Teacher Arena – A Commission-Free Marketplace for Educators
Teacher Arena is an independent, commission-free e-commerce platform built for educators to buy and sell digital teaching resources. The platform was designed to help an established educational content creator move away from third-party marketplaces and build a profitable, brand-owned sales channel.
Overview
The Problem
The client relied heavily on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) as their primary sales platform. While TpT provided traffic, it introduced several critical limitations: High transaction and commission fees, No ownership of customer data, Limited branding and customization, Dependence on a third-party marketplace. This resulted in reduced profit margins and restricted long-term growth.
Project Goals
- Build a fully independent e-commerce platform
- Enable direct sales of digital resources with 100% profit retention
- Create a professional, trustworthy experience for educators
- Establish ownership of customer data for long-term marketing and growth
- Ensure the platform is scalable and easy to maintain
My Role
Lead Developer & UI/UX Designer. I was responsible for: UX strategy and interface design, WordPress and WooCommerce development, Custom CSS/HTML implementation, Performance optimization, Integration of payments and email automation.
Process
Research & Discovery
The primary audience—teachers—are busy professionals who value clarity, trust, and speed. The platform needed to feel as reliable as major marketplaces while offering the flexibility of a standalone website. Based on this, the solution focused on: Clear navigation and scannable layouts, A frictionless digital download experience, A simplified contributor and checkout flow, Mobile-first usability.
UX Strategy
The design prioritizes ease of use and professionalism. Teachers should be able to: Quickly find relevant resources, Understand pricing and product value at a glance, Purchase materials seamlessly, even on mobile. The shopping and checkout flow was optimized to minimize steps and reduce cognitive load.
Design Decisions
This project required significant custom development. I migrated legacy layouts to modern Flexbox Containers for better performance, engineered a scoped CSS class system to prevent style leakage on unique landing pages, and minimized plugin bloat by hand-coding custom widgets for critical forms.
Design & Development
UI Approach
The interface was designed to be clean, calm, and trustworthy: Color Palette: Medical Blue (#0D47A1) for credibility, Soft Blue (#E3F2FD) for visual balance, White backgrounds to reduce cognitive load. Typography: Inter for high readability across all devices. Mobile-First Design: Cart and checkout flows optimized for small screens, Strict control of spacing and overflow to eliminate horizontal scrolling.
Development Highlights
This project required more than standard page building: Modern Layout System: Migrated legacy layouts to Elementor Flexbox Containers for better performance and responsiveness. Scoped CSS Architecture: Solved style-leakage issues by implementing isolated CSS wrappers (e.g., .subscribe-page-wrapper) to allow unique landing pages without affecting global styles. Performance Optimization: Reduced plugin bloat by hand-coding custom HTML/CSS widgets for critical forms, improving load times and maintainability. Marketing & Payments: Integrated Brevo for email automation and Stripe for secure digital transactions.
Performance & Responsiveness
A mobile-first approach guided every design decision. The platform was tested across devices to ensure: Smooth browsing on mobile, Fast checkout experience, Consistent layouts across screen sizes. All horizontal scrolling issues were resolved through careful CSS management and layout constraints.
Outcome
Results
Teacher Arena successfully launched as a fully independent digital marketplace. The client now: Retains 100% of sales revenue, Owns their customer database for direct marketing, Saves thousands annually in marketplace fees, Operates under a strong, professional brand identity.
Key Learnings
Moving from a rented audience to an owned platform significantly improves both profitability and control. A custom e-commerce solution, when executed correctly, can outperform large marketplaces while delivering a better user experience.
Final Thoughts
Teacher Arena demonstrates the impact of combining thoughtful UI/UX design with practical development decisions. By addressing both user needs and business goals, the platform provides a scalable foundation for future growth, content expansion, and community building.