Store Mode for Best Buy

June 2016

Overview
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The Best Buy Technology Development Center in Seattle was established in 2015, with primary focus on omnichannel shopping using our mobile apps. Part of this initiative was for the app to include app features to enhance the in-store experience.

I was invited to join the effort in June 2016 to help give some fresh eyes to the project and help re-strategize the approach. Store mode was launched in fall 2016.

Discovery
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I conducted competitive analysis and in-store observations and determined the most important in-store features were:

  1. Price comparison
  2. Looking up product information
  3. Looking up reviews
  4. Finding locations and product availability in other stores
  5. Discovering special in-store deals

In store, keep customers engaged with the products in front of them. Use the app as a portal to connect customers to rich information not available on store displays.

My Recommendations: An Integrated App Experience​​​
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My point of view is that the app should by nature be hyper-personalized to the customer, and that being in store is a piece of personalization that should be reflected in the experience. Rather than carving out a separate place for store features to live, I recommended integrating store features into the core app experience.

Provide Store Tools, Promote Scan
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Scanning is the quickest and most accurate entry point to the rich product details the app has to offer, such as product reviews, video demos, and store-specific deals.

Additional store tools include Paging a Blue Shirt for help, and comparing similar products.

Quick-View

To keep the focus on the products in store, I recommended a quick view of product details, highlighting the most useful information that's only available online.

Highlight In-Store Products

Localize the core app experience in a way that highlights demonstrable products, in-store deals, and trending products. 

Results
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The lead designer moved forward with my recommendation to promote the scan tool as the most important in-store app feature. Additionally, the implementation included my recommendation to highlight locally trending items and in-store deals.

Using the apps to support omnichannel shopping continues to be a priority of Best Buy's Seattle team.