Customer Rejection in Retail
Market Research conducted on the Lingerie Segment to understand behaviors and process of feedback generation.
Background
A study on the Lingerie Segment of Retail (Brasserie) conducted in New Delhi for identifying customer rejections and reasons for the same. After a thorough study, a solution for the increase in sales revenues and decrease in customer rejection has to be presented in the form of a mobile application, for the internal use of the company keeping in mind the interest of the “kings” i.e. the customer.
Timeline
3 weeks
My Key Role
Research, Interaction, Design Methodology and Framework, Creative Design, Strategic Planning and Compilation
Recognition
The research project and a feature article were appreciated and featured in the distinguished Business of Fashion (BoF), India.
Objectives
To study the selected segment of retail and its working in different formats and identify the reasons for customer rejections.
Research and Positioning
Secondary Data – articles and research papers from the web source, Books
Primary Data – Visit to Select City Mall, Greater Kailash – I and Hauz Khas Market in New Delhi
Questions were asked from the sales team, store manager and customers at the stores for obtaining the relevant information on the project.
To gain an empathetic understanding of stakeholders' thoughts, feelings, and needs, we conducted ethnographic interviews, observations, and shadowing, and feedback analysis.
To gain an empathetic understanding of stakeholders' thoughts, feelings, and needs, we conducted ethnographic interviews, observations, and shadowing, and feedback analysis.
User Observation Database
Customers
Managers/Sales people
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"I never get the color of my choice"
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"What is the right fit, I don't think even the sales staff know that"
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"Sometimes everything is so overloaded that I fail to get what I want"
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"Sales staff are not educated/trained enough to understand the customers"
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"If I would not get something from the same store repeatedly, I would never come back"
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It's always a struggle to buy the right product.
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"Feedback? How would that be relevant?"
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"Customers themselves don't know what they are looking for"
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"No customer approached me for help, I feel they are self-sufficient"
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"Yes, sometimes we don't have the products the customer is looking for, so they leave"
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"What is instant rejection?, sounds new to me"
Analysis and Synthesis
Affinity Mapping
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Yellow-Direct voice user
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Green-Clustered user stories
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Ideation - Themes from Blue post it cluster
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Dark Pink- Problems encountered
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Yellow, Blue, and Orange- categorized as major reasons for the problems.
Insight Mapping
10 Premium brand stores were visited back to back to understand minute details about the store in terms of their work culture and behaviors
Store Product Details
Resaons for Rejections
Reasons for rejection were analyzed based on the affinity mapping and categories were created combining the data gathered through feedback and store details.
Intervention
The application will work through a Tab placed on the POS so that it becomes mandatory for all the customers to fill in the data at the time of payment. For customers who carried out no purchasing also shall either be courteously brought to the POS or the sales personnel will pick the Tab near them to fill in the data.
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1 Tab (more than one if the store is big) shall be kept at the POS – keeping in mind that some customers will not be willing to share all information with the sales personnel. During rush hours or when customers do not turn out to be converted the sales personnel can carry the Tab near them to fill the information.
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Decentralized (POS/ sales personnel) filling of customer information and centralized (through the HO) assimilation through the interconnected software (e.g. ERP/ SAP) of the data collected.
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The information will be color-coded according to priority and segments like the size will be colored pink and so on.
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Information filled through the App in the Tab will reach the software connected which will filter it to make it comprehensive to understand the positive and negative response from the customers. It will also generate data according to the priority response – that which has to be dealt with first and then after that.
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This information will be analyzed by the store manager every day by the end of the day and will be furthered to the next hierarchical level along with his comments.
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Within 48 hours the store manager will receive a response from the higher hierarchy for the redressal of the priority issues.
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A generic email or SMS will be generated by the store manager as per the priority color code and sent to the customers with the intimation of redressal and the time.