Refurbo

Refurbo is a recommerce marketplace focused on refurbished electronics.

You can explore the platform here.

The Context

When I started working on Refurbo, one of the biggest challenges was not inventory, pricing, or supply.

It was discovery.

The marketplace had products available across multiple categories, but users were struggling to find what they were looking for efficiently. Monthly active users were still under 100, engagement was low, and potential conversions were being lost because users could not easily connect their intent with the right products.

From a product perspective, this felt like a discovery problem rather than an acquisition problem.

My Initial Hypothesis

My first assumption turned out to be wrong.

I believed users would primarily search for exact laptop models.

Examples included:

• MacBook Pro A1990
• Dell Latitude 7410
• Lenovo ThinkPad T490

Based on that assumption, I initially thought improving product pages and creating more model-specific content would significantly improve engagement and conversions.

However, once I started analysing user behaviour data, the evidence pointed in a completely different direction.

Understanding User Intent

I spent time analysing:

• Google Search Console queries
• Landing page performance
• Internal navigation patterns
• Microsoft Clarity session recordings
• Heatmaps
• User drop-off behaviour
• GA4 engagement reports

A clear pattern emerged.

Users were rarely searching for specific models.

Instead, they searched using broader intent-based queries such as:

• MacBook
• i7 laptop
• Laptop under 30k
• Business laptop
• Gaming laptop
• Coding laptop

Users were not searching for inventory.

They were searching for solutions to a problem.

That insight completely changed how I thought about product discovery.

The Revised Hypothesis

After reviewing the data, I formed a new hypothesis.

If product discovery is aligned around how users search rather than how inventory is organised internally, engagement and conversions should improve significantly.

This became the foundation for the next phase of experimentation.

What I Changed

Search Intent Based Collection Pages

The first initiative was restructuring discovery around high-intent categories.

Instead of relying primarily on individual product pages, we prioritised category experiences built around common user intent.

Examples included:

• MacBooks
• Business Laptops
• Gaming Laptops
• Laptops Under 30K
• i7 Laptops

This allowed users to discover relevant inventory much faster.

Improving Discovery Flows

I reviewed the complete browsing journey from homepage to enquiry.

This included:

• Homepage navigation
• Collection page structure
• Product listing experiences
• Product detail pages
• Enquiry flows

Several friction points were removed to shorten the distance between discovery and action.

Continuous Experimentation

Rather than making a single large change, we adopted an iterative approach.

Experiments were conducted across:

• Collection page layouts
• Information hierarchy
• Product ordering
• Category presentation
• Mobile browsing experience
• SEO-focused content structures

Each change was measured before moving to the next iteration.

Analytics Driven Product Decisions

One of the most valuable lessons from this project was learning not to rely solely on intuition.

Almost every product decision was validated through:

• Google Analytics 4
• Google Search Console
• Microsoft Clarity
• Behavioural analysis

The objective was to let user behaviour guide product strategy.

Challenges Along The Way

Low Traffic Volumes

Early traffic levels were relatively small, which made experimentation slower.

Instead of waiting for perfect statistical significance, I focused on directional signals and behavioural trends.

Letting Go Of Assumptions

My original belief that users searched by model numbers turned out to be incorrect.

Recognising that quickly and pivoting towards user-intent discovery was one of the most important decisions during the project.

Resource Constraints

Working in a startup environment meant every initiative had to be prioritised carefully.

The focus remained on high-leverage opportunities capable of producing measurable impact.

Balancing SEO And User Experience

Some changes improved discoverability but created a worse browsing experience.

Finding the right balance between search visibility and usability required multiple rounds of iteration.

Results

The impact was measurable across multiple business metrics.

• Monthly active users grew from under 100 to more than 7,500
• Enquiries increased by 7X
• Generated approximately 1.23 million additional impressions within two months
• Contributed to nearly 60% sales growth
• Increased mobile traffic share significantly

Most importantly, these results were achieved primarily through product discovery improvements, UX optimisation, experimentation, and organic growth initiatives rather than heavy paid acquisition.

What This Taught Me

The biggest lesson from Refurbo was that users rarely think about products the way companies do.

Companies think in:

• Inventory
• SKUs
• Product catalogues

Users think in:

• Goals
• Problems
• Outcomes

The moment we shifted from asking:

"How do we showcase our inventory?"

to

"How do users naturally discover products?"

growth accelerated.

That mindset continues to influence how I approach product strategy today.