Stratford Festival Marketplace
PROBLEM
There is more traffic on the west side of the mall than on the east side largely due to store variety on each side. People only focused on the stores they liked or needed, ignoring all other stores. They were not aware of those stores or promotions.
SOLUTION
The Festival Marketplace app helps the mall entertain mall goers; it facilitates one's mall visit by recommending stores, products and services that are catered to the user.
User Research
Conducted on-site research at the Festival Marketplace using fly-on-the-wall observation methods
Wireframing + Prototyping
Sketched wireframes with pencil & paper and created hi-fi version of app design on Axure RP
User Testing
Created and conducted a user test of the app in context of the persona's daily life
ROLES
CONTEXT & RESEARCH
People come to malls for an experience. That was not the case with the Stratford Festival Marketplace, which is the only local mall in the Stratford city area with 39 stores (MAP).
Upon using fly-on-the-wall observation methods and consumer journey mapping, it was determined that the west side of the mall received more traffic than the east side of the mall due to the store selection in each area.
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The west side of the mall was home to browsing stores like Winners and Sears, which promoted browsing of products to find what people wanted.
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The east side of the mall focused on utility stores like Dollarama and Canadian Tire, which promoted purpose-driven shopping for designated items.
PERSONAS
Kate is a loving mother of two children.
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Likes to go shopping for herself
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But after having her two children, she started to revolve her life around their needs
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Focus on prioritizing her life in order to fulfill her daily tasks efficiently
John is a businessman.
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Usually busy at work
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Does not have much time to do recreational activities, like shopping
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Free time is valuable; uses it only for personal necessities
Below are two sample consumer journeys through the mall, one for Kate and one for John. The patterns in which each persona made travelling through the mall were described in two ways:
Browsing Pattern (Kate): Wandered stores aimlessly, shopping for long periods of time
Utility Pattern (John): Went to specific stores (possibly in mind), keeping shopping trips short
For a more comprehensive look into the research, please check out the following PDF brochure.
SOLUTION: THE APP
To alleviate the mall from traffic issues, an app was created that would become each visitor's facilitator of his or her mall experience. Some features include:
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Showcasing all the products that are offered in the stores present at the mall
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Directing visitors to those stores through a map visual
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Recording the visitor's previous orders and products of interest from browsing history
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Recommending products and services that cater to the user based on history
LO-FI VERSION
At the very initial stages, there were only 6 lo-fi paper prototypes drawn. These pages served the basic function for the app to be able to navigate through the mall while also being able to purchase or reserve an item at the mall.
MED-FI VERSION
The original 6 panels were expanded to 9 panels after receiving user feedback about pages missing in the user flow, such as getting from the Store Page to a Product Page.
Further detail was given to the process, such as the addition of Search Results and Orders / Visit History, which included a history of all purchases and interested items from previous mall visits.
The panels were drawn on styrofoam boards to better imitate the feeling of using the app on a phone while testing.
HI-FI VERSION
Below are the main 9 panels used in the app and some sample user flows through the app:
USER FLOW #1
Kate is recommended a path through the mall and becomes interested in a store
Home > Mall Map > Store Page
USER FLOW #2
Kate wants to reserve a product that is recommended for him/her
Home > Product Page > Review Cart Page
USER FLOW #3
Kate searches for a product
Home > Search Results > Product Page
USER FLOW #4
Kate looks for a bargain
Home > Promotional Offer > General List
USER FLOW #5
Kate wants to revisit what he/she looked at before at previous mall visits
Home > Order History
WHY SHOULD STORES JOIN THE APP?
Stores on the east side of the mall have an obvious vested interest to join the app to promote themselves for higher traffic and ultimately, higher revenue opportunities. Streamlining the mall experience to one app helps stores easily access the consumer base. In that sense, stores that are more successful at the mall, such as those on the west side, will not want to lose out on the opportunity to promote themselves in the face of competition.
WHY SHOULD MALL GOERS USE THE APP?
Mall goers are not aware of the existence of stores or store promotions, and so the app aims to educate them about other stores they may like and promotions from stores in general. This app attempts to disrupt their usual mall visit behaviour and entice them to visit stores they have not before.
FEEDBACK FOR FUTURE ITERATIONS
A user test was conducted using the Hi-Fi version of the app, where the user was asked to reserve a sweater using the app and go to the marked location through the Mall Map function to physically purchase the product.
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General sentiment was positive about the app's ease of use and the convenience of the whole experience.
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One comment for improvement revolved around having helpers or info buttons on certain features through the app to aid in the experience or introduce unseen features, such as the Show Recommended button on the Mall Map, which presents recommended stores on the map and directions to them.
The potential for this app could be extended for other malls and for future restructuring of malls if there were ever renovations or relocating of stores. Showing promotions for the stores will keep this app current at all times and incentivize users to continue using the app, provided the mall still exists for the app to be used.