Omnichannel Analysis: Customer Journey in store through IKEA Self-serve Kiosk
We share customer journey through IKEA Self-serve Digital Kiosk and how to analyze and interpret customer journey data using IKEA internal self-serve kiosk data
By Yeseul Song, Stojanka Karlsson. A note to say special thanks to Edina Sejdic, Sonali Dave, Benny Andrén who helped in creating this content
We aim to standardize customer journey KPIs globally and identify our opportunities for improving customer experience by customer journey step. The purpose of the article demonstrates the introduction of one of IKEA’s digital product and insight with masked data in the selected 29 countries and data period between 2022/05/01 and 2022/07/17 (To hide a sensitive data value, it marks as — )
What is it?
Your always accessible digital assistant supporting the joy of shopping in IKEA stores! Our self-serve kiosks are located around the store to offer quick support throughout the shopping journey to any visitor. Why waiting in a queue when you can quickly answer your questions or complete simple tasks in a traditional IKEA do-it-yourself-way, and on your own terms!
· Low threshold for the many : No log in/app download needed, it is one tap away for any visitor willing to do things in traditional IKEA ‘do-it-yourself-way
· Contextually relevant : Kiosks are available all around the store, each kiosks provides contextually relevant experience based on the location
· Connecting digital with physical : It complements physical space in stores, to create a unique and joyful instore experience
· Throughout the shopping journey : It offers quick support at any stage of in-store shopping journey (Explore, Find, Configure, Validate, Buy, Engage)
· The connecting thread : By bringing together different types of in-store experiences, it is becoming a platform and enabler of seamless customer journey
Key Summary
Overview
- IKEA Self-serve Kiosk helped to increase co-worker’s productivity across 29 countries. In average 400 hours per store in this given period, IKEA co-workers can reallocate to support more customers with complex purchases that require home furnishing expertise
Deep dive into the IKEA Self-serve Kiosk Customer Journey Steps
- Explore: Most used IKEA kiosks are located in ‘Self-serve Furniture Area and Activity Area’. The Top browsed categories are ‘Storage, Funiture, Bedroom’
- Find: The Most searched items by customers are ‘kallax, desk, bestå’. Whereas the most searched keywords without results are ‘trysil, nyboda’. When customers were looking for a location of specific items in the store, ‘Mattress and Bed’ were the most popular ones
- Configure: The more kiosks configured in HFB1, Seating, with Sofa planner on the focus tile, the more sofa planning sessions. We see most interactions with Vimle and Soderhamn planners that customer use to build customized sofa combination in kiosk
- Validate: Authentic customer reviews with high rating impact consumer buying decision. Customers added more items in their shopping list after customers read reviews in kiosk
- Buy: Full serve orders created in our kiosk closed transactions successfully. In Particular, Sofas is the Top Selling Full-serve Product area that is well aligned with our decision to start with adding Sofa planning capability
Common Part: When the product is out of stock in the store, we offer customers 6 different buying options to complete the purchase either they are only interested to buy that originally chosen product or they are open to look into alternative, similar products. We see that during this given period our customers have added alternative items in their lists. By enabling product recommendations in several steps, we help stores steer sales towards alternative products that are in stock and contribute to customer satisfaction
Understand Customer Journey with IKEA Self-serve Kiosk
This user journey map shows an example of the IKEA Self-serve Kiosk user persona in order to demonstrate the essential customer journey steps
*note: This user journey & mapping interaction KPIs are excluded Engagement step due to data limitation (working in process)
What is status ?
- In the selected period, — qualified sessions (=user started sessions on the IKEA Self-serve Kiosk with more than one interaction) interacted by — kiosks globally. — % of all customers (with closed transactions) have been using IKEA Self-serve Kiosk globally
- Nearly — %, Global Customers made full-serve transactions originating from IKEA Self-serve Kiosk out of all IKEA full-serve transactions
- By country, France was the top performing country based on 3 KPIs followed by Canada, U.S. Denmark showed the highest IKEA Self-serve Kiosk share of full serve orders, regardless of smaller qualified sessions
As to top10 store performance in the selected period
- France (9 stores) and US (1 store) showed the highest customer reach. In top 10 stores, average number of kiosks user per store is 36
- Whereas, France (4 stores), Denmark (2 stores), Sweden (2 stores), US (2 stores) showed the biggest share of IKEA Self-serve Kiosk full serve orders
*note: Full serve — sales locations of the furniture previously seen in showroom that is too bulky, heavy, fragile, complex products
// Deep dive into the Customer Journey Steps
1. Explore
As a customer I want to be inspired, explore ideas and products, because I want to find a solution to my home furnishing need.
We observed most used kiosks located in ‘Self-serve Furniture Area and Activity Area’. For example, Top1 used kiosk is placed both on visible and easy to access place in the French store. The Top browsed categories in the stores are ‘Storage, Furniture and Bedroom’
2. Find
As a customer I want to find the right products for me because I have a home furnishing need. I need help to navigate the store and make an informed decision.
The Most searched items by customers are ‘kallax, desk, bestå’. After customers found a list of products, they filtered (color, size etc) and sorted out to get more relevant products quickly. Whereas the most searched keywords without results are ‘trysil, nyboda’ which we need to monitor and optimize keywords in kiosk. The missing searched result can be different by country
When customers were looking for a location of specific items in the store, ‘mattress and bed’ were the most popular one
3. Configure
As a customer I want to create simple home plans in stores without dependency on co-worker.
Today we enable customer to access Sofa planner via 3 entry points, planner code, Focus tile and secondary tile. We learn that the more kiosks added entry point to sofa planner on the focus tile on the kiosks next to sofas on display, the more sofa planning sessions. In the selected period, we see the most interactions with Vimle and Soderhamn Planners to build customized sofa combinations on our kiosk
Sofa Planning sessions started interaction in Focus tile as the top entry point from the kiosks that are located next to sofas on display. Currently we offer only entry point to sofa planners, but in FY23 we are planning to add more simple Planner experiences on our kiosk to enable our customers to self-serve throughout their shopping journey without frictions and dependency on co-workers
*note: Focus Tile (biggest tile on our kiosk home screen that should be connected to the physical store experience), Secondary Tile (small tile on the Home screen), Planner Code (each planner combination has its unique code that customer can search by their customized combination)
4. Validate
As a customer I want to be able to validate my choice (read customer reviews, compare other products etc) because I want to be sure that the product I found will meet my need.
Our customers checked customer review rating before purchasing a product. The data clearly showed customers added more items in their shopping list after customers read reviews on kiosk. It means authentic customer reviews with high rating impact consumer buying decision
5. Buy
As a customer I want to understand my options (buying options, services, channels, checkout etc) because I want to choose based on my preference.
Avg. Customer take around 5 mins to complete Full-serve payment through IKEA Self-serve Kiosk after a customer makes an order. The Top3 Selling Full serve HFB are ‘Kitchen, Living room seating, Bed & Mattresses’. In Particular, ‘Sofas’ was the Top Selling Full-serve Product area that works well with adding planning capability
*note: Full serve — sales locations of the furniture previously seen in showroom that is too bulky, heavy, fragile, complex
Common Part
IKEA Self-serve Kiosk helps to increase co-worker’s productivity (average 400 hours per store in this given period, co-workers can reallocate to support more complex purchases) and provide seamless omnichannel customer experience. When the product is out of stock in the store, we offer customers 6 different buying options to complete the purchase — either they are only interested to buy that originally chosen product or they are open to look into alternative, similar products. We see that during this given period our customers have added alternative items in their lists. By enabling product recommendations in several steps, we help stores steer sales towards alternative products that are in stock and contribute to customer satisfaction
By enabling product recommendations in several steps of experience, we ensure that our customers get completely functional product that meets their needs, and on the other hand, we contribute to increase of Add on sales and steer sales to range that is available in store
Conclusion
Here is our 6 key takeaways where we found new opportunities
- Right number of kiosks We see the correlation between number of kiosks in the store and % IKEA Self-serve Kiosk reach and %share of Full serve orders, hence deploying approx. 35 kiosks in strategic locations in IKEA Store
- Sofa planner entry point on focus tile should be configured on all our kiosks next to the sofas on display in HFB1 Seating. This way we offer contextually relevant experience for our customers and enable them to Configure and Buy on their own.
- Findability
1) Review what are the top search and missed search results regularly to optimize search engine to best meet in-store needs
2) Improve Browsing experience to enable our customers to reach Product Information Page of the wished product in fewer steps. - Increase Full serve order share. As we learnt that there is interest to buy via our self-serve kiosks, we would like to expand our Full serve flow and explore adding Services, so that we can target orders created in the stores with delivery, assembly or financial services.
- Offer customer alternative to switch to logged in session to get more personalized experience (to be enabled via integration with IKEA app).
- Co-workers can have even more time to offer their home furnishing expertise to customer with more complex purchases if we improve IKEA Self-serve Kiosk adoption globally. Therefore, we will work on branding and Campaign of our kiosk in all markets to increase the awareness and introduce new ways of shopping across all physical meeting point with our always accessible in-store digital assistant!
