Westfield, a leading Australian shopping centre operator, wanted to redefine the retail customer experience. I led the design in an innovation sprint that identified "Liquid," a solution to transform the returns process into a driver of customer loyalty.
We conducted an intensive innovation sprint for Westfield to address the challenges of the returns process. The problem statement was to redefine the retail customer experience to create loyalty in their retail business. We ran workshops with the Westfield team, generating over 100 ideas, and iteratively refined them down to 3, including the "Liquid" concept. This involved a multi-faceted approach, starting with customer and retail research, expert interviews and collaborative workshops to deeply understand the current pain points and unmet needs within the Westfield retail ecosystem.
Our team worked closely with Westfield's various departments, including retail operations, customer service, and marketing, to ensure a holistic view of the challenges. We then synthesised these insights to identify key opportunity areas for innovation.
Our work included concept research, trend analysis, and market validation experiments, leading to the development of the "Liquid" concept. The concept validation involved running an experiment on the concept with both shoppers and retailres in Westfield centres to gain first-hand understanding of their experiences with returns and gave us data aboub real behaviour.
"Liquid" is a universal retail payment platform powered by refunds. It offers customers simplified return policies, instant credit, and greater convenience. For retailers, Liquid provides benefits like recaptured returned merchandise, new customer acquisition, and actionable consumer behavior insights. Westfield's implementation of Liquid through their app resulted in a 40% recapture rate of returns, demonstrating the solution's impact on both customer experience and business outcomes.
A single, universal return policy across online and offline channels.
Fast, hassle-free returns and refunds at convenient locations.
Credits usable across Liquid partners, removing "locked-in" concerns.
Track Liquid credit, transactions, and returns, enabling tap-and-go payments.
Simplicity
Prioritise clear, straightforward processes for both customers and retailers.
Flexibility
Offer customers control over how and where they use their credits.
Convenience
Make returns and payments as easy and quick as possible.
Mutual Benefit
Design solutions that create value for both customers and retailers.
We generated over 100 ideas through a variety of ideation techniques, including brainstorming workshops, user journey mapping, and competitive analysis. These ideas were then iteratively validated through quick feedback loops with stakeholders and subject matter experts.
We refined and synthesised these ideas, converging on a smaller set of concepts that demonstrated the highest potential to address the core problem and align with Westfield's strategic objectives. This iterative process allowed us to explore a wide range of possibilities and ensure that we were prioritising the most promising solutions, ultimately leading to the selection of Liquid as a key opportunity.
To validate Liquid, we moved beyond theoretical concepts and created a "smoke and mirrors" service, simulating the core functionality with real-world customer interactions. We used rewards cards to track actual customer behavior and gather concrete data, rather than relying solely on stated intentions.
This approach allowed us to test core assumptions about Liquid in a live environment within Westfield centers, gathering both qualitative and quantitative data on customer behavior, preferences, and pain points. This focus on capturing real usage and feedback enabled us to validate the core value proposition of Liquid and refine the service design based on actual customer behavior.
The insights gathered from the research and validation phases were crucial in shaping the final form of Liquid. We used these insights to prioritise the key features that would deliver the greatest value to both customers and retailers, focusing on a lean approach to development. This involved defining the minimum viable product (MVP) for Liquid, outlining the core functionalities, and establishing a roadmap for future iterations.
By focusing on a lean build, we aimed to minimise development time and costs, while maximising the potential for rapid learning and adaptation in response to user feedback and market dynamics.
