OLX
Designing a Scalable Rental Services
- Industry
- E-commerce / Sharing Economy
- My role
- Experience Strategist, Lead Designer
- Year
- 2021
OLX Designing a Scalable Rental Services
Industry
E-commerce / Sharing Economy
My role
Experience Strategist, Lead Designer
Year
2021
Objective
OLX was already Poland’s leading classifieds platform, but the growing sharing economy exposed unmet demand in rentals — people wanting flexible access to vehicles, tools and event gear, and rental businesses with no unified marketplace.
The real design problem was subtler: in a horizontal platform where every listing looks alike, how do you build a vertical flow tuned to how renting actually works — balanced for both the person renting and the business renting out — without losing ground to specialized competitors?
PHASE 1: Strategy & Hypothesis Validation
I led the framing — stakeholder workshops to define the challenge and align on success metrics — then formulating and validating hypotheses about market potential and demand. This produced a strategic value proposition: the foundation for a rental vertical that had to serve two very different sides of one transaction. The vision was shaped with an interdisciplinary team spanning C-level, CX, technology and marketing.
PHASE 2: Discovery & Insights
Qualitative and quantitative research surfaced the core tension: renters and rental businesses expect fundamentally different things.
I worked those insights into archetypes and a pain-point map, confirming no dominant rental marketplace existed in Poland — validating the opportunity.
Highlights
In-depth interviews, ethnographic studies, and shadowing sessions provided qualitative insights
Online CAWI surveys across multiple user segments delivered quantitative validation
Research revealed clear differentiation of needs between rental businesses and renters, leading to archetype creation and identification of user pain points
Market analysis confirmed the absence of a dominant rental marketplace in Poland
PHASE 3: Conceptual Design & Prototyping
I ran the design sprint — journey maps, wireframes, storyboards — alongside a Value Proposition Canvas synthesizing the research. Because the two sides pulled in different directions, the hardest call was whose flow to optimize first; we anchored the experience around the renter.
A clickable prototype covered both audiences, and I facilitated the Service Blueprint workshops mapping end-to-end touchpoints across the service.
PHASE 4: Early Validation & Iteration
Iterative testing with users from both segments refined the prototype and flows. The real discipline was scope — deciding what was good enough to launch a credible two-sided service, not everything both sides might want.
Outcomes
The OLX Rental Service (“Wypożyczalnia”) launched in March 2021 as a brand-new marketplace category.
Five years on, it’s still a thriving OLX vertical — ~51,000 active listings across 6 subcategories (2026).
OLX has reported ~30% year-over-year growth in rental listings since launch.
The launch was backed by a nationwide TV and social campaign; in 2023 OLX reinforced the category with its market report “Na zawsze czy na chwilę?”.
OLX Designing a Scalable Rental Services
Industry
E-commerce / Sharing Economy
My role
Experience Strategist, Lead Designer
Year
2021
Objective
OLX was already Poland’s leading classifieds platform, but the growing sharing economy exposed unmet demand in rentals — people wanting flexible access to vehicles, tools and event gear, and rental businesses with no unified marketplace.
The real design problem was subtler: in a horizontal platform where every listing looks alike, how do you build a vertical flow tuned to how renting actually works — balanced for both the person renting and the business renting out — without losing ground to specialized competitors?
PHASE 1: Strategy & Hypothesis Validation
I led the framing — stakeholder workshops to define the challenge and align on success metrics — then formulating and validating hypotheses about market potential and demand. This produced a strategic value proposition: the foundation for a rental vertical that had to serve two very different sides of one transaction. The vision was shaped with an interdisciplinary team spanning C-level, CX, technology and marketing.
PHASE 2: Discovery & Insights
Qualitative and quantitative research surfaced the core tension: renters and rental businesses expect fundamentally different things.
I worked those insights into archetypes and a pain-point map, confirming no dominant rental marketplace existed in Poland — validating the opportunity.
Highlights
In-depth interviews, ethnographic studies, and shadowing sessions provided qualitative insights
Online CAWI surveys across multiple user segments delivered quantitative validation
Research revealed clear differentiation of needs between rental businesses and renters, leading to archetype creation and identification of user pain points
Market analysis confirmed the absence of a dominant rental marketplace in Poland
PHASE 3: Conceptual Design & Prototyping
I ran the design sprint — journey maps, wireframes, storyboards — alongside a Value Proposition Canvas synthesizing the research. Because the two sides pulled in different directions, the hardest call was whose flow to optimize first; we anchored the experience around the renter.
A clickable prototype covered both audiences, and I facilitated the Service Blueprint workshops mapping end-to-end touchpoints across the service.
PHASE 4: Early Validation & Iteration
Iterative testing with users from both segments refined the prototype and flows. The real discipline was scope — deciding what was good enough to launch a credible two-sided service, not everything both sides might want.
Outcomes
The OLX Rental Service (“Wypożyczalnia”) launched in March 2021 as a brand-new marketplace category.
Five years on, it’s still a thriving OLX vertical — ~51,000 active listings across 6 subcategories (2026).
OLX has reported ~30% year-over-year growth in rental listings since launch.
The launch was backed by a nationwide TV and social campaign; in 2023 OLX reinforced the category with its market report “Na zawsze czy na chwilę?”.
OLX Designing a Scalable Rental Services
Industry
E-commerce / Sharing Economy
My role
Experience Strategist, Lead Designer
Year
2021
Objective
OLX was already Poland’s leading classifieds platform, but the growing sharing economy exposed unmet demand in rentals — people wanting flexible access to vehicles, tools and event gear, and rental businesses with no unified marketplace.
The real design problem was subtler: in a horizontal platform where every listing looks alike, how do you build a vertical flow tuned to how renting actually works — balanced for both the person renting and the business renting out — without losing ground to specialized competitors?
PHASE 1: Strategy & Hypothesis Validation
I led the framing — stakeholder workshops to define the challenge and align on success metrics — then formulating and validating hypotheses about market potential and demand. This produced a strategic value proposition: the foundation for a rental vertical that had to serve two very different sides of one transaction. The vision was shaped with an interdisciplinary team spanning C-level, CX, technology and marketing.
PHASE 2: Discovery & Insights
Qualitative and quantitative research surfaced the core tension: renters and rental businesses expect fundamentally different things.
I worked those insights into archetypes and a pain-point map, confirming no dominant rental marketplace existed in Poland — validating the opportunity.
Highlights
In-depth interviews, ethnographic studies, and shadowing sessions provided qualitative insights
Online CAWI surveys across multiple user segments delivered quantitative validation
Research revealed clear differentiation of needs between rental businesses and renters, leading to archetype creation and identification of user pain points
Market analysis confirmed the absence of a dominant rental marketplace in Poland
PHASE 3: Conceptual Design & Prototyping
I ran the design sprint — journey maps, wireframes, storyboards — alongside a Value Proposition Canvas synthesizing the research. Because the two sides pulled in different directions, the hardest call was whose flow to optimize first; we anchored the experience around the renter.
A clickable prototype covered both audiences, and I facilitated the Service Blueprint workshops mapping end-to-end touchpoints across the service.
PHASE 4: Early Validation & Iteration
Iterative testing with users from both segments refined the prototype and flows. The real discipline was scope — deciding what was good enough to launch a credible two-sided service, not everything both sides might want.
Outcomes
The OLX Rental Service (“Wypożyczalnia”) launched in March 2021 as a brand-new marketplace category.
Five years on, it’s still a thriving OLX vertical — ~51,000 active listings across 6 subcategories (2026).
OLX has reported ~30% year-over-year growth in rental listings since launch.
The launch was backed by a nationwide TV and social campaign; in 2023 OLX reinforced the category with its market report “Na zawsze czy na chwilę?”.