Store Credit Innovation
Innovating store credit transactions at self-checkout
Winter 2019:
12/30/2019
The Problem
Labor is typically limited in stores,
everytime a customer has to wait
on an associate for help, it creates
a potential bottleneck within the
process. Especially at higher
volume stores.
The purpose of the SCID (Store Credit ID) Initiative is to reduce the amount of *interventions at Self-Checkout.
*(the amount of times cashiers have to intervene to solve a customer issue)
Every preventable intervention at self checkout has a series of detrimental impacts on the User Experience:
- Slower Lines
- Associate Overload
- *Shrink
*illicit activities
The Hypothesis
By allowing customers to scan
their own ID to redeem store
credit, we can reduce friction at
self-checkout, increase checkout
speed, and reduce associate labor
load.
Benefits:
By allowing the customer to scan their own ID to redeem store credit, we can accomplish the following benefits:
- Improve checkout speed
- Decrease associate hassle
- Reduce and/or remove customer wait time
Risk Factors:
- Due to the variance in ID images across the country, the generic License/ID image may be misinterpreted by customers.
- Frustration may ensue for family members or married couples who attempt to share store credit
- Customers may be concerned about their privacy
- Customers may not be confident about the new protocol
The Big Test
The test was comprised of a series of studies, both in-state and out-of-state.
Research was set to span from the morning, until the latter parts of the evening. Each recruit was equipped with a laption, a research worksheet, a timer and a series of chargers to help us keep all of our equipment charged and ready.
Test Plan Details
Where we went
Locations
Calle Ocho FL
Florida City FL
Buckhead GA
Roswell GA
Who We Brought
Participants
1 User Experience Designer
1 Software Engineer
1 Product Manager
1 Store Ops Specialist
1 Senior Designer
4 Observational Volunteers
4 Field Captains
How We Did It
Method
6 week pilot
4 weeks of observations
2 weeks of interviews (Week 1 and Week 6)
Research Budget: $3521
Note: Additional Quantitative data was gathered to support this
Qualitative Research Effort
Measurements
Qualitative
Intervention Initiation
Who initiated the intervention? Cashier or
Customer?
Hesitation Rates
Did the customer *hesitate before Scanning
ID?
Adoption Rates
Customer vs. Associate Adoption of the new
protocol
Technical
Technical Considerations
Was the SCID successfully applied? Why or
why not?
Transaction Detail
What was the customer wait time post
intervention?
Quantitative
Systematic Data
Register #
Request Help Usage
Intervention count (amount and location)
Transaction checkout time
Key Takeaways
- Most customers were not concerned about privacy (not expected)
- Associates in english speaking stores were generally confident in customer’s ability to succeed (not expected)
- Associates in spanish speaking stores were less confident in customer’s ability to succeed without assistance
- Generic SCID visual wasn’t a major hindrance, although, it was a notable inconvenience for customers who had out of state IDs
- The new system was cumbersome for family members who tend to share last names and Store Credit
- Since IDs have 2 barcodes, the image leveraged was generally not descriptive enough to convey which barcode needed to be scanned
Updates based on findings
- Update image to reflect more descriptive instructions if customers don’t scan correctly the first time