Lowe’s — Responsive Design Project

Karen Wood
Aug 28, 2017 · 5 min read

Lowe’s is a 71 year old company and is trying to keep up with the digital age. They are ranked #40 on the Fortune 500 list and generate $65 billion in sales. They currently operate over 2,300 stores have 290,000 employees and service 17 million customers a week. Lowe’s is huge!

Lowe’s 2016 business snapshot

Executive Summary

Lowe’s competes in a broad competitive landscape including national and international home improvement warehouse chains and lumberyards. Lowe’s also competes with traditional hardware, plumbing, electrical, home supply retailers, and maintenance and repair organizations.

Additionally they compete with general merchandise retailers, warehouse clubs, and online and other specialty retailers as well as service providers that install home improvement products.

The increasing use of technology and the simplicity of online shopping also underscore the importance of omni-channel capabilities as a competitive factor. We differentiate ourselves from our competitors by providing better customer experiences while delivering superior value in products and service.

To further serve their customers, Lowe’s is embarking on a plan to roll out improvements to their mobile site.

Lowe’s understands that needs of their customers are continuously changing and must must pursue an omni channel sales strategy

The percentage of overall sales derived from online channels informed the problem statement.

How might we reimagine the Lowe’s mobile site as a destination for the modern DIY customer through an efficient mobile shopping experience?

Scope of Work

Design a new version of Lowe’s e-commerce mobile site

Clickable prototype and online mobile shopping experience

2 key personas

Incorporates goals of the business

Considers goals of the Lowe’s brand

Tested by users and backed by research

Follows IA heuristic (best practices)

1 week delivery

Contextual Inquiry in store

Now that we know a little more about the market, competitors and product mix, it was time to put everything into context at the store. I conducted 6 in person interviews on location at the Lowe’s location in Gowanus Brooklyn. The most important insight gained was that customers are researching before they purchase.

Key Takeaway: Customers conduct research before purchase

6 out of 6 prefer Lowe’s over Home Depot

Most customers came to the store with a “list” of what they needed

4 out of 6 shoppers were on the phone researching while shopping in the store

Out of the 6 interviews, NONE had shopped at lowes.com but many actively shop on amazon.com

The contextual research helped to revise our personas. Meet Daniel — he is a 38 year old creative director who just bought his first brownstone fixer upper in Bed Stuy. He’s really excited, creative and ready to get going on all his projects. He’s “putting his heart and soul into this renovation” and is already an online shopper. Daniel shops at Lowe’s in store but shops online at Amazon.

Meet Joanna — our 43 year old property manager who is renovating a full building that she currently manages. Joanna is shopping on HOUZZ for most of her home improvement purchases.

After the personas were refined, it was time to test the current mobile site UX. Findings outlined below:

Key Takeaway: Searching by key word was identified as the most important existing feature.

4 user tests and follow up interviews

Confusing layouts and language

Design is uninspiring and feels generic

Lots of coupons — feels low brow

Annoyed by the “myLowes” login. I don’t want to create an account

High customer drop-off rate during the shopping process

Heuristics were then analyzed:

With these pain points in mind, I identified design goals before sketching out the site pages.

DESIGN GOALS

  • Operational simplicity
  • Strong branding
  • Effective use of visual elements
  • Clear data presentation
  • User’s ability to leave feedback
  • Easily available general and contact information
  • Design that supports the offer not overshadows

Design Studio

Next step was to create a streamlined task flow…fewer steps to accomplish the task. The persona wants to purchase a new Weber Grill by starting with the search bar on the home screen.

From the refined task flow I was able to build out potential user flows.

Click below to test out the prototype!

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