Infor & DSW Co-Development: Transforming the In-Store Shopping Experience
The DSW co-development project was aimed at creating a unified solution that simplified the in-store shopping experience for both DSW associates and their customers.
Overview
Our team of three was tasked with designing a mobile solution concept for the iPad that would streamline operational processes while making the experience both personal and engaging. Working closely with DSW's Transformation team, we gained a deep understanding of their store operations and identified key moments that could drive meaningful impact. Our primary goal was to rethink DSW’s traditional point-of-sale system, transforming it into something more efficient and user-friendly.
process
We had a tight 8-week timeline, broken into 4 sprints, to complete the project. The process was structured as follows:
Research Phase: We began with store visits, user interviews, and immersive all-day workshops with DSW’s Transformation team. These efforts helped us gather insights about the existing operational processes and pain points.
Synthesis: We distilled our findings into actionable insights, then defined the feature roadmap and key requirements for the solution.
Information Architecture & Prototyping: With a clear roadmap in place, we focused on structuring the app’s navigation (Information Architecture) and rapidly prototyping various ideas and interactions.
Iteration & Pitch: After several rounds of feedback and refinement, we finalized the prototype and pitched it to DSW’s team, setting the stage for development.
Research
During the audit of DSW’s current tools, we quickly realized that many of the software interfaces used by store employees were outdated and prone to frequent crashes. Additionally, these tools did not integrate with each other, creating a fragmented experience.
To address these issues, we broke down the store operations into three phases:
Sell It – How technology is used to engage customers.
Move It – How inventory is tracked and managed within the store.
Run It – How store employees monitor and maintain store health.
From there, we synthesized our findings into three distinct persona types:
Store Manager
Store Associate
Customer
The following key pain points emerged as areas that needed immediate attention:
Difficulty in locating shoes for all personas
The need for multiple tools to solve basic problems
Limited visibility into the inventory pipeline
An inability to anticipate and meet customer needs
Highlights
I was specifically tasked with the Sell It phase, focusing on the cart flow and customer data lookup. For this portion of the app, incorporating gamification was crucial, as it made the checkout process more engaging and enjoyable for associates.
One of the key design decisions was centered around interaction design. At the time, swiping to edit and delete items in a cart was a successful and widely adopted pattern in many apps. This made the process of managing cart contents intuitive and easy.
In addition to improving the cart flow, we needed to create a simple, efficient way for associates to look up customer data, link it to the products they were purchasing, and apply discounts where applicable.
Outcome
The result was a polished prototype that demonstrated an ideal user flow, showcasing the seamless processing of both returns and purchases from an associate’s perspective. The prototype reflected the insights gathered from our research and presented a clear, efficient experience that aligned with DSW’s operational needs.
The DSW team was highly impressed with the prototype, and as a result, they moved forward with Infor to develop the proposed solution.