eCommerce Asset Distribution.
2021
Researching and visualizing a digitally driven future of data collection and distribution operations for digital shelves
Overview
Zenda was approached by a Fortune 100 Company to observe and analyze their current eCommerce operation to better understand how various teams operate, collaborate and communicate with each other within the event.
Our team conducted interviews and mapping sessions with team members involved in the data collection and distribution processes for digital shelf population, gathered valuable insights regarding pain points and missed opportunities within the current state, and identified areas of transformation to enable a digitally driven data landscape.
Project Details
Project Skills: Stakeholder Knowledge Transfers, SME Interviews, Architecture analysis, Insight Derivation, Event Visualization
My Role: Conduct Qualitative Research interviews with stakeholders and team representatives to gather insight regarding team structure and connectivity; Collaborate with lead researcher to derive pain points and opportunities for event Transformation; Visualize a high fidelity architecture of current state event overlaid with insights, pain points, and opportunities
Zenda Consulting Team: Design Researchers, Service Designers
User Research
Leveraging process diagrams previously visualized by our client, our team constructed a research framework to share with participants during our research sessions.
Our goal with the sessions was to validate our understanding of the process we were provided, as well as gain more insight to the events occurring within each team at each step. Insights derived from these conversations allowed our team to paint a much more detailed picture of the event and better understand the collaborations between various teams.
Deriving Insight
Through our research we were able to speak with 7 individuals representing various teams involved in the digital shelf population event.
Utilizing the insights gathered during research, our team inventoried and mapped the various teams, tools, and functions involved in the eCommerce process.
Doing so revealed patterns in the relationships, and provided clarity into what the future-state eCommerce data flow should look like.
Visualizing the Event
Based on the insights gathered through research, Zenda created a highly detailed operating model reflecting the current-state label creation process. The model reframed the linear process initially provided by our clients into a circular event flow that included the iterative nature of product page design
The model visualized the various phases that exist within each process step, and highlighted the tasks and tools leveraged in each phase. Key insights were included in the model to illustrate gaps and challenges in the current-state event, and were supplemented with direct quotes from interview participants to present specific instances and examples of these challenges.
Along with insights, Zenda also identified areas of inquiry throughout the event model, categorized as strategic or operational opportunities to show our client particular tasks within the event which could be further explored.
Outcomes and Impacts
The model presented provided our client with a highly detailed, top down view of the eCommerce event, and provided them with actionable insights and areas of improvement which can be explored further to create a more effective and efficient data driven experience.
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Project Reflection
This project provided me with the opportunity to leverage the design process within a business operation, which is something I had never done before. Working on this project allowed me to re-contextualize the process from a traditional customer facing tool to a valuable medium of strategic thinking to help various teams within our client organization, and allowed our team to identify much larger scale opportunities to improve operational efficiencies.
Additionally, the timeline of this project forced our team to think quickly and effectively when gathering and synthesizing our insights, as well as tested our abilities as designers to turn around a highly detailed event architecture to use as a foundation of discussion with our clients to kickstart future partnerships.
