Uppercase
How we used key insights to help brands launch their retail stores.
Project Overview.
Uppercase is a Canadian full-service real estate, design, build, and retail operations company. They launch and operate retail spaces from the ground up. I led the research and design efforts to create a retail onboarding platform that allowed brands to access a ‘one stop shop’ style platform when getting started.
My Role
Design Lead/Research Lead
Team
2 Designers, 2 Product Owners
Year
2019
The Problem.
The founder of Uppercase had previously created a retail rental site, similar to Airbnb, for online first retailers. Brands had been approaching the team with requests to locate the ideal space, build out their store experiences, and find local staff in new locations. These were services we currently weren’t offering.
The fragmentation of resources made it increasingly complex for new brands to manage the opening of a store in the right location with the right staff.
Research.
Our team wanted to get a clear picture of how brands went about opening a physical location in cities in which they were unfamiliar. In order to get a better understanding of their behaviours and motivations, we set out to talk to them.
QUALITATIVE DISCOVERY INTERVIEWS AND SURVEY
Our research and design team contacted 12 emerging online only retailers, who had previously used our rental system, to conduct discovery interviews. We set out to learn about the challenges they face when learning about new cities, and setting up their stores. We collated the discovery data and presented statistics back to our leadership team, informing them of key metrics.
Survey: Four highest needs when looking for a new location.
Survey: Top four most requested services needed when opening a new store.
“If I open a store in a new city, I don’t have a one stop shop to makes things easy”
— Discovery Participant
Interview participants stated there is a big financial risk associated with opening even small popups in new cities across North America. They don’t have a ‘one stop shop’ for choosing locations, building out the in-store experience, and staffing the store with capable local staff.
Synthesis and Journey Mapping.
Based upon our initial discovery interviews and survey data, I facilitated a workshop for our team to generate a Customer Journey Map, containing motivations, actions, and pain points (most notably, finding the perfect retail location, understanding demographic traffic data, where to find build and design services, and locate capable staff).
We also created a sitemap where we required brands to provide us with their selection criteria in order to give them the most ideal recommendations and local service providers.
Abbreviated CX Journey Map
Sitemap: Highlighting two onboarding flows into the retail dashboard.
Early Wireframes.
Focusing on the brand onboarding experience only, I spent one sprint in Figma ideating on two different workflows, a Chat AI and a Cost Calculator, each of which required brands to provide us with their location needs at minimum. We were able to collect their data, create an account for them, and present them with retail locations matching their selection criteria.
I spent another sprint usability testing these workflows, iterating on the design, and arriving at a final experience.
Onboarding Wireframes: Early explorations of two onboarding workflows.
What we launched.
Following the wireframe, usability testing, and iteration stage, I developed unique UI to bring the onboarding experience to life. Below are key screens in the onboarding user flow that directly respond to the pain points we’d discovered in our initial round of interviews, providing brands with a retail and service dashboard they could peruse for their store setup needs.
Cost Calculator: a tool for brands to enter information, access the Uppercase dashboard, and choose their location.
Retail Location Booking Page: Location page showcasing images, videos, square footage, demographics, and rental cost (all of which are important to brands).
Service Selection Page: Brands select additional services after completing a location booking. Service homepage contains the top four most requested services by brands in our interview rounds.
The Final Results.
SUCCESSFULLY ONBOARDING BRANDS
Immediately after launch, 90% of new brands onboarded to Uppercase were combining additional services with their rentals and using Uppercase to design and build out their new locations. We had created a onboarding platform and service dashboard that more than met the needs of our retailers.
Visit https://www.uppercasehq.com/ to see brand case studies in action.