E-commerce "Fake Door" Test
Tested real buying intent before inventory spend by capturing demand at the checkout moment.
Project overview
E-commerce "Fake Door" Test overview
A short overview of the problem, solution, and result.
Starting Point
Entrepreneurs had a promising beauty product idea but faced significant financial risk. They needed to validate market demand before investing in costly development and inventory.What Shipped
Built a convincing e-commerce storefront that let the founders test whether people would actually try to buy. Instead of charging at checkout, the site captured email interest at the final step so they could measure intent before committing capital.Why It Mattered
Instead of guessing, the founders got a low-risk signal on which products drew the strongest interest. The test also built an early launch list, which showed real demand and created a warmer audience before they spent on inventory.Summary
Casa Elaria needed a way to test purchase intent before spending on inventory.
I built a convincing fake-door storefront so the founders could learn which products attracted real interest and collect early demand before committing capital.
About
The founders had a promising beauty product idea, but inventory and development would require real upfront spend.
The first question was whether people would act like buyers, not whether a full commerce operation could be built.
Business Objective
The test needed to feel real enough to measure intent while staying honest about the product not being ready to ship yet.
That meant building the buying moment, capturing demand, and avoiding the cost of a full storefront and inventory commitment.
Product Direction
Validate the buying moment before the business commits.
The useful MVP was not a complete store. It was the smallest convincing experience that could show whether visitors wanted the products.
Use the final step to capture demand.
Instead of charging at checkout, the site collected email interest so the founders could measure intent and build a launch list.
Product Surface
The page needed to create enough belief for visitors to behave like buyers, not just casual browsers.
The Work
Built the storefront around buyer behavior.
The experience used familiar e-commerce patterns so the test measured shopping intent instead of confusion with a prototype.
Kept the scope focused on learning.
The build avoided unnecessary backend and inventory complexity while still producing a useful commercial signal.
What Shipped
The fake-door MVP gave the founders a clearer demand signal before they spent on inventory or committed to a larger commerce build.
Fake-door flow
Visitors could behave like buyers.
The storefront created a normal shopping path, then captured interest at the final step instead of taking payment.
Demand signal
The founders could compare product interest.
The test showed which products attracted the strongest buying intent before inventory spend.
Launch list
Curiosity became a warmer audience.
Email capture turned early interest into a list the founders could use for launch.
Capital discipline
The first build reduced inventory risk.
The project tested market pull before the founders committed to a larger operational bet.
Product Screens
The product surface shows the validation storefront used to test purchase intent.
Tech Stack
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