Link to Heroku Site: https://ample-size.herokuapp.com/users/sign_in
- ...(it's not working on there - I don't know why but will hopefully have it fixed before you get there).
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/bones26/ample-size
- ...
There is a need for an online marketplace like eBay that is solely dedicated to the plus size clothing market.
Australia does not have an official sizing system for women’s clothing. In 2008, The Australian Standard Coding Scheme for womens clothing was scrapped, allowing retailers to develop their own sizing scale based on sales data and designer preference alone.
For the mass production of clothing, designers and manufacturers use what is known as a block - basically a one-size-fits-all template from which an entire range of sizes is cut. The fit of each garment gets less accurate as it moves further from the original size.
- In Australia today, around 80% of women wear a size 14.
- The blocks being used by manufacturers are a sample size 8-10.
- The Plus Size category generally begins at size 16.
There exists a HUGE DISCONNECT between the sizes being made for women and the sizes women actually require. Women whose bodies are larger than ‘standard’ are deemed Plus Size
As any plus-size female can attest to, finding clothes that achieve the trifecta of on trend, well-fitted and affordable is notoriously difficult. This is the case both irl and online.
[A plus size woman walks in to a shop…] In department stores, plus size clothing is actually separated into it’s own section, away from the ‘normal’ sizes. The higher end department stores will stock a few specific plus sized brands, like Myer’s Taking Shape and David Jones *TS.*and can be spotted a mile off by the blind due to their ‘loud and proud’ colour schemes and opulence of beads and all round…drapiness. These ranges generally consist of garish, shapeless smocks or tunics designed to be worn over trousers or tights. Necklines start at the collarbone and go up, dresses start at the knee and go down. If you happen to make it as far as the change-room with what looks like an arm load of your nanna’s drapes, a well-meaning sales assistant will almost always appear with an additional kimono/sleeveless-knee-length-vest/pashmina-cape-throw for you to “give it a try”. The rule of thumb is - Cover Everything. Layer over your layers. Add bright, sparkly beads to show other people you are indeed capable of joy.
If this isn’t humiliating and dehumanising enough, more affordable department stores try to mimic the set up of their Myer-like counterparts but in a decidedly more “hide-them” way. The plus size section is relegated to the back or far corner and, being a specifically designed-for-store range, a cringeworthy name like ‘Belle Curve’ (Target) is emblazoned high on the walls. While the Cover-Everything rule still applies, the range is decidedly smaller and the colours more ’reserved’ than it’s flashy cousin, tending towards blacks, greys and muted pinks or blues. There’s a lot of denim, mostly the ‘jegging’ variety and no end of flower prints. ‘Basics’ means something different in plus-size. The search for a plain black t-shirt or singlet will return a plain black t-shirt with a tacked on shoulder cape and batwing sleeves, and a singlet with a loner panel of fabric draped down the front. And possibly a big frilly flower. Again, I assume, so we remember to feel joy and so normal people know that they can approach us a without being eaten.
[A plus size woman [logs in] to a shop…] Online stores have definitely been the driving force behind trends finally becoming available to the plus size population. At present, there’s even a few places like ASOS Curve and ModCloth doing it right - they have actual plus size models. Not just the scaled-up hourglass model, but models with tummy’s, big chests and flat butts, flat chests and big butts, tall big, short big.
For the first time, it’s possible for a plus sized woman to read the “Our model is 168cm tall with a size C bust and is wearing a size 18 in this item” and be able to judge if the fit is right without needing a tape-measure.
Even better - stores like ASOS, Modcloth and The Iconic are actually using a larger fit model to size their ranges. This means the clothes we want to wear are actually being designed to fit our body, which is something new and wonderful.
Despite the average size being a 14, designers are still only creating for size 8-10.
While the industry is slowly changing, there is not currently a lot of places where you can just ‘grab something’ without spending a lot of money
Australia is particularly lacking in plus sized providers so plus size women are required to shop on US sites, which come with large postage fees.
The plus size sections of eBay and Gumtree are similar to real life - lacking, badly made or fugly. No search paramaters or specific filtering options exist for navigation within this area.
The retail experience of the plus sized shopper is drastically different to it’s standard counterpart. From shop design and clothing location to price & availability, the plus sized shopper is treated as a second class citizen. This is true for the online market-place experience for plus size as well. The “Womens Clothing”sections of marketplaces like Gumtree and eBay don’t currently cater to the plus-sized category in the same way that they do to the more traditional sizes.
While we wait for the fashion industry to get to a stage where plus size is just one more size in a wide and varied range, Aussie women would benefit from an eBay type of platform catering exclusively to Plus Size.
While more online retailers are recognising that catering to plus size is a viable financial move, this market is still mostly untapped and under-represented in two-sided marketplace environments like eBay and Gumtree. Currently, a search for “plus size” or “XXL” on eBay returns items in size 8, that go up to size 22. As is the case for real life retailers, the ‘sample size’ block is still being used in the majority of cases so items that have been cut for a size 22, or even size 16 vary greatly and are ill-fitting at best. In addition to this, products marked as XXL - XXXXL in China are much smaller in make than their online measurements indicate.
When purchasing from an eBay-like platform, it’s the items that are being sold by Australian plus-size women that match accurately with what a plus size shopper requires. These items usually bare the description “only worn once” or “bought from US but didn’t fit and don’t want to pay the return postage”. In the case of the items being described as “Used”, the reason for sale is frequently due to the clothes no longer fitting because the users body shape has changed.
An online two-sided marketplace dedicated entirely to plus size would provide a solution to the most commonly experienced problems of plus size shoppers, with the added benefit that all sizing would be described by their sellers in relation to their personal body shape and ‘size’.
While we wait for the fashion industry to grow up (and out), the most promising places to shop are online. These sites are generally expensive and due to a large contingency of plus size websites being based in America, attract exorbitant postage fees.
A plus-size two-sided marketplace would offer an alternative to paying return postage if an item doesn’t fit and if the item is brand new, most users would still be happy to pay the cost price since they would save on postage fees.
A discussion of the label sizes and actual fit between users would translate the varied range of ‘standard’ into usable terms specific to the plus sized client.
Sites like The Iconic, Modcloth and ASOS Curve boast a superior user experience for the plus sized shopper. However, there’s still a ways to go before the plus sized retail experience mirrors that of the ‘standard’ size.
The Iconic for example, could be improved in a number of areas:
- Unless you navigate specifically to the plus size section, the results will often return items shown on standard models (Ahhhhh! I’’ve stumbled in to the thin dimension)
- Plus Size is treated as a type of style on many sites. On the homepage, it’s the ‘normal’ sizes you are met with when you click on Womens Clothing. Both should be represented..
- The option ‘Plus Size’ is categorised in the clothing types: ‘Dresses’ ‘Shorts’ ‘Plus Size’ ‘Shoes’ In other sites where this is the case, the user doesn’t have the same filtering functionality - once you’ve navigated to the plus size clothing type, to view the plus size dresses you must view all the plus sized items.
- Reduce or eliminate fat-targeted ads - weightloss/diet/surgery (because don’t be a douchebag google!)
- Make it exclusively Australian, so that users know that the sizes and descriptions (“would fit a large 14”) are specific to them
- Add database tables for adding item specifics (body-shape like (multiple options), bra_size, measurements, height etc to increase accuracy of listings as well as increase ease of use for sellers
Create a targeted online marketplace with features specifically dedicated to the buying and selling experience of plus-sized clothing within Australia.
![Trello] (https://trello.com/b/fjUDzhVW/2-sided-marketplace-due-friday-11-may-2018-at-1000-amom) ![Trello Screenshots] (https://github.com/bones26/ample-size/blob/master/readme_resources/trello)
Receive Real-time Notification
- AS A SELLER-USER
- I want to receive notifications when someone has purchased an item
- so I can organise postage immediately
User receives purchase notification
- AS A USER REGARDLESS OF MY LOGIN STATUS
- When someone purchases an item
- I get an automatic purchase notification (via email)
- and a link to ‘View Details’
- that shows me the item purchased and the type of postage required
View All Sales and Purchases
- AS A USER
- I want to see an overview of all purchases and sales
- So I can refer to them for details
User views order activity
GIVEN THAT I AM A LOGGED IN USER
- When I got to the Home page
- And click on My Account
- I should be taken to the My Account page
- And should see a table of all my purchases and sales
- And they should be ordered by most recent
- And I should be able to expand or minimise this view
Rent Item
- AS A BUYER-USER
- I want the option to rent an item
- So I don’t have to spend lots of money on something I will only wear once
Buyer rents item for x days/dates
- GIVEN THAT I AM A LOGGED IN USER
- When I view a listing
- And click Rent Item
- A form pops up
- With the fields
[Required By DD/MM/YYYY]
[Returned By DD/MM/YY]
[Your Message] [SUBMIT RENTAL REQUEST] - User clicks submit and sees “Your request has been sent to the seller, who will respond soon
- Seller received rental request
Filter Item by price AND postage cost
- AS A BUYER-USER
- I want to be able to view items in terms of price AND postage
- so I know how much I will actually be paying
User sorts results by price AND postage
- AS A LOGGED IN USER
- When I click View Items
- I can order the items by price
- And then by postage cost
- In ascending or descending order
- So I know the final cost of item
Select multiple sizes in search
- AS A USER-BUYER
- When I search for items by size
- I want to search for size 16 AND 18
- so that I can see all size options at once
User searches by 2 sizes
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED-IN USER
- When I search for dresses
- And select size
- I want to select both size 16 and size 18
- And view all dresses that are available in size 16 and 18
Edit Profile
- AS A USER
- I want to edit my profile
- So I can keep my details up to date
User edits profile
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED IN USER
- When I go to my profile page
- And click ‘Edit’
- And update the text in the text fields/or upload a new profile picture
- And click ‘Update Profile’
- I want to see my Profile Page
- With the updated details
Unable to edit another user’s profile
- AS A USER
- I want nobody other than me to be able to edit my profile
- Because I want to have control over my profile details
User attempts to edit another user's profile
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED IN USER
- When I go to the edit profile page for another user's profile
- Then I am redirected back to the user's profile view page
Edit Item Listing
- As A USER
- I want to edit one of my item listings
- Because I want to improve the accuracy of my item listings
User edits item listing
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED IN USER
- When I go to the edit page for a listing that is mine
- And I change the text in the text fields and/or upload a new item image
- And I click "Update item”
- Then I should see the detailed view page for that item
- And the details should be updated
Unable to edit other user's book listing
- AS A USER
- I want nobody other than me to be able to edit my item listings
- Because I want to have control over my item listings
User attempts to edit another user's book listing
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED IN USER
- When I go to item page for another user's item listing
- I don’t see any options to edit their item
- I only see options to purchase the item
Delete Item Listing
- AS A USER
- I want to delete one of my item listings
- Because I have decided not to sell it
User deletes book listing
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED-IN USER
- When I go to the edit page for an item listing that is mine
- And I click 'delete item’
- Then the book listing should be deleted from the database
Unable to message self
- AS A USER
- I do not want to see an option to message myself
- Because this would be pointless functionality
User visits messages page
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED-IN USER
- When I go to the messages page
- Then my username is not listed as an option to message
No 'message user’ button on own profile
- AS A USER
- I do not want to see an option to message myself
- Because this would be pointless functionality
User visits their profile page
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED-IN USER
- When I go to my profile page
- Then I do not see a 'message user’ button
Homepage viewable without login
- AS A USER
- I want to view item listings without signing in
- Because I want to know it's worth signing up before I do so
User visits homepage
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED OUT USER
- When I go to the homepage
- Then I can view the item listings
Detailed item view viewable without login
- AS A USER
- I want to view item listings without signing in
- Because I want to know it's worth signing up before I do so
User visits detailed item view page
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED OUT USER
- When I go to the detailed item view page
- Then I can view the detailed item view page
User must be logged in to view messages page
- AS A USER
- I want to know that only users who are logged in can message me
- Because I don't want to get spammed
User visits messages page
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED OUT USER
- When I go to the messages page
- Then I am redirected to the ’Sign Up’ option on the login page
User must be logged in to see the add new item form
- AS SITE ADMIN
- I want users to be required to log in before they can add an item listing
- Because I want to be able to apply the correct functionality and permissions
User visits add new book page
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED-OUT USER
- When I go to the add new item page
- Then I am redirected to the login page
When logged in, user should not be able to view any page other than 'create profile' until they have created a profile
User must create a profile upon signup in order to interact on the site
- AS SITE ADMIN
- I want all users to be required to have a profile
- Because it builds a sense of community
User without a profile attempts to visit any page
- GIVEN I’M A LOGGED-IN USER
- And I don't have a profile
- When I go to any page other than the create profile page
- Then I am redirected to the create profile page
![Figma] (https://www.figma.com/file/GaST6U62VC0tGQvHmUBn9n3l/Marketplace) ![Screenshots] (https://github.com/bones26/ample-size/tree/master/readme_resources/mockups-wireframes)
![MVC] (https://github.com/bones26/ample-size/blob/master/readme_resources/database_mvc.png)
![Entity Relationship Diagrams - dbdesigner] (https://github.com/bones26/ample-size/blob/master/readme_resources/ERD.png)