Studio Fall 2023
How might we improve the in-store experience for the Discount Depot community?
Discount Depot is a retail store connected to the Volunteer Now organization – one of the largest Volunteerism non-profits that created Voly.org. Discount Depot sells donated, never-used, retail goods from companies like JC Penny, CVS, Target, and others. Discount Depot’s objective is to help support the non-profit and Low-Moderate Income (or LMI) communities by providing high-quality goods at highly discounted prices. At the time of the briefing, the store offered a sales sheet at the entrance to communicate the discounts that changed daily. The team found that the store receives unpredictable inventory, leading to challenges around consistent pricing and product organization.
View the final Client Presentation on the SMU MADI YouTube page.
TEAM GOOD TOGETHER
Martha Fernandez | Stuart Cornett | Chloe Lee | Gina Wang | Nick Ortega
The design team engaged in an immersive sixteen-week design process exploring the challenge: How might we improve the in-store experience for the Discount Depot community?
Delving into rapid secondary research, fieldwork, observations, and direct primary research to identify opportunities and needs, the team aimed to gain a human-centered understanding of all the actors, factors, and issues involved in this challenge to produce a comprehensive design response. The team deployed a phased
prototypes to test their learnings and deliver their findings and strategic recommendations, informing design principles for organizational initiatives that could be evolved in the future.
PROJECT OVERVIEW & DESIGN RESEARCH
The team focused their work on the confusion around discounts, customers having difficulty knowing final prices, and the display of items improving through the lens of hospitality, customer experience, service touchpoints, and visual merchandising. To learn more about the customer experience the team conducted customer engagements through a Shop-along, walking and talking with customers in the store to understand what they value about Discount Depot. The team found that customers were delighted by the staff but had experiences with pricing challenges. Examples are difficulty knowing the initial price, calculating the final price with the discount applied, and identifying what category items fall into for sales.
PROTOTYPE
The team’s design response involved two phases. The first phase was a pop-up shop, the Do More Goods Holiday shop, a small activation within the store featuring products from different sale categories that operated as a stand-alone shop in the store. The second phase was a single-day experiment to test: Whether clearly displaying sales would reduce friction at checkout, if intentionally displaying items would sell more products, and if removing the sales sheet would impact the customer experience. With staff support, the team co-designed the experience landing on a simplified sales category, removing sales sheets, and exclusions, and funneled discounts into 7 categories by taking the average discount percentages that have been advertised. They also designed a visual version of the sales sheet with iconography that staff used at the register.
The experience was branded as “Do More Goods” and involved four touchpoints: sale signage, custom display, checkout, and coffee and donuts experience assessment. The touchpoints were intentionally mapped to provide a fluid experience for the customer: Signage displayed discount categories upon entrance, a custom display represented the discount categories and a custom display featured products in an organized and intentional way, and Do More Goods representatives were present at checkout for observations and engagement. The team found that there were fewer customers than the previous year but comparable in sales. Items were being discounted higher and customers spending more per sale. Customers responded well noting that navigating the sale categories of the day was a lot easier due to the signage and display and the visual merchandising presented products in a modern and welcoming way. The team uncovered that the visual sales sheet made it efficient for staff and the display helped clarify ambiguity around product categories.
KEY DESIGN PRINCIPLES & RECOMMENDATIONS
The team recommends that Discount Depot implement the touchpoints from the experience to enhance staff support, ultimately leading to a positive ripple effect on the customer experience. The customer experience can be improved through clear and consistent communication of sales and a visual sales sheet as a tool for staff. The visual sales sheet proves most beneficial for staff serving as a valuable resource to enhance the overall pricing experience.
Design principles
1. The customer experience is dependent on the support of staff.
2. Customers and staff value consistency and clarity around prices.
3. When products are intentionally displayed and curated they can convey care to the customers