The Background

2020 gave the whole world a new and difficult challenge. Stores everywhere close their doors and shoppers turned to online shopping for all their retail needs. The retail industry endured a particularly hard hit as consumer confidence drop for in store shopping. According to survey- 54% of shoppers prefer online shopping, and as high as 63% of in-store shoppers, rely on their phone to find product information.

Category

Product design, environmental design, Facial Recognition Design

My Role

UX researcher, UX designer, Visual designer, brand designer.

Tools

Adobe XD, Mural, Illustrator, Photoshop, AfterEffect

The Problem

In-store retailers selling electric razors are seeking new ways to bring back consumers back into the store. However, with the prevalence of online shopping and fear of Covid-19, retailers are struggling to bring the consumers back into the store.

In this post-pandemic world, how may we boost consumer confidence while shopping instore and bring back the in person shopping experience?

Research

To fully understand the problem and how HoverTouch® can best fit the needs of the users, I decided to focus on two user groups, the retail store managers and consumers.

On-site Study

I went to 5 major retail stores to research current retail shelf layouts and installation logistics. In big box stores such as Walmart and Target, there are most spaces for special displays within the isles, whereas smaller retail stores such as Walgreen, CVS and Ulta, most product advertisement or displays are located at the end cap.

Solution

HoverTouch® uses computer vision and AI to create fun, informative, educational and magical experiences on any surface (ex. wall, glass, tabletop or a car hood) that mirrors online interactivity by leveraging your existing content.
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HoverTouch® also track all activity that enables you to make near real-time action based decisions.We provide you solutions to create safe, informative, fun and interactive experiences for your users.

User Interviews

I want to make sure the perspective of the retailers and the consumers are both captured in our research, so I conducted interviews for both groups of users. Some of the key findings are:

Retailers:

  1. Retailers suffered from the pandemic and shut downs

  2. Retailers are eager to bring the consumers back into the stores

  3. Retailers don’t always have the best solutions for product display

Consumers:

  1. Consumers don’t always know what product is the best for their shaving needs

  2. Consumers have higher purchase confidence of products with reviews

  3. Consumers can have quicker price comparison shopping online

Some additional findings regarding consumers needs are specific to different users. Consumers with different hair textures, face shape, skin type and special needs have unique needs when choosing an electric razor.

Based off of the interview findings I created two personas to further pin point user pain points. Steve and McKenzie each represent the consumer and the retailer.

The Opportunity

Now that I have distilled all the research on persona and better understood the problem, I took a look at the current retail space and dug deeper into some of the opportunities.

Currently, e-commerce has several advantages over physical retail such as convenience of payment forms, easy of navigation and inventory. However, there are several important areas in buyer’s journey where e-commerce has yet penetrate. These areas are:

  • Product touch and feel

  • Immersive exploration

  • Ultra-convenience

  • Personal advise

The Goal

Now we identified the users, we empathize with their paint points, we understand the problems, and we spot the opportunities, so what is our goal?

A shopper should have access to reliable, up to date, tailored product information integrated into their in-store shopping experience. It should be easier than googling on their phone.

An average user typically would spend about 140 seconds to Google a particular product, but by using HoverTouch® the time spent on searching for product information is cut by 85% down to 20 seconds.

The Solution

I created story boards to better present how a user would interact with the solution. I want the stakeholders to clearly see the possibilities of the HoverTouch solution.

HoverTouch provides the users with the following features:

  • Augmented Reality – HoverTouch incorporates facial recognition technology and allows the user to apply beard filters and other filters such as skin and hair type to give them a glimpse into what facial hair best suits their face shape.

  • Product Comparison – User can select products and see a side by side comparison on product functionalities, features and prices.

  • Product Reviews – User is able to read product reviews and watch review videos right in front of the product display

  • Product Locator + Inventory –HoverTouch can locate the product on the shelves to save user time looking for the item. Hover touch also can track inventory and automatically order item when it is low stock.