Walmart ShopAR

An augmented reality shopping buddy to improve the shopping experience at Walmart

The Team

Industry Partners

This was a 2017 master’s Service Design class project in 2017 sponsored by NCR for their client, Walmart, as a concept that could be implemented 5-10 years in the future.

The Users

Customers sometimes have negative experiences at Walmart, which reduces their desire to shop at Walmart. Walmart associates want to provide positive experience to customers, but associates are often too busy and rushed.

The Problem

Brick and mortar stores everywhere are suffering due to the growing trend of online shopping. Walmart wants to give customers a reason to visit their stores and have pleasant shopping experiences. (2018)

The Solution

An augmented reality system can alleviate stocking challenges faced by store associates, answer customers’ questions, and facilitate more meaningful interactions between associates and customers, thus creating a more pleasant shopping experience for everyone.

Research

Contextual Inquiry

Customers have fluctuating emotions based on their experiences as they enter the store, search for items to purchase, check out, and leave the store. At various points in their journey, they interact with Walmart associates.

Design

Prototyping

We created a video to prototype what an augmented reality system could look like. We focused on the viewed experience, not the hardware, because the hardware could change 5-10 years in the future.

Elevating the Customer Journeys

The new augmented reality experience removed the majority of the pain points shoppers previously had.

User Testing

User testing was conducted with 6 people from the millennial age group who had a diverse backgrounds such as college students, working professionals, American, international, women, men, single, married, pet owners, and/or parents.

Walmart ShopAR

An augmented reality shopping buddy to improve the shopping experience at Walmart

The Team

Kristin Hare Lawson

Muchao Tang

Zhonghe Wen