Developing an e-commerce platform driving 10-20% cost efficiencies

After proving their business model on a third-party platform, Real Sportscards, a national sports cards retailer, was ready to unlock their next phase of growth.

Real Sportscards needed a customized, flexible platform—based on customer needs—that was efficient to use and easy to scale.

They enlisted Nerdery’s end-to-end digital product expertise—from ideation and CX design to prototyping and technology—to quickly develop and launch an independent platform.

Within six weeks, Real Sportscards moved from idea to development of the new platform – The Uncommon App – with improved event hosting efficiency and user experience for customers. As a result, the company anticipates being able to convert four labor hours to livestream revenue generating hours per day resulting in an annual cost reduction of 10-20% and 25% increase in revenue.

Instead of taking multiple hours, prep time for breaks is reduced to 30 minutes

10-20% estimated cost-savings due to reduced break prep time

Four labor hours per day converted to revenue generating livestream hours

What we did together

Insights + Analytics
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Customer persona definition
Current user journey map
Persona-based messaging framework

Strategy + Innovation
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Business objectives and KPIs
Product vision
Product roadmap
Product vision
Technology recommendations
Visual pathways
Ideation materials

User Experience + Design
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UX friction
Experience gaps
Prototype
User patterns
Conceptual designs
Experience journey and architecture
Product architecture
Visual design direction
Interaction designs

Technology + Engineering
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Product roadmap
Prioritization matrix
Feature backlog support (evergreen)
Defined features and functionality

Overview of work

Nerdery designed and developed a custom platform with a simple, seamless user experience that was efficient to host and independent of packaged software solutions.

Sports trading cards have been popular for decades. New cards continue to be printed, but in smaller releases, making rare cards even rarer.

Real Sportscards sells collectible sports cards. Their owner and founder, Ryan Holland, started using Facebook Live to popularize a concept called card breaking, where collectors can purchase fractional shares of sealed cases of trading cards, which are then opened by “breakers” via livestream to reveal what cards the collector will receive. This creates a “thrill of the chase” or treasure hunt collecting experience.

In order to hit that next phase of growth—and to ensure the best possible experience for their rapidly growing customer base—Real Sportscards needed a more sustainable and reliable platform. They partnered with Nerdery to build The Uncommon App, a card-breaking platform and create a roadmap for future releases as the company grows.

We connected with Real Sportscards’ customers to understand their needs and opinions.

The result

Hosting efficiency improved, and as a result, Real Sportscards anticipates a 10-20% reduction in operation costs.

Because of the product’s ease of use for break hosts, the time required to prepare for live breaks was reduced from several hours to just 30 minutes. Real Sportscards can now host more breaks per day and cut down administrative costs.

Due to Real Sportscards’ reputation as an innovator in the card-breaking space, collectors and breakers quickly latched on to the product concept. The ability to let other hosts (who aren’t affiliated with Real Sportscards) use the platform to manage breaks will open more revenue opportunities for the company as well.

Nerdery’s ability to translate our vision into product has instilled the confidence that we could tackle any project with them and their ability to communicate with our existing customers to discover needs and pains has helped sharpen the product even more.

- Ryan Holland, Owner, Real Sportscards

Developing an E-commerce Platform