Case Study: Service Design
Home > Clients & Case Studies > Sears
Centralis and Sears reimagined the end-to-end shopping process from website to in-store pickup.
The Challenge
To prepare for the upcoming holiday season, Sears sought a deeper understanding of their users’ needs throughout the shopping experience.
As a pioneer of both in-store pickup and home delivery services, Sears needed user research that was just as multi-faceted as their shopping process.
Centralis partnered with Sears to provide a holistic analysis on the end-to-end shopping process and offer design recommendations that would give Sears the confidence they needed for holiday readiness.
The Process
Centralis integrated lab sessions and field work to give Sears a true end-to-end understanding of their customers’ needs.
In the lab, we observed participants as they ordered items for both delivery and in-store pickup, gathering their reactions and missteps. The next day, we accompanied participants to a Sears store to evaluate the pickup process. For the participants who placed delivery orders, we followed up with a phone interview two weeks later.
To broaden the scope of the project without busting the budget, we also conducted “mystery shopping” trips, where our team went undercover to analyze the shopping experience at multiple Sears locations.
The Impact
After analyzing both the lab and field data, we identified what customers liked about the delivery/pickup process, and what was causing abandonment.
We provided Sears with extensive video footage of our participants in action so they could hear the testimony for themselves.
Our final report outlined optimizations to provide a seamless end-to-end shopping experience and immediately drive sales.
Our Value
Centralis’ research plan enabled us to understand the many dimensions of the Sears shopping experience.
Our hybrid methodology provided a complete picture of the Sears online shopping process, helping us make strategic recommendations on everything from website architecture to physical signage.
The mystery shopping sessions gathered the necessary data to extrapolate our research across many locations and gave Sears the insight and confidence they needed to capitalize on the holiday season.
- Centralis Client