User Experience- A Trip to CVS

I live in Petworth and my closest CVS is on Georgia Avenue. I would argue this CVS is atypical of normal Washington DC convenience stores in terms of traffic flow and user experience. I visited at 8pm in the evening to see who was there, what they were buying and how they were checking out.

A Visit to CVS

The majority of customers in this CVS seemed to be buying last minute, essential items including bottles of water, soda, etc. There was only one person at the pharmacy and no one in the aisles. No one was perusing aisles or contemplating an extraneous lipstick purchase. It doesn’t help that this particular store frequently has empty shelves and this lovely user experience device:

Additionally, this particular CVS has a feature where when you walk down any of the cosmetic aisles and an automatic recording goes off alerting you that the store members are aware of you presence.

Altogether, this CVS builds the user experience of “get in, get what you need, then please get out.” However, users hit a block when they get to checking out.

This CVS does not have self check out kiosks. Luckily, on this current visit, there were two staff at the front counter. The lines were moving quickly. The line was building up in the candy aisle so while people were perusing, no one was making any unplanned candy purchases. The line was moving very quickly with the exception that the receipt printers were impossibly slow and delaying the process.

Here’s a sketch of the CVS floor plan along with the traffic pattern of 80% of the patrons.

Some Design Challenges

So CVS serves a specific purpose. To be a conveniently located neighborhood store to buy those things you need now. The biggest challenges I identified from recent visit were:

1. The store is unwelcoming, uninviting and frequently lacks the product you’re looking for.
2. The store is not designed to encourage people to linger or explore the store.
3. The checkout process is slow and cumbersome.

Some Possible Design Solutions

An easy place to start would be updating the look and feel of the CVS store. Using softer, more appealing lighting, keeping the shelves stocked with attractive looking products and keeping the store clean and organized would go a long way.

This store also needs to be reorganized in a way that creates a better flow. In my diagram above, customers enter at the front door and usually make a quick trip through aisle 1 (snacks and groceries) before picking up products in the beverage cooler and cutting back through aisle 2 or 3 to get to the check out. Redesigning the flow of the store so that as customers picked up the essential items, they were directed through a well thought out floor plan would improve the experience of shopping at CVS. Additionally providing additional information or displays related to healthy living products may invite more customers to think of CVS as a lifestyle store rather than a convenience store.

The checkout process needs to be revamped to better suit the needs of customers looking to quickly get in an get out. In many instances, self check out kiosks are helpful, but quickly checking out and paying with your smart phone would be even better. Companies such as CVS have taken a convoluted approach to mobile payment, but it’s essential that they fast track this system whether it be through a loyalty program app similar to Starbucks or through Apple Pay or another mobile payment system.

As long as consumers need emergency umbrellas, toothpaste, snacks, there will always be a role for convenience stores like CVS. With a few of these improvements, CVS can ensure a trip is an enjoyable as well as essential.