solution‘Launchpad’ - a platform within PayU to offer bundled services (website, logistics, marketing, etc.) through trusted third parties
skillsResearch, Project planning & strategy, Team management, Cross-functional collaboration, User Testing
problemOffline merchants lacked the tools, knowledge, and time to set up an online presence successfully post-pandemic
impactMVP validated with offline business owners, with smooth onboarding flows and personalized app recommendations
The problem
Roles & responsibilities
Research
We spoke to merchants running small businesses to understand the current processes and user journeys. We identified two broad themes - customer initiated journey and merchant initiated journey.The pandemic exposed a major gap for small businesses: they needed to go online, but didn’t know how. Merchants had little time, no digital expertise, and fragmented workflows spread across WhatsApp, Google, and manual delivery. Most relied on ad-hoc fixes that didn’t scale, hurting customer engagement and retention.
User Research Insight SynthesisConducted interviews with merchants across verticals to understand pain points and workflows
strategy and designCreated a guided app discovery, onboarding, and activation flow with consent handling and embedded third-party experiences
Cross-Functional LeadershipCoordinated with PMs, tech stakeholders, and third-party providers to shape platform functionality and user journeys
Team Mentoring and Skill DevelopmentSupported the growth of junior designers through regular feedback, collaboration, and hands-on mentoring
key insights
The lockdowns have forced them to have an online presence. Pre-pandemic the focus was only on the offline store. Right now, not selling on social media, but they get a lot of inquiries through it as products they sell are listed on Facebook, Google.
The website is not active - the previous built didn’t work because they handed over all the work to a Developer, but he did'nt do a good job. Now the daughter, Shreya Rakhra, who is taking over the operations will be looking into it but is pressed on time & does not have the design or tech expertise – planning to hire a few people for this. Want to sell in India as well as overseas, because there is a lot of scope.
They post on Facebook groups which that takes a lot of time & effort, but they do it to get reach(~2000likes) & many inquiries come through these groups. They want to invest in paid advertising on social media to increase their reach(~10K likes), but don’t have the time and right expertise. If someone comes with the marketing knowledge of 'which demographic to target on which platforms', that will help them a lot to boost sales.
Giving a catalogue/brochure in person to their clients like schools works better as when there is a need, the schools contact them through the contact on the brochures.
Email Marketing is another area they're keen to get expertise on. There has been significant cost-cutting observed among similar merchants as well, but they feel paying a professional to guide them about market trends, opportunity areas, tools etc would help their business.
Currently they get calls from interested customers through Google Plus & Facebook for product enquiries & delivery queries. Most of the time, the conversation shifts to WhatsApp because the customer wants to see a photo of the product. Or they come to the store.
90% of the messages are converted to sales.
opportunity areas
The lockdowns have forced offline merchants to have an online presence, but many of them don't have the expertise or time to invest in it. There is an opportunity here for PayU to provide the expertise to not just build a web presence but do it in a way that their website acts as a support system to their offline store.
Partner with domain and site hosting platforms as well as trustworthy design and tech professionals.
Provide SEO & content expertise to merchants so that their online presence is as strong as their offline presence. Being consistent in branding is important for such merchants – be it in stores, online, on social media or collaterals like brochures.
Provide expert assistance on advertising their products and targeting the right customers through the right messaging in order to convert them. Many offline merchants who have successful businesses, do not have the know-how of marking online.
Provide an overview of who their customers are, their buying behaviors etc to help target the right audience and convert them into buyers.
Partner with logistics experts so that their dependency on manually sending out orders through Dunzo reduces & is more streamlined.
customer initiated journey
key insights
The website is managed by the team in the main office, the local outlets have little to no connection to the sales on the website. The inventory for website sales is separate or is managed from the main outlet in Jaipur.
Since every outlet has its own store manager, the main objective is to increase the local sales that will benefit their own store.
The local outlet has a database of customers who have visited the store and bought from them. Some of them express interest & give consent for being informed about new collections & sales through Whatsapp.
The ones who don't give the consent, the in-store team calls them on the phone and if they are interested in the new collection, connect with them on Whatsapp.
The team then connect with the customer on Whatsapp every week (there is new collection released every week). Hence, Whatsapp serves as a marketing channel for them.
The store manager will personally message a few loyal customers who are repeat buyers to maintain a premium relationship with them.
opportunity areas
PayU can provide location-specific web store solutions so that merchants with multiple outlets can increase their sales locally. This can be done through single Landing page services for specific outlets.
Since customers are not stepping out to visit stores, our web store solution can have the option to check the collection at a particular outlet. Customers can also have the option to 'Pick up from the store' or 'Get same-day delivery'.
We should also provide a Customer-management system from where merchants can send WhatsApp updates/emailers about new collection to all their previous customers.
Partner with platforms that automate customer communication so that manual dependency reduces in reaching out to customers.
Provide loyalty solutions for regular customers through discounts, exclusive sale previews etc.
Have a logistics partner who can manage inventory not just from a single location but have outlet-specific management capabilities.
pain pointsuser behavioruser needsdesign goals
High dependence on WhatsApp and manual follow-ups for every sale
90% of WhatsApp queries resulted in successful sales, showing digital readiness
Quick onboarding with minimal effort
Build trust by simplifying app discovery
Lack of integration between online communication and in-store inventory or payments
Merchants often did not use their websites due to bad developer experiences
Help identifying the right tools based on their goals
Avoid overwhelming first-time users
No access to structured marketing help or customer retention tools
Marketing knowledge gaps limited the effectiveness of social media spend
One platform to manage multiple apps, subscriptions, and customer engagement
Reduce dependency on external help for setup
Enable continuous usage through app status, tracking, and return flows
Desire to sell nationally/internationally, but no resources to execute it
merchant initiated journey
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Design
Impact
Learnings & next steps
Launchpad transformed the idea of a "payment provider" into a business growth partner.
The platform created a scalable, intuitive entry point for digital adoption.
Merchants appreciated the app categorization and walkthroughs.
Reduced merchant reliance on external developers or agencies for digital setup.
Provided PayU with a new way to drive user retention by bundling value-added services.
Successfully led the team to deliver a validated MVP within 4–5 weeks, aligning stakeholders and securing positive early feedback from pilot users.
The pandemic exposed a major gap for small businesses: they needed to go online, but didn’t know how. Merchants had little time, no digital expertise, and fragmented workflows spread across WhatsApp, Google, and manual delivery. Most relied on ad-hoc fixes that didn’t scale, hurting customer engagement and retention.We spoke to merchants running small businesses to understand the current processes and user journeys. We identified two broad themes - customer initiated journey and merchant initiated journey.Launchpad transformed the idea of a "payment provider" into a business growth partner.
The platform created a scalable, intuitive entry point for digital adoption.
Merchants appreciated the app categorization and walkthroughs.
Reduced merchant reliance on external developers or agencies for digital setup.
Provided PayU with a new way to drive user retention by bundling value-added services.
Successfully led the team to deliver a validated MVP within 4–5 weeks, aligning stakeholders and securing positive early feedback from pilot users.
What I Learned as a design lead
Strategy matters more than quantity: Offering fewer, well-integrated apps was better than a crowded marketplace.
Merchants valued curation and simplicity over complete customization.
Onboarding flows with progressive disclosure worked best for small business owners.
Gained deeper experience managing a cross-disciplinary team and steering delivery under a compressed timeline.
Reinforced the value of structured collaboration and phased rollouts in scaling digital adoption for offline users.
what i planned for next steps
Add localized content and language support for regional merchants.
Automate reminders for app activation follow-ups.
Integrate analytics for merchants to track performance across tools.
key insights
The lockdowns have forced them to have an online presence. Pre-pandemic the focus was only on the offline store. Right now, not selling on social media, but they get a lot of inquiries through it as products they sell are listed on Facebook, Google.
The website is not active - the previous built didn’t work because they handed over all the work to a Developer, but he did'nt do a good job. Now the daughter, Shreya Rakhra, who is taking over the operations will be looking into it but is pressed on time & does not have the design or tech expertise – planning to hire a few people for this. Want to sell in India as well as overseas, because there is a lot of scope.
They post on Facebook groups which that takes a lot of time & effort, but they do it to get reach(~2000likes) & many inquiries come through these groups. They want to invest in paid advertising on social media to increase their reach(~10K likes), but don’t have the time and right expertise. If someone comes with the marketing knowledge of 'which demographic to target on which platforms', that will help them a lot to boost sales.
Giving a catalogue/brochure in person to their clients like schools works better as when there is a need, the schools contact them through the contact on the brochures.
Email Marketing is another area they're keen to get expertise on. There has been significant cost-cutting observed among similar merchants as well, but they feel paying a professional to guide them about market trends, opportunity areas, tools etc would help their business.
Currently they get calls from interested customers through Google Plus & Facebook for product enquiries & delivery queries. Most of the time, the conversation shifts to WhatsApp because the customer wants to see a photo of the product. Or they come to the store.
90% of the messages are converted to sales.
key insights
The website is managed by the team in the main office, the local outlets have little to no connection to the sales on the website. The inventory for website sales is separate or is managed from the main outlet in Jaipur.
Since every outlet has its own store manager, the main objective is to increase the local sales that will benefit their own store.
The local outlet has a database of customers who have visited the store and bought from them. Some of them express interest & give consent for being informed about new collections & sales through Whatsapp.
The ones who don't give the consent, the in-store team calls them on the phone and if they are interested in the new collection, connect with them on Whatsapp.
The team then connect with the customer on Whatsapp every week (there is new collection released every week). Hence, Whatsapp serves as a marketing channel for them.
The store manager will personally message a few loyal customers who are repeat buyers to maintain a premium relationship with them.
opportunity areas
The lockdowns have forced offline merchants to have an online presence, but many of them don't have the expertise or time to invest in it. There is an opportunity here for PayU to provide the expertise to not just build a web presence but do it in a way that their website acts as a support system to their offline store.
Partner with domain and site hosting platforms as well as trustworthy design and tech professionals.
Provide SEO & content expertise to merchants so that their online presence is as strong as their offline presence. Being consistent in branding is important for such merchants – be it in stores, online, on social media or collaterals like brochures.
Provide expert assistance on advertising their products and targeting the right customers through the right messaging in order to convert them. Many offline merchants who have successful businesses, do not have the know-how of marking online.
Provide an overview of who their customers are, their buying behaviors etc to help target the right audience and convert them into buyers.
Partner with logistics experts so that their dependency on manually sending out orders through Dunzo reduces & is more streamlined.
opportunity areas
PayU can provide location-specific web store solutions so that merchants with multiple outlets can increase their sales locally. This can be done through single Landing page services for specific outlets.
Since customers are not stepping out to visit stores, our web store solution can have the option to check the collection at a particular outlet. Customers can also have the option to 'Pick up from the store' or 'Get same-day delivery'.
We should also provide a Customer-management system from where merchants can send WhatsApp updates/emailers about new collection to all their previous customers.
Partner with platforms that automate customer communication so that manual dependency reduces in reaching out to customers.
Provide loyalty solutions for regular customers through discounts, exclusive sale previews etc.
Have a logistics partner who can manage inventory not just from a single location but have outlet-specific management capabilities.
merchant initiated journey
View in desktop for clearer image
View full project in Figma