America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 462 Release Time

The fluorescent lights in the office emitted a soft white light, illuminating the entire technology research and development area exceptionally brightly.

Ernst sat down calmly in the chair, his right hand resting naturally on the mouse.

As the left mouse button was gently pressed, the flash sale homepage on the screen instantly unfolded, and a simulated shopping test officially began.

I randomly selected a few items, added them to my cart, clicked "buy," and then the option to link PayPal and various credit and debit cards appeared.

Ernst stopped what he was doing, leaned back slightly in his chair, and nodded gently. "Judging from the current operating procedures, the basic functions of the entire system are complete."

In fact, regardless of the type of online store or e-commerce platform, the general process is similar, with only minor differences in details.

Ernst was very skilled at it, which made Mar and Affil behind him a little suspicious. Did this big boss use Amazon every day?

There's no awkwardness at all, unlike novice players who hesitate or even accidentally go back when faced with many options, like a headless fly.

Whether it's adding items to the cart, filtering products, or quickly searching, the process is incredibly smooth, as if it's second nature.

Little did they know, Ernst was more familiar with online shopping than they were with going to the supermarket.

"Not bad." After five minutes of use, Ernst finally nodded in satisfaction.

Although the technology team led by Mar didn't have much insight into innovation, they simply copied Amazon's templates and added their own suggestions to create flash sales.

However, there are absolutely no problems with the technology and execution capabilities.

They did all of the points Ernst mentioned, which shows that their technology is up to standard and their underlying architecture is sound.

Mar and the others visibly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Ernst nod, followed by applause and cheers.

Ernst sat and watched without disturbing him.

After everyone finished cheering and quieted down, Ernst poured cold water on their enthusiasm, saying, "It has largely met my requirements. Keep up the good work."

Upon hearing this, Mar's upturned lips instantly vanished. "What do you mean in general? Does that mean there's still room for improvement?"

"If you have any further requests or suggestions, please feel free to let us know, and we will make changes immediately."

Ernst nodded inwardly as he looked at Mar's anxious expression.

The reason he chose to bring Mar into the flash sale team was because he valued Mar's sense of responsibility and dedication to her work.

Unlike Steve Jobs, he doesn't have to strive for perfection, but when he knows that his work has flaws and can be improved, he will never compromise.

Ernst did not answer Mar's question immediately, but instead turned his gaze to the other employees in the technical department.

He noticed that some employees still looked tired and had a hint of unease in their eyes.

They really poured their hearts and souls into building this mall under Mar's leadership.

Many people were even psychologically affected.

Mar once joked with him that there were many top students in the team who graduated from prestigious universities. They were all incredibly arrogant and thought that developing an online shopping mall was not a difficult task at all, that it was extremely simple. Some even thought that it could be built in ten days or half a month.

But once they actually started developing it, they realized how naive their previous ideas had been.

Online shopping malls may seem simple, merely enabling users to select goods and complete payments, but in reality, they involve very complex technical aspects and business logic, such as product inventory management, order processing, payment security, and logistics integration.

They felt particularly frustrated after Ernst saw their initial version last time and offered so many suggestions for improvement.

They also realized for the first time that an online shopping mall is not just a simple place to buy things; there are many other things to consider.

Although Ernst wanted to completely tame these prodigies, there was no need to tighten the reins too much. He smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. There are only a few minor flaws. We can fix them a little. There's nothing wrong with the overall appearance."

"What flaw?" This time it was Affili who asked.

He had watched Ernst's actions and thought the flash sale was perfect.

Ernst organized his thoughts, pointed to the system interface on the screen, and said, "First of all, in terms of background design, it uses a background with bright colors and complex patterns. Although it may look eye-catching, this design actually has a big problem: it is too flashy. Staring at it for a long time can easily cause eye fatigue for users."

"Some people on your team come from Google. You should have heard that in the early days of Google, the group's marketing president, Marissa, brought out more than a hundred different shades of blue samples and had Google employees stare at them repeatedly in order to find the most eye-friendly blue for use in Google's product interface design."

"The reason Marissa puts so much effort into such details is because she knows that a good visual experience is crucial for users."

Ernst's gaze swept over each team member present. "Our flash sale now has a similar problem. Users log into our platform to select products, not to admire the background of the mall."

"If the background design is too flashy or complicated, it will only distract users and cause visual fatigue while browsing products, thus affecting their shopping experience and potentially causing them to abandon their shopping due to discomfort."

"Our flash sale platform is different from Amazon's and Walmart's."

"Amazon previously focused primarily on book sales. When users purchased books on Amazon, they would typically first determine the type or specific title of the book they wanted to buy, so they didn't need to spend too much time selecting items during the browsing process."

"As a traditional offline retail giant, Walmart's online platform users are mostly accustomed to Walmart's offline shopping model. They know exactly what product categories Walmart offers and which products they need to buy. Therefore, their usage time on Walmart's online platform is relatively short."

Ernst gestured to the display screen. "But our flash sale platform is different. For consumers, flash sales are a completely new platform, and they don't know what products we have on our platform. So many consumers enter the flash sale platform like girls going to a physical shopping mall; they don't have a specific shopping goal. They need to spend more time browsing various products on the platform and slowly finding what they are interested in or need."

"This will lead to a problem."

"Consumers spend a longer time browsing flash sales on average," Affili added.

"That's right." Ernst nodded. "Precisely because consumers need to spend more time browsing products on our platform, such colorful and overly complex backgrounds will create a bad user experience. Prolonged exposure to such a visual environment can easily cause eye strain, thus reducing their willingness to buy."

After listening to Ernst's analysis, both Mar and Affil nodded involuntarily.

However, as Ernst said, this is not a big problem, just a minor flaw that can be resolved in less than a day.

"Besides the background design issue, there are two other aspects that you need to focus on and optimize," Ernst continued.

"First, there's the loading speed of subpages and the smoothness of payment page transitions. The payment page, in particular, must be as smooth as possible."

His tone became more serious: "If the customer's hardware and internet speed are not good, and we also have technical problems, it is very likely that consumers will have to wait for more than a minute when they select their items and pay, which will greatly reduce their desire to buy."

The core advantages of the Internet are convenience and efficiency. Users choose online shopping to save time and energy.

For users, a minute may not seem like a long time, but while waiting for the payment page to redirect, that minute can feel exceptionally long.

Finally, there are communication tools.

"Communication tools?" Affil hadn't expected Ernst to mention communication tools.

The built-in communication tool for Flash Sale is a simplified version developed by Google Messenger. To put it bluntly, it has nothing to do with Flash Sale; Flash Sale is just a service purchase tool.

"That's right, the built-in communication tools are fine, but have you considered that Google could release some emojis related to online shopping?"

"Or perhaps you're working with Google Messenger to develop your own emoji sets and then uploading them?"

Everyone was completely baffled, and Mar couldn't help but ask, "What's the specific purpose of developing these online shopping-related emojis?"

Ernst smiled and replied, "First of all, from a user experience perspective, this can provide convenience for users. For example, some phrases commonly used in online shopping, if we can design some corresponding emojis, users can directly use emojis to express their needs without spending time typing."

"Secondly, from a user psychology perspective, this helps regulate consumers' mindset. When users proactively consult customer service, it usually means that they have encountered some problems or have some doubts during the shopping process. At this time, users may feel a little nervous or anxious."

"Using emojis for communication can alleviate this serious and tense atmosphere to some extent, allowing users to feel the friendliness of our platform, thereby increasing users' inner joy and improving their goodwill towards the platform."

After hearing Ernst's explanation, Affili's eyes lit up instantly.

He had previously focused on core issues such as traffic acquisition and product operation for the platform, and never thought that auxiliary functions such as communication tools could provide emotional value to users through small emojis.

Ernst's words undoubtedly opened a new door to operational thinking for him.

Affie immediately turned to Mar and asked, "Mar, can you estimate how long it would take to complete these improvements?"

Mar frowned, thought carefully for a moment, and then replied, "The issues of optimizing the background design, improving the loading speed of subpages, and enhancing the smoothness of payment redirection are relatively easy to resolve. I estimate that the improvements can be completed in a few days, and at most in a week."

"However, the situation is more complicated regarding the development of emojis related to online shopping. Our team currently does not have any professional designers in this area, and the completion time for this part of the work is impossible to estimate accurately."

Afei waved his hand and said, "There's no rush. We can add it gradually later."

Mar nodded. "Then there's no problem. If you're in a hurry, we can finish it and bring it to market within three days."

Affil glanced at Ernst, and seeing that he didn't seem inclined to speak, instructed, "There's no rush to launch it. Let's test it internally first and see if there are any problems."

After thinking for a moment, he confirmed, "One week. If no problems arise within a week, our flash sale will officially launch after one week."