Due to John Lewis and Partners having £5.75m value of returned non perfect 2 person items (furniture, TV & Large Elec) being held in a number of delivery buildings and stores having limited space in stores to sell these products,
we identified through research & development that offering returned ‘Like new’ Outlet products online at discounted prices would result in customers being able to shop same quality products at a more appealing price via the outlet and would allow the business to generate income from difficult to sell products and reduced costs.
The Process
Using the research and development insights gained from the research and development outcomes, we then designed out a solution for how outlet products should surface across the journey touchpoints and how we should test this whilst still keeping development costs to a minimal given this was to be a proof of concept test initially. We not only needed to understand the online demand and any impacts but also the potential logistical issues of stock and getting product re packaged and out to customers.
This was presented in a deck back to share with senior stakeholders with a potential timeline and what we needed in terms of support from other teams to get us there.
Designs
Through gaining understanding what was possible with stakeholders and teams I then refined the solution designs so it had a balance between effort, time and expense versus what we knew customers needed to understand this was an outlet product and what the differences where from brand new stock. There was a high amount of stakeholder management needed and complexed design thinking to achieve this given the project touches majority of teams in the business.
The designs needed some branding to ensure customers understood it was an outlet product and through the customer research it was clear they also wanted to have an easy checklist of differences to understand any grading of outlet products and if there was any differences in after care and warranty for outlet. This was incorporated into the designs and information.
The Outlet test is due to go live on the John Lewis & Partners site over the coming months.
