category and several individual product verticals, all under the V by Vodafone ecosystem, which consisted of:
• V-sim subscription.
• Internet of Things hardware.
• E-commerce acquisition channels: Global Eshop & Global Marketplace.
• The service native application V-app.
The challenge
I joined Vodafone at their Berlin Innovation Lab, at that time known as CVRSH, because I thought that the challenge to bring Internet of Things devices to the masses was really challenging yet interesting.
CRVSH specifically was tasked with creating the marketplace to sell the long tail of Vodafone’s Internet of Things devices. This marketplace should have all the typical features of an e-commerce platform and be connected to a vendor portal, where Vodafone partners ( whose hardware was approved to be sold using Vodafone-V sim cards) could control several of the fulfillment process, like load products in the platform or activate the channels where they could be sold.
Who was our customer?
Vodafone surveyed more than 1500 customers across three European markets: UK, Germany, and Spain. Targeting users of Internet of Things devices, both Vodafone and non-Vodafone customers, the data was weighted to reflect the true proportions of customers and non-customers of Vodafone in the markets surveyed.
We later used these insights to shape the user interfaces of the marketplace:
1. Overall, users wanted clear information to understand how devices connected to the internet and how hardware, SIM subscriptions, and internet access were related.
2. Users expected high-quality educational content in the marketplace, and all groups viewed explainer videos as the most effective way to understand the product proposition.
My contribution creating "Works with V" marketplace
Initial MVP definition & design sprint
One of the first initiatives I drove was the organization and conduct of a design sprint to gather early requirements and establish a minimum viable product. With the insights research at hand, I built together with a cross-functional team a first prototype, which we used to condense all that the customer insights and vision into a practical example.
Marketplace user experience and user interface
After defining the minimum viable product, I took care of building up the whole design of the platform, from apliying Vodafone Brand guidelines, creating a categorization of the product catalog, the definition of UX flows, and the build-up of all the high-fidelity user interface screens and definitions from Home to Checkout.
Vendor B2B partner platform
The vendor platform was a key element of the marketplace, where partners that were approved to sell compatible products with Vodafone V-SIM cards could add their products to the marketplace.
Through the vendor platform, they could control several aspects, like as:
• Get basic analytics of their catalog.
• Add new products to the marketplace.
• Enrich the content of their product catalog.
…
This was a really challenging project, where I got to have control over all the aspects of the design process.
I learned the importance of a robust design system, specially as a solo designer. I learned as well how important is to involve stakeholders along the steps of the project, specially in big organisations like Vodafone.
Milestones and impact
During the years I worked on this project, from 2019 til it’s 2020 release, Vodafone’s IoT connections grew from about 88 million to over 108 million, an increase of 20 million devices, roughly 23% growth. Initiatives such as creating the Vodafone global IoT Marketplace supported this expansion by improving accessibility, visibility, and activation of connected products. While not the sole driver, the marketplace contributed to the broader ecosystem that enabled Vodafone’s IoT portfolio to scale globally.
Thanks for giving it the time to look at this project. Special thanks for; Joss Zimmermann, Karim Ouda & Dushyant Rijhwani among other great people I meet at CRVSH.
