merchant-persona

Merchant Persona Builder — Salla Platform

You are building a Salla merchant persona grounded in the platform's actual merchant segments and Saudi/GCC market context. Personas here are not generic e-commerce sellers — they are specific Salla merchant types: the nano fashion seller on TikTok, the SMB electronics shop in Riyadh, the enterprise brand scaling across the GCC.

---

Initialization

1. Read knowledge/pm-context.md for the PM's pillar context and merchant segment focus.
2. Read knowledge/platform-pillars.md for pillar-specific merchant pain points.
3. Check knowledge/personas/ for existing personas to avoid duplication.
4. Check knowledge/feedback/ for any merchant feedback that can inform this persona.
5. Check knowledge/research/ for any existing user research.

---

Step 1: Identify the Persona Type

If the user passed an argument (e.g., /merchant-persona smb-fashion), use it as the starting point.

Otherwise ask: "What type of Salla merchant do you want to build a persona for?"

Options (based on pm-context.md segment focus):

• Nano seller — first-time, side hustle
• SMB — growing brand, team of 1-5
• Mid-Market — established brand, multi-channel
• Enterprise — large catalog, dedicated ops
• Specific vertical (fashion, electronics, food & beverage, services, digital products, crafts)
• Or describe the merchant type in your own words

---

Step 2: Clarifying Questions

Ask these in one pass:

1. What pillar interaction matters most for this persona? (The feature area where you need to understand this merchant)
2. Do you have existing research to draw from? (Customer interviews, CS ticket patterns, NPS verbatims, Salla merchant data)
3. What is the core PM question you need this persona to answer? (e.g., "Would they pay for X?", "What's blocking their first sale?")

---

Step 3: Research (if tools available)

If WebSearch is available, search for:

• "[Saudi / GCC] [vertical] small business owner challenges"
• "Salla merchant review" or "تجربة سلة التجار"
• "[vertical] e-commerce seller pain points Saudi Arabia"
• Arabic-language forums and communities (Argaam, Mubasher, dedicated Salla Facebook groups)

If Slack MCP is available, search for:

• Merchant feedback and support ticket themes related to this segment in your CS channels

If tools are not available, proceed with platform context from knowledge/platform-pillars.md and any merchant research in knowledge/research/.

---

Step 4: Generate Persona

# Merchant Persona: [Persona Name]

**Segment:** [Nano / SMB / Mid-Market / Enterprise]
**Vertical:** [Fashion / Electronics / F&B / Services / Digital / Crafts / Other]
**Created:** [Date]
**Pillar relevance:** [Which Salla pillar(s) this persona is most relevant to]

---

## Meet [Persona Name]

[Name in Arabic and English — choose a realistic Saudi name, e.g., "نورة / Noura"]

> "[A direct quote that captures their mindset — in their own words, mixing Arabic if authentic. e.g., 'أبغى أبيع بس ما عندي وقت أتعلم تقنية' — 'I want to sell but I don't have time to learn tech'"]"

---

## Profile

| Field | Details |
|-------|---------|
| **Age** | [Range] |
| **Location** | [Saudi city / GCC country] |
| **Business type** | [What they sell] |
| **Monthly orders** | [Volume range] |
| **Team size** | [Number of people helping them] |
| **Time on Salla** | [How long they've been a merchant] |
| **Tech comfort** | [Low / Medium / High] |
| **Primary device** | [Mobile / Desktop / Both — note that 70%+ of Salla merchants manage primarily on mobile] |
| **Language** | [Arabic only / Bilingual] |

---

## Context & Background

[3-4 sentences. What is their business story? Why did they start selling online? What does their day look like? Where does Salla fit into their business?]

---

## Goals

What they are trying to achieve with Salla:

1. **[Primary goal]** — [context]
2. **[Secondary goal]** — [context]
3. **[Secondary goal]** — [context]

---

## Frustrations with Current Experience

What is painful or broken today — in priority order:

1. **[Pain point]** — [Specific behavior or failure mode. Reference platform pillars where applicable.]
   - *Salla context:* [Where on the platform this pain lives]
   - *Evidence:* [CS ticket theme / NPS verbatim / research finding]

2. **[Pain point]** — [Description]
   - *Salla context:* [Platform area]
   - *Evidence:* [Source]

3. **[Pain point]** — [Description]

---

## Behaviors & Patterns

- **How they discover Salla features:** [App Store / social media / word of mouth / Salla emails]
- **How they contact support:** [WhatsApp / help center / Slack community]
- **When they're most active on Salla:** [Mornings / evenings / during Ramadan / before Eid]
- **What would make them switch to a competitor:** [Specific triggers]
- **What makes them a loyal Salla merchant:** [Specific reasons they stay]

---

## Jobs to Be Done

Framed as JTBD statements:

| When... | I want to... | So I can... |
|---------|-------------|-------------|
| [Situation] | [Action] | [Outcome] |
| [Situation] | [Action] | [Outcome] |
| [Situation] | [Action] | [Outcome] |

---

## Relationship with Salla Features

| Pillar | Usage | Satisfaction | Key need |
|--------|-------|-------------|---------|
| Store Builder | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |
| Checkout | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |
| SallaPayments | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |
| Salla Shipping | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |
| App Store | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |
| Analytics | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |
| Loyalty & CRM | [Heavy/Medium/Light/None] | [High/Med/Low] | [What they need] |

---

## Saudi/GCC Market Context

[Factors specific to their market situation:]
- **Payment preferences:** [Mada / STC Pay / COD preference]
- **Shipping expectations:** [Same-day / next-day / standard expectations for their region]
- **Seasonal behavior:** [How Ramadan, Eid, or White Friday affects their business]
- **Regulatory exposure:** [Any VAT/ZATCA complexity they face]
- **Language needs:** [Bilingual catalog? Arabic-only customer base?]

---

## Opportunity Areas

Based on this persona, the highest-impact opportunities for [pillar]:

1. **[Opportunity]** — [Why this persona needs it, estimated segment size impact]
2. **[Opportunity]** — [Why this persona needs it]
3. **[Opportunity]** — [Why this persona needs it]

---

## What NOT to Build for This Persona

[Features or directions that sound good but won't serve this merchant well. Save the PM from misaligned work.]

- [Anti-feature 1] — [Why it won't work for them]
- [Anti-feature 2] — [Why it won't work for them]

---

## Research Questions to Validate

[Open questions about this persona that should be confirmed in merchant interviews]

1. [Question]
2. [Question]
3. [Question]

---

Step 5: Save and Follow Up

Write to: knowledge/personas/persona-[name-slug].md

Suggest next steps:

• "Want me to build an interview guide to validate this persona? → /merchant-research"
• "Want me to map their journey through [your pillar]? → /merchant-journey"
• "Want me to use this persona to sharpen an existing PRD? → /refine-spec"