Boots UK: Leveraging Digital Strategies for Inclusive Growth
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I last wrote here. This time, I’ve conducted a study analysis to comprehend Boots’ latest moves and potential from a digital designer’s point of view. Without further ado, channeling our best Marvin Gaye vocals: let’s get it on!
As a 25-year-old junior UX designer, I’m intrigued by Boots’ potential to expand both as a company and within the digital domain. Boots has been a staple in British households for generations, showcasing remarkable adaptability to growth and change. In the current era of digital e-commerce and the booming beauty industry, Boots continues to innovate and thrive. With online sales now representing over 17% of their total retail sales, it’s evident that Boots is making significant strides in the digital landscape.
Research Findings and Analysis
Over the past two weeks, I’ve searched into Boots’ digital performance, considering both positive and negative aspects. This involved analyzing company publications, user feedback, and independent articles, as well as comparing Boots to its main competitors: Superdrug, LookFantastic, BeautyBay, and M&S. Here’s what I gathered:
Strengths:
- Brand Awareness: An impressive 94.8% of UK consumers are familiar with Boots, rivaling even M&S.
- Customer Consideration: 54.6% of consumers are willing to consider buying from Boots, translating to a strong 57% conversion rate from awareness to potential customers.
- Universal Search Results: Boots leads in universal search results with 117,800 results, primarily driven by reviews, highlighting their strong online visibility.
Weaknesses:
- Website Accessibility: Boots faces significant challenges with website accessibility, with 1,382 alerts indicating a need for improvement to cater to users with disabilities.
- Conversion to Purchase Intent: Boots converts just over a third (35%) of those considering the brand into intending buyers, indicating room for improvement in moving consumers from consideration to purchase. While this 35% conversion rate is quite positive and impressive, given the brand’s value and recognition, there is potential to improve it further.
Seekin an Opportunity: Project Spectrum: Inclusive Skincare Research
Boots, in collaboration with No7 Beauty Company and The University of Manchester, secured UK government funding for Project Spectrum. This initiative aims to address the historical imbalance in skin research that has predominantly focused on lighter skin tones.
Why does this matter? Inclusive skincare can draw in more customers, boosting sales and building brand loyalty. When companies show they care about everyone, people are more likely to trust and stick with them. Project Spectrum is a big step toward fairer, more effective skincare for everyone.
Local SEO Optimization with DAC
Another relevant finding was Boots’ recent partnership with DAC, a global digital marketing agency, in June this year. Boots’ partnership with DAC focuses on enhancing local SEO to improve online branch listings and organic visibility. This partnership is a step towards integrating a reputation management platform, allowing for better engagement with customer reviews — which, as we saw previously, was not their forte — thus maintaining gained trust and encouraging conversions.
My design suggestions
The moment you were waiting, let’s get down to business.To address the challenges and leverage the strengths that I’ve previously mentioned, I propose the following UI/UX design interventions:
Understandable Elements: Ensure the website is easy to navigate by incorporating voice-over tutorials, interactive guides through the tabs, and MOST IMPORTANTLY a personalized search bar filter to enhance user understanding.
Responsive Design: Create seamless connectivity between the app, desktop website, and other tech and aid devices, ensuring a consistent user experience across all platforms.
SEO Strategies: Enhance content by focusing on recent partnerships, personal stories on social media ads, relatable daily practices, and showcasing foundations and NGOs through storytelling.
Educational Content: Share informative content, personally would love to get know more about the inclusive skincare research through boots itself and not by doing this research. But more opportunities will show, and those are great opportunities to use digital platforms and engage a diverse audience.
Customer Engagement: Actively engage with customers by implementing feedback elements on the website, conducting surveys, and occasional polls related to new products or seasonal offerings.
Conclusion
In my view, Boots is on the right pathway to maintaining relevance and gaining an edge over its competitors. The strategies and partnerships I have observed are great opportunities that will provide the design team with a plethora of options to incorporate innovative elements and content. I eagerly anticipate seeing these developments. As a designer and researcher, writing this article has been an honor, and I hope (if any recruiter sees this) for a chance, perhaps, to be part of Boots’ design team.
And what about you, what specific features do you think are most beneficial here?
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