Shiyara Yousuff Download Resume

Exploring a more seamless luxury retail experience.

Luxury shoppers liked the mall and disliked the wait inside its stores. We proposed an appointment-based experience with advance bookings and virtual queues in the mall's app.

Industry
Luxury retail
Focus
Service Design
My role
Research, journeys, blueprint, prototype
Project type
Team project, 2023
Organisation
Majid Al Futtaim

01. Context

Project overview

Mall of the Emirates wanted to improve the experience of its luxury shoppers. The project studied how they shop, which services they know about and where the visit lets them down.

The goal

To bring awareness to the mall's luxury offerings, boost app engagement and offer luxury shoppers an experience of their own.

35
Shoppers surveyed in the mall
10
Luxury shoppers interviewed
77%
Had never heard of the invite-only Cle D'or Lounge

02. The challenge

Why the experience needed attention.

Shoppers were happy with the stores and the valet, and unaware of the services built for them.

  • Long waits

    Long wait times inside luxury stores before anyone could help.

  • Low awareness

    Most could not name the luxury services on offer: lounges, hands-free shopping, personal shopper.

  • An unused app

    Many luxury shoppers did not have the mall's app.

03. Research and discovery

Starting on the mall floor.

I conducted customer interviews to understand luxury shopping behaviours, service awareness and customer experience challenges.

  • Field visit

    Documented visit and visual mapping of the luxury wing.

  • Shopper survey

    35 shoppers surveyed in the mall.

  • Interviews

    10 luxury shoppers aged 21 to 45.

  • Benchmarking

    Trends, global and MENA luxury market research.

  • Literature review

    Alongside the client's own documents.

04. Key insights

From research to opportunities.

The research identified awareness gaps across luxury services, including the Cle D'or Lounge, hands-free shopping and personal shopper services.

  • Cut the wait inside luxury stores.
  • Make the existing luxury services visible.
  • Give shoppers a reason to open the app.

05. Design development

Mapping one shopper's visit, before and after.

Sara is one of two personas built from the research: an Emirati entrepreneur who visits rarely, spends big and comes for new drops.

01

Pre-visit

Scrolling Instagram, Sara sees a new collection has dropped and decides to visit the store today.
None at this stage.
Social media is where the service should be advertised.
02

Arrival

She leaves her car with the valet and strolls through the Fashion Dome to the store.
None at this stage.
Banners along this route can introduce appointments.
03

Waiting

Ten minutes in, no one has assisted her. She remembers an ad for an appointment service in the app.
Long wait time in luxury stores.
A long wait in a place of service needs an appointment system.
04

Shopping

She downloads the app and joins the virtual queue, sixth in line. She shops elsewhere until notified she is next.
None at this stage.
Reminders for upcoming appointments, because people forget.
05

Departure

A sales agent greets her and she buys quickly. She goes home satisfied, but tired from carrying her bags alone.
Unaware of the hands-free service.
Surface the other luxury services inside the app.

Journey map redrawn from the project report.

The service blueprint: what the shopper sees, and what has to happen behind it.

Physical evidence
Social media
Physical banner
App
Employee
App
Customer actions
Notices a social media post promoting the new feature
Notices a banner promoting the new feature
Downloads the mall app
Browses the app's services
Selects appointments and chooses a luxury store
Books in advance or joins the current queue
Shows the appointment to the sales associate
Sales associate updates the appointment
Gives feedback after the appointment
Line of interaction
Frontstage actions
Promotion is displayed on Instagram
Banners are displayed around the mall, such as Fashion Dome Level 2
App is available on the App Store and Google Play
Mall services are displayed in the app
Store's wait time and queue length are shown
Appointment dates and times are shown accurately
Employee greets the shopper and checks the appointment
Wait time updates when appointments are updated
Feedback prompt appears the next time the app opens
Line of visibility
Backstage actions
Social media managers monitor post insights and engagement
Team manages the content delivery system for banners
Developers keep the app up to date with features and fixes
Developers keep the app appealing and easy to navigate
Store employees update appointments so the information displayed stays accurate
Data analysis team gathers and analyses feedback
Line of internal interaction
Support processes
Social media plan and execution
Marketing plan, banner design
Customer support for questions during a shopper's first interactions with the app
Back-end system for managing and updating appointments. Integration with luxury stores' systems for real-time data.
Critical issues prioritised and resolved promptly

Scroll sideways to read the full blueprint.

06. The proposed experience

One new service in the app: appointments.

An appointment-based experience concept, with integration into the mall's digital platform and retail service operations explored.

  • Advance bookings

    Schedule an appointment with a store before leaving home.

  • Virtual queues

    Join a queue on arrival and keep shopping.

  • Real-time notifications

    Know when your turn is near.

  • Appointment feedback

    A prompt after the visit.

Advance booking flow in four phone screens: choose a date and time, confirmation, view appointment, manage appointment
Advance booking: choose a slot, confirm, view, manage. Swipe to see all four screens.
Virtual queue flow in four phone screens: join queue now, position two in queue, view queue, manage queue
Virtual queue: join, see people ahead and wait time, leave if needed. Swipe to see all four screens.

07. Reflection

Outcome.

We recommended connecting luxury stores' existing queue systems to the app, then refining the feature from analytics and shopper feedback.

  • My contribution

    Customer interviews, analysis of research findings, journey mapping and the appointment-based experience concept.

  • Project status

    A team concept and prototype, presented as a proposal. Not launched.