IKEA Showroom concept
Collaboration
Company supervisors
Alexis Oh
Wesley van Breukelen
Role
UX research
Concept design
Concept testing
Time
Feb-Aug, 2024
(5.5 months)
IKEA showroom concept
ROLE
Discovery research
UI design
Concept testing
TIME
Feb-Aug, 2024 (5.5 mon)
COLLABORATION
COMPANY SUPERVISORS
Alexis Oh
Wesley van Breukelen
Deliverable
A more personalized and explorative showroom experience that enhances customer’s shopping journey across multiple channels.
Impact
Boosted purchase confidence for 50% of tested participants
Store staff provided positive feedback, noting the potential to reduce their workload.
Proposed new features that leverage IKEA's AI tool, Kreativ
or scroll down to read the full project journey
Project Background
This is my master’s thesis project, collaborated with IKEA’s digital design team. The project focuses on the rise of omnichannel strategies. Together with IKEA’s core value “To create a better everyday life for the many people”, the initial assignment is to “Design an omnichannel experience for the many “.
Process Overview
Discover research phase I
Understand home furnishing shopping journeys and IKEA’s role within them
Given the broad scope of the initial assignment, ‘omnichannel experience’, I began the project by gaining a deeper understanding of the current omnichannel context. This helped me narrow the focus to areas with potentials for design intervention. Previous user research studies from IKEA have provided insights for these research questions. Additionally, an in-store customer interview was conducted to gather insights into customers’ current behavior and motivations in physical IKEA stores.
3 key learnings from research phase I
1. Current omnichannel shopping behaviour
A single visit to an IKEA channel is just part of a larger journey, and a purchase is not always involved.
- According to IKEA’s research about their website, customers often visit the website multiple times to search and compare before placing an order.
- Shoppers tend to approach home projects gradually. They take time exploring different options and making purchases over time based on their budget and headspace, rather than buying everything at once.
2. Digital v.s. Physical store experience:
Goal-oriented search v.s. hedonic exploration
Goal-oriented search v.s. hedonic exploration
The IKEA website and app effectively support customers’ functional needs. In contrast, visiting physical stores can be an enjoyable experience in itself.
- Customers visit IKEA’s website or app primarily to search for specific items. It allows them to search efficiently especially when they have a clear budget or precise measurements in mind.
- In contrast, customer interviews reveal that physical stores, particularly the IKEA showrooms, are places for exploration and discovery. Even without the intent to buy, many people enjoy the in-store experience. It is seen as a place to gather inspiration for future purchases.
3. Digital v.s. Physical store experience
Exploring products v.s. ideas
Exploring products v.s. ideas
On digital channels, people focus more on products, while in-store they are also exposed to home furnishing ideas.
- According to IKEA’s data research on their digital channels, the traffic for product categories is way more than their inspirational content. This indicates that when using IKEA web or app, the focus is more on ‘products.’
- On the other hand, in physical stores, people are not just looking at individual items but they get a picture of ideas. Especially in the showroom area, they explore ideas on interior styles, combinations of products and colors, as a way of collecting inspiration.
Defined Scope
Center around exploration in the physical showrooms
The project targets the 'explore' phase of the shopping journey. As discussed, a big part of the journey involves exploration both online and in physical stores, which ultimately leads to purchases. The main objective is to better support this exploration phase to making a purchase.
The project will center around the in-store experience, particularly the showroom area. It is currently seen as a place in store where customers gather ideas and discover products.
Discovery research phase II
IKEA Showroom research
Based on the defined scope, an online interview was conducted with 7 IKEA customers individually to dive deeper into their pain points and needs related to the IKEA showroom experience.
Data collection & analysis
I was in charge on interviewing the participant, while another colleague was the note taker. After all 7 interviews, the interview responds were clustered to extract insight.
Interview insight 1
Positive impression of the showrooms
All participants have a positive impression of the showrooms, finding it a pleasurable experience to see nicely designed room settings. Aligning with the findings from the previous in-store interviews, some people enjoy browsing the showrooms even when they don’t have a clear goal of what to buy.
“Visiting the showrooms makes shopping more than a chore.”
online participant #1
Interview insight 2
Role of the showrooms: validate items and get inspiration
The showrooms mainly serve 2 purposes. First, the showrooms allows people to validate items they have seen online. While items are displayed in a room, it gives customers a sense of scale. They also allow customers to check product colours and textures under different lighting conditions.
Secondly, the showrooms allows people to encounter products they didn’t find online or they didn’t thought of. Participants also like to seek ideas for product or colour combination.
“You can measure it and stuffs like that online, but it’s a very different feel when you can actually come in and like see how big the table is.”
online participant #3
“So you can see if I get this sofa, you can merge it with this, you can merge it with this kind of table.”
online participant #5
Interview insight 3
Showrooms are not always helpful
“Sometimes I have a colour in mind, let’s say my curtains and I want to buy a wall art that will match colours with my curtains. Um obviously the colour may not exactly match.”
online participant #2
However, when it comes to relating to their own home project, participants said it’s sometimes not so helpful. E.g. the room settings, like dimensions or colours, often don’t match what they have at home. This makes it difficult to envision how things will look like in their home.
“Sometimes you see a design and you’re like, oh, wow. I wish it’s this big or, wish it is really petite.”
online participant #5
Things that are on display, doesn’t match with their preference or plan
Another pain point mentioned by many participants is the limited selection on display. Often, they couldn’t find the exact model they saw online, or they weren’t satisfied with the displayed item. In many cases, they wanted to see the item in a different size or color.
Interview insight 4
Customers don’t use IKEA channels throughout the journey
Since purchases don’t always happen immediately in-store, participants were asked how they keep track of items after leaving the showroom. Many take photos of things they’re interested in, while others simply memorize items until they’re ready to buy, then return to the store or go online. IKEA’s current channels, like the app’s favorite list, aren’t being used for this purpose. This indicates that IKEA doesn’t know what customers are interested in while browsing the showrooms.
Journey map
Between the showroom and home
Based on the interviews, a journey map was created to illustrate customers’ experiences and their pains & gains between the showroom and their home.
Design brief
Despite being highly praised by participants for the enjoyable experience, several pain points have been identified. Therefore below shows the problem statement. According to the problem statement, two interrelated design goals are formed. Together, they aim to create a complete showroom experience and integrate it seamlessly into the customer’s shopping journey.
Problem Statement
The IKEA showrooms currently don't effectively cater to customers' home set up and preferences.
The IKEA showrooms lack integration with other IKEA channels, missing the opportunity to follow up on customers' journey after store visits.
Design Goal
Iterative solution development
During the first iteration round, initial concepts were presented to 7 IKEA digital designers who work on the app, website, and in-store kiosks in a critique session using the ‘I like, I wish, I wonder’ format to gather structured suggestions. Expert feedback helped integrate the concepts into one, which was then evaluated in a pilot user test to identify and improve usability issues. Lastly, the final design proposal was developed.
Final Concept
The final concept consists of a kiosk and new features proposed for the IKEA app. There will be a kiosk in every showroom in the store, displaying a digital twin of that showroom. People can use the kiosk to learn more about the interior of the showroom and explore alternative product options.
A new page on the IKEA app is proposed, featuring concepts such as storing showrooms from the store, capturing inspirations with your phone camera, and applying virtual 3D items to your scanned room.
There are different paths to use the kiosk and the app, depending on the customers’ preference and device.
Aiming to ‘design for the many’ the kiosk doesn’t require customers to have the IKEA app. The furnishing tips and product recommendation feature of the kiosk are accessible to all customers in the store. A customer without the app can also save the digital showroom by scanning the QR code from the kiosk. A webpage of the showroom will then pop up.
For the proposed app features, customers can access them directly from the app through the ‘My IKEA’ page. Another way to trigger these features is by turning on the regular camera on their mobile phone. The phone recognizes that the customer is in an IKEA store through geo-tagging, and a link to open the IKEA app will pop up once the camera is activated.
Evaluation
After developing the final concept proposal with a high-fidelity prototype, an evaluation test is conducted to assess whether the concept meets the design goals and identify the potential value the concept could bring. The evaluation consist of two parts: customer user test and store worker interview.
Customer user test
Participants were recruited on-site, and testing took place in the showroom depicted by the prototype. They were given a scenario of working on their new living room, then introduced to the concept, starting with the kiosk (on an iPad) and followed by the mobile feature. An interview about their overall experience with the prototype was conducted afterward.
Store worker interview
4 IKEA store workers were interviewed as experts. The questions aimed to gain insights into whether they find the concept helpful based on their understanding of customers, and whether the concept adds value to their day-to-day work as store workers.
Concept value
Value for the customers
Kiosk Trying out different combinations helps participants discover their preferences.
They found the kiosk helpful, especially with the product-swapping feature, as it allows them to visualize combinations that are hard to imagine on their own. This was also true for color combinations, where furnishing tips were appreciated.
Swap with recommendation
showroom participant #1
“It’s very helpful because I’m not a (interior) designer, I don’t know how to combine things”
An interesting observation from the tests was that half of the participants tried to tap the colour thumbnails, expecting the screen to display different colour schemes and change wall and product colours. Although not interactive in the prototype, this feature would help them discover their preferences, similar to swapping product combinations.
Expect to swap colour as well
showroom participant #2
“I’m not so good with colours so I would definitely tap every colour.”
Discover different shopping behaviours the current kiosk design does not reflect focused shoppers’ habit
While the swapping feature and color tips were helpful for some participants, 3 out of 8 participants said they were less likely to use the kiosk due to their shopping habits. Some prefer to explore showrooms for inspiration, while these focused shoppers come to IKEA with a clear idea of what they want and prefer to combine things themselves. The current kiosk design, which presents a complete digital showroom, doesn’t align with their approach. They felt the kiosk screen implies copying the entire showroom, whereas they prefer to build their space gradually, piece by piece.
less likely to use the kiosk
showroom participant #5
“My way of shopping isn’t to consider the whole room and getting everything in one room. This doesn’t work for me”
Feature in the app An easy and fast way to save inspiration
Participants find the camera feature handy because it aligns with their current behaviour of taking photos of items of interest, saving them the time to search for items on their own.
Camera view & Product recognition
showroom participant #8
“I already do this with my camera but I take a photo of the product tag and Google it. This feels easier”
Feature in the app Make more confident decisions by ensuring size and design
3/8 participants said it also allows them to check whether the colors and design work as they wished. Although colour and design may not be the primary concern comparing to dimensions, it is still nice to check the look.
Applying to scanned room
showroom participant #5
“I just bought a closet for my son’s room and I was in doubt whether I should’ve gotten the bigger size… This would have helped me to make a decision!”
Value for store workers
App camera view & product recognition Improve communication with customers
Store workers noted that the product recognition feature in the app would improve communication with customers. In many cases, customers don’t have the correct article number when asking questions. With product recognition, store workers can immediately understand which article the customer is talking about.
store worker #4
“That will be nice for the customers and for us… We can immediately know what they want”
Kiosk Reduce workload by allowing customers to help themselves independently
Customers can look up product details like price, stock, and dimensions on the showroom kiosk. During the launch phase, store workers can guide customers in using the kiosk. While it may take time for customers to get accustomed to it initially, they are likely to use it regularly once familiar. Ultimately, the showroom kiosks have an potential to reduce store workers workload.
store worker #2
“If it is in every room, that would help. Today they come walk all the way, ask us to follow them back to the room, so it would free our time”
Value for IKEA business
Addressing current challenges of IKEA Kreativ
The proposed IKEA app feature uses AR and 3D digital rooms technology, which IKEA have already implemented through IKEA Kreativ (launched in 2022). However, among all interviews conducted for this project, no customer mentioned Kreativ, unlike IKEA web and app catalogues or other IKEA planners which they reported using. This suggests that Kreativ is not yet well-known or widely used, especially in the Netherlands and the UK, where the participants are based.
According to Kreativ’s designers, this may be due to the learning curve required for a new tool and the fact that some customers aren’t interested in room design. Additionally, users currently have to navigate through multiple website layers to access Kreativ; or scroll down on the app home page to find it.
Integrate and promote Kreativ to customer needed moments in store
The proposed features build on customers’ current behavior of taking photos and make use of IKEA’s showroom furnishing knowledge by providing furnishing tips. These features could introduce Kreativ to customers in the store at needed moments, such as when they want to check whether the size and design fits in their own space. This approach allows customers to stick to familiar habits, potentially reducing the effort to learn something new and enhancing the omni-channel shopping experience. Notably, one participant in the evaluation test stated:
“AR features have been around for awhile but I never use them.
Finding stuff and bringing it home through the app might be an easier way to try out these features.”-in-store participant
Keeping track of customer interest
When customers interact with items on the showroom kiosk, it leaves data that reveals customers’ interests or uncertainties. Similarly, in the app, as customers take photos and apply products to their rooms, IKEA gains insight into what they’re considering. This allows IKEA to send targeted promotions or notifications, creating a more personalized experience.
