Automotive Marketplace Redesign by Koonj ImdadAutomotive Marketplace Redesign by Koonj Imdad

Automotive Marketplace Redesign

Koonj Imdad

Completed work

Product Designer

UI Designer

UX Designer

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Figma

Automotive

Automotive Marketplace Redesign

Role: Lead UI/UX Designer (end-to-end)

Industry: Automotive eCommerce / Global Marketplace

Duration: 3 Months

Deliverables: UX audit, user flows, wireframes, high-fidelity UI, responsive web & mobile app designs

The Problem

After auditing the existing platform, I identified a set of interconnected UX failures that were actively damaging the user experience and suppressing conversion. The product had grown organically without a design system or UX strategy, every new category or feature was bolted on without consideration for the overall experience.

Homepage Overload

The homepage attempted to surface everything simultaneously, country selectors, currency pickers, category mega-menus, search, featured listings, promotions, and more, all competing for attention above the fold. A first-time visitor had no clear starting point. The opening experience required users to self-orient through an overwhelming volume of competing elements.

Broken Product Discovery

Browsing a catalog of this scale requires a smart navigation architecture. The existing category system was a deeply nested mega-menu with hundreds of subcategories listed in plain text, no visual grouping, no iconography, no logical hierarchy visible to the user. Finding parts for a specific make and model required knowing exactly where to look; browsing was not a realistic option.

Outdated Visual Language

The UI was built with an early-generation eCommerce template aesthetic, small text, tight spacing, GIF flag images for country selection, inconsistent button styles, and product cards that buried key information. In a market where users increasingly compare with Alibaba, Amazon, and global automotive platforms, the dated visual design undermined credibility and trust.

No Mobile Strategy

Automotive parts buyers frequently search on mobile, in a workshop, at a scrapyard, or while inspecting a vehicle. The existing platform had no mobile-first thinking: touch targets were too small, navigation was unusable on a phone screen, and the information density that was already problematic on a desktop became completely unworkable on a 390px viewport.

Weak Product Cards

Product listings, the core unit of any marketplace, were hard to scan. Images were small, pricing was not visually prominent, category and compatibility data were buried in text, and there was no consistent card structure that allowed users to compare listings at a glance.

No Scalability

With hundreds of brands across 10+ vehicle categories and machinery types, the platform needed a design architecture that could accommodate future growth. The existing layout had no modular logic; adding a new category meant adding more visual noise, not extending a system.

Rough sketches - Low Fidelity Ideas

My Role

I was the sole UX/UI designer on this project, responsible for every stage from initial audit through to final, developer-ready designs. This was not a team effort with dedicated researchers and product managers, I owned the full design process independently across three months.

Specifically, I was responsible for:

UX audit of the existing partsbuzz.com experience

Competitive analysis of automotive eCommerce platforms globally

User flow mapping for the core buyer and seller journeys

Information architecture redesign for homepage, categories, product listing, and product detail

Wireframing all key screens before moving to high-fidelity

High-fidelity UI design for the website (desktop and mobile responsive)

Mobile app UI design — a new channel that did not previously exist as a dedicated app experience

Component and layout system across all screens

Design documentation for developer handoff

Website Home page Design

Design Strategy

Before moving to any visual work, I established three design principles that would govern every decision across the redesign:

Principle 1 — Clarity over Completeness

The old platform tried to show everything. The redesign would show what matters first and give users progressive paths to depth. The homepage is not a catalog, it is an entry point. I would ruthlessly reduce what appears at first glance and trust users to drill down.

Principle 2 — Scan, Then Decide

Automotive buying involves comparison, comparing part compatibility, price, seller reputation, and condition. Every product surface needed to be designed for rapid scanning, not reading. This meant larger images, prominent pricing, clear category labels, and visual consistency across all cards so the eye can move quickly.

Principle 3 — Mobile as Primary

The redesign would be designed mobile-first, then adapted to desktop, reversing the approach that had produced the existing platform. Every component would work on a 390px screen before being expanded for larger viewports. Navigation, filters, cards, and detail pages all started from the mobile constraint.

The Solution

The redesign touched every major surface of the PartsBuzz experience. Here is a breakdown of the key design decisions and what changed.

Homepage — Modular, Focused, Conversion-Led

I restructured the homepage into clearly separated modular sections, each with a single purpose:

Hero section: dominant search bar as the primary action, vehicle make, model, or part name. One clear entry point.

Category browse: a visual grid of the top 8-10 categories with iconography, Parts, Automobiles, Motorcycles, Machinery, Tyres, Tools, Lubricants, Batteries, Accessories — scannable in under 3 seconds.

Featured listings: a horizontal card row for promoted products with a consistent card layout.

Seller trust strip: key credibility markers (global shipping, secure payment, verified sellers) in a compact band.

Recently viewed and trending sections: personalisation hooks to increase return visit engagement.

The country and currency selectors were moved out of the hero and into a persistent header utility, present but not competing with the primary search action.

Navigation Architecture

The mega-menu was replaced with a two-level structure: top-level categories visible at all times, with a clean sub-category panel triggered on interaction. Vehicle make/model was introduced as a primary filter dimension; users can select their vehicle first and browse compatible parts, dramatically reducing the Irrelevant results problem.

Product Cards — Redesigned for Scanning

The product card is the most repeated UI element across the platform, so I gave it the most attention. The new card design features:

Larger, squared product image with consistent aspect ratio

Product name in 2-line truncated display — enough context, no overflow

Price prominent and bold, the most decision-relevant data, treated accordingly

Seller rating and location in smaller secondary text

Quick-action area: Add to Wishlist icon, visible on hover/tap

Condition badge (New / Used / Refurbished) as a coloured label on the image

The card works identically on desktop (grid of 4), tablet (grid of 3), and mobile (grid of 2 or stacked single column for detail-heavy contexts).

Category & Listing Pages

Category pages were redesigned with a persistent left-side filter panel on desktop (bottom sheet on mobile) covering: vehicle make/model, price range, condition, location, and seller type. Sort options are always visible at the top of the results. The listing grid respects the card system established above, providing visual consistency throughout the browse experience.

Product Detail Page

The product detail page was restructured with a clear priority order: image gallery → price + CTA (Add to Cart / Contact Seller) → compatibility information → product description → seller details and trust signals → related products. On mobile, the CTA is fixed to the bottom of the viewport so it is never out of reach as users scroll through details.

Mobile App — A New Channel

In addition to the responsive web redesign, I designed the PartsBuzz mobile app experience from scratch. The app introduced native mobile patterns that the web could not replicate:

Bottom tab navigation: Home, Search, Categories, Wishlist, Account, always accessible

Native-feel search with recent searches, suggested queries, and category shortcuts

Swipeable product image galleries replacing static single images

Tap-to-call and WhatsApp integration on the seller contact — critical for the target market

Pull-to-refresh on listing pages

Push notification hooks for price drops and saved search alerts

Simplified checkout flow optimised for mobile input

My Impact

This is what I personally contributed to the PartsBuzz product, not just what changed, but what my design decisions specifically created.

I untangled a genuinely complex information architecture

PartsBuzz's catalog is one of the most category-dense automotive platforms I have encountered, 200+ car brands across 15+ national origins, plus motorcycles, rickshaws, buses, trucks, three types of machinery, and nine product types. I built a browsing structure that makes this scale navigable without reducing the catalog, by introducing vehicle-first filtering and visual category groupings that did not previously exist.

I made the mobile experience viable for the first time

Before this redesign, there was no functional mobile strategy. I designed the mobile app from scratch, establishing the navigation model, interaction patterns, and screen architecture for a channel that now gives PartsBuzz a native-feel presence on the device their users are most likely using when they actually need a part.

I built a scalable product system, not a one-off redesign

The component library and layout grid I established means that when PartsBuzz adds a new vehicle brand, a new category, or a new geography, the design system already handles it. Growth no longer means adding visual clutter; it means extending a system that was built for scale from the start.

I changed what "trust" means on the platform

Redesigning the product cards, seller badges, compatibility labels, and detail page hierarchy transformed how users experience PartsBuzz's credibility. A platform that looked like a 2009 classifieds site now looks like a modern, vetted marketplace. In automotive eCommerce, where buyers are spending significant money on parts compatibility-critical purchases, the difference between Looking credible and looking dated are the differences between a purchase and a bounce.

I demonstrated that complexity and clarity are not opposites

The temptation with a catalog this large is to reduce it. I didn't reduce PartsBuzz's inventory or capabilities; I redesigned how they are surfaced and structured. The result is a platform that is significantly more usable without being less comprehensive. That balance is the hardest design problem in marketplace UX, and it is the one I spent the most time solving.