Build an Online Business that sells Homemade Cookies
Product Design Interview Question - A roadmap to launching an online homemade cookie business that delights customers and scales profitably.
How to Answer Product Design Questions?
Here is a step by step guide/framework, you should follow while answering product design interview questions:
Ask clarifying Questions to narrow the scope.
Define the Goal you want to achieve.
User Segment Analysis.
List and prioritise the Pain Points.
List out your Solutions.
Evaluate and Prioritise the Solutions.
Define the Success Metrics.
GTM
Summarise your answer.
1) Ask Clarifying Questions
Before jumping into the solution space, I’d start by narrowing down the problem to ensure my recommendations are realistic and aligned with business intent.
Business & Operations
Are we talking about a small family-owned bakery going digital or a startup aiming to build a scalable D2C cookie brand?
Will the cookies be truly homemade (from a personal kitchen) or produced in a licensed commercial kitchen with food safety certification (e.g., FSSAI in India)?
What’s the production capacity we can handle daily? (This affects delivery promises and shelf life.)
Geography & Delivery
Do we plan to launch in a single city first (to test the model) or start with pan-India/national shipping?
Are we focusing on hyperlocal same-day delivery or standard 2–3 day courier delivery?
Target Customer
Who are we selling to initially — end consumers (B2C) or corporates and event clients (B2B)?
Are we focusing on gifting occasions, or positioning cookies as everyday snacks?
Budget & Growth Intent
Are we bootstrapped with limited marketing spend or backed by funding to scale aggressively?
Do we aim for profitable growth (focus on unit economics) or brand building and awareness initially?
Product Scope
Will there be customization (flavors, gift packaging, dietary preferences)?
Any specific themes — organic, healthy, eggless, or gluten-free?
By confirming these upfront, I can narrow the problem.
For this discussion, I’ll assume:
It’s a D2C online-only cookie business, starting in one city (say Mumbai).
It uses licensed small kitchens with a daily bake-to-order model.
The initial target customers are gift buyers and local snack lovers.
Marketing budget is modest, so early focus is on trust, freshness, and word-of-mouth growth.
2) Define the Goal
PlayCookie (hypothetical brand name) would be a digital-first homemade cookie brand that would deliver freshly baked, preservative-free cookies directly from local kitchens to customers’ doors.
The main goal of PlayCookie would be to make it simple for people to discover, order, and share premium homemade cookies — whether as a self-treat or as a gift — while ensuring freshness, trust, and convenience at every step. The broader mission is to help customers experience warmth and connection through thoughtful gifting and authentic flavors.
In my opinion, building customer trust and repeat engagement is most closely tied to PlayCookie’s mission. If we can build strong trust around product quality and freshness — and convert first-time gifters into repeat buyers — we’ll see significant improvement in both retention and organic word-of-mouth growth.
Hence, for this question, I’d focus on increasing repeat purchase engagement and referral-driven growth as the key success goal.
Metrics I’d focus on improving:
Repeat Purchase Rate (% of customers who reorder within 45 days)
Average Order Value (AOV)
Referral or Gift Re-purchase Rate
3) User Segments
To design a focused MVP, I’d first segment users by motivation and buying behavior.
Segment 1: Gifting Customers
Who they are: Individuals or corporates buying cookies for birthdays, festivals, employee hampers, or celebrations.
Motivation: Personalization, presentation, and reliability — want to delight recipients.
Segment 2: Snack Lovers / Regular Consumers
Who they are: Urban professionals or families looking for fresh cookies as everyday treats.
Motivation: Taste, convenience, indulgence.
Segment 3: Health-Conscious Buyers
Who they are: Consumers seeking low-sugar, gluten-free, or vegan snacks.
Motivation: Healthy indulgence with transparency of ingredients.
Segment 4: Corporate Bulk Buyers
Who they are: HR teams, event managers, or small business owners ordering in bulk for employees or clients.
Motivation: Convenience, volume discounts, reliability, consistent branding.
Focus Segment for MVP:
I’d prioritize Gifting Customers (Segment 1) for the MVP because:
They drive higher AOV and emotional engagement.
Gifting moments are predictable and repeatable (birthdays, festivals, holidays).
Strong potential for viral organic growth — every gifted box introduces the brand to a new potential customer.
The learnings from this segment (on freshness, packaging, and experience) can later be extended to other segments like everyday snackers and corporates.
4) Pain Points
Pain-Points for Gifting Customers,