Retail innovation in a digital world.
During my time at Nordstrom, Inc. I had the pleasure to work two Innovation Teams.
Magic Mirror partnership with eBay - In the summer of 2014 as an MBA intern, I participated on a team that partnered with eBay on a “magic mirror” concept. The technology infused mirror was added to dressing rooms to provide customers with a low-touch, digital first service experience. Customers could engage the mirror to request additional sizes, shop complementary accessories to the look, call for a customer service representative and more. The goal was to provide the conveniences of a digital shopping experience in a physical experience. A major component of the experience design that we focused on was how to weave the high-touch and low-touch experiences together seamlessly, instinctively providing the customer with the right level of service at the right moment.
The concept was presented to the Nordstrom board via a theatrical walk-thru presentation to allow them experience the concept first hand. Approved for testing, the mirror was then tested in a select number of stores nationwide, providing valuable insights into the broader organization.
Innovation Team - In 2017, I then joined the newly formed Innovation Team which was a dedicated group led by the Nordstrom Rack President Geevy Thomas in his newly appointed Chief Innovation Officer role. This team leveraged the design thinking and human-centered design innovation practices to concept, test and execute new concepts in 3 test stores nationwide. My role in this team was as an innovation strategist, providing market and category opportunity assessments to guide the Innovation PODs on lucrative areas of focus for innovation. Additionally, once a new concept was kicked off, myself and the 2 other innovation strategists would provide in-depth analysis on inventory strategy, market size, customer and industry trends, current customer transactional data support, competitive analysis, etc.
The team introduced and tested multiple concepts including a dedicated service center bar which eventually became a permanent destination in Nordstrom stores across the country as well as a showroom shopping concept where customers could shop an entire collection of products and try on in-store, but inventory was held at an external warehouse and purchases would be shipped to the customers home. Findings from the showroom concept indicated that customers shopping in-store were primarily interested in instant gratification and this concept was tested and failed within a 6 month period, preventing a full-scale launch that would have eventually failed.