"This service changes the way people shop, and connects them to their favourite stores."
ShopEasy
The current retail industry experiences many flaws for consumers with busy schedules or bad time management. The problem with this industry in regards to consumers is, retail associates are sometimes unhelpful and this costs the customer more time in the store. More than 50% of consumers prefer to shop online for the ease along with the fact they do not have to interact with anyone.
Duration
September - December 2018
Team
Hamna, Zubash
Role
Resarcher, Planner
Tools
Adobe XD, Google Forms, Social Media
Design Research
Research Topic
Organizations across the world are transforming their service structures to keep up to date with latest consumer trends. We live in a fast paced society where people want to be self sufficient and optimize their time as much as possible. One of the ways we’ve combated the issue is having self serving facilities. Grocery stores across the globe are implementing self-serve checkouts; no more waiting in lines and having to have an employee check you out. Other services such as “boost” “amazon’s door dash” are just to name a few that see creating seamless shopping experiences for customers as an important issue.
We want to focus on the retail industry, clothing stores don’t seem to have jumped to this opportunity yet. There aren’t many in store options available for customers to be self sufficient. Based on our survey, 50% percent of people like to shop in store and the other 50% prefer online shopping. We believe our app will be a handy tool for not only shoppers but retailers as well, it will be an all inclusive app that will solve many shopper concerns and move the retail industry forward in an innovative manner.
Personas
We made a few different personas to cover all aspects of what we would include in our final design. My main personas were the adult customers of our service.
I also created persona expectations for both the persona's that this service would cater towards.
Anne Alpert
The Working
Mom
- Anne has to juggle all of her kids’ needs along with her own so she wants to be able to organize all needs.
- Wants a system that is quick & easy to use so she can figure out what to shop for even when she is busy.
- She wants a variety of clothing options and stores and wants to be able to see all the options available to her for her family.
- Having to go to different stores for each of her kids and herself is a major inconvenience so she expects to be able to spend a minimal amount of time shopping for everyone.
John Kingsly
The Anxious Retiree
- He wants an app that is easy to use so he does not spend a lot of time navigating between items and pages.
- He wants to be able to see multiple options so he doesn’t stay on track and become disappointed in his own choices.
- Able to make him completely independent of any assistance so that he is able to shop comfortably.
- He wants to know that he will be able to quickly do his shopping without having any issues in the process.
Primary Research
Our primary method of research was a survey created through Google Forms which included many questions about the average consumers shopping experience. I reviewed and released the survey on many social platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
The final polling was made up of 20 participants.
Our survey showed that half our surveyors shop online and half of them shop in-store which became a good base for us to start off on. Our survey also showed that many people think that shopping in-store could be easier and would prefer to have an app that allows them to be self-serving in retail stores.
Framework
For this project my team and I decided to create two separate experience through this service. We decided to create an experience for the customer and a different experience for the retailer. This decision was made through research of other similar services and the need for having two different perspectives that are integral to the use of the app.
Customer
Create account:
Here the user is prompted to enter their account information - Full name, email, user-name, password
Dashboard:
On the side the user has access to the navigation bar which shows the other pages. On the top of the screen is promotions for stores they frequent. Under that is clothes that the system thinks the user would like to see.
Map:
From the navigation bar one of the options is the map which shows the users location and the stores that are nearby along with the distance. When a user selects a store a pop up opens showing some.
Search:
Here the user inputs what clothing they want to find and the results show from most to least relevant.
Shopping Cart:
Here the user can see all the clothes they want to buy and how much it would cost. In Store AR:Here the user uses their phone in the store to help locate the item they want or even scan a barcode to add to cart and see info.
Retailer
Dashboard:
Once the retailer enters their info this page appears with options to go to these pages
- Statistics
- Inventory
- Marketing/Promotions
- Users
Statistics:
Here the retailer can see the statistics of how much money she’s getting comparing in store sales to sales made through the app. It also compares previous years sales.
Inventory:
Here the retailer can see all the items in their stores and add items where it is needed.
Marketing/Promotions:
The retailer can add a banner image for the customers dashboard. They can also add a sale that is going on in the store.
Users:
The retailer can see their customers’ activity. At the top is the star customer and under that the retailer can see other top customers.
Final Prototype
Costumer
Some important features of the app in the perspective of the consumers experience include:
Create Account
Here the user needs to create their own personal account so that they are able to come back to their shopping experience.
Preferences
Preferences is another way to make the shopping experience more personal to the user as they are browsing through the app. Some functions include:
Stores: Pulls up a pop-up list of stores that are registered with the app along with a search bar on the top.
Colours: The customer can select their preferred colours.
Sizes: This indicates the size of clothes the consumer usually wears.
Items: The customer is able to choose the specific items of clothing they prefer and the app shows them stores that would cater to those items.
Shopping Cart
The shopping cart shows the user what items they are interested in purchasing and allows them to delete the item or purchase multiples of the same item.
Retailer
These are some features that are specific to the way that a retailer would use this service.
The experience for the retailer is different because they are the ones supplying the service with the specific information of the clothing in their store.
The Dashboard shows the retailer the different sections of the service they have access to.
The same items can be found in the navigation at the bottom of the screen.
The Sales page shows the retailer how well their products are selling on this service. They can see comparisons between their sales in store and their sales on ShopEasy.
They are also able to set new sales goals.
The inventory page shows them the items they have up for sale and the quantity of each item. This page also gives them the option to re-order any items which are running low.
What I Learned
Be Focused
This project was rocky in the beginning but once my team and I became more focused on each task the process became much smoother
Be Thoughtful
The basis of this project was to cater the needs to that of the user and use all the surveys and other forms of gathering information to guide our decisions
Be Insightful
Figuring out how to use the user research in the final product was crucial to the success of the project
Where To Improve
Conduct More User Research
Knowing more about the user would have given me the ability to create an even more helpful service, especially in creating the user flow and identifying specific needs
