Work Sample
Instasell: Storefront tools for DTC sellers
Overview
Instasell (Now Postship) was a venture backed startup providing DTC sellers with tools to manage their storefront on mobile and Shopify marketplace.
Design Process
The founders had a clear design vision for the product, and I helped distill that with best UX practices on mobile and Shopify.
My Role
UX Consultant (Jan - July, 2022)
I worked directly with the founders, Abhishek & Supriya. My responsibilities as a consultant designer included:
♦︎ Revamping the branding of the app to cater to a global audience.
♦︎ Re-designing the landing page on Webflow.
♦︎ Re-designing the mobile app to cater to specific customer segments (DTC sellers Fashion and Beauty space).
♦︎ Designing the Shopify plug-in compliant with Polaris Design System, targeted at sellers on Shopify.
Team Contribution
Instasell was an early-stage startup with a small team of four—two cofounders and engineers. As their first Product Designer, I worked directly with the founders. I revamped their branding and the UX of their app's beta version. I also designed a plug-in for the Shopify marketplace using the Polaris design system.
While I owned the product's design and UX elements, the founders and engineers handled development and customer support.
Design & Development Tools Used
Key Challenges Addressed
Instasell started by targeting DTC companies selling products on Instagram and other social channels. What initially started as a mobile app eventually evolved into a Shopify plug-in to better cater to customer needs. In this journey, the key challenges were:
♦︎ High drop-offs during mobile app signup—We understood that the app needed to generate a shopping site and add a product as quickly as possible.
♦︎ Low Monetisation—While the app had excellent traction, only a fraction of free plans converted to a paid plan. We addressed this by analysing and doubling down on key features like shoppable feeds - which we eventually released as a standalone plug-in on Shopify.
♦︎ Designing for Shopify—We launched the Shopify plug-in as an experiment to see if it would monetise better, and so it was important for the design to be compliant with Shopify's Polaris Design System to be approved on their marketplace.
Mobile UI Components
Instafeed Shopify Plug-in
Branding & Logo Design
Sales and business health dashboard
Add a product in under 5 clicks
High-Fidelity Prototype
Key Outcomes
We launched the Instafeed Shopify plug-in as an experiment since the mobile app didn't monetise as expected. The Shopify plug-in did much better and is currently one of the top-rated in its category on the Shopify marketplace.
♦︎ The mobile app reached a net GMV of $200K.
♦︎ The Shopify plug-in grew rapidly, reaching $5000 MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) in under 6 months.
♦︎ In 2023, the team rebranded as Postship and now exclusively focused on building Shopify tools for DTC merchants.
☀︎ Venkatragavan 2025