Project 05 of 09 Professional work Retail operations · Service design
The promise after purchase
Connecting digital operations, fulfilment and returns so that the online shopping experience extends beyond the moment of purchase.
At a glance
Connecting digital operations, fulfilment and returns so that the online shopping experience extends beyond the moment of purchase.
- Role
- Digital Business Strategy, India Lead
- Period
- Nov 2018 – Jun 2019
- Focus
- Operations, fulfilment, returns
- Base
- Mumbai, India
Leadership
Build the team around the experience.
As Digital Business Strategy, India Lead, I built and led a cross-functional digital operations team, aligning customer, business and technology priorities to grow online sales.
Digital commerce depends on coordinated work. The promise presented online has to connect with the people and processes that fulfil it. My remit brought those priorities into the same operating picture.
Fulfilment
Look at the work between the order and the dispatch.
I enabled picking and packing improvements that cut order dispatch time by 40%. The scope focused on the operational work needed to turn an online order into a dispatched package.
The focus was the time between an order entering fulfilment and leaving the operation. Faster dispatch made the next stage of the customer promise possible.
Returns
Treat the return as part of the service.
I facilitated a design-thinking workshop to shape a doorstep refund service. That extended the work from fulfilment into the experience after a purchase.
The documented contribution is the workshop and service direction. It is not a claim that a doorstep-refund service subsequently launched or achieved a particular retention result.
- Cross-functional digital operations
- Picking and packing improvements
- Doorstep refund service workshop
Reflection
The customer experiences the whole operation.
A commerce experience includes the waiting, the receiving and the possibility of returning. Operational work can therefore be experience-design work even when it does not produce a new screen.
This role reinforced the connection between commercial priorities, team coordination and practical service improvements.
Experience lens
An order is a promise until the shoes fit
A simplified way to read an online footwear order, from choosing a pair to sending one back. A model for reasoning about the journey, not a record of a specific system.
Illustrative service blueprint. An original model for exploring the experience across customer, service and operations.
| Order | Dispatch | Return | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer What the person does | Chooses style and size | Waits for delivery | Returns or exchanges |
| Frontstage What they see and touch | Product page and checkout | Confirmation and tracking | Simple return and exchange options |
| Backstage What makes it work | Stock allocation | Pick, pack and carrier hand-off | Refund, restock, reason capture |
Stage 01 of 03 · The design question
How confident can someone feel about fit before they buy?
- Customer Chooses style and size
- Buying shoes without trying them on asks for trust. People look for reassurance about size, comfort and what happens if they get it wrong.
- Frontstage Product page and checkout
- Clear sizing information, honest product details and a calm checkout help people decide, rather than leaving the doubt for later.
- Backstage Stock allocation
- The size someone chooses has to be reserved against real stock, so the order they place is an order that can actually be fulfilled.
Stage 02 of 03 · The design question
Does the customer always know where their order is?
- Customer Waits for delivery
- Between paying and receiving, the customer’s only view of progress is whatever they are told. Gaps in that story create calls and worry.
- Frontstage Confirmation and tracking
- Timely confirmation and tracking messages keep the promise visible, and set expectations before they can be missed.
- Backstage Pick, pack and carrier hand-off
- Each step from shelf to doorstep is a hand-off between teams and partners, and each one needs to update the story the customer sees.
Stage 03 of 03 · The design question
Is sending something back as easy as buying it?
- Customer Returns or exchanges
- With footwear, fit is personal and sometimes only clear at home. A return is part of buying shoes, not a failure of it.
- Frontstage Simple return and exchange options
- Clear options and a predictable process keep a disappointing fit from becoming a disappointing brand.
- Backstage Refund, restock, reason capture
- Refunding promptly, getting stock back into circulation and noting why items come back closes the loop for the business as well as the customer.
Selected professional work. Diagrams are original explanatory models.