Designing Community‑driven Shopping Journeys in E-Commerce

Abstract

Web and app based shopping platforms increasingly rely on community features such as reviews, ratings and user-generated photos to support product discovery, evaluation and trust building. This thesis examines how such community features shape e‑commerce shopping journeys and how their design can more meaningfully support user experience. The aim of the thesis is to understand the stage-specific role of community in discovery, decision making, purchase and post-purchase, and to derive practical design implications for community-driven shopping journeys. Therefore, the research questions were: What is the role of community in e‑commerce shopping journeys, and how can its integration enhance trust, engagement and user experience? What design strategies can integrate community into platforms in a meaningful way?

The thesis studied literature on e‑commerce, social commerce, customer journeys, online communities, trust and user-generated content, and identified a gap in holistic, journey wide examinations of community participation. Empirically, the thesis adopted a qualitative research design from a Human Technology Interaction perspective. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 15 online shoppers who regularly use platforms such as Temu, Shein, Zalando and Daraz. The interviews explored how participants discover products, how they use community features when comparing alternatives, how community signals affect trust and friction at purchase, and how they contribute to or consume community content after buying. The data were analysed with inductive dominant thematic analysis supported by a coded evidence matrix and cross case comparison.

Based on the literature and the interviews, the thesis identified six key themes describing the role of community in shopping journeys: Social discovery with analytical validation, Community evidence as decision engine, Authenticity over marketing, Trust fragility and service dependence, Decision-stage friction and Low post-purchase contribution. Discovery was often triggered by social feeds, influencer content, notifications and friend recommendations, but participants rarely purchased directly from these triggers; instead, they moved to a validation phase dominated by reviews, ratings and user photos. Community evidence functioned as the main decision filter, while authenticity of cues and service experiences strongly influenced trust. At the same time, intrusive engagement features such as aggressive pop-ups and live shopping overlays create friction and sometimes reduce confidence. After purchasing, most participants consumed far more community content than they contributed, relying on a relatively small group of active reviewers for evidence.

On the basis of these findings, the thesis proposes design implications for community‑driven e‑commerce. Recommended strategies include prioritising authentic user-generated evidence near decision points, connecting discovery features directly to validation tools, constraining intrusive engagement elements in comparison and checkout stages, exposing seller reliability indicators alongside reviews, and lowering barriers for quick, meaningful post-purchase contributions. The thesis suggests that community should be treated as a core structural element of e‑commerce journeys rather than an optional add-on, and that carefully designed community features can strengthen both trust and the overall shopping experience.