Solving Staff Shortages

Overview

I worked with a cross-functional team to implement 1st phase of in-store maps in the Macy's iOS app. The in-store maps improved customers' omni-channel experiences by helping them find specific departments/locations in a large department store. It also reduced the demands on store associates.

The Problem

Our research indicated that there were two different groups of customers who visited their local Macy's store after using our site or app. The first group of customers checked items online which were marked as available at their local store and planned to try them on and purchase. The other group of customers purchased items online and planned to pick them up. However, it was difficult to find the items or order pickup counter because of the lack of store associates and inconsistent store layouts between different stores. Many of them were frustrated by the poor in-store experiences.

The Challenges

We initially came up with three features to solve the customer pain points;

1. Displaying product location on product detail page.
2. Adding in-store maps on Store Hub section of the app.
3. Displaying current user location on the maps and direction to item location.

However, we faced both technological & logistical challenges such as

• Stores change product location frequently and there's no system to update the information.
• Stores lack critical infrastructure for location tracking such as RFID.

Thus, we decided to launch the maps in phase 1 as a pilot program and scale to all 870 stores first. After that, we planned to implement product location in phase 2 and current user location and direction in phase 3.

Design Iteration Through Research

We iterated designs for 4 core features through rapid user testing.

1. Floor Access: Display and allow access to different floors
2. Search: Search for departments and point of interests
3. Department List: Display department list
4. Map Interaction: High level of zoom (departments) & lower level of zoom (sub-departments)