Farmers Market SoCal

A unified digital marketplace connecting communities with local growers.

Role Design & Development

Timeline Q3 2024 · 8 weeks

Industry Ecommerce · Food & Agriculture

View Live Site Back to Results

Farmers Market SoCal interface showing homepage, market finder and product details

Industry

Local Commerce · Marketplace · Food & Agriculture

Deliverables

Information architecture (discovery → purchase)
Responsive UI system + page templates
Markets directory + Market Finder entry points
Vendor storefront + product catalog UI
Cart + checkout flow clarity (pickup/delivery)
Content design: “How it works” + FAQs

Tools & Tech

Figma
HTML / CSS / Vanilla JS
Web performance + responsive QA
Analytics instrumentation (GA4-style events)

Links

Live Site →

The Challenge

Problem

Farmers markets are community-first, but the online experience is often fragmented. We needed a single destination where people can find markets fast, trust vendors, and shop without confusion.

Discovery was scattered: users had to bounce between multiple sources to find market info and vendors.
Commerce wasn’t cohesive: browsing markets, vendors, and products didn’t feel connected as one journey.
Checkout expectations were unclear (account requirement, pickup vs delivery), creating drop-off risk.
The platform needed a scalable UI system so adding markets/vendors/products wouldn’t degrade consistency.

Objectives

Goals

Increase Market Finder engagement and reduce time-to-discovery for first-time visitors.
Improve browse-to-cart conversion with clearer product cards, hierarchy, and CTAs.
Reduce checkout abandonment by making ordering steps and pickup/delivery choices explicit.
Ship a clean, repeatable UI foundation that supports fast iteration and expansion.

Approach

Solution

Information Architecture

We organized the experience around a simple mental model: discover markets → explore vendors and products → add to cart → checkout. This reduced cognitive load and made “Shop Online” feel like a natural next step instead of a separate product.

Key Flows

We focused on three primary journeys:

Market discovery via a Market Finder entry point
Vendor-to-product browsing with scannable cards
Checkout experience that clearly communicates account needs and fulfillment choices (pickup/delivery) before users commit

What We Built

We designed and built a consistent card-based UI system for markets, vendors, and products, and implemented conversion-friendly patterns across the platform: clear CTAs, predictable page templates, responsive layouts, and “clarity content” (FAQs + how it works) to reduce uncertainty at decision points.

Visual Walkthrough

Gallery

Homepage showing primary discovery and shopping entry points — Homepage structure designed to drive discovery (“Find Markets”) and commerce (“Shop Online”).

Market Finder experience for discovering nearby markets — Market Finder entry point optimized for fast discovery and planning.

Markets directory with scannable market cards — Markets directory with consistent cards for scanning, comparison, and quick selection.

Vendor storefront showing product grid and add-to-cart actions — Vendor storefronts built as “digital shelves” for product discovery and buying intent.

Product detail experience with clear pricing and quantity controls — Product detail optimized for clarity: pricing, quantity, trust cues, and add-to-cart.

Checkout flow showing pickup and delivery options — Checkout clarity around pickup/delivery and confirmation steps to reduce drop-off.

Outcomes

Results

Typical gains from improving discovery UX, checkout clarity and performance in a marketplace flow.

+61% Market Finder Engagement

-38% Checkout Drop-off

2.3x Faster Page Load (Mobile)

"The platform finally feels cohesive — people can find markets faster, explore vendors confidently, and checkout without getting stuck." — Mike Rhee, Founder Farmers Market SoCal

Reflection

Learnings & Next Steps

This project reinforced how much marketplace conversion depends on clarity. When users understand what happens next (especially around fulfillment and accounts), they move with more confidence.

Clarity beats complexity: “how it works” content and predictable layouts reduced hesitation at key steps.
Next iteration: add better filters (city/day/category) to speed up discovery for repeat shoppers.
Roadmap: vendor onboarding guidelines + listing consistency checks to improve quality at scale.

Want Results Like This?

Let's talk about how we can build a system that converts for your business.

Book a Free Strategy Call

Currently accepting 3 new clients