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Quality

Only 2 regional retailers provided notable, high-level professional design services which came at a cost. The services charged hourly rates: Nebraska Furniture Mart ($50/hr) and Jordans Furniture ($250 package +$100/hr if needed).​

Fulfillment

Fulfillment ranged across the board but was typically slow to get to the customer. Discovery varied over the span of 2-3 weeks. Customized orders are slow to produce (expected. Retailers that offer fast delivery (Ikea delivers kitchen solutions in 1 week) but has a 4-5 month wait time for installment. ​

Where we can win

No retailer is best across the board. A top-notch service flow was identified highlighting different store experiences in three areas:

  • Pre-service (Ikea & Living Spaces)

  • During Service (The Home Depot and NFM)

  • Post-Service (Ikea & The Home Depot)

I then took these learnings and Identified two areas where Wayfair can win.

Design Services are offered at Wayfair to anyone needing help achieving their dream space in an easy and accessible way. The services is conducted 1:1 for design and project guidance, with the business goal to increase sales of complex, high-value products in all channels. 

Design Services will drive customer loyalty and increase lifetime value by helping customers (1) reimagine their homes and (2) navigate our expansive product offering. 

The expansion into physical retail has created new opportunities to scale the program and it is positioned to solve a fundamental problem for Wayfair. We have a zillion things but it can be time-consuming to find the just-right products. Through designer experts, we help customers save time and confidently purchase. We'll identify opportunities for growth/improvements and assess our ability to learn while making changes.

Customers remember great service. Having a trusted designer (advisor) is what will drive a customer to shop repeatedly with our suite of brands, online and in-store. The working team's initiative is to define areas to focus on to successfully scale the program for omnichannel. 

The Team: Doria F. (Design Manager), Kellie C. (Product Manager), Laura W (Client Experience), Reema D. (Business Partner), Micaela L. (UX Researcher), Jaden H. (Software Engineer). 

 

My Role: Lead Designer responsible for kicking off the ambiguous project, facilitating workshops, conducting competitive studies, scoping discovery activities, optimizing, design experience strategy, interviewing designers, creating alignment documentation, journey mapping, conception, and prototyping customer-centric solutions that add value for scaling tech-enabled programs.

By reducing the Designers' most time-consuming task of spending hours sourcing (and resourcing) through thousands of inconsistently available products on the Wayfair catalog, allowing the program to scale profitably.  

Opportunity

Strong Signals

5x AOV

Customers who work with a designer spend 5x AOV (~$5,000) within 90+ NPS.

Total Sales

10%

Of Wayfair sales come from online Design Services.

Global Numbers

$38b

Interior design market

Expectations

$250m

Omni channel business by 2026

Design Catalyst

With such an ambiguous project of defining Design Services for omnichannel, where does someone start? 

I set off to conduct a workshop that would help identify discovery activities to help in the initiative. I partnered with our Product Manager and UX Researcher to identify key people to include in the workshop.

 

Workshop goals: Identity important problems/opportunities to solve with design services in a large format store so we can grow, sustain, and be profitable.

Workshop outcomes: Prioritized list of assumptions + open questions to take action on.  

Virtual Program Overview

Designers (virtual & in-store) have a number of digital tools to leverage depending on any given customer’s needs:​

  • DesignFiles - 3rd party software for creating Mood boards

  • Tear Sheets - PDF with photos + dimensions of products

  • List Collaboration - Collaborate on a List w/customers

  • Salesforce CRM - for tracking customer information 

…and in-store associates use a variety of devices:

  • (10) iPads **associates are primarily using these

  • (2) Desktop computers at Design Bar workstations

  • (4) 13” MacBook pro laptops

Store Designer Insights

Overall, Associates feel that they do have the right set of tools to support customers at any stage of a design project.

  • Quotes are most helpful for closing a sale/project. Generating quotes requires 7-8 steps. The Physical Retail team has just kicked-off work to reduce this number of steps to 3-4.

  • Salesforce CRM has had slow + inconsistent adoption. 

  • DesignFiles is user-friendly; not as powerful as some tools but easy to learn and gets the job done.

  • List Collaboration has been a helpful tool during and after an appointment.

  • Swatches are helpful for grounding the conversation between associate and customer in a color palette.

Discovery Workshop

Service + Experience

1

  • Customer Expectations for Design Services. 

  • Staffing Model

  • New Program Offerings

  • Driving Program Awareness

  • Setting Expectations

Value Proposition

2

  • Physical Touch to Validate + Hands-On Guidance

  • Customizable, End-to-End Service 

  • Approachable Experience

Tools + Technology

3

  • Introductory ('How to Get Started')

  • Associate Tooling + Device Management

  • Customer-Facing Experiences

  • Offering Matrics for all Categories

Takeaways & Discovery Plan

we brainstormed assumptions and/or questions related to Tools + Tech, Service + Experience and the Large Format Value Props. Answering these questions and validating the assumptions will be the focus of the subsequent discovery efforts.

Activities

  • Internal Stakeholder Interviews

  • User-Centered Competitive & Analogous Audit 

  • Business-Centered Competitive Audit

  • Wayfair Staffing Model Development

  • Customer Expectations UXR Study

  • Home Improvement Journey UXR Study

  • 3D Model Coverage Assessment

  • Customer Experience Measurement

  • Device Mapping

  • Scheduler Deep Dive

  • Design Services Tooling Deep Dive

Build the Best Team

We are ONE team: success for all of us is the same one - happy design services customers everywhere (in every channel, stores, category)

Innovate & Improve

We move FAST: our biggest enemy is time. We debate, align but then move quickly to execute.

Relentless Customer Focus

We ensure CUSTOMER experience is #1: everything we do should impact the customer experience for the better, consistently, and sustainably.

Guiding Principles

Services I Provide

1 - Designer Shopping List Viewport anchored tool that helps designers quickly refine class browse pages to match project requirements

Services I Provide

2 - Designer Recipe Engine Single page experience that allows designers to input project and product requirements and quickly source across classes without navigating to different

class pages

Services I Provide

3 - Moodboard Image Library Store and tag pre-created moldboard images to make it easy to get style alignment from customers and start identifying alternatives. NOTE: Paused. The key tool we wanted to leverage is being phased out.

User-Centered Research

To better understand the choices we need to make in our tech-enabled service journey, I looked more closely at our competitors (75K - 500+k sq ft retailers), their customers, and the choices they made for their service to help us define what Design Services could look like for Wayfair on Day 1 while thinking about the long-term program. 

 

Assumption: Home projects are unique to each customer's needs and require different levels of focus, making it complicated to streamline. Stores Details: Nebraska Furniture Mart (450k - 1.8m sq ft), Ikea (300k+ sq ft), Living Spaces (74k - 500k+ sq ft), Home Depot (100k+ sq ft), Lowes (100k+ sq ft).

Competitive Study Overview

Items for evaluated in the Design Services Customer Journey across retailers. Full Deck here

Table Stakes + things we can do to differentiate and elevate the moments that matter

How might we add the most value and make it easy for our top-tier Interior Designers to deliver professional solutions by sourcing products that have a healthy inventory so our customers can enjoy their space faster?

Understanding the Design Services Journey

We will add the most value by enabling designers with tools to jumpstart sourcing.

WHY: Today, Designers spend too much time sourcing products for customers' unique home spaces. Our solution should make it easier for them to find the right products quickly and confidently, so they can deliver professional solutions that meet their clients' needs.

Designer Needs

User Problem

I spend lots of time researching for the right products that meet my customers' styles, budgets, and timelines. I have to use multiple tools, slows me down.

User Need

Simple workflow to help every customer's project, big and small. Earn customers' trust.

Values

A steady stream of customer projects to use design skills. Fair, reliable pay based on performance; Support when something goes wrong. 

Customer Needs

User Problem

I want to create a home I love, but I don't have the time or expertise to find the right items to see my vision through.

User Need

Simple, quality, trusted design advice—without making me think about how it will get done.

Values

Understand my situation and needs; responsive; convenient advice when I need it; design expertise that I can afford; Saves me time.

Jump-start Sourcing Concepts Drafts Link

Concept 1: Designer Shopping List Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

  • View Port that transfers across pages and search results

  • Use project details as refinements across classes

  • Use product details as refinements for specific classes

  • Use specific product as a refinement for alternatives 

  • Select & save specific products for project ( i.e. save to list)

Not in MVP

  • Automated searching of products based on customer inputs

  • Streamlined path to purchase from recommendations

  • Surface project budget running total based on sourced items

  • Custom skus search/browse

Concept 2: Designer Recipe Engine MVP

  • Single-page view for sourcing (no cross-over pages)

  • Use project details as refinements across classes

  • Use product details as refinements for specific classes

  • Use the specific products as a refinement for alternatives 

  • Select & save specific products for the project

Not in MVP

  • Automated filtering of products based on customer inputs

  • Streamlined path to purchase from recommendations

  • Surface project budget running total for sourced items

  • Custom skus search/browse

1 - Designer Shopping List

2 - Designer Recipe Engine

Proof of concept Designer Share

I scheduled an hour session with 3 Wayfair Interior Designers, Aya A., Aly K., and Elizaeth M., to walk over the concepts and first impressions on value add. Here is their response:

This is amazing! I'm so excited (concept 1).

Elizabeth M.

I can really see this saving so much time (concept 1).

Aya A.

I love the features 

(concept 1) 

Aly K.

  • Can you add a filter to choose which platform to search one? (e.g., period vs all modern)

  • Add the ability to be able to move the entire list into customers' account (not just share)

  • Ability to export the list to design files instead of one product at a time.

  • Inventory button/filter (designers do not have trust in results)

  • Delivery window filter

  • A place to add notes about a project, room, etc.

  • A way to easily filter and organize the client list

Concept 1

  • Would like to add this feature to the first concept, nice to see what is being used / sold / trending.

  • Realistic photos of the item to share with clients. 

  • Style filters to drill down further. 

Concept 2

Concept 1 is ideal but then add the carousels of recently sold, new and trendy, 5 star / high-rated items. 

Ideal State

Create a hybrid concept that bridges concept 1 with key features from concept 2.

Conduct a Tech-focused workshop to identify implementation and technical limitations. 

Next Steps (Note: Role ended on 01/23)

Interior Designer Feedback

Reduce the active sourcing project time

6hr to 3hrs

Investment in program expected to incrementally increase the yearly GPAV

$750K/yr

We believe

with competitive benchmarking

Service Design, Product, UX, Research

Work

Wayfair

Company

Year

2022-23

Sourcing 33m Products

How Might We

Give customers who solicit interior design help a world-class solution with just the right products for their space, and not have to browse thousands of product pages, free of charge?

High Level Goals

Reviewing Concepts with Interior Designers

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