Ciosa Go is an app I designed for Ciosa, one of Mexico's biggest auto parts distributors. The whole project took 4 months: two months of research, a month of design, and a month of testing, and it was done by a colleague, whose background was in technology, and me, taking on the research and design part.
Research
We were hired to redesign their e-commerce. For this, my colleague and I spent two months in Guadalajara researching the company, its customers, shops, and the product itself.
Ciosa is a distributor, a B2B. They sell auto parts in bulk to auto parts shops (called "Refaccionarias" in Mexico) that sell them to mechanics or individuals looking to fix their cars.
After dozens of interviews with different "refaccionarias", we got a good clear picture of how Ciosa.com was being used and what the different users felt was missing.
After dozens of interviews with different "refaccionarias", we got a good clear picture of how Ciosa.com was being used and what the different users felt was missing.
A change of direction
We quickly realized that a mere redesign was not going to suffice. For starters, people that work in auto parts shops don't always have a computer and they spent most of their time on their feet, handling all their shopping and communication on their phones. Some people were having to call a Ciosa agent to place their orders every time they wanted to buy something. It was absurd.
So instead of redesigning their old e-commerce (that didn't even have a mobile app), we created CiosaGo, a friendlier app made to solve all the problems users were having with the e-commerce.
What can you do with CiosaGo?
Just like on Ciosa.com, you can:
- Shop for auto parts
- Check how much you owe and pay it
- Check how much you owe and pay it
But with CiosaGo you also get:
- 24/7 customer service chat
- Smart filters in the catalog (best-sold parts by area)
- Lighting sales
- Outlet sales
- Order tracking (with push notifications)
- Request and follow-up of returns
- Favorites list
- Reviews and rating of parts
- Smart filters in the catalog (best-sold parts by area)
- Lighting sales
- Outlet sales
- Order tracking (with push notifications)
- Request and follow-up of returns
- Favorites list
- Reviews and rating of parts
AI salesman
47% of Ciosa customers do not use Ciosa's e-commerce: they prefer to text or call a salesperson or telemarketing agent to place their order. Ciosa's clients are so familiar with the products that they normally just text serial numbers to their Ciosa sales representative and wait for them to place the order. The problem with this is that there is no salesforce big enough to reply immediately to every customer, so long waiting times and mistakes happen often.
CiosaGo's main feature is a chat. We created a virtual salesperson who will answer clients 24/7. With this chat, users can place their orders just like they're used to, but more efficiently.
How does it work?
1. Client opens the chat (the icon is always hovering at the bottom of the screen.)
2. Orders can be made by typing or simply sending a photo with text.
3. Using AI, we will detect what is needed and put together the order, which the user can edit, cancel or add to cart.
2. Orders can be made by typing or simply sending a photo with text.
3. Using AI, we will detect what is needed and put together the order, which the user can edit, cancel or add to cart.
Order Status
Another new feature is the order's status. Clients can know what's going on at every step of the process. With this feature, Ciosa's customer service team no longer has to spend their time answering calls and messages from users that want to know what's happening.
Apart from the general status (pending, in transit, and delivered), each order has a History where you can see all updates with date and time.
Once a package has been delivered, clients can also download the invoice, which is needed for tax write-offs.
CiosaGo is an exclusive app for Ciosa's clients so it's not available to the rest of the public.
