Summarizing

So basically this entire course revolved around developing a process to reach to the solution. My initial design process was a very simple flow which I had put up as the first post. The process then took its own route after the field research was done. 

Here's a graphical representation of the process that I've followed:

According to me, my process followed the biological processes of Fragmentation and Fusion. The initial problem statement grows into mind mapping as it leads it to a lot of fragments being divided. These fragments(i.e. Research and Identification) then grow as an individual whole that is full of different and unique perspective from each other. These fragments then get divided into further parts and some of them which correlate with each other fuse and combine to become a half, These halves are Concepts and Models that need each other to come up with a solution. These halves then combine and become a whole which is the solution mapping, which further grows into a Solution and a Prototype. 

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What next: Mockup 

Final Sketches

A product is always linked with its features and that's what it's known for. After listing the features of my solution in the Value Proposition Canvas, a Feature Building Model is made to study the features of a general product and highlighting the ones that the designer is going to use or customise. The model also lists out gaps that the designer can fill with the features of their product.

The following Feature Building Model states the features of storage and display in the footwear retail industry. The grey dots indicate the features I was interested in and the red line indicates the gaps.

Here are the final sketches of my solutions:

Solution 1: 

An EAS hard tag that fits onto a footwear's outer sole/heel with the help of the knob that tightens its grip and locks it. The lock can be opened only at checkout by pushing the knob and twisting it. The knob contains a resonator that works with a normal EAS security system and repeats the signals after catching.

Solution 2:

A retail display cum storage unit for footwear retail stores. The display unit has a drawer which holds shoes of different sizes, for the ease of the customer and the sales personnel by including the combination of two end panels having between them a plurality of storage shelves positioned one above the other with storage spaces between them,

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What next: Summarizing the entire process and a mockup

Solution Sketches

This stage includes the explorations of the form and the characteristics of  the solution and also a Value Proposition Canvas that weighs the features of the proposed solution with the end-user's wants and needs. 

Solution 1

Inspiration:

Child-proof medicine bottles that can be opened only when the cap is pushed down and turned.

The mechanism of the solution

Rough orthographic view of the original form

Removal of the tag 

Solution 2

Form rxplorations and basic segregation

Division of space

After coming up with the final form and characteristics of the solution, I weighed it along with the wants of my target audience i.e. the Retailers (Narrowed down by Stakeholder Analysis) and the substitutes that can be used by them.

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What next: Feature building and final sketches of solution. 

Solution Mapping

The initial idea of the solution mapping was developed in the last two stages. I started mapping with two key words 'Electronic Article Surveillance'(derived from Problem Assessment Matrix) and 'Storage + Display' (which was the initial mind mapping behind the entire research). 

Focusing on the 'whats' and 'wheres' of the solution

 Further mapping regarding the 'hows' of the solution:

After the mapping it is quite clear that I'll be focusing on developing an EAS hard tag that fits on a footwear's outer-sole/heel and is generic for all kinds of footwears. 

I'll also be focusing on a display shelf for different sizes of footwears that holds the storage as well. 

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What next: Solution Sketches and Value proposition canvas

Stakeholder Analysis

After obtaining a prime focus of the problem, a stakeholder analysis is done to identify the nearest/farthest and the most direct/indirect people involved in the problem/scenario. 

After the analysis, it's better to keep the nearest/most direct stakeholders interested and monitor their problems. The common stakeholders in my analysis are:

• Retailers, Brands (Owners, since its regarding a Multi-brand store)
• Shoplifters, Window-shoppers

Aim/Vision towards solution (Derived from Problem Assessment Matrix and Stakeholder Analysis):

To develop an Electronic Article Surveillance system, for retailers and brand owners that prevents loss and damage of footwear and doesn't hinder the trial/fitting and shopping experience of the customers.

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What next: Solution Mapping

Assessment Matrix

After finding key problems from field and desk research, an assessment matrix is made to analyse the problems and highlight the ones that need priority. My problem revolves around footwear and the factors influencing it. So, Y-axis contains the list of things that happen to the footwear when the list of things on Y-axis influence them. 

After making this matrix my prime focus is on an Electronic Article Surveillance system that prevents loss and damage of footwear and doesn't hinder the trial/fitting experience. 

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What next: Stakeholder Analysis of problem 

Desk Research: Security

Security against shoplifting and organised crime has always been a major concern by retailers all over the world. According to the Global Retail Theft Barometer(GRTB) 2013-14, “shoplifting and organized retail crime cost retailers $70.3 billion in 2013 (39% of total shrinkage).” India had been topping the Global Retail Theft Barometer survey for 2 years. According to the Barometer, shrinkage rates declined across regions, except Asia Pacific, which witnessed a 1.68% growth

Footwear is one of the highest contributors to above average shrink levels in the apparel market. In fact, the 2013-14 Global Retail Theft Barometer reported shrink in footwear has risen year over year to 0.99% globally – especially affecting retailers with open-end merchandising. 

Here are some statistics from the barometer targeting Asia Pacific regions:

There are several retail security systems in the market but very few of them target footwear. Retailers have come up with solutions like displaying only 1 shoe and keeping the other in storage. But it isn't a really effective option:

Thieves beat security in New York shoe stores by stealing left sneaker from one store... and then right sneaker from another store

Retailers need some solution that serves the purpose of security without hindering a shopping experience for the customers. 

The various systems of security used by retailers in Asia Pacific, according to GRTB are:

EAS or Electronical Article Surveillance is a technological method for preventing shoplifting.

It usually involves three components:

• Electronic Antenna
• Deactivator or Detacher
• Electronic Tag

Special tags and labels are fixed to merchandise or books. These tags or labels are removed or "deactivated" by the clerks when the item is properly bought or checked out. At the exits of the store, a detection system sounds an alarm or otherwise alerts the staff when it senses active tags are passing by.

Expert shoplifters have learned to break open these tags that led to the retailers opting for source tagging which is the process of embedding an EAS label into a product's primary packaging or into the product itself at the point of manufacture. Since my problem area focuses on Multi-brand stores, this solution won't possible work as the products come into place by different manufacturers. 

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What next: Assessment Matrix of the shortlisted problems.

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Sources:

1. Global Retail Theft Barometer 2013-14 | Ernie Deyle, The Smart Cube

2. J.R. Roberts Security Strategies | J.R. Roberts

3. Shoplifters love shoes | Sandra Halliday / November 5, 2015 

4. Retail Theft Prevention

5. The future of Electronic Article Surveillance | David Ivins/ September 17, 2015

Desk Research: Storage

I narrowed down my problem area to Multi-Brand Stores since they have a lot of variety to deal with and a lot of space to manage. After the field research, the points I narrowed down to, regarding storage, are:

Retail storage of footwear is usually taken care by metal racks that are modular and line up in the storage area but take up a lot of space of the store and cannot be customised during times of peak or off seasons.

Source

To resolve these issues 'Mobile Shelfing' came into existence which could reduce upto half the storage footprint and consolidate warehouse or stock room merchandise. 

This is how they work:

This system, which is somehow effective, still doesn't answer the previous question raised earlier of eradicating storage completely and combining it with display. Also, I did not find this system anywhere in my field research. What might the reason be?

Although the system saves a lot of space, is secure and useful for customization , it still does not fit the requirements of my problem statement. 

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What next: Desk research on retail security. 

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Sources: 

1. Montel Mobile Shelving| High Density Storage Systems

2. Filing and storage info 

3. Filing Acumen

Field Research

After the initial problem statement was decided, I did a field research to Amanora Town Centre, Pune (A shopping mall), focusing mainly on branded retail outlets (Marks&Spencer, Nike) and also multi brand stores (Central, Mochi). Here's my schedule:

After talking to the respective representatives of each stores, here are a few conclusions and categorizations that I have made regarding my problem statement:

Segregation of space in a retail store

A rough idea about how footwear is arranged in storage racks

I also got into thinking about different packaging of footwear, what if it isn't the regular box-shaped? Would it fit the metal racks then? 

After categorizing the information collected through my field research, I did further mind mapping to get a clearer view about the desk research I'm going to do next.

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What next: Desk research into details of storage (racks, sizes, types) and security (tags, EAS, RFID)

Storage - Initial problem statement

The initial area of interest that I took up is Storage. Storage, according to Wikipedia, may refer to Storage of goods as a warehouse or a self-storage unit or Information storage. I chose physical storage and tried to think of how is it important, where is it generally used and what are the problems associated with it

Looking through various aspects of storage, the words I picked out were - Retail Store, Rent and No space to sacrifice.

Following the mind mapping procedure, the key words were looked into and combined to form an initial problem statement:

Storage management in footwear retail stores.

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Further explorations and illustrations will be up in the next post along with a field research regarding the problem statement.

Introduction to a design process

This blog is all about the progress of my foundation year project at MITID for the course - Design Process. The course basically revolves around exploring how a design is finally put to use. There are several stages it goes through and also how the need to design something is found and ideated.
The basic design process that I will be following is:

This process will obviously be altered according to the problem statement that I choose and how I go about it.