Paint Ordering System
The Project
Product
Software and hardware ecosystem in home improvement store for processing large contractor paint orders.
Challenge
Paint associates manually stored customer order information, resulting in inconsistent paint colors and a competitive disadvantage.
The new paint system would ensure efficient repeatability of past orders across all stores to meet the quantity and schedule demands of large scale professional paint customers, a market segment with immense growth potential.
Team
The team consisted of a PM, 6 engineers and a Product Designer (Me) as part a balanced team. We operated on a weekly deployment, prototyping and testing cadence.
Partnered with Pivotal Labs in New York. See more about my thoughts on this experience.
Phase 1 Discovery
Color accuracy and repeatability caused turnover to competitors
I led a discovery research effort that surfaced pain points for our store associates and customers.
The burden to save paint colors rested on the shoulders of our customers.
Customers were required to save and remember paint lids.
Professional painters required accurate repeatability of past orders across all stores.
Large volume orders had to be processed by vendors and delivered to customers.
Phase 2 Framing
Workshops helped us define some ideas to prototype out to test with customers.
After mapping out the application flow and observing in store associates, we notices an opportunity to explore the relationship between colors, accounts and orders.
I led design exercises with the team to collaborate on potential solutions where our engineers adn product partners could contribute ideas and weigh in on feasibility.
From a vision perspective, we aligned on offering a digital color portfolio, with the ability to swicth to an order view allowing for flexibility and speed for the paint associates.
Phase 3 Design Explorations
Ideas were pulled into sprints where we focused on feature level explorations.
I facilitated weekly user testing with our pilot customers and held real time product synthesis sessions with engineers and product partners.
Design Considerations
Creating a “Phygital” Experience that would connect software, instore workflows and associate mental modals.
After mapping out the application flow and observing in store associates, we notices an opportunity to explore the relationship between colors, accounts and orders.
Impact
App rollout to 2000 + stores
More than $20 Million in additional revenue went through the application within the first six months of the launch.
Reduced "Oops Paint" by 5%, $2.5 million dollars over the first year
The Product Team won an award for providing value to associates from the executive leadership team.
Users are excited about the new system because of increased reliability and efficiency.
