Walgreens Optical - Wayfinder

PROMPT / SCOPE

While working as an Experience Designer with Wayfinder, a local Miami-based design agency, we decided to take it upon ourselves to identify a digital solution for the well-known and loved pharmacy chain, Walgreens. I was the lead on this project and responsible for the research, direction, and designs.

The information, insights, and conceptual solutions described in this presentation are the result of primary and secondary research, our first-hand experience as consumers and lifelong Walgreens customers, and our professional expertise as experience designers. This presentation is intended to illustrate our process and approach to problem solving and digital product design.

Walgreens history & Mission

Founded in 1901 as a single drugstore, Walgreens is a provider of trusted care in communities around the U.S. Walgreens has a history of breaking new ground to meet its customers’ needs and improve their health, from offering self-service stores beginning in the 1950s to developing a 5-star rated mobile app today.

“To be a force for good in the world by championing accessible health care, supporting the places in which we live and work, treating people with dignity and respect, protecting the environment and carrying quality products.”

For a company to last as long as Walgreens has, they must be adaptable. Knowing that many of their areas of focus have been changing rapidly in the last few years, I decided to dig into numbers to identify challenges.

Areas of opportunity

The market intelligence I gathered showed that Walgreens had opportunity for growth in the following areas: healthcare (specifically concierge models), appealing to the millennial retail power, and tech innovation.

Ideas

After focusing on these three buckets, I held a brainstorming session with my colleagues and generated over a dozen concepts that could fall into these three categories. We evaluated these concepts against self-defined criteria and ultimately identified the strongest one to explore.

Walgreens Optical Experience - B2C

After much discussion, the team decided to dive deeper into a solution for Walgreens Optical, since it was something they were already piloting, and something that lacked a digital angle. We asked ourselves how can we create a digital optical experience that is more accessible, interactive, and easier to implement across all stores?

The Market & opportunity

The U.S. eyewear market was $31.7 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $34 billion by 2023. The U.S. market includes retailers like Lenscrafters, Visionworks, Walmart, and Costco and online retailers like Warby Parker, Zenni, and Topology.

Walgreens knows this and is already piloting a retail optical experience at ten locations in the Chicago area to test the viability of the offering.

But as the self-service trend continues to rise across all demographics, digital offers an opportunity to extend and enhance the retail optical experience.

With all this data, I decided to then craft a survey to better understand how Walgreens and pharmacy customers address their eye-care needs. This would give me insight into behaviors and attitudes towards eye exams, purchasing habits, and satisfaction with retail/online experiences, as well as the desirability of a digital solution.

Personas

Using the research collected and the survey responses, I noted commonalities and differences to create high-level personas so that we may give our audiences a face. This would help us evaluate why they might (or might not) be interested in our digital solution.

The solution

A multi-device digital solution integrated with augmented reality technology will enhance the traditional retail-optical experience and enable Millennials, Baby Boomers, and everyone in between to browse, try, and buy non-prescription eyeglasses in-store, on the road, or from the comfort of their homes.

in-store

With over 9,000 Walgreens locations in the continental U.S., using the in-store experience to reach potential customers and communicate this new and exciting offering is not only a no-brainer but vital. My colleague and I conducted on-site visits to several Walgreens stores in the U.S. to document the current in-store experience and inform our concept. The configuration of the retail concept varies depending on the unique attributes of each location (e.g., location, community demographics, etc.).

Potential displays

Configuration C - self-service experience

The concept behind this display was to create it in a modular way that would be very low-cost and low-effort to roll out in store. It relies on modifications to an existing retail display or the fabrication of a new POP display to include a digital interface which serves as the customer's primary point of interaction. The digital interface enables customers to browse Walgreens' full selection of eyeglasses, simplifying the shopping experience and reducing the clutter of the current POP display.

Configuration B - assisted experience

Our second configuration combines the digital interface from our first configuration with an area for an optometrist or optical sales associate to assist the customer with product selection, fittings, ordering, and pickup to provide more personalized service.

Digital Interfaces

Native app

Walgreens already has very strong figures with their app for shopping, deliveries, and promotions. This additional native app would let us take advantage of the mobile device's camera to support augmented reality features that enable customers to virtually try-on frames and elevate the experience.

Augmented reality try on

To use the augmented reality feature the customer simply allows the app to access her device's camera and start the facial scan. The scan captures, stitches together multiple images, and creates a 3D topographic model of her face. The app uses this model to enable the customer to virtually try-on the selected frames.

The universal app is intended to be used to enable this functionality on both the in-store kiosk and the customer’s mobile device to minimize development costs and maximize impact.

IntelLIGENT Recommendations

The app uses the facial scan combined with the recommendations engine to generate intelligent recommendations for frames that best match the customer's facial features. The customer can browse and purchase a recommended frame or choose any frame from the Walgreens catalog.

Summary

Walgreens' retail presence and modern technologies will enable us to deliver a superior optical experience to meet the needs of current and potential customers across all audience demographics, spur growth in an existing product and service segment and show Walgreens' dedication to innovation which can positively impact customer retention.