Walmart has been changing the face of retail since their first store opened in 1962. They've continued to pursue ways to bring technology into retail to offer customers a seamless shopping experience. You can find a ton of items in a Walmart store, but as customers increasingly shop across digital they’ve made it easier for us to find what we need right at our fingertips.
Duration: 10 days.
Methods: User Research, Customer Journey Mapping, Solution Sketching, Wireframing, UI Design.
Tools: Miro, Jira, Figma, Illustrator.
Add a new feature or redesign an existing feature for the mobile version of their website that I think will either increase the user persona the "Bargain hunter". In an effort to engage with this kind of user, a new project requires highlighting products with a special offer from the assortment. My mission is to make a proposal on how to solve this problem, thinking about the value I would be providing for users or for the business, and how could it be measured.
Bargain hunters look for the best deal possible.
Their behavior may impact any of the other types of shoppers.
People will go to great lengths to save, according to a Consumer Reports National Research Center national survey in which they asked 1,021 people about their bargain-hunting habits. (The survey was conducted for ShopSmart magazine, the quick and easy guide from Consumer Reports.)
The percentage of people looking to save has increased in recent years: Today, 83 percent say they're a bargain shopper and only 1 percent of them today say they aren't sure whether they are deal seekers.
Some other related insights:
77% rarely or never regret buying a sale item.
36% feel guilty when they pay full price.
23% sometimes buy things they don't need just because they're on sale.
After doing some research on different types of sales approaches, their efficiency in regard to engagement and their ability to collect data from users, I decided to create a carrousel feature for Walmart's front online shop process that users can interact with to match their needs. Also include discount prompts and for returning customers, a SMS with a CTA and a punchy line to keep the user interested.
Qualifiers for discount value
Home Screen
For this feature I added another carrousel but this time, a simple more sleek design where it shows the product, brief description, the qualifier, price and a button to add to cart.
The qualifier pushes the user into this Fear of Missing Out experience and allows us more engagement.
As this is a back and forth iteration, I would consider doing usability tests as well as A/B tests to actually see if the solution works with this particular implementation method/strategy.
Bargain Hunters are discount-loving shoppers. They get a thrill from purchasing virtually any product at a discounted price, and can be convinced to buy more products if they’ll get a good deal.
Based on our persona, I extracted wants, motivations and dislikes related insights:
What they like: The main goal of this persona is to secure a good deal. These shoppers like abundant deals and clearly-listed prices
Why they leave: It’s all about the savings for this type of shopper. If they find a better deal elsewhere, they will be quick to abandon your site.
Displaying sale items alongside full-priced inventory, as well as providing a clear section for discounted items.
Based on the research done, I then formulated User Stories to properly state/define the needs of the user:
As a Walmart user, I want to be able to see deals displayed quickly on my front screen.
Walmart opens up their features displaying the user's needs by applying flash deals on their front screen.
80% say they'd look for a sale even if money were no object.
What they dislike: Bargain hunters do not a lack of discount options. They also are not eager to search extensively for sale items.
Why they buy: 54% of shoppers will happily reconsider if the item is offered again at a discounted rate.
This type of persona often buy products on sale which they don‘t really require, as a excuse they would say that they are actually saving money in the long run by getting everything they need during the sale.
The opportunity with bargain hunters is not just to make the sale, but to turn them into repeat customers. Several participants in a study referred to returning to a site specifically because they were looking for a sale. Send coupons, offer discounts, and give shoppers free shipping with minimum purchases to attract and retain bargain hunters. In our study, we watched shoppers repeatedly jump through hoops to qualify for deals that required a minimum purchase; they spent extra time and money on the site in order to qualify for savings.
Key elements for bargain hunters include:
Listing product prices and associated discounts and savings.
As a shopper, I willing to spend a little extra money to qualify for savings!
Allowing easy coupon redemption or applying discounts automatically when criteria are met.
What would success look like after solving these problems?
How might we solve these problems?
Considering the user stories and needs defined in the previously slides, these problems can be grouped into user preferences about their shopping habits.
To successfuly design for our users specific needs, we must know them first. In this stage, I explored different areas where Walmart can get relevant information from their users and how best to use this data in the platform. These were my solutions.
Flash Offers: Walmart opens up their features displaying the user's needs by applying flash deals on their front screen.
Lifecycle of offers
By designing promotions of a short lifespan, Walmart reduces the likelihood of losing a bargain hunter to competing deals.
Qualifiers for discount value Showing the discount breakdown when viewing a product when the client buys an additional product.
Time limit pressure
With impulse buys, the discount tends to be more important, as it's what's used as justification for the purchase. This also applies to pressure situations where users don't want to lose out on an opportunity.
As a busy person, I'm always on the look out for deals but I don't have quite the time to search and I fear I'll miss out on them.
Promotional SMS: Walmart can collect phone numbers as part of the sign-up process, so that customers can opt in to receive promotional texts from current sales.
Rethinking the special offers
Overview: The current process has very determined options regarding choices and deals.
Flash Offers:
To create a system where I could hook users and apply that "fomo" (Fear of Missing Out) experience, I decided to explore a more pressure point approach in order to boost engagement as well. I did some research on flash sales and gathered some data on their usage.
Flash offers related insights:
Thrilled and motivated
This strategy relies on the consumer feeling motivated in knowing that although they’ve spent more overall, they’ve benefited from a reduced price by doing so.
Visual aspects
Showing list prices, discounts and savings – By crossing out retail price and show discounted one, including amount saved has proved to cause satisfaction.
Qualifiers for discount value
I decided to approach the classic but succesful "buy more to save more" promo: Three for Two, BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) or other types of prompts, depending on the type of product selling.
Discount values related insights:
Extra spending
Users are willing to spend a little extra money to qualify for savings.
46%
of people say they spend between 5-6 hours a day on their mobile devices in their personal time. This makes it critical for businesses to invest in mobile-friendly marketing.
Walmart displays easy prompts when looking at a product indicating quantities or a deal.
High Open Rates
Not only are people opening SMS messages, they’re also engaging with them.
SMS can help you reach a highly engaged audience — and that can translate to more repeat purchases and higher customer lifetime value.
Walmart sends you recurrent texts once you sign up to keep you posted on constant deals to re-direct you to the website app.
Immediate action
These are discounts that try to spark an immediate action from users, motivated by the sense of grabbing a bargain before it vanishes.
Promotional sms
In order to encourage users to return and make more purchases, I decided to explore on the use of promotional SMS to directly spur action that drives sales or engagement.
Promotional sms related insights:
Connect with shoppers
SMS delivers what consumers want, personalized, interactive 1:1 messaging between them and your brand.
Using Miro I created low fidelity wireframes for the flash offers, qualifiers and promotional sms features.
Flash offers
Home Screen
Since Walmart is a well stablished company, I followed the brand guidelines and re-created their current app design applying my selected features.
Showing the front screen then, I added a carrousel containing the flash offers as a separate experience from the qualifiers.
Promotional sms
Lock Screen
With this feature we encourage users to return and make more purchases, by adding a creative and short punch line with a CTA.
More limited time offers
To meet demands with users, Walmart may need to add more on-screen limited time offers (flash deals).
Creative punch lines
Users should be able to engage with the promotional sms and not feel overwhelmed by them.
Some other aspects/dependencies that should be considered:
Technical needs
Implementing these features would require constant monitoring and usability testing.
Measuring success
Drop off rates
While using these features, how many users completed the shopping process and how many exited without completing it.
Engagement
What percentage of users actually engage with the features?
Does the features attract more users?
As with any project, it is important to define what success or failure might look like and adequately define what would be key pointers. Some key metrics I would look at would include: