Understanding emerging markets by applying Lean UX

Abstract

Emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, and India are experiencing high growth in various sectors. Businesses and design teams that attempt to break into a market often have limited understanding of the market's ecosystem, and customers' day-to-day environment. This is largely due to low availability of secondary research about emerging countries, the teams' limited local presence, and the teams' limited personal experience with the country of interest. Teams with certain level of resources may partner with third-party local research teams or travel to the country to conduct in-depth ethnographic research. While in-country ethnographic research brings multiple benefits, it can often be time-consuming and costly. In commercial/business environments, where time and resources are limited, gaining an understanding of an emerging market becomes a challenge. In this paper, we'll discuss and propose a process to conduct user research in emerging markets by applying Lean UX principles. The process will be illustrated using a case study, a cross-cultural research comparing U.S. and Russian e-commerce users' attitudes and behaviors. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.