Design Direction & Product Management

2019 - 2021

Rakuten Group, Inc.

About Rakuten and the Takeout service

Rakuten Group, Inc. is a global leader in internet services, headquartered in Japan. Founded in 1997, it has grown into one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world, offering a diverse range of services, including online shopping, fintech, digital content, and telecommunications.

Rakuten Takeout, launched in 2020 as part of the Rakuten ecosystem, offers users a convenient way to order takeout from participating restaurants, cafes, and eateries. Later releases introduced an app featuring ‘group ordering,’ allowing multiple users to combine their orders into one for a smoother and more efficient pickup experience.

My Contributions

Design Direction

UIUX Design

Product management

My Work Across Project Phases

I joined Rakuten Group, Inc. in August 2019 and was quickly involved in building a brand-new takeaway ordering platform for the Rakuten e-commerce ecosystem. This project not only deepened my product development skills from an in-house perspective but also presented unique challenges.

Navigating complex stakeholder dynamics, adapting designs within technology constraints, responding quickly to the COVID-19 crisis, and collaborating across continents tested my adaptability and problem-solving abilities.

To keep things effective, I collaborated closely with multiple teams (marketing team, business development team, customer success team, engineers, legal team, branding team, governance team, etc.) to align goals, tackle feasibility concerns, and foster flexible working approaches. My role can be summarized into three phases:

Phase 1 – Introducing a new concept of team ordering to enhance the takeout experience.

Phase 2 – Pivoting to help small restaurants go online during the pandemic.

Phase 3 – Iterative design enhancements aligned with changing organizational strategies.

Phase 1
Bring ‘team’ into ordering experience

Aug 2019 - Mar 2020

Goals

  • Consumers: Bring the new concept of “team order” to takeoutorder experience to help office workers save time for their lunch on weekdays

  • Merchants: A simple and easy-to-operate order management interface to meet the needs of merchant staff

My Role: User and product research, product management, design direction

Outputs

  • For consumer-facing service: Competitive product research, design direction, prototype, user test, design assets, UX copy

  • For merchant-facing service: Created customer journey map with customer success team, feasibility check with development team, make priority decision together with other product manager, design direction, support decision making on UX copywritings

Phase 2
Support both customers and small restaurants during COVID-19

Apr 2020 - Nov 2020

Goals

  • Consumer: Quickly launch the web version to support people’s daily life during the first emergency state

  • Merchant: Provide a smooth registration process to help stores go online easily while reducing back office support

My Role: Product management, design direction, user test planning and preparation

Outputs

  • Task scenarios for user test, UX improvements based on test results and performance data, design deliverables for marketing activities

  • For consumer-facing service: Launched website on May 2020, and launched app (with updated team order feature) on Oct 2020

  • For merchant-facing service: Launched restaurant online registration site, order console on May 2020

Phase 3
Update consumer-facing product based on organization strategy adjustment

Dec 2020 - May 2021

Goals

  • UX improvement and adapt the entire design to the new brand and the new development environment while maintaining the original user flow

My Role: UIUX Design

Outputs

  • Wireframe, UI/UX design deliverables, Design specs documents

Key Takeaways

User-Centric Design with Real-World Trade-Offs: In large organizations like Rakuten, UX design remains user-focused, but balancing user needs with business, technical, and operational constraints often requires trade-offs.

Communication is Crucial: Effective cross-team collaboration hinges on strong communication. Investing time to build mutual trust and clear understanding between teams significantly improves outcomes.

Know the Legal Landscape: Understanding company-specific legal requirements—such as information display standards, user privacy considerations, and industry regulations—is essential for creating compliant and effective designs.

Early Feasibility Assessments: Evaluating the feasibility of ideas early in the process helps prevent roadblocks later on and ensures a smoother design and development journey.