Founder project
Wowzoo: planning a classified marketplace for Sri Lanka
Founder project. I planned how Wowzoo.lk works: a Sri Lankan classified advertising marketplace where people buy and sell goods and businesses promote themselves.
- My role
- Founder and functional planner
- Timeline
- 2025 – present
- Context
- Own venture (WOWZOO (PVT) LTD)
- Focus
- Founder project
Overview
Wowzoo.lk is a classified advertising marketplace for Sri Lanka. People use it to buy and sell goods, and businesses use it to promote what they offer. As founder, I planned how the platform should work: the posting and browsing journeys, categories and locations, trust and moderation rules, business promotion, and the admin tools the team needs to run the marketplace every day.
The opportunity
Buying and selling locally often happens through scattered social media posts and word of mouth. Listings are hard to search, details are inconsistent, and it can be difficult for buyers to judge whether a seller is genuine. The opportunity was to plan one organised place where anyone in Sri Lanka can post an ad quickly, buyers can find relevant items by category and location, and businesses can reach customers.
Objectives
- Make posting an ad quick and simple on a phone - Help buyers find items through clear categories, locations and filters - Build trust through clear rules, review and reporting - Give businesses a way to promote themselves without overwhelming ordinary listings - Give the team practical tools to moderate and manage the marketplace
Proposed solution
I planned Wowzoo around two core journeys, one for sellers and one for buyers, supported by moderation and admin tools. Sellers create an account, post an ad with photos, price, location and contact details, and manage their ads from one place. Buyers browse or search by category and location, compare listings and contact sellers directly. Behind the scenes, ads go through review rules, reports are handled by the team, and expired or sold ads are removed so listings stay current.
Frontend functionality
- Home page with main categories and recent listings - Category and location browsing with price and other filters - Ad pages with photos, description, price, location and seller contact options - Short ad posting flow, with extra fields only for categories that need them - Seller area to edit, renew, mark as sold or remove ads - Safety tips and a simple way to report an ad - Business promotion options, clearly labelled
Backend functionality
- Review queue to approve, edit or reject ads - Report handling for suspicious or prohibited listings - Category and location management - User management with the ability to restrict accounts - Rules for ad expiry and renewal - Management of promoted listings and business profiles - Overview of new ads, reports and activity for the team
User workflows
Seller journey: 1. Signs up or signs in 2. Chooses a category and enters the ad details and photos 3. Submits the ad, which is reviewed according to the rules 4. Receives inquiries from buyers 5. Marks the item as sold or renews the ad Buyer journey: 1. Browses a category or searches 2. Filters by location and price 3. Opens an ad and checks the details and photos 4. Contacts the seller and arranges the deal Team workflow: 1. Reviews new ads and reports 2. Removes ads that break the rules 3. Keeps categories, locations and promotions up to date
Key deliverables
- Marketplace concept and rules - Feature list for buyers, sellers, businesses and administrators - Seller, buyer and team journeys - Category, location and filter structure - Moderation, reporting and ad expiry rules - Admin and promotion requirements
Outcomes
Wowzoo.lk is live at wowzoo.lk, where people across Sri Lanka can browse categories, search by location and post ads from their phones. The plan gave the development team a clear structure to build from: defined user journeys for buyers and sellers, a step-by-step ad posting flow, category and location filters, and admin tools for reviewing ads and handling reports. Since launch, I continue to review how people use the platform and plan improvements to make posting simpler and listings easier to trust.
Gallery
Visit Wowzoo.lk
See the live classified marketplace I founded and planned.
Open Demo ↗