I. Problem Space

Our primary goal is to uncover the root cause(s) behind the drop in curbside pick up usage for The Home Depot customers, as well as discover unmet customer needs to improve the overall curbside pick up experience.

We define curbside pick up as a process where customers make their purchase online, drive their car to a designated parking lot when the order is ready, and receive the order (that is typically brought to them by a store associate) without having to physically visit the store. A feature that was growing in popularity before the pandemic and was widely introduced to the public by many retail giants during the pandemic in 2020, curbside pick up has not only increased brand loyalty for many companies, but also created valuable experiences for everyday shoppers (Hoyler, 2021).

However, as straightforward as it may seem, the actual logistics behind a successful curbside pick up experience can involve many moving parts and require careful, strategic planning. For The Home Depot customers in particular, problems can arise in many areas including longer than expected wait time, lack of guidance on loading large items to the car, or parking the car in the “curbside pick up only” area (Appendix A).

By investigating where the most customer pain points are experienced and tying these to the overall strategy and operations of the store - including supply chain management and UX design of the mobile app, we hope to create solutions to improve the overall customer experience with curbside pick up with the goal of making it a more convenient, accessible, and pleasant experience for the Home Depot customers.

II. Primary User Group and Characteristics

Our primary user group will be The Home Depot customers who are current and potential curbside pick up users. According to input we gathered from our Home Depot contacts, shoppers are typically contractors or non-contractors, where the former tend to have more knowledge and experience around store offerings as well as where items are located. Since curbside is an experience that is currently mobile only, we will also pay attention to the differences in experiences between these two types of shoppers, and consider how factors such as age, profession, or tech savviness may impact their needs.

We hope to gather more insights through in-store studies, interviews and surveys and use them as guidance to further narrow down a few specific types of user personas.

III. Stakeholders

It is essential to include all possible stakeholders in our design process to create the best suitable design for not just one part. To prioritize conflicting opinions, we tried to use a R.A.C.I map after our initial stakeholder brainstorming (Harned, 2022). However, we realized that it is not a suitable method to show relationships between different stakeholders, which is crucial for us to know where connections in our designs need to be made. Consequently, we illustrated our stakeholders, their locations, and their relations with each other in a stakeholder map that can be found in appendix C.

Customer App Team

The customer app team comprises Home Depot employees who develop the public Home Depot app. They design, integrate, and update features like the curbside pickup. So, we may have to discuss possible solutions and enhancements inside the app with them. This team also may be able to share app usage data with us. Because this team is not our primary point of contact with The Home Depot, we are not fully aware of the scope in which they can help us.

Associates

Home Depot store associates are responsible for helping customers inside the store and out. This includes helping ProXtra customers with large orders at the Pro Desk, navigating aisles, manning the Customer Service desk, you name it. They are also responsible for pulling items from the shelves and preparing curbside orders. Without them, we cannot ensure a positive experience for the customer.

Delivery Customers

Delivery customers are Home Depot customers that order online and ship goods directly to their homes. Currently, they are ordering online and therefore have to pay for shipping and have longer waiting times. When the curbside process is more attractive for them, they might pick up their goods instead. So delivery customers could in the future also be curbside pickup customers when addressed correctly.

IV. Practices & Goals

Based on the observation we had conducted at the Home Depot store and research into existing literature, we have identified three goals in our problem space: making purchases without going into the store physically, saving time, as well as safety and accessibility needs.

For customers who wish to buy items without visiting the store, they engage in two main practices: one is ordering pickup, whether that’s in-store pickup or curbside pickup; another is ordering delivery. This goal can be achieved in many ways, which have evolved throughout history: mail order/bank check, order via telephone, and nowadays most commonly, via websites and apps. In the next section, we will explore the legacy and current systems involved in this process in detail.

One of the primary goals of ordering pickup is to save time. For customers who have specific item/s they’d like to get, ordering curbside pickup is a great way to save time. When a store associate delivers products to the customer in the car, it eliminates the hassle of going into the store, locating the item/s, picking up the item/s, and going to the checkout line. In the first section, we have identified contractors as one of the primary user groups for curbside pickup. Based on discussion with the Home Depot representatives, we hypothesize that contractors have a set of supplies and tools they will need on a regular basis, which means they don’t need to visit the store to find products. Thus, a streamlined curbside pickup experience will minimize the amount of time contractors spend at the store, so that “doers [can] get more done, ” like the Home Depot slogan states (The Home Depot, 2022).

Moreover, customers and associates who engage in curbside pickup are concerned about safety and accessibility. Curbside pickup services became popular among major businesses with the rise of Coronavirus, when stores were shut down completely and social distancing was mandated. For safety, it is in the interest of business stakeholders to maintain the health and wellness of customers and associates throughout the pickup process. To protect workers and customers, plexiglass screens are placed at counters after the reopening and are still in place (United States Department of Labor, 2021). Wearing a mask or face cover is another example of how customers and associates protect themselves and others from COVID-19. While COVID-19 cases are declining, annual flu season is here to stay. Immunocompromised individuals will continue to benefit from accessible curbside pickup services that ensure limited exposure. Customers with disabilities may also require additional assistance from the store with loading, especially large and bulky items. In the U.S., one in four adults reports having a disability (Okoro et al, 2018). For disabled people, curbside pickup is not just convenient, but necessary (Fink, 2022). It further solidifies the importance of a well-designed system that considers the unique challenges among these populations.

V. Analysis of Legacy/Existing Systems