Bed, Bath and Beyond has decided to expand its services and include new buying options for its customers. The idea is to make it easier for people to find inspiring room design ideas and create “the look” they want.
The inspiration for the design came from the current Bed, Bath and Beyond website. It was important for the site to be based on the mother website but also to have its own look and feel.
Finding a look and replicating it is not easy. Some sites, like One Kings Lane and Joss & Main offer beautiful pictures, however it’s hard to replicate a look based on one picture and lots of product options. In other words, the pictures entice the user but the products are hard to match. Houzz also offers beautiful pictures but in order to replicate the look a “PRO” is required. Users have to find an architect, interior designer, etc. to create the look. Beyond looks has a space in the market that currently seems untapped.
Based on the competitive analysis, the three key differentiators are:
1. Ability to replicate a look
2. Buy all products of a specific look
3. Filter through looks quickly
Michael's story
User research allowed us to find a few different pain points in different prospect users. Some wanted to be able to buy for products based on their budget, others wanted big images while others wanted more information on products. Based on our research, personas were created to better understand the needs of the users.
Pam said “I’m always on the run and only have a few minutes here and there in between appointments to look for my design ideas. I need to be able to save the pictures I like and access them at a later point”.
Sarah is overwhelmed by choice. She explains “I simply can’t find what I’m looking for because there are always too many options. I need an easy way to sort through the pictures so I can find what I need”.
Michael is on a budget. He wants “an easy way to find products based on my budget. I don’t want to see pictures that include overly expensive products and get all excited only to find out that they are beyond my budget”.
Card sorting allowed us to understand the user mindset.
Based on the user research it was decided that it was necessary to allow users to find LOOKS based on their personal preferences therefore the navigation was done accordingly.
Sketches were created based on the user needs. Large pictues, ability to share and mark as favorite, product descriptions and user reviews.
Wireframes were created with Axure and allowed us to portray the ideas visually. Filtering was an important part of the site which was incorporated in the global navigation as well as the subsequent pages.
Home Wireframe
Look page wireframe
User testing allowed us to discover that it was necessary to improve certain areas of the site. A "look selection" page was added, the navigation was improved and some pages were incorporated into others to make the experience easier and faster.
The prototype
Navigation in the prototype
Look user flow
