Case Study : Walmart Auto — Buy car parts online
A single car has about 30,000 parts, counting every part down to the smallest screws. Multiplying this with the number of genuine and aftermarket manufacturers, there is an enormous number of parts for each car. The problem boils down to when a user is looking to buy a part for his/her car online, the user is overwhelmed by the number of items being displayed. Many users find it difficult to find the exact part they are looking for and are unsure if the part will actually fit their car.
Objective
Design a hassle free experience which can help customers to explore and purchase the right part for their vehicle.
Customer Research
Car service scene was monopolized by the manufacturers up until June 2014 by making the spares unavailable in the open market. This scenario changed after Supreme court of India passed a verdict that manufacturers have to make all the spares available in the market which paved way to multiple vendors providing their inventory online
Most people who use the internet, will buy almost anything online without hesitating. However, one area where they hesitate is when buying car parts. Most of us get all our car repairs done at company until the free service expires after which the car is mostly fixed a local garages. Users tend to be a bit worried about sourcing parts or things that they can’t fit themselves, or they think that if they were to try to save money by supplying a car part to their local garage for fitting, that they would offend the garage.
The truth is, as long as spares that are fitted are in good condition and is the right part for the right car model, most garages and mechanics will not object. They still make money on labour. This means that one can sometimes save a lot of money by sourcing the motor spares they need online, instead of buying through garages, or through major car manufacturers.
Spare Market Research
There are 3 types of car parts in the market
Genuine (or original equipment)
Genuine parts are what automakers use at the factory when building a car and are the most expensive on the market. The packaging will usually carry the manufacturers’ branding, though in some cases, a sister company may supply the part.
OEM or original equipment manufacturer
Car manufacturers do not produce every single vehicle component. A company employed by the original manufacturer to produce these parts is the OEM. OEM parts makers often sell components under their own name and branding. These items are identical to genuine parts but present a substantial cost saving.
Aftermarket parts
Aftermarket parts are those not produced by or connected with the manufacturer. Aftermarket producers may also design and manufacture upgraded performance parts that exceed the operation and standards of an original part.
Offline World Of Part Shopping
Competitor Analysis
Car spares sites are a victim of their own size, there are dozens of online spare parts stores that exists today. However, the problem with most of them is that they do not handhold the user thru the journey of finding the right spares meant only for their car. Most sites are visually cluttered and have a slow manual car on boarding process which could sometimes lead to a completely wrong set of parts even if one value is entered wrong.
Most homepages are cluttered in terms of what is displayed. it houses multiple logos / features products / new arrivals etc most of which is just not required for the user.
A user who’s looking for an air filter for his/her Maruti Celerio has nothing to do with a BMW 530d Engine Mount which is displayed in the homepage.
Cluttered screens are frustrating to users. When there are too many elements on one page, they are all competing for a user’s attention and add effort to the buyer’s journey.
On-boarding a car is fairly simple although some are time consuming with the list. The system matches the parts to the Manufacturer / Car Model / Production Year / Variant or the cars VIN number.
Most users are aware of the above details of the car. However, there are a few who are unsure of Year & Variant, this could pose as a blocker if the user is looking to purchase certain (Eg. Top end trim has a different engine with higher capacity) this could lead to wrong parts being purchased or the user will reach a point of confusion and drop out.
Personas
Introducing Walmart Auto
A smart AI based car part shopping experience with smart parts assistant for on boarding & image search for parts.
Parts Assistant
Parts assistant is an AI driven car finder which allows the user to on board his/her car by simply pointing the camera at the car / RC Card / Insurance
or manually enter the car number plate.
How Automatic Car On Boarding works
The exact mapping of a car can be done using its Chassis/VIN Number Chasis number can be found on
1. RC card / Insurance
2. Most cars will have the number as represented by the image
Scan Vehicle Number to On-board your Car
Government site vahan.nic.in maintains a record of all registered cars in the following format
They also provide a paid service to display complete Chassis & Engine numbers to certain kinds of organizations.
Wireframes
Car on boarding + Explore parts
Augmented Reality Image Search
High Fidelity Mocks
User Testing
Users were asked to purchase an air filter for their car using the prototype as well as in competitor sites.
Time taken to reach PDP on competitors site was between 60–90 seconds
Even though the prototype timings can’t actually be considered due to no load times as well as no delay in image scanning. The parts assistant wizard was much welcomed step.
Whats Next?
Gamification with Augmented Reality
With Augmented Reality getting more advanced everyday, the possibilities of having a 3d model of your car standing in front of you with the ability to select and install parts & accessories in real time. Similar to the need for speed games.
Introduce an OBD device
A real time car diagnostic OBD device that can monitor the complete health of the car and can detect failed or predict failing parts. A list of suggested replacement parts can be displayed on the app. The recommendation for a replacement part can also be based on the data collected from another car that is running the new part. Thus making this rating system more accurate than user reviews.
