Bringing more customers into the physical stores for Dick’s Sporting Goods.
ROLE & TEAM
I was the Product Designer and PM in a team of 6.
WHAT I DID
I designed the mobile app prototypes, email notification page, and edited the video pitch.
CLIENT
Dick's Sporting Goods (DSG) is the largest sporting goods retail company in the United States and is listed on the Fortune 500, with approximately 854 stores and 50,100 employees.
PROJECT TYPE
Client contract project (Client contact: Ron Polka, Product Design Manager)
PROBLEM
DSG requires new service innovations to differentiate itself and attract more customers to its physical stores in this highly competitive market.
80% of Dick’s Sporting Goods’ sales revenue comes from in-store sales. DSG now faces intense competition from other sporting goods retailers, as well as from online retailers like Amazon. To remain competitive, DSG may need to find ways to offer unique and compelling in-store experiences that set it apart from the competition.
SOLUTION
Hosting in-store VIP parties for kids who play Dick’s Sporting Goods’ online game, School of Sport.
Kids can try out different sporting equipments at the party and socialize. Parents pay a flat fee for their kids to enter the party and can purchase sporting equipments during the party.
Connecting School of Sport to DSG mobile app.
Jr. athletes can check their rewards in their virtual wallet on School of Sport and send the invitation to their parents’ email to redeem coupon codes/VIP party tickets.
Receiving emails about rewards.
Once Jr athletes send the invitation, parents can view the invitation in their email and can be directed to their DSG mobile app to redeem coupon codes/VIP party tickets.
Redeeming coupon codes.
Jr athletes and their parents can select the coupons together which can be used in-store.
Getting the ticket to the VIP Party.
Jr athletes and their parents can select the details of the VIP party together and potentially invite their friends too. Parents will pay a flat fee for the VIP party. Jr athletes can try and learn how to use different sporting equipment with the guidance of in-store teammates.
I edited this movie to express our solution.
PROCESS OVERVIEW
There are many ways to bring different customers into physical stores. How did we navigate through ambiguity and arrive at this specific solution?
We started with familiarizing ourselves with DSG’s current services and how customers experience them.
EXPLORING THE DOMAIN
so that we can:
leverage the existing models to innovate new services
uncover current user pain points and create solutions to address them
8
Customer Interviews
10+
Competitive Analysis
3
In-store Experiential research
UNCOVERING THE INSIGHTS
We found that:
IDEATING THE SOLUTION
We brainstormed 18 ideas that addressed the pain points uncovered in the insights and narrowed them down to 4.
01 DSG Vending Machine
The DSG kiosk is a vending machine outside DSG stores that supplies basic sports equipment, such as mouth guards, socks or jock straps. They are available 24/7 for customers and they require no operational expense of labor for DSG.
02 DSG Buddy System
This system is to improve customers’ in-store experience by pairing registered customers with coaches to ensure a smooth shopping experience.
03 DSG Style Match
The style match system uses AI-enabled software for users to submit photos to find their favorite athleisure looks on the DSG app. The system will provide them with coupon codes to encourage customers to try these outfits in-store.
04 DSG VIP Party
Kids who earn enough points on DSG's online game, School of Sport, can attend an in-store VIP party with their parents. At the party, they can test out sporting equipment with DSG coaches, buy the gear, and use coupon codes to get in-store discounts.
We decided on the last idea: By hosting an in-store VIP party for kids who play DSG’s online game, School of Sport, we can bring these kids and their parents into the physical stores.
This is because:
Through our research, we found 4.8 million active users for DSG’s online Roblox game, School of Sport. They already established a certain level of brand loyalty for DSG through their online game and are familiar with the products that DSG has.
Most of the active users are located in the US, giving us ample opportunity to leverage this existing product for new product and service innovation.
The School of Sport game is a fairly new digital product that DSG launched in the summer of 2022. We learned from our client that they are open to investing substantial business resources to advance this product and the service it provides.
CURRENT USER FLOW
At present, the Jr. athletes get to play games in School of Sport and earn style points to buy virtual outfits only.
NEW USER FLOW
With our service, the Jr. athletes and parents can additionally get discount coupons and be eligible for the DSG VIP party.
VALUE CREATION
All of our key stakeholders would benefit from this service.
Turning our ideas into digital solutions and gathering feedback.
PROTOTYPE & USER TESTING
11
Usability Testing Sessions
3
Design Iterations
2
Client Feedback Sessions
Iterate to improve functionality
We began by sketching and testing our low-fidelity prototype to gather feedback on its functionality. Although we received some valuable feedback, we identified a significant challenge during our usability testings: one of our main target audiences was kids, and they had difficulty imagining how the prototype would work as they were accustomed to the polished school of sport interface. As a result, we decided to increase the prototype's fidelity to provide a more accurate representation so that we can gather more valuable feedback.
Before
Lofi Wireframe
After
Initial Hifi Prototype
Iterate to better meet user needs
One important design decision I made based on the usability testings is moving the ticket selection flow from the School of Sport app to DSG mobile app for the final iteration.
This is because parents expressed concerns about letting the child choose the coupons and the tickets for the School of Sport. Moving the ticket selection process to DSG mobile app will allow the parents to make the final decision.
Before
Jr Athletes select their reward by themselves.
After
Both Jr Athletes and parents are involved in the process of selecting rewards.
Iterate to increase brand fit
Upon transferring the ticket selection flow from the School of Sport to the DSG app, our first design approach involved incorporating the School of Sport's visual system into the DSG mobile app to maintain consistency. Nonetheless, we swiftly identified that this approach did not align with the DSG app's branding. Subsequently, we undertook a series of design iterations to create a more coherent design that accurately reflected the DSG brand identity.
Before
After
SPACE MODEL
How would the VIP Party space at DSG look like?
IMPACT
"I'm thrilled about this solution as it not only aligns with our company's mission of creating business value but also making a social impact. By fostering a strong community like this, we can build brand loyalty over time."
-- Ron Polka, Product Design Manager at DSG
“I am excited for my kids to go to a party like this. It has been hard for my kid to socialize after COVID and this party could be a perfect opportunity for my kid to make friends and have fun.
-- Parent of a kid who plays School of Sport
MAIN TAKEAWAY
This experience has taught me how to navigate through ambiguity.
When I received the prompt, it was somewhat vague and ambiguous, which made it challenging to determine both the specific target audience group to focus on and the best solution to address the problem.
However, through this experience, I learned that conducting ample research and engaging in in-depth synthesis can go a long way in helping me to decide what to prioritize and design decisions to make.
By approaching the problem with a thorough and thoughtful strategy, I was able to develop a digital solution that not only addressed the challenge at hand but also provided significant business value.
